'Téigheann scéal nua ort': On second thoughts, maybe it implies 'New stories [in the sense of adventures/experiences] go on [i.e happen to] you', thus suggesting that the 'fear siubhail' - considering all the things that would have happened to him on his travels - would be in a better position than the farmer to relate a story. But if so, I would have thought the plural 'scéalta' would be more appropriate.

'Scéal ort' seems to mean 'story about you'. Examples:

De Bhaldraithe also translates ón uair go as "seeing that". https://www.teanglann.ie/en/eid/seeing

In colloquial English "seeing that" and "since" are kind of blended into "seeing(s) as" (pronounced "seens as"), which is what De B. is implying  ón uair go means.

I think the reason that ort isn't emphatic (i.e. > ortsa) is because it is already being re-emphasised by the copula. It is a different kind of emphasis, how ever, as is ort a théigheann scéal nua relocates the focus of the sentence, changing the "natural" word order, whereas téigheann scéal nua ortsa specifically shows that it is you that the story is happening to. The meaning is very very similar but I believe there is still a difference.



Now that you say that, that would make a lot more sense, where ort is being used to express the person being affected. So, 'seeing that it is you that walks the lands, a new story is to happen/happens to you'?



I don't think that scéal ort in this context would mean 'story about you', as that would mean that téigheann would be being used in an intransitive way, i.e. 'a new story about you goes', which wouldn't make much sense, at least in my mind.

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I'm an intermediate speaker of the Corca Dhuibhne dialect of Irish and also have knowledge on the old spelling
Soir gaċ síar, fé ḋeireaḋ thíar

Thanks for pointing that out, David!

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I'm an intermediate speaker of the Corca Dhuibhne dialect of Irish and also have knowledge on the old spelling
Soir gaċ síar, fé ḋeireaḋ thíar

Interesting. That seems to be a very subtle distinction. I'll have to think a bit more about that.

I would guess that you're right in about 'riabhach' being a euphemism for 'diabhal' in this case, where the first and last consonants have been randomly altered to yield a different pre-existing word that has a benign meaning. (Of course, in Munster Irish, 'diabhal' woould be pronounced as if spelt 'dial', and 'riabhach' as if spelt 'riach'.)

Is 'dó' a known contraction of 'is dóigh'? I do know for instance that 'Is mise Seán' can be shortened to 'Mise Seán', with the 'Is' being dropped.

As far as I understand, in Munster Irish, the prepositions 'de' and 'do' have become conflated. I wonder if it's the case that their corresponding prepositional pronouns have also become conflated e.g. could 'dó' (to it or for it) be used instead of 'de' (of it or off of it). In that case, 'An riabhach a bhfuil agam dó' might mean 'I have eff all of it (i.e. I have eff all of a new story). Just a guess.

Yes, dó = de, here

That makes sense. Thank you both

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I'm an intermediate speaker of the Corca Dhuibhne dialect of Irish and also have knowledge on the old spelling
Soir gaċ síar, fé ḋeireaḋ thíar