Crossing the Ford (18th century poetry)

Modern Irish 'Amhran'  poetry

This forms the great mass of 18th and 19th century Irish language poetry. There are many many thousands of examples in the manuscripts.

An example

Molann an saol an te a bhionn gramhar coir;

agus molann an chleir an te a bhionn pairteach leo;

Dar solas na greine! Is e mo ra go deo,

go molfad-sa fein gan bhreag an t-ath mar gheod.

A translation, then discussion of syntactic strangeness.

"Everyone praises the person who is loving and honest;

and priests praise the one who sides with them;

By the light of the sun! It is what I will always say,

that I will evaluate the river ford when I cross it."

First off, this is probably 17th or 18th century 'amhran' poetry built on a pattern of harmonizing syllables. Only the syllables that are accented count. See that the first vowel (that takes the accent) in

each line is 'o': Molann; molann; solas; molfad. 

The second vowel is the 'ei' of saol, chleir, greine, fein. (The vowel of 'saol' sounds like 'ei' in Munster province. Sound is what matters, not spelling.) 

The third sound is the 'e'; te, te, is e, bhreag. There are two more accented syllables in each line. The first person to identify them wins a spectacular prize that I will buy them some day when I'm rich.

 Here's an idea of how such poetry is recited. After going to the link, hit the arrow to run the tape.

http://doegen.ie/LA_1034d2

OK, syntax. So you know the verb comes first in a sentence. The subject follows. Some people say this is because the Irish are Berbers, but it's actually an internal development that occurred in the Insular Celtic languages. The 'b' of 'bionn' is lenited by the 'a' (relative article that precedes it. 'Leo' is, of course, a preposition that specifies person and number; 'with them' to be specific. "Is', a form of the copula, is used to emphasize 'ra' (saying). Then we have the old or Munster synthetic forms of verbal endings--the '-fad' ending of 'mol' specifies first person singular future tense. Same for 'geod' which might be 'geobhaidh me' in the standard.

 And now, here are some words and idioms from mostly older books (early 20th century) of Deisi Irish. What I'll do in succeeding posts is analyze a paragraph of text from early 20th century  novels, paragraphs that illustrate idiom and vocabulary.

Na Deisi uber alles!

ATH-CHUINE (ie. Ath-Chuineamh)---Second thought

Example: Is minic go ba e an t-ath-chuine a mhillean an gno.  (It is often that it's the second thought that messes things up.) 'Millean' is ruin or destroy.  In west Munster (Cork anyway) 'go ba e' would be 'gurbh e'.

FUAIRTHNE (ie. FUAR-NIMH)---cold tingling pain

Example: Chuirfeadh ice cream fuairthne i mo fhiacla


CUIRICEACH---uneven, rickety

Example: Ta an bothar cuiriceach. Siuil cuiriceach (rickety unsteady walking). cathaoir chuiriceach (a chair with short leg or something like that.)


AR LIOBARNA---hanging down, ready to fall ('Ar' is the preposition 'on', etc.)

Example:  Ta do ialla ar liobarna leat. (Your shoelace is trailing.)