“Well, them bogmen liked their porridge. They certainly did.”
- Francie Brady sa scannán Butcher Boy
Tá dhá fhocal i ngáthúsáid inniu a chiallaíonn “porridge,” mar atá “leite” agus “brachán.” B'ionann leite i gcónaí agus an bia te a dhéantar le min choirce (nó min eile) agus uisce nó bainne.
“Littiu” an t-ainm a bhí uirthi sa tSean-Ghaeilge. Seo é an míniú atá againn in Sanas Cormaic:
842. Littiu .i. lot-te .i. lotan ar tige í ⁊ tes inti.
Is é sin, deir Cormac go dtáinig littiu ón gcomhfhocal lot-te, a thagann ó “leota” (= meall) toisc go bhfuil sé tiubh agus ó “te” toisc go bhfuil teas inti.
Níl an méid sin samhlaíochta le fáil san fhíorscéal. Tá “littiu” gaolmhar do “πόλτος / póltos” na Gréigise agus do “puls, pultes” na Laidine. Tá an chiall chéanna acu uile. Cailltear an p- go rialta i nGoidelic, ach mhair an -l- agus an -t- ann.
Tá nasc stairiúil eile ann idir “littiu” na hÉireann agus “pultes” na Laidineoirí. I lár an 9ú céad a scríobh Johannes Scotus Eriugena, scoláire clúiteach Éireannach, an tráchtas De divina praedestinatione. Níor thaitin sé leis an Eaglais agus cháin siad go láidir é, á rá nach raibh ann ach “commentum diaboli” (cumadh an diabhail) agus “pultes Scotorum” (leite na nÉireannach)!
Níl an méid sin samhlaíochta le fáil san fhíorscéal. Tá “littiu” gaolmhar do “πόλτος / póltos” na Gréigise agus do “puls, pultes” na Laidine. Tá an chiall chéanna acu uile. Cailltear an p- go rialta i nGoidelic, ach mhair an -l- agus an -t- ann.
Tá nasc stairiúil eile ann idir “littiu” na hÉireann agus “pultes” na Laidineoirí. I lár an 9ú céad a scríobh Johannes Scotus Eriugena, scoláire clúiteach Éireannach, an tráchtas De divina praedestinatione. Níor thaitin sé leis an Eaglais agus cháin siad go láidir é, á rá nach raibh ann ach “commentum diaboli” (cumadh an diabhail) agus “pultes Scotorum” (leite na nÉireannach)!
Eriugena ar an sean-nóta £5
Maidir leis an bhfocal eile a úsáideann muid, “brachán,” is ón tSean-Ghaeilge “brothchán” a tháinig sé. Anraith nó stobhach an chiall a bhí leis ar dtús. Is cosúil go raibh meas air, más fíor don nath seo as Bríathra Flainn Fína maicc Ossu:
Ad·cota brothchán bithnert.
Tugann brachán neart leanúnach.
Níor mhínigh Cormac an focal seo, ach is léir gur díorthach é den ainmfhocal “bruth = teas”.
Leite fhíor-leiteach: min choirce le bainne coirce uirthi!
Nach é Brachán a itear i Kidnapped?
ReplyDeleteTá "praiseach" ann freisin. Agus is cosúil go n-idirdhealaíonn muintir Corca Dhuibhne puirseach (rud a itear) ⁊ praiseach (sa chiall easord)
ReplyDelete@Néidí - Níor léigh mé Kidnapped riamh.
ReplyDelete:-(
@aonghus - Suimiúil an t-idirdhealú sin! Is focal eile praiseach a fuair muid ón Laidin, ó “brassica”.
ReplyDeleteStirabout and Cannibalism
ReplyDeleteAccounts given by the Pagan writers, Strabo, Solinus, and Diodorus, of the alleged cannibalism of the Irish, or Scoti, of their day, are corroborated by St. Jerome, who lived from about A.D. 346 to 420.
In the fourth century the principal food of the Irish seems to have been stirabout, and Jerome apparently had as great abhorrence of stirabout as of heresy, for when writing against Celestine and his disciple, Albinus, he describes the one as ‘overfatted with Scottish stirabout’, and the other (Albinus), ‘a huge and corpulent dog—one better qualified to argue with kicks than words—for he derives his origin from the Scotic nation in the neighbourhood of Britain.’ The saint seems not to love the Scots (i.e. Irish) ; and in his eyes the eating of stirabout is on a par with the eating of human flesh, which he describes in emphatic words:—‘What shall I say of other nations, when I myself, when a youth in Gaul, saw the Scoti, a race of Britons, eating human flesh; and, although in the forests they have herds of swine and herds of cattle, they are accustomed nates feminarumque papillas abscindere solitos, et eas solas delicias arbitrari?’
From Pagan Ireland, Wood-Martin W.G., London, Longmans Greene and Co. 1905
Wakeman, perhaps understandably, did not provide an English translation of the Latin.
They are accustomed to tear off the buttocks and nipples of women, and consider them to be a singular delicacy - ECB
However, for a different analysis of the tribe, the saint and the translation, see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attacotti