I'm having trouble understanding some of the words in the original version of this as collected by Herminie Templeton Kavanagh. Those words which are transcriptions from the Irish aren't too much of a problem, though could anyone tell me what 'Sliabh na Mon' might mean? The Mountain of ......?
The expressions I really don't understand are for example - comeither - as in 'But I wish we had comeither on you' - obviously it means something like a magic spell or geasa, but is there a more precise meaning to it? and is it an Irish English word or does it come from Irish?
and - Sorra a hair do I care - does sorra come from sorrow? Obviously it just means I don't care, but can anyone explain how and why? again is it an expression that mirrors what you would say in Irish? Does ferninst mean next to?
This is yet another example of a series of stories that have been published in English, but must have come originally from an Irish-speaking source. Apparently there's no trace of the original Irish version, as far as I'm aware.

I think "Sliabh na Mon" should be "Sleabh na mBan."

"Comeither" is probably from the English "come hither"...in other words, a spell to make the individual come to the person calling. But that's a guess.

I'm thinking "sorra" may come from "sorry," but again, that's just a guess.

Redwolf

There is a famous song written about Sliabh na mBan too -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0uZY7V2JPA

comeither - I'd say Redwolf is correct.

sorra - I don't know, it could just be an interjection.

ferninst - Could we have that in a sentence?


I thought Darby O'Gill was only a Hollywood old film.

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It is recommended that you always wait for three to agree on a translation.
I speak Connemara Irish, and my input will often reflect that.
I will do an mp3 file on request for short translations.
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I'll go ahead and be the 3rd person to verify this:

Sliabh na mBan – The Mountain of the Women
Like the story that me and Lon Dubh were working on a few months ago Sliabh na mBan bhFionn

sorra – it's like saying "the devil" for emphasis
Using your sentence as an example: "Sorra a hair do I care." is like saying "The devil a hair do I care."

By the way, in a different kind of sentence, sorra can also mean "can be":
"as wet as sorra" means "as wet as can be"

ferninst – opposite to; over against something

Here's the original edition -
https://archive.org/details/darbyogillgoodpe00kavaiala

I would have thought the Slieve/Sliabh na Mon would have been transcribed as Slieve na Man and not only that, in the story it's a godforsaken mountain in which the 'Good' People live. Why would that have been called the Mountain of Women? Are women considered to cursed, in traditional stories?
Herminie Templeton Kavanagh first published it in 1903, so I don't think Walt Disney had anything to do with it, at least not at that stage.

There's often little difference, in English, between the sound of "a" and the sound of "o"...that's one reason I always specify my particular dialect of English when giving pronunciations. I don't know the "why" of it, but I'm virtually certain "Sliabh na mBan" is what's intended.

Disney released a film called "Darby O'Gill and the Little People" in 1959, which I'm guessing is loosely based on this story:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darby_O%27 ... tle_People

Here's a link to Lon Dubh's notes for the folktale about Sliabh na mBan bhFionn:

http://irishlearner.awyr.com/membrfaylz ... namBan.pdf

After reading these notes, you'll quickly become an expert on everything to do with Sliabh na mBan bhFionn.

Ceart go leor - go raibh maith agaibh go léir

Another thing to bear in mind is that Kavanaugh was almost certainly not an Irish speaker, and probably just wrote things down as she heard them. The sources I'm finding attribute these stories to her, rather than describing them as folktales (in fact, the Irish folklore commission which had been working with Walt Disney on finding an Irish tale to adapt, was disappointed that he decided to go with Kavanaugh's work (she's variously described as a "British author" and an "Irish-American author"), so I'm guessing it's something she made up rather than a traditional folktale), so I'd expect there to be a fair bit of writer's license.

Redwolf

In Sliabh na mBan The women's mountain/Mountain of the women, the women are blond haired Aos Sidhe women who live in the mountain and abduct young girls in the local area to come live with them. The hill originally had another name, I'll have to look it up, before these stories of the Sidhe women became popular.

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The dialect I use is Cork Irish.
Ar sgáth a chéile a mhairid na daoine, lag agus láidir, uasal is íseal