NOTES AND QUERIES.
(20) see (7) and (19) Nár éiriġiḋ an t-acsaḋs leat. Mr. Thos. Flannery deserves great credit for the ingenuity with which he has tried to explain this phrase. There is, however, at least one weak point in his explanation. He does not sufficiently show why the hypothetical form socsaḋas should be used as a feminine noun. The use of it as such would be contrary to the well-known general rule of gender, to which borrowed words are made to conform, viz., nouns whose characteristic vowel is broad are usually masculine, and those whose characteristic vowel is slender, feminine. That loan-words follow this rule is clear from sgilling, s.f. O. Eng. scilling, feoirling, s.f. O. Eng. feordhling, príosún, s.m. Eng. prison, spás, s.m. Eng. space, aṁantur, s.m. Fr. aventure, &c. Besides, the Fr. succes is masculine, and if borrowed into Irish would hardly change its gender contrary to Irish rules of gender.
I am still inclined to think that the original equation of acsaḋs = excise is correct, but I would make the phrase mean the very opposite of what is suggested in the query. [ 60 ]I will try to show that it signifies, “may you not escape the gauger.” Mr. Flannery is certainly correct in saying that “may you escape the gauger” would be a good wish in Ireland. More especially would this be the case at the present time.
In the idiom éiriġ le, succeed, the noun or pronoun which is nomin. to éiriġ, always refers to the person denoted by the prepositional pronoun. Thus nár éiriġiḋ an turus so leat = may you not succeed in this journey, or may this journey (expedition) not succeed with you. Similarly, if we use leis, léi, &c., we see that the turus, or expedition, is being made by him, her, &c., according to the prep. pron. Now, if we bear this in mind in translating nár éiriġiḋ an t-acsaḋs leat, we get “may the (or your) excise not succeed with you,” or “may you not succeed in (or as regards) your excise.” “To succeed in one’s excise” would certainly in Ireland be equivalent to “not to have to pay it, to be able to evade it, to escape the gauger,” otherwise there would be no question of success in the matter at all. Now, not to succeed in one’s excise, would, of course, be the direct opposite of this, i.e., “to be caught by or not to escape the gauger.” Hence, I consider nár éiriġiḋ an t-acsaḋs leat = may you not escape the gauger, may the gauger detect you in the act of smuggling, and consequently = confusion to you.
The translation, “may you escape the gauger,” could only be effected by making an t-acsaḋs = the revenue people. But I think I have shown above that this is not possible, and that it signifies “the excise or duties that are due to the revenue” by the recipient of the bad wish.
The phrase probably dates from the time of the French Revolutionary War, when smuggling was very common on the southern coast of Ireland.
J. H. L.
(21) see No. (13.) It should have been also stated that glas, besides signifying green (applied to grass), gray (of animals), and chilly (of weather), has also the sense o blue when used of the sky, as an speur ġlas, the blue sky. The latter is perhaps the most primitive sense as glâs in Welsh = blue, and Old Celtic glastum = woad, a plant that stains blue. How is it that glas denotes three different colours? I have seen it asserted somewhere that certain African tribes have only such words for colours as would describe the appearance of their cattle, and have no words at all for the colour of the grass beneath their feet, or the sky over their heads. This is also said to have been the state of the primitive Indo-Europeans as regards colour-words. Consequently, the use of glas in its different senses must be very ancient, going back to an early period when the Celtic colour-sense was not fully developed.
J. H. L.
(22) see (N. and Q. 4 and 16) I will now try to prove (in-on′) = in innṁe by Irish phonetics. In the first place there cannot be any doubt that the Donegal ’niniṁ (’niniḃ) is in innṁe. Besides the resemblance in form, which is very close, in spite of one being a provincial and the other the literary spelling, we find that the same two senses apply to each, as shown in (16), (1) able to, (2) about to.
Now, starting from the Ulster form in iniṁ or ’niniḃ, how can we show that it is identical with (in-on′)? Not difficult, as the old MSS. say. The prep. prons. ionnam, ionnat, &c., are pronounced in Connaught annam, annat, &c., and it is probable that the same dialectical pronunciation was applied to the initial syllable of iniṁ, Another peculiarity of Connaught pronunciation is that a final ṁ or ḃ slender is usually silent; as in Gailliṁ, gainiṁ (gen. of gaineaṁ), d’ḟágaiḃ (old form, now d’ḟág in Ulster and Munster), orraiḃ, agaiḃ, &c. Granting that inniṁ has been altered in Connaught in these two ways, we get the form ana’ = iniṁ = innṁe, and the whole phrase in ana’ = in iniṁ = in innṁe. But we find that (in-on′) most commonly occurs before a vowel; as in tá mé (in-on′) é ḋéanaṁ, or tá mé (in-on′) a ḋéanta. Probably, to avoid a hiatus, the final a of ana’ was elided before following vowel, and consequently the form in an’ resulted. If this explanation be correct, the use of (in-on′) = suitable, e.g. má tá an lá (in-on′)—where (in-on′) occurs at the end of a sentence—must be later. It may, perhaps, be an abbreviation for má tá an lá (in-on′) a ḋéanta, as déan is sometimes used in Connaught = do, suit, or "able to do it," might come in time to mean “fit or suitable.”
The best translation for senses (l) and (2) of in innṁe would seem to be “fit,” as (1) tá mé in innṁe a ḋéanta, I am fit to do it, (2) ḃí an long in innṁe a báiḋte, the ship was fit to sink. Innṁe in these phrases prob. = ripeness, fitness; c.f. Inṁeaċ, ripe, O’R.
J. H. L.
I am not at all satisfied that the last word has been said in reference to the expression, nár éiriġiḋ an t-acsaḋs leat; nor do I consider that we have at all got at the real inwardness of it. Whether the expression is found outside Waterford or not, I cannot say; in Waterford I do know that it is in use. In Waterford, however, the word acsaḋs undoubtedly means excise. Several old people have told me that the only name by which the gauger used to be known formerly was fear an acsaiḋs. As far as this county goes we must, therefore, look for an explanation of nár éiriġiḋ an t-acsaḋs leat, compatible with the well-defined meaning of the word acsaḋs. That meaning is certainly not “may you escape the gauger.” It certainly is, as is clear from the manner of its use, the reverse of a complimentary wish. I offer the following explanation, which I hope will remove all doubt as to the meaning of the word. The expression, doubtless, had its origin at a time when private stills were a common institution in the land, and when the gauger was looked upon as the enemy. When, therefore, the gauger was seen going forth on one of his raids, I think the wish that he might not succeed in his undertaking—a wish which was doubtless often uttered—assumed the form nár éiriġiḋ an t-acsaḋs leat. Later on the expression was applied generally, and any person entering on an undertaking, for the non-success of which anyone wished, would have nár éiriġiḋ an t-acsaḋs leat addressed to him. There is the cognate expression, nár éiriġiḋ an t-áḋ leat. A very intelligent man explained the difference in meaning between the two for me not long since. If one scrupled to say nár éiriġiḋ an t-áḋ leat, and wished to soften it (or “take the harm out of it”) he would say nár éiriġiḋ an t-acsaḋs leat. My own observation since leads me to the conclusion that this is really so.
MICEAL PADRAIG OHICEADA.