I am not one to quarrel with Scripture, but I'm wondering what is the literal meaning of the following phrases which I would have written differently. Understandably, I should also ask why what I have written would be incorrect.

I would have written: ní bheidh díth orm.
Scripture says: ní bheidh aon ní de dhíth orm.

I would have written: i móinéar ghlas.
Scripture says: i móinéar féir ghlais.

quote:

I am not one to quarrel with Scripture

Is minic nach mbíonn na Scríbhinní ar aon intinn leo féin!

ní bheidh díth orm = I will not want [But the Irish is a bit unusual/stilted.]
ní bheidh aon ní de dhíth orm = I will want for nothing [The usual idiom]

i móinéar ghlas = in a green meadow [recte: móinéar glas]
i móinéar féir ghlais = in a meadow of green grass

Dennis, a chara,

i móinéar féir ghlais

If féir is translated as grass, then the expression makes sense, but I was reading it as slanting, the genitive form of fiar and becoming more and more confused.

I carefully examined the Bíobla text with a magnifying glass and, sure enough, it says féir Is this a misprint, or is this perhaps a dative form of the word?

quote:

I carefully examined the Bíobla text with a magnifying glass and, sure enough, it says féir Is this a misprint, or is this perhaps a dative form of the word?

It's genitive of féar.
i móinéar féir ghlais = in a meadow of green grass

Lars

Agus GRMA a Lars. Just for my information and subsequent reassurance of my sanity, is féir also an adjective in the genitive case?

quote:

Agus GRMA a Lars. Just for my information and subsequent reassurance of my sanity, is féir also an adjective in the genitive case?

Here it is a noun (féar = grass).
But it can be gen. of an adjective (fiar = slanting, gen. masc. féir), too.

E.g. féar fiar = slanting grass.
This would be in genitive:
móinéar féir fhéir = a meadow of slanting grass.

Lars

<--- weeping

(Message edited by domhnall_Ó_h_aireachtaigh on September 24, 2007)