29 Lúnasa 2013

Cú Chulainn agus an sliotar



oc áin líathroti

Co n-accae íarum Coin Culainn oc áin líathróite.

Ansin chonaic sé Cú Chulainn ag iomáin liathróide.

Tá an sliocht seo le fáil sa Táin (LU 4983). Is é Conchobhar a chonaic Cú óg ag iománaíocht, lena lorg ánae (a chamán) ina láimh agus an líathróit (an sliotar) roimhe.



Go dtí le déanaí, séard a bhí sa sliotar ná meall comhdhlúth de fhionnadh ba ar an taobh istigh, le heangach déanta as rón casta mar chlúdach. Beidh na samplaí seo le feiceáil i Musaem Náisiúnta na hÉireann ó 5 Meán Fómhair. Rinneadh an ceann is sine díobh seo thíos sa dara leath den 12ú haois!



Tá ceist agam oraibh. Cad as don fhocal “sliotar”? Is cosúil nach raibh sé acu i nGaeilge Mheánaoiseach.

23 Lúnasa 2013

séanairí le séanadh



ar ni gnáth nach sénaire bed airddiu neoch

Tá na focail seo le fáil in Leabhar Laighneach (294b22) ag deireadh Audacht Morainn, téacs a thugann comhairle do rí nó do fhlaith. Seo é an líne ar fad, agus leagan eile de as an eagrán a rinne Thurneysen de in ZCP ó chúpla lámhscríbhinn:


Apair fris nacha n-erbad i sénairecht, ar ni gnáth nach sénaire bed airddiu neoch.

Abbair fris ni·n-erbba do sēnairecht, ar nī gnáth nach sénaire bed ferr ar chāch.

Abair leis (.i. an rí) gan earbadh i séanaireacht, óir ní gnách go mbeadh séanaire amháin níos airde ná cách.

Nó i bhfocail eile:

Ná bíodh iontaoibh agat as bean (nó fear) feasa, toisc nach mbíonn duine acu níos fearr ná a chéile.



Tá an focal “séanaire” sa teanga fós. An chiall atá leis de ghnáth anois ná duine a aimsíonn uisce, .i. dowserwater witch. An chiall is coitianta a bhí leis nuair a scríobhadh an téacs seo ná fáistineach, .i. fortune teller, soothsayer.

22 Lúnasa 2013

rialacha Leonard agus scéalta Sean-Ghaeilge


Fuair an t-úrscéalaí Elmore Leonard (Get Shorty, Pagan Babies, The Hot Kid, etc.) bás Dé Máirt. D'fhoilsigh sé a chuid rialacha scríbhneoireachta sa bhliain 2007. Phléigh mé iad i dteachtaireacht a chuir mé chuig Old-Irish-L cúpla bliain ó shin. 

1. Never open a book with weather.

The only instance of weather at the beginning of a story I can think of is largely an editorial artifact.  One story in Strachan's _Stories from the Táin_ begins "Féotar íarum i Cúil Sibrille.  Ferais snechtae mór forru co fernu fer 7 co drochu carpat."  (Then they spent the night in S.C. It snowed on them heavily, up to men's waists and the wheels of chariots.)  In the first place, this episode is part of the ongoing narrative in the Táin.  It's not set off in the MS as the beginning of a distinct chapter. Secondly, the snow is presented as a simple fact that explains why they got a slow start the following morning, not a long riff on the color of the sky, the shape of the clouds, the feel of the wind, and so on.

2. Avoid prologues.

Any real prologues in the tales?

3. Never use a verb other than “said” to carry dialogue.

No problem there.  Dialogue is almost always reported with the neutral and nearly invisble little word "ol", not with OI equivalents of "whimpered, shrieked, whispered, insisted, etc."

4. Never use an adverb to modify the verb “said” . . .

Check.  "Ol" is never modified.  Adverbs are not a common feature of OI.

5. Keep your exclamation points under control.

Exclamation points?  What?

6. Never use the words “suddenly” or “all hell broke loose.”

Hmmm.  I can't think of any instances of "suddenly" -- an adverb -- in the tales.  It's not that events don't happen suddenly in the tales, but the reader can see that without the adverb.

7. Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly.

OI is generally, and probably accurately, described as free of dialect.

8. Avoid detailed descriptions of characters.

Here, OI fails spectacularly.  We've all read the endless, static descriptions of warriors: their hair color and style, their clothing, armour, weapons, etc. etc.  On the other hand, aside from these formulaic set pieces, which it is easy to skip over, we don't hear much about the look of major characters such as Fergus, Conchobar, Cathbad as the action is unrolling.  We simply form of picture of them from their words and deeds.

