I have now finished my study of chapter 30 of Niamh - just over the halfway point. That's it for me until after Christmas. But I have these queries:
quote:Caithfear duine éigin a dh’fháil a bheith maith a dóthain di sa chleas so atá ar siúl aici.
Is bheith a typo for bheadh? Or are both acceptable?
quote:Bhí rud eigin á chur ina luí orm i gcaitheamh na haimsire an fhaid a bhí sé á ollmhú féin chun an Chreidimh a ghlacadh ná raibh aon ghus san ollmhúchán. Bhí eagal orm dá ngéillinn don smaoineamh san go mbeinn ag déanamh éagóra ar an mbuachaill, bhí sé chomh simplí, chomh leanbaí sin, an ropaire! Ansan airís, nuair a duairt sé gur mhaith leis bheith ina shagart, tháinig an smaoineamh céanna chúm. Cheapas nár mhothaíos an gus ceart ina chaint ná ina mheon i dtaobh an ruda a bhí aige á chur roimis, dar liom. Thugas fé ndeara go minic folús éigin ná féadainn a thuiscint ins na gnóthaíbh Creidimh a bhíodh ar siúl aige. An lá a bhí Brian agus na huaisle thíos, nuair a tháinig an Leagáid, d’airíos daoine ag cáineadh agus ag gearradh na Lochlannach os comhair an Lochlannaigh óig. Bhí eagal orm go mbeadh fearg air. Níor chuir sé blúire suime ina gcaint, an ropaire fill! Is álainn a choimeád sé a aigne istigh, agus mise ag déanamh éagóra ar mo dhá shúil agus ar mo bhreithiúntas féin le heagla go ndéanfainn éagóir airsean.
Mise ag déanamh éagóra ar mo dhá shúil agus ar mo bhreithiúntas féin- I was doing an injustice to my eyes and my judgment when I didn't believe the evidence of my eyes -but what is a good translation for this? We don't say "doing an injustice to your eyes" in English.
The reason it takes me so long to study Niamh, is that I have the following routine:
1) type of the chapter in the original spelling
2) proofread the chapter
3) go gradually through it, modernising the spelling, and putting any words I don't know in my Dictionary of Cork Irish and putting in footnotes in Niamh to anything that is worth explaining.
The way I look up words is:
1) Look in Ó Dónaill's dictionary, and copy the gender, nominative, gender and plural into my Dictionary of Cork Irish.
2) Look it up in Dinneen's dictionary, and copy the seana-chló spelling into my Dictionary.
3) Look every new word up in the Irish of West Muskerry just in case it is there, to determine the pronunciation, and enter that in IPA in my dictionary of Cork Irish.
4) In cases where the morphology in Dinneen's is different from that of Ó Dónaill's dictionary, I often need to go scouting for forms. Gaeilge Chorca Dhuibhne is one source consulted. I often need to wordsearch Mo Sgéal Féin and Séadna to check the forms used there (and PUL doesn't always use the same form of the word). In desperation, I can wordsearch the English version of the Bible and see if it leads me to the correct form of the word in PUL's Gospels. Eg tonnta, "waves" is now listed as "tonna" in my Dictionary, as I found a passage in the English Bible mentioning waves and looked up PUL's equivalent [I don't have the 4 gospels fully transcribed in PUL's translation, you see]. Occasionally, I have found forms by wordsearching the english version of the Imitation of Christ and looking in PUL's translation.
5) frequently I cannot find attestation of every single genitive, and have to put a note in my dictionary to investigate further, preferably consulting old speakers in Coolea - so although there are 6000 headwords in my dictionary, more than 1000 are tagged with further information to check.
It is not unknown for a single word to take me an hour casting round for information. Of course, it would be quicker to learn the CO - you just look things up in Ó Dónaill's dictionary and you have your answer. I am learning more slowly, and forcing myself to be thorough with every word.
With 6000 headwords in my dictionary I am only rarely meeting new words in PUL (maximum 10 per chapter, down from 300 per chapter when I read Mo Sgéal Féin last year), but further nuances of words I have learned are cropping up and so I have to amend and amend my dictionary to give every little nuance. Eg the rud a chur chút - to put something away in your pocket or on your person - is made up of words I knew, but required separate mention in my dictionary.
Words entered in my dictionary are generally accompanied by a quote from PUL and my translation of the quote. I know Ailín has his own voluminous files based on the Irish of many speakers; my dictionary is based on the Irish of one person, PUL!
