The golden age of Gaelic Scotland
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Tag Archives: gaeldom
A note on classical literary Gaelic/Early Modern Irish
In last Monday night’s Irish class we talked about Classical Gaelic Poetry from the
early modern (1200-1650 AD) period. I mentioned that I had run across a description
of some of the rules. I found it in
Gàir Nan Clàrsach – The Harps’ Cry: Anthology of 17th Century Gaelic Poetry. The
book is about Scottish Gaelic, but this form of poetry, and the language was common to
both Gaelic Scotland and Ireland in the period. The poets who produced these works had been trained in the genre for years. Their work was aimed at the Gaelic elite, and traditionally they were supported as court poets by the clan chiefs and great lords. Here is a verse from Niall Mòr Mac
Muireadhigh’s Do Ruaidhri Mòr, Mac Leòid (“To Ruaidhri Mòr”), followed by the analysis in the
introduction to the book.
| Fiche meisge linn gach laoi – nochar leisge linn ná lé; fiú i neart ar mbeathaidh do bhí ceathair, a trí, a seacht le sé. |
More on galloglas
A follow-up to my book note and link about armor I subsequently posted: Galloglaich: History and Equipment. It is part of the Na Degad: Medieval Ireland site.
Galloglas
Chief of MacKay
Ian Grimble’s Chief
of Mackay is the first volume of his Strathnaver Trilogy:
…. bringing into focus
and describing in tragic detail the fate of the Mackay country –
Duthaich ‘Ic Aoidh – in the far northwest of Scotland. Because of gradual
changes in the idea of chieftainship, the people underwent a
transformation from a traditional tight-knit Gaelic-speaking community
to a down-trodden helot population to be cleared away at the will of the
landowner and replaced by sheep.
Monday Night Irish Class, March 17, 2008
Irish Class, March 17, 2008
Irish Class, March 17, 2008
The first event was an exercise in sentence structure. We were given several Irish sentences and were asked to pick out key grammatical elements
without actually translating them. We were looking for verbs, subjects,
objects, prepositional phrases, dependent clauses, and
genitives.
| admhaigh | admit |
| admhaím | I admit |
| rómhaith | very good |
| dream | group (of people) |
| measa | worse. Comp. of olc— bad, evil |
| casadh | twist, turn, reproach |
| riamh | ever, never |
| taobh | side, flank |
| dúchas | heritage, patrimony, native place |
| faoi láthair | at present |
| grinn | perceptive, accurate |
| arb | was (past of copula before a vowel |
| páirteach | participating, sharing, sympathetic |
| sraith | swath, course, layer, series, row, rate |
| ráchairt | run f2 |
| saighdiúir | soldier |
| cogadh domhanda | world war |
| troid | fight, quarrel f3 |
| arm | army. Also weapon, arm |
| sraidbhaile | village |
| bocht | poor person m1 |
| lár | middle, center. Also floor, ground |
Next came question and answer. Nick asked various general knowledge questions in Irish and we answered. This to see how well we could follow spoken Irish.
Fire and Sword
Just finished Fire and Sword: Sorley Boy Macdonnell and the Rise of Clan Ian Mor, 1538-90, by J. Michael Hill. Highly recommended. Continue reading
Historical Research Notes and Sources
Another Reenactment Group
Clan MacColin of Glenderry, based in California, reenacts part of the Scottish Highlands c. 1570, so they could be grandparents of colgaffneyis. Their focus is much more on the Gaelic culture and society of the Highlands and Ireland, which I don’t think receive nearly enough attention in Clann. Most of our military interpreters wrongly portray Highlanders as simple impoverished barbarians, when in fact they were part of a rich culture with a written literature older than English can claim. As I have written before, I have a big problem with this attitude in colgaffneyis.
Still, it is the only game in town.
Great history
I have been reading Seán O’Fáolin’s The Great O’Neill: A Biography of Hugh O’Neill Earl of Tyrone, 1550-1616. Hugh O’Neill led the last and greatest Irish revolt against Queen Elizabeth of England. Continue reading
From Hilbert Space to Dilbert Space, and beyond 