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Recently, my Daddy bought me “Tomhais Méid Mo Ghrá Duit.” The real Irish version. I am using it as a study tool and translating it word by word/line by line. One sentence is confusing me…”Nach air siúd atá na cluasa fada!”…Google Translate says it means “Not those who have the long ears,” but that’s practically the opposite of the English version meaning. I researched on Teanglann, and I thought maybe it means something like, “He who had big ears”??? I’m pretty much confused…What does this sentence literally mean, and what (in this context) does “nach” mean?…Can anyone help? THANKS! 🥰
Recently, my Daddy bought me “Tomhais Méid Mo Ghrá Duit.” The real Irish version. I am using it as a study tool and translating it word by word/line by line. One sentence is confusing me…”Nach air siúd atá na cluasa fada!”…Google Translate says it means “Not those who have the long ears,” but that’s practically the opposite of the English version meaning. I researched on Teanglann, and I thought maybe it means something like, “He who had big ears”??? I’m pretty much confused…What does this sentence literally mean, and what (in this context) does “nach” mean?…Can anyone help? THANKS! 🥰
Nach air … = Isn’t it on him / Isn’t it he
… atá na cluasa fada = … that the long ears are / who has the long ears?You’re problem is probably the negation of the question.
It is a rhetorical question. (used as an exclamation).
Nach …? = Isn’t …?
The negation is just there for emphasis as it is for instance in
Nach deas an lá é?/! (Ar ndóigh is deas!) = “Isn’t it a nice day?” (Of course it is!)So here:
Doesn’t he have the long ears! (Of course he has! You can say that again!)
The sentence means actually: He has long ears – He is (as stupid as) an ass (donkey).(for simplicity I left out siúd, é siúd = that person in distance, Siúd is probably meant derogatory here,
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