Gan Ainm

 

Scriosadh coras sibhíaltachta na nGael in Éirinn idir, abair, 1580 agus 1610, rud a d’fhag a dtaobh le daoine a bhíodh ag brath ar shlí bheatha eile, saothrú na litríochta.

(Irish (Gaelic) society was destroyed between about 1580 - 1610, which meant that Irish literature depended on people who had to make a living some other way.)

Micheál Ó Donnobháin, 1729 (G 546: Catalogue of Irish Manuscripts in the National Library of Ireland, Fasciculus XI, P. Ó Macháin, 1990. Litriú faoi mar a fuaireas...

Idir ré lucht leinn aitheanta, agus ré na nua-fhilí a'b ea an Donnobhánach. (O'Donvan lived in the period between the period of  recognized professional learned men, and the new poets and writers.)

“Do fuair me romham an scriobhuin (scribhínn) so (seo) fe (faoi) am bunn. Ataim dearbhtha nach fuaras reomham (romham) an dara rann deighionach sa re (ré?) a scriobhadh go ceart: uime sin (mar gheall air sin), gabhthar mo leithscéal, oir  ní me do loit í, na (toisc gurb é) scriobhnoir na hoibre so (seo) is patarún damh: agus is truagh leam nach fuil aon oide air faighail an (in) m’eolas do (a) bhear(f)adh solus damh uirre, agus ar mhórán do (de) nithibh (nithe) eila ata ina dhiamhair orm: agus fós nach faghaim poinn(puinn) de (de) radharc a (i) leabhair, agus ar mhuintear aga bhfuilid (a bhfuil siad acu), gan aithni na eolus ionta.”

"I came across this piece here (??). I'm sure I didn't set down the second to last verse correctly (or I didn't find a correct version), and please accept my apologies: it 's not me who ruined it, for I am being guided by the one who wrote it before me.. It's a shame that there's no teacher I know of  who might  clarify the matter for me, and clarify a lot of other things that are unclear to me: a shame that I do not have access to books or to those who possess them: those who know."

Bluire eile ó láimhscribhinn:

‘Lá Lúnasa .i. August 1^st 1791, bead (beidh mé) 25 bliana d’aois, oir do rugadh mé August 1^st 1766 i mBéal Átha Maghair (Glenmire in aice le Corcaigh) i bparóiste Dhúna Bolg. D’éag mh’athair (scríobhaí notáltha) iar (tar eis) mbeith 4 bliana d’aois dom agus mo mhaithar 81/2 bliana dom. Iar sin, dob éigean dom imeacht le’m ábhar féin gan choir gan chothrom, gan chuid gan charaid. Do chuir an tAthair Dónall Ó Cearúaill fios orm agus bhíos (bhí mé) ina fharraid dhá bhliain i bparóiste Chatharach i gCairbreacha Thiar. Thánag (tháinig mé) abhaile iar sin aguas chuas (chuaidh mé) ar scoil (im scoláire bocht mar bhíos). Ghluaiseas iar mbeith dom sealad mar sin, agus mar ná raibh comhairle athar ná mháthar orm, agus téim in aimsir ag aoireacht bhó agus ag dul re (le) bainne, gur leanas de sin gur ghlac náire mé iar sin .i. bheith ag dul re meadracha—ní chuala ag aon dá dtáinig romham dá dhéanamh—agus gluaisim arís ar scoil agus mé in aois mo 18 mbliana, ag foghlaim Arithemetic. Téim an bhliain ba neasa dom ag foghlaim Laidinne, gur chaitheas dhá bhliain mar sin...’

"August 1st 1791, I will be 25 years old, as I was born on August 1st 1766 in Glenmire in Dunbolluge parish. My father died when I was four, and my mother when I was eight and a half. After that, I had to take care of myself without any support, resources or kin. Father Donal O C summoned me and I was two years with him in Caharagh parish in west Cork. I came home then and went to school as a charity student. After a while, since I lacked parents' advice, I went into service herding cows, and I kept on doing that until I became ashamed to be spending my time with milk vessels: something I never heard that any of my people ever did before (They were a traditional learned family in west Limerick) and I went to school at age 18, learning arithmetic. The year after, I learned Latin, and so spent two yearts so...")