9. Don’t go into great detail describing places and things.

Again, the tales tend toward formulas and hyperbole in descriptions of places/things such as hostels, chariots, chess boards.  Once they get that out of the way they don't burden the narrative with constant description ("the gentle green slope leading up to the entrance to the fortress"). The reader can fill in the picture for herself.

10. Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.

That would be above all the description of the sleeping compartments and their occupants in "The Destruction of Da Derga's Hostel"!  In the book _Scéalaíocht Ár Sinsear_ Kim McCone and Pádraig Ó Fiannachta give Modern Irish translations of nine tales including "Toghail Bruíne DaDerga".  In their translation they simply leave out most of that tedious block of paragraphs, noting "Leanann tuairisc fhada ar iomdhaí agus na laochra iontu...."

What we have in OI narrative is lots of action and dialogue and very little authorial intervention / interpretation. Elmore Leonard would be pleased.

18 Lúnasa 2013

Cad is aoir ann?


Má cheadaítear foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla, déarfar leat gurb ionann “aoir” agus “satire” nó “lampoon”. Ní scigaithris an chiall atá leis an aoir go bunúsach, áfach. Tá sainmhíniú beagáinín beag níos fearr le fáil san fhoclóir Gaeilge-Gaeilge An Foclóir Beag, mar atá “píosa searbh scríbhneoireachta a dhéanann ceap magaidh de dhuine nó de dhaoine.” Bhí aortha mar sin ann i bhfad ó shin, ceart go leor. Seo ceann gairid a bhfuil clú air:


Ro·cúala ní·tabair eochu ar dúana;
do·beir a n-í as dúal dó: bó.

Chuala mé nach dtugann sé eacha ar dhánta;
tugann sé an ní is dual dó: bó.

(Cliceáil anseo le tuilleadh a fhoghlaim faoin aoir seo.)

Ach is minic nach raibh greann dá laghad le fáil in aoir ar an seandéanamh. Séard a bhí ann de ghnáth ná mioscais , binb, tarcaisne, agus - minic go leor - mallacht. Tá an sainmhíniú is fearr den aoir Ghaelach le fáil i dteideal an amhráin seo leis The Ark

“This piece of poetry is meant to do harm.”

09 Lúnasa 2013

síntí fada, a dtábhacht




Tá na teangacha seo a leanas ag na Manaigh:

Albainis = Scots
Albáinis = Albanian 


Tá na h-ainmneacha comhionann ach amháin an síneadh fada. 

Agus tá níos measa fós ann:

Rómáinis = Romanian
Rómainis = Romansh
Romainis = Romani

02 Lúnasa 2013

Dia duit!


Conas a déarfá "Dia duit" i Sean-Ghaeilge? Cuireadh an cheist orm ar Twitter inniu. Seo é an méid a scríobh mé ar an ábhar sin deich mbliana ó shin i dteachtaireacht chuig Old-Irish-L.
> How many traditional Old Irish greetings could we choose from? There are only a few, really. Since none of them provides an exact match to modern English-language greeting formulas, some discussion is called for. Styles of greetings, both verbal and physical (handshakes, bowing, kissing, etc.), seem to vary enormously across cultures and times. Query: Did the early Irish shake hands? Hug? Salute? Verbal greetings:
1.  "Fo chen!"  This is also written as one word, "fochen", but the stress is always on the second syllable.  A common variant is "mo chen, mochen, mochean", which seems to have survived longer in the language.

Context suggests that "fo chen" was a fairly formal expression of welcome.  Sometimes it's translated "hail!", which fits in certain contexts, as in "Scéla Mucce Meic Dathó" when Cet and Conall greet one another in rosc, each one beginning with "Fochen".  Sometimes "fochen" is followed by the preposition "do": "fochen duit"(= welcome to you), "ocus is fochen dóib" (= and they are welcome).

Oddly enough, there is a great big lacuna in DIL in regard to "fochen".  "Mochen" is discussed at some length as an adjective, but "fo chen" is totally ignored.  It's my impression, however, that "fo chen" is the earlier form.

As I suggested recently, the formal response to "Fo chen!" would seem to be "Is ed doróachtamar!"

Rather than make a long e-mail of this, I'll just list some other greetings, and get to them in subsequent messages:

2.  "Dia do betha!"  (and variants)

3.  The casual "Maith (trá / éim / sin / ann)."

4.  The questionable "Cindas sin?"

5.  "Betha ocus sláinte!"

6.  "Síd ocus soinenn!"

7.  "Atrae búaid ocus bennachtain!"

8.  The use of "Beir (...) imchomarc".