Ba léir go raibh an srón ag duine a bhí aithne aige

Fáilte (Welcome) Forums General Discussion (Irish and English) Ba léir go raibh an srón ag duine a bhí aithne aige

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  • #36998
    gerrynobody
    Participant

    it seemed to be the nose of an acquaintance
    an bhfuil an t-aistriúchán seo ceart?
    ‘ba léir go raibh an srón ag duine a bhí aithne aige’

    https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Nose_(Gogol/Field)

    #46208
    Onuvanja
    Participant

    No, I’m afraid not. The first problem is grammatical, you’d have to say “duine a raibh aithne aige air” (person that he knew). Also, in Irish it is more common to say that body parts are “on” a person, e.g. tá srón mhór air (he has a big nose). Perhaps you could give more context for your sentence? In that case, it would be easier to suggest alternatives.

    #46209
    gerrynobody
    Participant

    Yes thanks, its a few paragraphs down from the start of that short story:
    [url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Nose_(Gogol/Field)]https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Nose_(Gogol/Field)[/url]
    probably better just to paste that link, clickable link leaves the brackets out for some reason.
    ‘ba léir go raibh an srón ar duine a bhí aithne aige air’
    How does that sound?

    #46210
    Onuvanja
    Participant

    Oh, sorry! I didn’t click on the link. 🙂 Okay. “Ba léir” actually means “it was clear”. If you want to say “it seemed” or “he had the impression”, you could use the impersonal form of “feic” (see). “B’fhacthas dó go raibh aithne aige ar a húinéir” (It seemed to him that he knew its (i.e. the nose’s) owner) or “B’fhacthas dó go raibh aithne aige ar an duine ar leis í” (It seemed to him that he knew the person it (the nose) belonged to).

    #46211
    gerrynobody
    Participant

    I quite like “B’fhacthas dó go raibh aithne aige ar a húinéir”, sounds like something someone would actually say.
    Would ‘Ba cosúil…’ be an acceptable alternative here, meaning ‘it was apparent, it seemed’. Always been a bit unsure of the nuances between Is cosúil and Is léir.

    #46212
    Onuvanja
    Participant

    Yes, grammatically speaking, it would be quite correct. Except that “ba” causes lenition, so you would have to say “ba chosúil”. As regards meaning, I have a feeling “ba chosúil” would sound somehow odd here, as the observation in a way concerns the character himself (“It was apparent/probable that I knew the owner of the nose” would also sound strange in English). But I could be wrong…

    #46213
    gerrynobody
    Participant

    Yes, I know what you mean. Probably one of those cases where something is not necessarily grammatically incorrect but not very idiomatic. ‘Ba chosúil..’ is not something I’ve seen much in print. GRMA as do chabhair 🙂

    #46214
    Onuvanja
    Participant

    Tá fáilte romhat! Níl “ba chosúil” mícheart. D’fhéadfá a rá “Ba chosúil go raibh eolas maith aige ar rialacha na teanga, mar ní dhearna sé aon bhotún” srl. Ach feictear domsa nach bhfeileann an leagan seo san abairt a bhí faoi chaibidil againn.

    #46217
    Héilics Órbhuí
    Participant

    Keep in mind that “srón” is feminine and it would be “an tsrón” if you use a version that includes the article. Re: “it seems”, there’s also “shílfeá” which means literally “you would think” but idiomatically seems to mean something similar to “it would seem”, so you might consider that too. Beyond that, I’m not sure about “úinéir” in the context of a body part. It could be that it’s correct, but it seems like Béarlachas to me. I would stick with a version where this part is “on” the person. “Shílfeá go raibh an tsrón ar dhuine a raibh aithne aige air”. Feel free to correct if I’m making mistakes of my own 🙂

    #46223
    Onuvanja
    Participant

    I agree with Héilics about “shílfeá”. It’s a great alternative, as are other “reflection” verbs “cheapfá” and “smaoineofá”. But I’m not so sure about the “go raibh an tsrón ar dhuine” bit of the sentence. This somehow gives the impression that the nose was flying around of its own accord and ended up on that person, not that it belonged to him all along… Ach cinnte, níl ann ach tuairim.

    #46224
    Héilics Órbhuí
    Participant

    B’fhéidir go bhfuil an ceart agat. Ní raibh mé féin róchinnte faoi sin. Chuimhnigh mé ar rud eicint ar nós “gurb í srón duine a raibh aithe aige air” ar dtús. Níl a fhios agam an bhfuil sé sin pioc níos fearr, ach tá sé níos soiléire nach bhfuil an tsrón th’éis a bheith ar eitilt agus tagtha anuas ar dhuine 😉

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