ar lár?

[gerrynobody]

Hi, I am wondering about the construction ‘ar lár’ and what it means in the following sentence:

‘Ba shimpliú ar an scéal a mhaíomh go ndeachaigh polasaí rialtas Shasana, chomh fada is a bhí polasaí ann, ar lár go minic ar éilimh chontrárthana gcoilíneach, ach is fíor, mar sin, go ndearna na héilimh sin scéal ní b’achrannaí de chursaí na linne.’

I know that usually it means ‘left out’ or something like that, fágtha ar lár, but I’m having difficulty translating the second part of this sentence…’It would be a simplification to claim that the policy of the English government, insofar as there was a policy, went …? the often-conflicting demands of colonisation, but it is true that those demands made things more complicated.’
Anyone got any ideas?

[Labhrás]

Hi, I am wondering about the construction ‘ar lár’ and what it means in the following sentence:

‘Ba shimpliú ar an scéal a mhaíomh go ndeachaigh polasaí rialtas Shasana, chomh fada is a bhí polasaí ann, ar lár go minic ar éilimh chontrárthana gcoilíneach, ach is fíor, mar sin, go ndearna na héilimh sin scéal ní b’achrannaí de chursaí na linne.’

I know that usually it means ‘left out’ or something like that, fágtha ar lár, but I’m having difficulty translating the second part of this sentence…’It would be a simplification to claim that the policy of the English government, insofar as there was a policy, went …? the often-conflicting demands of colonisation, but it is true that those demands made things more complicated.’
Anyone got any ideas?

fágtha ar lár is an idiom.
But you can still translate literally:

fág ar lár = leave on (the) ground, (-> i.e. leave out)
téigh ar lár = go on (the) ground (-> probably just means: go on the ground)

[Héilics Órbhuí]

I did find one entry in Ó Dónaill that may relate to this:

“Chuaigh an cleas ar lár, the trick failed.”

So maybe the best way to translate it would be “… that the policy of the English government, insofar as there was one, often failed the conflicting demands of the colonists..”

But I’m previously unfamiliar with this use, so that’s just an (educated) guess. As you say, it is much more commonly used with fágáil to mean to leave out or omit.

[gerrynobody]

Looks about right I would say, go raibh maith agat!

[Onuvanja]

Perhaps what is meant is that “The policies of the British Government failed (were watered down?) because of the opposition (opposing demands) of the colonists”? That would help to make sense of the rest of the sentence, but in that case, for the sake of clarity, I think the author should have put “mar gheall” in front of “ar éilimh chontrártha na gcoilíneach”.

[Author]

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