I am told that the family motto for the McSweeney (Mac Suibhne) clan is "Buailtir Cabir a Buaigh." I was asked to translate this for a friend of my wife, but it does not look familiar to me. Is it Old Irish? Middle Irish? a dialect of Irish? Some other Celtic language?
What does it mean? I searched the Internet and found two translations:
the strike for victory
and
strike for victory
This suggests that
buailtir might be equivalent to
buailtear, the impersonal command for
strike in Modern Irish and
buaigh may be the equvalent of
bua, the noun for
victory in Modern Irish.
However, I am stuck on
cabir and the particle
a. What do they mean? Is
cabir a form of
cab for
mouth?
Let the mouth be struck for victory?
Or, is
cabir an old form of
cabaire, the word for
blabber or
excessive talker?
Let the blabbermouth be hit for victory?
I know
bua is an abstract noun and the particle
a before it indicates the degree of victory, often translated as
how, or, I guess in this case,
how victorious.
Let the blabbermouth be hit as hard as the greatness of the victory desired?
In other words, who, or what are the McSweeney's hitting, and why are they doing it?
(Message edited by Lúcas on July 09, 2006)