Glossary entry (derived from question below)
English term or phrase:
Torbrae - pronunciation
English answer:
Torbrey
Added to glossary by
B D Finch
May 29, 2011 05:42
12 yrs ago
English term
Ukraine
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Torbrae - pronunciation
English
Art/Literary
Geography
Scotland? Gaelic?
It's a dog name based on some Scottish place (at least, I assume so). I need to know how it is pronounced.
Thanks in advance!
Thanks in advance!
Responses
| 5 +7 | Torbrey |
B D Finch
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| 4 | /aɪ/ (trobrai) |
Constantinos Faridis (X)
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Change log
May 30, 2011 17:11: B D Finch Created KOG entry
Responses
+7
3 hrs
Selected
Torbrey
The reference below gives an audio guid to the pronunciation of the "brae" part of "Torbrae". Note that, as it is a place, Torbrae should have an initial capital letter.
Reference:
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Charles Davis
: Yes: /tor'breɪ/. Brae is (Lowland) Scots (ie. Germanic, derived from Old Norse), not Scottish Gaelic (Celtic).
12 mins
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Thanks Charles, and for the note on derivation.
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| agree |
kmtext
: I tend to disagree with Charles, as I was taught it was derived from the word "bràigh" in Gaelic, which means the upper part of something, as in "Bràigh Lochabair" which is the Gaelic name for the "Braes of Lochaber"
56 mins
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Thanks KM. Note that the three souces cited in my reference agree with Charles that it is Lowland Scots. Perhaps there is, nonetheless, a link between that and the Gaelic "bràigh"?
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| agree |
DLyons
: Yes. Re derivation I agree with Charles. Norse to Old High German brâwa (German braue=eyebrow). bráig doesn't exist in Irish Gaelic (in that sense).
1 hr
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Thanks DL
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| agree |
Phong Le
1 hr
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Thanks Phong Le
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| agree |
Yasutomo Kanazawa
3 hrs
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Thanks Yasutomo
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| agree |
Aleksander Pruszyński
6 hrs
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Thanks Aleksander
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| agree |
sporran
10 hrs
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Thanks sporran
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thank you ever so much!"
49 mins
/aɪ/ (trobrai)
Diphthongs
/aɪ/ /ae/ ~ /əi/ as buy, ride, write. (scottish-gaelic pronunciation)
/aɪ/ /ae/ ~ /əi/ as buy, ride, write. (scottish-gaelic pronunciation)
Discussion
"bràghad: neck, throat, Irish bráighid, Old Irish bráge, g. brágat [...]. Bezzenberger (Stokes' Dict.), refers it to the root of Norse barki, weazand [...]. bràghad is really the gen. of bràighe.
bràighe: upper part (of places): this is the nom. case of bràghad, which also appears in place names, as Bra'id-Albainn, Braidalbane."
http://www.ceantar.org/Dicts/MB2/mb04.html
There seems to be a consensus that Scots brae is Germanic in origin (from Norse bra, 'brow'. So it looks as though brae/bràigh is a case of semantic convergence of different words from two separate Norse roots. If this is true (which I cannot judge), it is a curious coincidence, because these words really do look as though one must have come from the other.