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Watching “Cré na Cille”, I came across a really interesting expression. The full line is:
“Ní chloisfidh túÂ aon racht uaithi nóÂ go mbeidh ionlaois pocaide istigh aice”
“She won’t utter a single wail until she gets her fill of drink”I didn’t know either of these words, so I had to look them up, naturally. Looks like this literally translates as something like “calving of a billy-goat”. That has to be the strangest way of referring to having your fill of drink I have ever heard! I guess the implication is that you are so full you feel pregnant with something that has horns. Yikes!
Perhaps it meant that long ago but it seems to be more like till the calving goats are near or maybe like the English expression “till all the cows come home” meaning it will take a long time or may be never
I’m a little confused by your response. Do you mean the phrase means “til the cows come home” in current slang and not what it used to mean, as evidenced by the writing of O Cadhain?
I meant that perhaps when the translation was done or perhaps before then, the expression her fill of drink was commonly used to indicate a time that would never come. As you can see, there is no mention of drinks at all in the Irish sentence. so a word for word translation would make no sense. It may be that one who is known to be a heavy drinker would never have their fill so that would mean never. Since it does refer to calving goats being near . I said it was similar to ” till the cows come home” meaning a thing that will never happen, That is an old phrase and not modern slang. All I have is that one sentence so I am not sure it would make sense in context with the rest of the story
Probably completely unrelated, but interesting (to me, anyway):
Just above the entry for pocaide in Ó Dónaill is the entry: pocaid = bocaire. The definition for bocaire is: “small cake; muffin” but is then followed by the proverb: Is fada ón luaith an bocaire translated to mean “there’s many a slip twixt the cup and the lip.” Can’t quite wrap my head around it, but it’s interesting to follow a path from pocaide to pocaid to this proverb.
And then there’s the seanfhocal: D’olfadh sé an chros den asal. Donkeys/goats and drink? It’s a foreign mindset to me.
A Seánín, That means, “He’d drink the cross off an ass” another common expression meaning a heavy drinker, Note the donkey’s back appears to have a cross on it
Is fada ón luaith an bocaire translated to mean “there’s many a slip twixt the cup and the lip.” Can’t quite wrap my head around it, but it’s interesting to follow a path from pocaide to pocaid to this proverb.
Nice one! “The cake is far from the ash”? Does that imply that a lot can happen between the cake and the ash that’s left over from baking the cake? Or… ?
Is dóigh go bhfuil an ceart ag Pádraigín Rua. Míníonn na hanairtí seo a leanas an chaoi a mbaintear úsáid as an leagan cainte ionlaos pocaide. I bhFoirisiún Focal as Gaillimh a fuair mé iad (l. 126).
Rinne sé ionlaos pocaide dhó — Rinne sé scéal an ghamhna bhuí de.
Ná bain ionlaos pocaide as — Ná bí rófhada leis.
Ina theannta sin, deir an foclóirín go dteagann na samplaí seo as Cois Fhairrge, arbh as don Chadhnach.
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