An Lon Dubh wrote:
This was the one line that stumped me.
Whew, now I feel better knowing that I'm not the only one who had trouble figuring this one out.
An Lon Dubh wrote:
Also Sliabh na mBan bhFionn starts today. Aislingeach told me she would join too, so let's begin!
I'm on it!
Bríd Mhór wrote:
I'm just guessing here.
Is dócha go bhfuil an ceart agat, a chara. It looks right to me, anyway.
And now back to
Sliabh na mBan bhFionncéisteanna:
Do tugadh cuid desna mnáibh óga ba bhreátha a bhí le fáil in Éirinn an uair sin, agus do cuireadh isteach sa chnuc san fé dhraíocht iad.They were called some of the finest young women to be gotten in Ireland at that time, and they were put in into that hill under a spell.
Did I understand that sentence more or less? Just letting you know: It helps me to try to translate a sentence like that into English as directly as possible from the Gaelic, while still making it intelligible. In other words, I'm trying to understand the Irish sentence rather than trying to write "correct" English.
an chuid eile dhá shaeil – the rest of his life (Is that right?)
… ach ní hi gcónaí a dheinidís tairbhe. – I didn't know that "
i" ever took a "h" in front of it. Is it because the preceding word
ní ends with a vowel?
Comments:
Okay, I'm after reading the first part of the story and poring over the notes. Your notes are brilliant!
If the rest of the notes are as good as these ones for the first part, I'll probably be fluent by the end of the story!
Iarlais does indeed mean "changeling" in this story. The Good People leave 3 kinds of changelings:
1. an old, decrepit, usually obnoxious changeling; it is assumed that they are happy to be rid of these old cranky types.
2. a small sickly changeling that they would like to exchange for a healthy person.
3. a stock – usually a piece of wood that is carved roughly in the shape of the person who is taken away by them. The stock is enchanted so that it looks like the actual person who soon wastes away and appears to die, but if you go back and dig up the "body" you will find only a stock of wood and that means that the person is still alive and is living with the Good People.
The first type of
iarlais is the one that is mentioned in this story.
I haven't read the rest of the story, but if it's the one that I'm thinking of, a fragment of this story exists in English and was collected by Caoimhín Ó Danachair a while back. Fortunately, this story is much more complete and in the original language, too!
Stories like this are the reason that I'm learning Irish – maith thú!
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Go raibh maith agat as an gcúnamh!
