Irish Class, August 4, 2008
Irish Class, August 4, 2008
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Fadas: áéíóúÁÉÍÓÚ
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Nick had spend much of July at an advanced Irish course in Dublin,
and tonight he gave us a couple samples of what he had learned.
Old Irish
This was a gloss in the St. Gall Priscian 9th
century codex mss in Switzerland, as printed in Thurneysen’s
Old Irish Reader. There some web formatting issues with the notation. It does not display correctly in all browsers. FireFox 3 is fine, but IE 6 and the version of Opera on the Nokia 770 have problems.
| Is acher in gaith in-nocht fu.fūasna fairggæ findḟolt: ni.ágor réimm Mora Minn dond láechraid lainn ūa Lothlind. |
The wind is rough tonight tossing the white combed ocean. I need not dread fierce Vikings crossing the Irish Sea. |
The translation is from The Forgotten Hermitage of Skellig Michael.
The monks of Skellig Michael certainly would have appreciated the sentiment of “A Stormy Night”,
even though the author may not have been one of them.
| acher | sharp, fierce | |
| in | an | the [def. art.] |
| gaíth | gaoth | wind |
| fu.fūasna |
disturbs, agitates | |
| fairggæ [fairggae] [gen] | farraige [f4] |
sea |
| fionn | fair [hair] | |
| findḟolt [findfholt] | fair hair |
|
| ágathar | to fear | |
| ni-ágor | I do not fear | |
| réimm | course, coursing | |
| Mora Minn | Irish Sea | |
| dond | don ← do + an | by the |
| láechraid | band of warriors | |
| lainn | greeding | |
| ūa | ó | from |
| Lothlind | Norway | |
This has some web formatting issues. The
Old Irish notation may not display correctly in all browsers. FireFox 3
is fine, but IE 6 and the version of Opera on the Nokia 770 have
problems.
Figuring out how to enter ū and
ḟ took some work. Alan Wood’s Unicode
Resources were very helpful, and Working with
Unicode showed me how to work with them in Vim (I simply added the code to
my .vimrc file).
Early Modern Irish
Mathghamhain Ó Hifearnáin was a late 16th Irish poet. He had spent many years mastering the intricate rules of Classical Gaelic poetry. He is lamenting the lack of aristocratic patronage in his era. Unlike his predecessors, he could not count on a comfortable gig as the court poet of
some wealthy noble. What we have here is an extended whine about how nobody
appreciates fine art like they did in the good old days :-)> However, it follows all of the traditional poetic rules!
| Ceist! cia do cheinneóchadh dán? a chiall is ceirteólas suadh: an ngéabhadh, nó an áil le haon, dán saor do-bhéaradh go buan? Gé dán sin go snadhmadh bhfis, D’éirneist gémadh beag an bonn, Ceard mar so ní sochar dhún, Ní mhair Corc Chaisil ná Cian, Geall bronnta níor beanadh dhíobh, Mé im luing cheannaigh ar gcaill laist |
Question! Who will buy a poem? Its meaning is genuine learning of scholars. Will any take, or does any lack, a noble poem that shall make him immortal? Though this is a poem with close-knit science, Though a groat were a small earnest, Such an art as this is no profit to me, [Translation of the first four verses from
|
In class we only had time to work through the first three verses.
| EM Irish | Modern Irish | English |
| ceist | question | |
| cia | cé | who |
| do cheinneóchadh [note particle do] | cheannódh cond. of ceannaigh | would buy |
| dán | poem | |
| ciall | ciall | meaning |
| ceirteólas | craft-knowledge | |
| suadh gen. of suí | of wise individuals | |
| a chiall is ceirteólas suadh | its meaning and craft-knowledge of wise individals | |
| an géabhabh (cond.) | gabh | would take (an – question) |
| nó | nó | or |
| ál | lack | |
| nó an ál le haon | or lack of any (an – question) | |
| saor | free, noble | |
| dán saor | noble poem | |
| do-bhéaradh (cond.-note particle do) | beir | |
| buan | buan | enduring, permanent |
| do-bhéaradh go buan | will carry to eternity | |
| Gé | cé | although [conjunction] |
| snadhmadh | intertwined | |
| fis | fios | knowledge |
| margadh | margadh | market |
| crois | cros | cross |
| do shiobhail [past–note particle do] | shiúil ← siúil | walked |
| Mumhain | Munster | |
| do shiobhail mé an Mhumhain leis | I have walked the entirety of Munster |
|
| breis [f2] | extra, increase | |
| Ní breise é | No more [neg. copula] | |
| a-nuraidh | anuraidh | last year |
| éirnest | to pledge | |
| gémadh | nowever, no matter | |
| bonn | coin, medal | |
| cuir | cuir | put |
| éinbhean | aon bhean | any woman |
| luaidreán [m1] | report, rumor | |
| luaid | refer, mention | |
| aoinfhear | any man | |
| créad dá chionn | reason why | |
| féag le | bother with | |
| Gaoidheal ná Gall | Gael nor Gall | |
| síol | síol | seed, offspring |
| Chlann nGearailt | Geraldines [leading Anglo-Irish family] |
Modern use of Cé “although”: Cé go bhfuil tú anseo….
“Although you are here….”
Gall in v. 3 refers to the old Anglo-Norman families (Burkes, Fitzgeralds, etc.) who had been settled in Ireland for centuries and were more or less Gaelicized. It does not mean the “new English” invaders of the Tudor period.
At Mere Irish & Fíor-ghael I learned that one of the poet’s other works was addressed to his son: A mhic ná meabhruigh éigse – “My son, cultivate not the poetic art.”
This was our last class with Nick :-(> He is going east this month to his new job at George Mason University.
From Hilbert Space to Dilbert Space, and beyond 