Nouns can be used adverbially to express direction, distance, time, &c. Car ġaḃais ċugainn? An bóṫar anoir. “In what direction have you come to us? The road from the east.” No preposition is understood in the Irish. [Tá sé míle uainn, he is a mile from us; ḃí sé i gCorcaiġ lá, he was in Cork one day; ṫáining sé Dia Luain, he came on Monday.]
Ní gearánta ḋuit, “it is not to be complained of for you,” “you have not done badly.” [This form, the participle of necessity, survives to some extent in Munster: ní tógṫa orm, “it is not to be raised on me,” “I am not to blame.” See beiṫte, vocab., Three Shafts.]
Ar foġnaṁ, “well,” “doing well,” differs slightly from go maiṫ, and implies progress towards good.
Driuċ, “shape, aspect” [evidently a form of dreaċ].
Feiḃ, “just as” [a very ancient word in this sense].
Strac-ḟeuċaint, “a drag-look,” in which the eyes are strained sideways.
Tuairgín, a kind of mallet made of a round block of wood, one end being thinned off to form the handle (cos), which accordingly cannot be pulled out or loosened.
Táim réiḋ, “it is all over with me.” Munab ionann a’s riaṁ, “if not the same as ever before.” “I may have escaped before, but now there is no escape.” Munab ionann a’s, a common locution. Eiteoċar mise, munab ionann a’s fear na caoraḋ beirḃṫe, “I shall be refused,—a thing that will not happen to the man with the boiled mutton.”
Perhaps the heights of Heaven and the nine choirs of angels are meant.
Peadar Ua Laoġaire
[Some notes on dialect in above:
ná go ḃfuil (Munster) = naċ ḃfuil.
ṡocruiġeann: in Munster the relative forms of present and future, ṡocruiġeas, ṡocróċas, are nearly obsolete. In Connaught, the s is added to the ordinary present, ṡocruiġeanns.
Umpa: in Connaught, ḃuail duine fúm, “a person met me.” Fá has supplanted um in a number of usages, as tráċt fá níḋ for um níḋ, “about something,” fá Nodlaig for um Nodlaig, “about Xmas.”
tar n-ais for tar ais; in Clare, dul ar n-aġaiḋ for ar aġaiḋ.
drom for druim.
Gur, go, in this (Munster) usage must on no account be identified with English “that.” It represents an older locution, ag a, ag ar, “at which,” as in the sentence, an fear ag a ḃfuair a ṁac bás, “the man whose son died.” the man with whom his son died,” there being no Irish word for the possessive relative, “whose.” In Munster ag a became ’go; in Connaught and Ulster it became ’a,—an fear go ḃfuair, an fear a ḃfuair, &c. This locution became ultimately extended to many expressions in which the original ag a might seem out of place, as an duine gur (ag a) ṫug sé an sgilling do, “the person (with regard to) whom he gave the shilling to (him).”
Roimis for roiṁe, “before him.”
Munster fé, faoi; Connaught, faoi, fó; Ulster, fá, “under.” The classical forms are fo and fa.
do ḋein, do ḋin is used for do rinne, níor ḋin for ní ḋearna.
Leis, often with a before it, a leis, is used in Munster in the sense, “too, also.” In South Connaught, freisin (Old Irish, fris-sin, “in addition to that”) is used in the same way.
feacaiḋ for faca. This form, and not ċonnairc or ċonnaic, is the right one after ní, naċ, an, go, &c., yet is strangely omitted from some grammars.
Chonnairc: the forms without r, ċonnac or conncas, ċonnacais, ċonnaic, &c., though boycotted in grammars, are in common use, and are quite correct.
ainm is here feminine: properly cad é an t-ainm atá air?
Diaiḋ; In Munster iḋ, iġ are usually pronounced ig, as tiġ, “house,” pronounced tig. There are some exceptions, where ḋ and ġ are silent, as aṁlaiḋ, “how, thus,” and the ending of 2 plur, imperative, druidíḋ, “draw ye near!” In North Connaught the y-sound of final ḋ and ġ slender is often clearly heard at the end of a word, just as at the beginning: ’n-a ḋiaiḋ, “na yeeă-y.” This is, perhaps, the most correct sound; it is certainly the most consistent.
The writer says that this word is pronounced air, with r slender, in Munster. Some competent observers state that in Connaught the vowel-sound is as in air, but the r is broad, and that there is a clear distinction between the sound of ar, “on,” and air, “on him, on it.” J. H. Molloy, in his Irish grammar, represents the Connaught pronunciation by or.
This old verb is now confined to Munster usage, and generally is used negatively or interrogatively: ní ḟeadar, n’ḟeadar, “I do not know;” ní ḟeadraiḋis (see note f), “you know not;” an ḃfeadraiḋis “do you know?” ní ḟeadair sé, “he does not know;” ná feadair sé, “that he does not know,” or “does he not know?” ní ḟeadramair, -aḃair, -adar, “we, you, they, do not know.”
Ná without eclipsis for naċ, which eclipses in present-day Irish.
After a broad letter, sin becomes sain, san, in Munster.
Tu often with short u in Munster.
Ar dtúis for ar dtús.
Aon, meaning “any,” can precede a plural.
Seasaiṁ is used as a root instead of seas—Seasaiṁ suas for seas suas, “stand up!”
Chonnairciḋis; for Chonnaircis, Chonnarcais, Chonnacais. This lengthening of is into iḋis is common in Munster—an ḃfeacaiḋis for an ḃfacais, “have you seen?” Chualaiḋis for Chualais, “you heard;” ṫánagaiḋis or ṫánaiḋis for ṫán(a)gais, “you came.”
ana-ṁaiṫ; the prefixes an, “very,” sean, “old,” and some others, take a euphonic a after them in Munster.
gaċ aon-ne’, for gaċ aon-neaċ, gaċ aon duine.
Cionnus, pronounced connus. It is wrong to suppose that this word represents cia an nós or cia nós. It is formed of ca, “what,” and ionnus, “manner, way,” now obsolete, except in the locution ionnus go, “so that.”
Puinn (Munster), “anything of consequence, much” (in negative phrases). Probably from French point.
Learners ought to mark well all dialectical differences, as these, though usually trifling, are often an obstacle to learning the language orally. The chief characteristics of Munster Irish are largely exemplified above.]
AḂRÁN GRÁḊA.
An Gaḃar Donn cct.
Fonn—“Carraig Ḋonn.”
Atáim fá ġruaim ó ċonncas ṫú,
A ċailín ċiuin de ’n ḟolt donn réiḋ;
Óir rug do ṡúile gorma uaim
Mo neart, mo lúṫ, mo ṁeisneaċ treun.
’Nois bím ag siuḃal ’san oiḋċe ḟuair
An ród, lé súil im’ ċroiḋe lag tréiġ
Go ḃfeicfinn ṫú arís, a rúin,
Go gcluinfinn fuaim ḃinn ṡuairc do ḃéil.
Oċón-í-eo! mo ċreaċ! mo ḃrón!
Naċ liom i gcoṁnuiḋe ṫú mar rún;
