A cháirde,

Tá mé ag léamh _Rotha Mór an tSaoil_ ag an am seo, agus tá sé go hiontach!

Here are two sentences that I don't think I'm understanding the whole meaning of:

"Mar bharr ar an mhífortún maraíodh sarbhónta de chuid Adair arbh ainm dó Ó Muireadhaigh agus chuir sin as a chrann cumhacta ar fad é. Cha rabh sé le scaoileadh ná le ceangal ní ba mhó ina dhiaidh sin."

Here's my translation:

"To top off the misfortune, one of Adair's servants, whose name was Ó Muireadhaigh, died, and this caused him to lose control completely. He never regained the ability to make decisions and act on them."

This seems pallid, in view of the vivid imagery in the original -- "out of his tree of power", "to loose and to bind". In English, the idea of "binding and loosing" carried definite connotations of "magic", and the idea of a "crann cumhacta" certainly supports that idea.

So my question is -- Is anything super-physical being implied here, or is it just figurative language?

Go raibh maith agaibh!

--Al Evans

Mo leithscéal faoin mhoill seo a Al.

>>Mar bharr ar an mhífortún maraíodh searbhónta de chuid Adair arbh ainm dó Ó Muireadhaigh agus chuir sin as a chrann cumhachta ar fad é. (Rotha M. an tSaoil, lch. 40)

Al a chara, in ionad 'died', is é 'maraíodh', 'was killed' an focal atá ag déanamh doghrainne anseo.


>>Cha rabh sé le scaoileadh ná le ceangal ní ba mhó ina dhiaidh sin."

Is nath leathchoitianta go leor é, 'cha rabh sé le scaoileadh (ná le ceangal)'. He was fit to be tied. = He was crazy.
Is leathchoitianta chomh maith an nath 'chuir (sé) sin as a chrann(a) cumhachta (ar fad) é.'


>>So my question is -- Is anything super-physical being implied here, or is it just figurative language?

Is féidir gurbh ionann gabháil 'sna cranna cumhachta' agus gabháil 'sa bhile buaice ar dhuine' in am amháin, ach is mar ghnáthabairt chainte a bheadh sé ag feidhmiú ag cách na linne seo. Sa mhéid sin go mbeadh bunús draíochta taobh thiar den nath, is beag duine ar na saolta seo a chuimhneodh in am ar bith air, ná ag a mbeadh aon teacht acu ar an eolas ina thaobh.

Ádh mór.

Seosamh