I keep thinking that, if bodhran players are bodhrani, perhaps whistle players are feadogi, but perhaps the language isn’t as regular as all that?
Redwolf
feadanach stain would be a whislteplayer without the stain it’s a fluteplayer
Could you post a pronunciation help for that? I know how I would pronounce it, but I also know how I would pronounce bodhran and it would be wrong!!!
FA-dun-uckh Stehn (?) (where the A is like the A in bat and the Us are actually schwas)???
Just a wild arse guess.
Redwolf
If you can hack the International Phonetic Alphabet, check out http://www.akerbeltz.org/beagangaidhlig/gramar/grammarpronunciationguide.htm, where you can download a PDF file.
It took me a few minutes to figure out how it’s laid out.
I must admit, Irish spelling makes English spelling look quite regular and rational.
If you click on the red button with the yellow arrow and “air ais” on it, it’ll take you to the previous page, which has links to more detailed matters.
There may be some easier-to-follow explanations out on the Web for non-liguists, but I didn’t go any farther than this one. Given it’s complexity, I’m sure there’s no such thing as an easy explanation.
My question is, is there a Web site that has translations of Irish tune names into English? My “Teach Yourself Gaelic” book has a sucky glossary. I was trying to figure out “Amhrán A Leabhair”, and found that “leabhair” is “book” (cognate with Spanish “libro”, no doubt), but couldn’t find the first word. On the other hand, I pretty sure that “Turas go Tír na nÓg” means something like “Journey to the Land (of my?) Youth”. (“Turas” = “tour”? “tir” = “terra”/“terre”?)
Oops, the comma gets included in the link. It should be http://www.akerbeltz.org/beagangaidhlig/gramar/grammarpronunciationguide.htm
The first word in the title – “Amhran” – means “song.” A reasonable translation would be “song of the books.”
“Tir na Nog” (Land of Youth, or more often translated “Land of the Ever-Young”) is a mythical place…kind of like a Valhalla. I can’t remember enough of my Irish legends, however, to remember who it is that went /came from there…if it was the Celts or the Sidhe.
An interesting thing about Irish Gaelic is, while the various spelling/pronunciation rules seem complicated compared to English, they are remarkably regular. You won’t find sets of words like “enough,” “through,” and “bough,” all of which have the same basic spelling but different pronunciations, as you will in English.
One problem I run into in trying to pronounce things is remembering that the stess is almost always on the first syllable (there are exceptions, but that’s the general rule) and that successive vowels in a word are generally hinted at rather than pronounced broadly. For instance, I keep wanting to say “ah-GUS,” or at least “AH-goose” instead of “AH-gis” for “agus” (“and”) Comes from studying French as a youngster, I guess 
Redwolf
Redwolf
Fad-awn-och (or “ach”) Stawn
I’m 100% sure on the Feadanach, but a little hazy on the Stain (which means “tin”). Some might say “Staw-in”
Thanks…I wasn’t too terribly far off then!
Redwolf
So how should we pronounce “Feadog” as in the brand of whistle. I just say it “feedog”! As I live in an area with a very large Irish population I need to know these things!
Depending on the regional dialect, you would have “FAH-dug,” FAH-dug-uh" or “FA-dug” (with the “a” in the latter rhyming with the “a” in “hat”). Emphasis on the first syllable.
Redwolf
Remember that the “O” in feadog has the long mark, so it ought more to be pronounced “FAD-ogue” (usynge Anglisc orthographyes)
(edited to add that I can’t add fadas at work)
Yeah, true…I can’t type fadas here, so I tend to forget they’re there. Wish I could teach my keyboard to type in Irish!
What it definitely is NOT, however, is “fee-dog” or “fay-dog.”
Redwolf
Man…and here I thought that a “feadog stain” was the wet spot from the drips you get after playing a while. 