 (ó láimhscribhinn G 99, d. 29, Leabharlann Naisiúnta na hÉireann. Luaite ag Breandá n Ó Conchúir, d 101, Scríobhaithe Chorcaí 1700-1850, An Chlóchomhar Tta, 1982. (Ana-leabhar do deo!) Ag tagairt do Micheál Óg Ó Longáin, file maith, fear láimhscribhinni a scríobh (isteach a’s amach le 149 acu), agus United Irishman, atá.

 

 

G654, Fasc. XII: Daibhidh Do Bharradh (De Barra) atá ag cainnt:

Ag so an chéad leabhar do scríbh Dáibhi as a riocht fein agus é ina bhrasgharsúin tar éis beagán Ghaodhilge d’fholuim (Gailge a scríobh, atá sé a rá.) Agus do ghaibh sé i measc iomad droch-lámh ionnas gur cáochadh agus gur sracadh eé, go (chun) nach féadfadh neach lámh (a) dhéanamh dá léagheadh. Agus cé gur críobadh mic-leabhair as, níl ceann air faghil sa dútha dhíobh. Agus o náchar bhurasa (furasta) lámh (a) dhéanamh de, do ghabhadar a chlann (air Dháibh) dochum (chun) a a athscríobh. Agus ba dhoilg (doiligh) leis a shamhuil do ráflóir leabhair do scríobh annois a (i) ndeire aoise, ach adúbhradh ris (leis) go mba dhoilge a dhéanabh ar dtuis, gona uime sin (gur mar gheall ar am méid sin) do thug sé an iarracht so (seo) arís faoi.”

("This is the first book I wrote on my own/of my own volition when I was an adolescent after I learned something about writing Irish. The book went then among many careless hands so that it was blurred and torn, until nobody was able to read it. And although copies had been made, there were none of them in the area. And since it wasn't easy to make heads or tails of it, my children urged me to write another copy. And thought I thought it pointless to write again such a flippant book now that I am old, they told him it had been harder to write it the first time, until, because of that, I made the effort again."

 (Ag tagairt do “Corra-Ghliocas na mBan léir mhínithe”, leabhar mór a chun sé féin atá sé. Cuireadh i gcló mar leabhar ann féin é in 1991, eag. Breandán Ó Conchúir, an Clóchomhar Tta, agus b’fhiú a léamh!)

Thíos

Faoi mar a fuair mé romham in Catalogue of Irish Manuscripts in the Royal Irish Academy, d 2787: Lamhscribhinn #971 (23 A 44) atá i gcéist. Sé Eoghan Caomhánach, fear ó Osbidéal Mháire in aice le Loch Gur in oirthear Luimní, a scríobh in 1817 in aice le Fethard. Tá idir litriú stáiriúil na Gaeilge Chlaiseach agus litriú a cheap sé féin ann.

Seo mar aghaibh sé leithsgéal lena chuid leitheóiri i dtaobh lochtanna a chuid oibre.

 An Scríobhnoir cum an leaghthora:

Tuig, a leaghthoir, gur do ró-dhioghrais dlighe Dé (thar láimhcribhinn beathaí naomh atá sé ag teacht anseo)  agus na teangan duchais-se ar naisiúin do tionsgnas (thiongsnaigh mé ) an leabhar so do (ie. a) scríobh san líonmhaireas ina bhfuil: agus nach diomhaoinus, deise, na caothamhlacht, d’fhurail na na d’fhogair damh a dheunamh, ach ba deifreach, ocaidioch mé gach lá, ag tabhairt aire do gnothaibh saoghalta de bhríogh laighead mo costais agus mo substainte sa mbeatha mbreugaig-se agauin airna caithiomh, ar chor nach raibh d’aga na d’aimsir agam labhalta chuige, ach maidionn no trathnona nó tamall do lá saoire, no fós Domhnach no oidhche fhada fhuar Geimhre (mar is follus do reir data na hoibre-se), agus sin fein do (ie. a) tabhairt go dithchiollach doith-ionsach le luas laimhe agus nairiuonna fadhnacha fada o chéile: ach ceana ata ‘d’adhbhar an fhocail-se, 1. Cruinighion triopall beart, go dtainig liom a fóirlionadh go hamhusach, agus da mbeadh ar chumas dhamhsa an sean-fhocal beag so do (a) chóimhliona (.i Honor alit artes) le cion agus le honoir oiltear ealadhna, do bheadh an saothar beag so sgéimheamhuil snoighti so-fhaicsiona mar nach bhfuil. Is chuige, a leaghthoir ionmhuin, thugas na briathra so fa do shuillibh (dative plural), d’iarradh (ag iarraidh) do choimirce...agus do thuigim nach bhfuil cumas a smachtaighti (smachtú) na a cheartaighthi agam de lather. De bhriogh gur da heis do (a) chidhtear (feictear) gach beart, agus gurab ainbhfiosach aineolach me ar tosanugh dhamh, (air) son nár cuirios (chuir mé) le húghdarrás aimhghlic ni ar bith ann, ach leanmhion (leanúint) ar lorg na sean-leabhar (sean-leabhar) do chonarc (chonnaic mé) ina raibh an diosgán diolama so, agus le muinghin mo leithsgeil do (a) iongabhtha, criochnuighim leis an rann seo.

