{"product_id":"thirty-two-words-for-field-lost-words-of-the-irish-landscape","title":"Thirty-Two Words for Field: Lost Words of the Irish Landscape","description":"\u003cp\u003eby Manchán Magan\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChelsea Green Publishing Company\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2\/24\/2026, paperback\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSKU: 9781645023760\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eIn this lyrical exploration of the Irish language's deep-rooted connection to nature, myth and memory, bestselling Irish author Manchán Magan offers readers a fresh way of seeing the world through words shaped by wind, water, ancestors, and the ancient rhythms of the land. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Irish language has thirty-two words for field. Among them are: Geamhar - a field of corn-grass - Tuar - a field for cattle at night - Reidhlean - a field for games or dancing - Cathairin - a field with a fairy-dwelling in it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe richness of the Irish language is closely tied to the natural landscape and offers a more magical way of seeing the world. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMost people associate Britain and Ireland with the English language, a vast, sprawling linguistic tree with roots in Latin, French, and German. But the inhabitants of these islands originally spoke another tongue. Look closely enough and English contains traces of the Celtic soil from which it sprung, found in words like bog, loch, cairn, and crag. Today, this heritage can be found nowhere more powerfully than in modern-day Gaelic. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eThirty-Two Words for Field\u003c\/i\u003e, Manchán explores how Gaelic, a three-thousand-year-old lexicon, has imbued the natural world with meaning and magic, evoking a time-honored way of life, from its thirty-two separate words for a field to terms like bróis (whiskey for a horseman at a wedding), iarmhaireacht (the loneliness you feel when you are the only person awake at dawn), and bladhmann (steam rising from a fermented haystack or idle boasting). \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eManchán urges readers to consider the sublime beauty and profound oddness of this ancient tongue that has been spoken in close connection to the land for thousands of years. Told through stories collected from his own life and travels, \u003ci\u003eThirty-Two Words for Field \u003c\/i\u003eis an enthralling celebration of Irish words and a testament to the indelible relationship between landscape, culture, and language.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReviews:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"What a joyful, profound, passionate \u003ci\u003erevelry\u003c\/i\u003e of a book this is--an illumination of how words make worlds; a reminder of what is lost when a language is lost; an act of salvage for ways of being and seeing which are fast vanishing. To read \u003ci\u003eThirty-Two Words For Field\u003c\/i\u003e is to be given new eyes and ears for land, weather, creaturely life, time, light and the animate Earth itself. In its plenishing of both word and mind, it is a work of quiet activism.\" -- Robert Macfarlane, author of \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/burningbooks.com\/products\/is-a-river-alive\" title=\"Is a River Alive?\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eIs a River Alive?\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Magan traces the hidden filaments of the Irish language with astonishing vision and grace, revealing webs of relation between people and place, weather, and memory. This is a remarkable work that deepened my feeling of connection to a living world and expanded my sense of the possible.\" -- Merlin Sheldrake, author of \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/burningbooks.com\/products\/entangled-life-how-fungi-make-our-worlds-change-our-minds-shape-our-futures\" title=\"Entangled Life\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eEntangled Life \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Manchán Magan listens to language as a practice of belonging. These words are more than history--they are tools for remembering how to be in right relationship with land, weather, and one another. Manchán inspires me to keep being voracious in learning the languages of this world i love.\" -- adrienne maree brown, author of \u003ci\u003eLoving Corrections \u003c\/i\u003eand\u003ci\u003e \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/burningbooks.com\/products\/we-will-not-cancel-us-and-other-dreams-of-transformative-justice?variant=32594596266035\" title=\"We Will Not Cancel Us\"\u003eWe Will Not Cancel Us\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout the Author:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eManchán Magan \u003c\/b\u003ewas an Irish writer, podcaster, and documentary maker. He wrote for the \u003ci\u003eIrish Times\u003c\/i\u003e on culture and travel, was presenter on the RTÉ podcast \u003ci\u003eThe Almanac of Ireland\u003c\/i\u003e, and the author of the award-winning, best-selling \u003ci\u003eListen to the Land Speak\u003c\/i\u003e. His illustrated books include \u003ci\u003eTree Dogs, Banshees Fingers, and Other Irish Words for Nature\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eWolf-Men and Water Hounds\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Burning Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51949661159707,"sku":"Thirty-Two Words for Field","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0466\/5121\/files\/91YbwG_wa7L._SL1500.jpg?v=1774897465","url":"https:\/\/burningbooks.com\/products\/thirty-two-words-for-field-lost-words-of-the-irish-landscape","provider":"Burning Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}