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That's not English, but Irish, if I'm not mistaken. It means "my dear" (see http://www.englishirishdictionary.com/dictionary?language=irish&word=a%20chroí)

ETA; While a chroí is a term of endearment, it technically means 'my heart.' Actually, gramatically speaking, 'mo chroí' means 'my heart', the a prefix is used when addressing someone: 'a chara'- my friend, 'a chroí'- my heart 'a chiste'- my treasure.

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The prefix in question indicates the vocative case, used when addressing someone. It causes a change to the initial sound of the following word, represented in modern Irish orthography with a 'h' following the consonant. So 'croí' = 'heart' and 'a chroí' = addressing someone as 'heart'. The same thing happens with names -- Bríd -> a Bhríd, Seán -> a Sheáin. Standard English doesn't have a grammatical equivalent of the vocative, but often employs the first person possessive pronoun (my) in this situation, for terms of endearment. Some English dialects have forms that are similar to the vocative, for instance 'A Sheáin, cad é atá ar siúl leat?' (Seán, what's going on with you?) might be rendered by some Americans as 'Yo Seán, what's up?'

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11y ago

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