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Dia dhaoibh,
I am currently reading Séadna, and I have run into an unexpected difficulty. Namely, all the contractions(?). Things like ‘na ‘ghar ‘ghá am’ ad’ ‘neósaidh, srl. While I can certainly ask people what each of them are, I was wondering if anyone knew of a resource which addresses this and would help me understand how to figure them out, or even a list of common ones.
GRMA!
Well, I guess things have been written like that mainly to reflect speech?
But normally apostrophies etc aren’t used as often as before in written stuff. In standard Irish, you don’t use many, except if you want to transcribe exactly what is said. So I don’t know of any resource about that.
But you can copy your sentences here and we’ll be able to tell you what is the “full written form” of all of them. 🙂Go raibh maith agat, a Lughaidh. Tuigim anois. It’s like writing ‘sup instead of “what’s up” because that what the kids actually say here.
So I will definitely need the help of someone more fluent with these whatever-they-are-called. I have gotten explanations for all but one of the examples in my previous post, ‘ghár. The sentence is:“A dhiamhaise, a Ghobnait, éist do bheul, agus ná bí ‘ghár mbodhradh led’ ghollánaibh agus led’ adharcaibh.”
GRMA, arís!
In my book (which uses the newer spelling) it says:
A dhia mhuise, a Ghobnait, éist do bhéal, agus ná bí ár mbodhradh led ghollánaibh agus led adharcaibh.
I would translate this as:
Oh god indeed (maybe this is kind of like saying “What silliness!” or “What nonsense!”, I think), Gobnait, be quiet, and don’t be bothering us with your standing stones and your horns.
So, it looks like ‘ghár is the same thing as ár in this sentence.
I hope that someone can verify whether or not I am right on this one, but it is my understanding that ár = ag + ár , so “ná bí ár mbodhradh” literally means “don’t be at our bothering”, i.e., “don’t be bothering us”
In my book (which uses the newer spelling) it says:
A dhia mhuise, a Ghobnait, éist do bhéal, agus ná bí ár mbodhradh led ghollánaibh agus led adharcaibh.
So, it looks like ‘ghár is the same thing as ár in this sentence.
I agree.
Short for “ag ár”It becomes clear in context. Without context it could be anything. We are not used to seeing abbreviation in Irish unlike other languages.
Go raibh maith agaibh!
These transcriptions(?) are making me think more about the actual pronunciation when words run into each other.
A WFM, I cannot believe I never thought to look in the book! That could be the resource I was looking for. Truly a “DUH!” moment.
A WFM, I cannot believe I never thought to look in the book!
Aye, the book has got the answers to questions like that 🙂
that ár = ag + ár , so “ná bí ár mbodhradh” literally means “don’t be at our bothering”, i.e., “don’t be bothering us”
bodhar – deaf
bodhrú – deafeningNá bí ár mbodhradh – don’t be deafening us (with your talk)
Neos(f)aidh is an old future form of “inis”, as you say ; earlier it was spelt “ineósaidh” — with the i- at the beginning the root of the verb is easier to recognize 🙂
Ná bí ár mbodhradh – don’t be deafening us (with your talk)
That’s another possibility. I looked up bodhradh in Ó Dónaill’s dictionary and it sends you to bodhair which shows bodhradh as the verbal noun of bodhraigh
bodhraigh
1. Deafen.
2. Bother, annoy.Ceart agat: ciall 1) litriúil, ciall 2) meafarach, de bharr ciall 1)
GRMA, a Aonghuis. I just love it when my questions are answered before I ask them! 🙂
I am also curious how you would translate “A dhiamhaise,” I had originally thought “O, good God” or the like, with “maise” in the sense of the “maise” used in Happy New Year, but when WFM pointed out the wording in his copy, I started to wonder. Perhaps I am not fully/properly understanding the uses of “maise” and “muise”?
And if the “A” is the vocative particle, why was “dia” not capitalized?
GRMA arís!
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