Page:Cnuasacht trágha - Sheehan.djvu/74

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28. "Let us cast it (the topic) aside."

29. "The little yearlings."

30. "Here we set to work, and may God bless us, and may we not be long waiting till meal-time. May it not be long after that, that the sun will set. Whoso grudges what we eat, and slights what we do, may they not have a bite on St. Brigid's day, nor know their food on St. Michael's."

31. "The year it was let out in small lots for tillage." Reaċtas, lit., stewardship.

31a. "From the time they were set, till (the people) were going to dig them." See note 25a, p. 60.

32. "Twenty years to this present time."

33. "Hush!"

34. "I met him over at the cross last night as he was going for the loan of a scythe."

35. "For the new year."

36. "She is married to a man who is in the fire-brigade."

37. "No blessing on it for fire." This "for" was used in old English—"a murrain on you for a roguish knave." Traces of it are still found in German, and in the people's English.

38. "Very dangerous."

39. "Did you ever see anything of these doings, you who were in America?"

40. "So (mar sin), I suppose you cannot give us any account of it;" cf. 19, p. 65. Taḃairt amaċ, lit., bring out, show publicly, hence recount or declaim. Taḃairt amaċ also means a procession, a public show.

41. "All beneath him gave way."

42. "Neither tale nor tidings of him have been got since."

43. "Hush, be still." Lit., "whist, gently."

44. "Here is Johnny, coming down." I have seen seo é in some books (recent), but do not know on what authority it rests. The usage which I have noted is as follows: ṡidé an fear, this (near me) is the man; sin é an fear, that (near you, or further from me) is the man; ṡud é an fear, that (near him or them, yonder, more remote) is the man. In referring to topics as "that is what I was saying" use sin é do ḃí mé a ráḋ, or in pointing out parts of a picture "this is the man's head," sin é ceann an ḟir. The contents of a picture are conceived as remote, because unreal. Ṡid é ceann an ḟir would be used only of the living subject. Ṡid í and Ṡid iad are of course also used acc. to exigencies of grammar. When handing an object to another you say seo ḋuit do leaḃar—do ċasóg, etc., "here is your book; your coat."