(Understand, o reader, that it was devotion to the ways of God and to the language of our nation that made me write such a large volume. And it wasn't idleness, appropriate occasions or abilty made me write, because I was in a hurry every day applying myself to making a living in this false world, since I possessed very little of worldly substance, so I had no time to devote to the book but a few minutes morning or evening, or holidays or Sundays or long winter nights, as is clear from the dates, and those rushed and ignorant, with a a sore hand, at times far from each other. But even so, there's sense in the proverb that a handful will lead to a bundle, and I finally finished. And if I was able to enact the old saying that with care and honor that art is learned, this work (of mine) would be attractive, well-constructed and fine to look at in a way it is not. It 's for this reason, dear reader, that I submit these words to you, asking your pardon...And I know that I am now not able to pull (the writing) together or correct it.  And because it's always only afterwards that one sees what one should have done, and though I was ignorant and unpracticed as I began..."

 

Blúirín as dán le Cormac an Chúil mac Mathabhain Ṓ Luinín do Sir Richard Cox (1650-1733). Cladhaire ceart ab ea Cox a dhishealbhaigh mórán daoine le cealg, agus a chruinnigh saibhreas dó féin. Chabhraigh sé, mar Lord Chancellor, le Penal Laws an-docht a chuir i bhfeidhm.

Tosnaíonn an dán faoi mar ba dhán mólta do Cox é, ach masla gach cheann de na guí dó.

Thogas so as ‘A Courtly Poem for Sir Richard Cox’, a chuireadh i gcló in Eigse. (Níl tagairt agam don uimhir anseo.) Shíl an t-eagarthóir (Donal O’ Sullivan) gur ghnáth-dhán é, nó gur chuir O Cuív ar a shuile dó nach é.

Ní foláir nó gur fear léinn as Fear Manach an Luinníneach.

An litriú faoi mar atá sa láimhscribhínn, ach amháin gur scríobhas ‘i’ (Béarla ‘in’) in ionad ‘a.’

 

1)                          A Risteárd mhuirnidh na gcreach

Go maire tú fá oineach;

Nár théidh tú go hifrion na gceall,

‘s go raibh tú beó again tamull.

 

7)            Ná raibh tú ‘do shuidhe air an lair bháin

                Is neasgóid cháoch ar do leath-mhás;

                ‘s má bhainionn chaoíche dhuit a dul amach

                Go seachnaidh Críost ort an spíoralach.

 

8)            Ná raibh gearbóg nimhneach ad chúl

                Is tú dul a bhoxáil le saighdúir:

                Nár thuitidh do bhrisde dhíot (i) gcath

                ‘s gan cnaipe nó poll ‘na bhásta,

                ‘s retréut ort go sgártha sganlach.

 

10)          Ná raibh tú et (agus) cailleach an hata

                Ag crois margaidh lá geimhríota,

Is caim-béul ort go suighe do chlúis,

A’ bollscaireacht Báiléd go crith-fhuar. (ie. Street singer)

 

11)          Galar sgrathach ná raibh ort

                Is sgafach iongan i n-éinfheacht

Le bruid thochais, is tú ar crith,

                Ag síor-chur do thón le gríosaigh

 

12)          Ná raibh tú ‘do dheóraidhe bhocht

                Ar feadh Fódhla i’d fhuighioll mallacht,

                Gan bhiadh, gan éadach, gan mhaoin,

                Ag síor iarradh’dhéirce go diamhaoín.