[Deirachel]

My mom is looking to start up something to fund her knitting hobby, and is thinking of hand-knit hose made to order to exact measure (w/ over 40 yrs knitting experience, she's made most of my hose).

She would like to name her enterprise "Nanna's Knits", but that's taken. Considering kilt hose is her first "product", she's thinking of doing the same, just in Scottish Gaelic. She found the following:

"seanmhair" meaing "grandmother"

and

"fighe" meaning "to knit",

but, being a Master's of History, and the wife of a Ph.D w/o D (History, emphasis on Ethnic Studies (Native American and Slavic, oddly), she doesn't want to mangle the language.

Any help would be appreciated, (and if she can get it going well, she's thinking of perhaps buying ad space here on XMarks)

Thanks in advance,

William

[DrumMayer]

"Neannaidh" is a rather old-fashioned but still used diminutive of grandmother, the exact cognate of Nanna, it seems to me.

Again, very old usage, but a female weaver/knitter would be "ban-fhigheach"

It's a mouthful, but you could say "Neannaidh a' bhan-fhigheach," for Nanna the weaver/knitter.

I'm referring to Dwelly's Faclair Gàidhlig, an on-line version of which is here.

Hope this helps!

[figheadair]

Originally Posted by DrumMayer

"Neannaidh" is a rather old-fashioned but still used diminutive of grandmother, the exact cognate of Nanna, it seems to me.

Again, very old usage, but a female weaver/knitter would be "ban-fhigheach"

It's a mouthful, but you could say "Neannaidh a' bhan-fhigheach," for Nanna the weaver/knitter.

I'm referring to Dwelly's Faclair Gàidhlig, an on-line version of which is here.

Hope this helps!

The correct spelling is ban-fhigheadair pronounced ban-ee-at-er-- a female weaver or knitter.

An old female knitter would be sean bhan fhigheadair pronounced shoawn van-ee-at-er-

[DrumMayer]

Originally Posted by figheadair

The correct spelling is ban-fhigheadair pronounced ban-ee-at-er-- a female weaver or knitter.

Not according to Dwelly's: ban-fhigheach -iche, -ichean, sf Female weaver. 2 Female who knits. (see here)

Note too the usage baineach, as "weaveress" which I also find in Stòr-dàta Briathrachais as the feminine form. However, you might want to avoid this; it is a homophone for "mare."

Besides, all of this is terribly old-fashioned to some I'm sure. The "regularised" masculine usage IS more common in contemporary practice no doubt, and based on screen names alone I would guess figheadair knows his business!

[figheadair]

Originally Posted by DrumMayer

Not according to Dwelly's: ban-fhigheach -iche, -ichean, sf Female weaver. 2 Female who knits. (see here)

Note too the usage baineach, as "weaveress" which I also find in Stòr-dàta Briathrachais as the feminine form. However, you might want to avoid this; it is a homophone for "mare."

Besides, all of this is terribly old-fashioned to some I'm sure. The "regularised" masculine usage IS more common in contemporary practice no doubt, and based on screen names alone I would guess figheadair knows his business!

Ah, you're quite right. Couldn't find it in my printed copy this morning but there again, the types so small

[DrumMayer]

No worries, figheadair, the print is indeed small. I still wonder if you hear people using the masculine form, as a regularized noun?

And has this been any help to you & your mother, Deirachel? Hope we didn't get too weighed down in minutiae to be helpful!

[Lyle1]

Since you are posting from American, I assume that your mother will be selling to Americans. If she gives her business an unpronounceable Gaelic name, the title of her company will have little recognition value (i.e., the name of the company will not tell potential customers anything about her business; they will have to look somewhere else to know what she is selling). The title could also cause problems with indexing, though applied tags could work for a web site. She might want to try a name that speaks more plainly to what she is doing and would prompt potential customers to look at her wares.

[DrumMayer]

Originally Posted by Lyle1

the name of the company will not tell potential customers anything about her business; they will have to look somewhere else to know what she is selling...

Point taken, and I'm no marketing guru by any means, but it seems to me a distinctive name in Gaelic would speak volumes to the niche market. Whether the Gaelic is the main banner or a translation tag line to the English name, it sends the message of tradition, hand-craft and "the exotic," for want of another term.

Suas leis a' Ghàidhlig!

[Deirachel]

Many thanks to the great debate here.

Question, how would one refer to the object of the knitting, i.e. the hose, sweater, et al. or the "knits"?

An example of this would be to say, a Knit jacket (a cartigan) over a sewn jacket, or a knit cloth, over a woven cloth.

As this is the goal, in otherwords, the name would mean Grandmother's Knits (or knitted things, in essence.)

I'm working on the lovely primer linked above, but it has appears so far to be a complicated as knotwork! For example, using the knitted petticoat, it appears "bhioran" would mean "knitted", but I'm not there yet

[Lyle1]

Originally Posted by DrumMayer

Point taken, and I'm no marketing guru by any means, but it seems to me a distinctive name in Gaelic would speak volumes to the niche market. Whether the Gaelic is the main banner or a translation tag line to the English name, it sends the message of tradition, hand-craft and "the exotic," for want of another term.

Suas leis a' Ghàidhlig!

That would only be true if customers had some idea of the meaning of the title, assuming that they even recognized the words as Gaelic. That said, you might get around the language recognition issue by using a graphic with the title, perhaps incorporating the two into a logo. You could also include a translation of the Gaelic (or something about the products offered) in a smaller type that did not distract from the logo.

Pronunciation could be another issue. If people can't pronounce the name of your business, it would be harder to remember the name, and they couldn't tell other people about you. If you chose a Gaelic phrase for which you could include an easy to read phonetic transcription, that might not be such a big issue, and could be part of your advertising campaign.

Good luck.