The one I'm reading at the moment is 'The Cat's Place by the Fire' which has been translated into English by Eileen O'Faolain. It's in her book 'Children of the Salmon and other Irish Folktales' The original Irish version is in the 'Béaloideas' Magazine which you can read on JSTOR. While I fully recognise any storyteller's right to reshape and remodel a story in the oral tradition, I do feel that the original style has lost quite a lot in translation. I can give you the whole of it, if anyone's interested - it's not very long. I'm stuck on some of the vocabulary and unfortunately I can't always find what I'm looking for in Dinneen's Dictionary.

When orm follows iallach, surely that means that the obligation falls on oneself (ie the dog), doesn't it? So I don't understand how it's being used here.


MÁIGHISTREACHT AN TIGHE AG AN GCAT

Bhíodh an gadhar amuich le fliuchán agus fuacht fadó, agus bhíodh an cat istigh cois an teallaigh. Dubhairt an gadhar an lá seo, agus é fliuch báidhte : "Tá áit chompóirteach agat," leis an gcat, ach ní bheidh sé níos mó agat nó go bhfeicidh mise a bhfuil iallach orm féin a bheith amuich 'chuile dhroch-lá agus tusa istigh."

The Cat's Place by the Fire

From bygone times the dog used always be out in the cold and the wet while the cat was always inside cosy by the fireside. One day when the dog was drowned and wet from the rain he said to the cat : "You are fine and comfortable inside always while I'm out in the cold and the wet, but I'm going to see to it that you'll not be inside any longer."

Could it be like if the dog said "I'll have to do something about that!"

For example, my Irish grammar is awful. I'll have to do something about that.

_________________
Pages I made:
(These are unfortunately offline for the near future, but they'll be back!)

• Teaching Young Kids Irish (It's just my notes, a work in progress.)
• CD transcript and translations for the book Learning Irish

The English isn't a direct translation. And the Irish looks a bit off too.

If "nach" was added I think the last sentence would be ok.

ach ní bheidh sé níos mó agat nó go bhfeicidh mise nach bhfuil iallach orm féin a bheith amuich 'chuile dhroch-lá agus tusa istigh.

"Tá iallach orm féin..." I am forced to....

Ah d'accord, je comprends un peu mieux. Merci

Here are two more words that I can't find - a' guil. Here's the context -

Casadh fear siubhail dó, agus nuair a chonnaic sé an gadhar ag tigheacht agus a bhéal osglaighthe aige, shíl sé gur a' guil ag breith air féin a bhí sé, agus bhí maide i n-a láimh, agus bhuail sé an gadhar, agus é a' guil amach thairis.

and the second one is - don. This is taken from the next story - RÍ NA N-ÉAN : AN DREÓILÍN

Chuireadar geall éanacha an aéir uiliug le chéile go bhfeicidís cé acab is áirde a bhí i ndon a dhul ins an aer.

By the way I'm copying this out as it is printed, so quite often there are fadas missing here and there, for example - me instead of mé, tri instead of trí, srl. As I mentioned above, these are stories that were published in Béaloideas, but as they were printed in Dublin, so it makes you wonder whether the type-setter knew what he was doing.

a' guil = ag goil = ag dul = going



i ndon = in ann = able to

Go raibh maith agat.

Here's the first story in full.

MÁIGHISTREACHT AN TIGHE AG AN GCAT

Bhíodh an gadhar amuich le fluichán agus fuacht fadó, agus
bhíodh an cat istigh cois an teallaigh. Dubhairt an gadhar an
lá seo, agus é fliuch báidhte : "Tá áit chompóirteach agat," leis
an gcat , "ach ní bheidh sé níos mó agat nó go bhfeicidh mise a
bhfuil iallach orm féin a bheith amuich 'chuile dhroch-lá agus tusa
istigh."
Chuala fear an tighe an argúinteacht a bhí idir an cúpla, agus
chreid sé go mba mhaith an ceart an cás a réidhteach idir iad.
"I mbárach," adeir sé, "cuirfidh mise ag rith rása sibh le chéile,
cúig mhíle o'n teach, agus cé bí cé agaibh a thiocfas isteach 'un
tosaigh is aige a bhéas an áit istigh, agus béidh an ceann eile ag
déanamh seirbhís na háite taobh amuich."
Réidhtigh an cúpla iad féin, agus ritheadar, agus ar an mbealach
ag tígheacht dóib, bhí leith-mhíle thosach ag an ngadhar ar an
gcat. Casadh fear siubhail dó, agus nuair a chonnaic sé an gadhar
ag tigheacht agus a bhéal osglaighthe aige, shíl sé gur a' guil ag
breith air féin a bhí sé, agus bhí maide i n-a láimh, agus bhuail
sé an gadhar, agus é a' guil amch thairis. Nuair a gortuigheadh
an gadhar sheas sé ag tafann, agus ag brath ar é ithe, ag baint a
shásaimh dhe.
Bhí an cat ar feadh an achair seo ag déanamh an bhealaigh nó
gp raibh sé istigh, agus a sgíth leigthe aige, cois na teineadh, agus
é dhá ligheachan féin roimh an ngadhar.
"Anois," adeir an cat, nuair a tháinig an gadhar isteach, " tá
an geall rithte agus an áit istigh agam-sa go bráth aríst."

Ag goil - is how we say it in Conamara.

Also in this context "ag breith air" means "to bite him".
He thought the dog was going to bite him.


Poor dog ! That race wasn't fair at all.

Go raibh maith agat - so what dialect is it in ? Conamara ? I think there must be a few mistakes here and there - for example, is it - tígheacht or tigheacht ? It's the first time I've seen tomorrow written as - i mbárach.