
![]() 54 KB (*.wav) |
Pronunciation Key |
|
Note: You might hear a more poetic Hiberno-English translation of this seanfhocal, "We spend many a day asleep in the clay." This is not necessarily the same as the English exhortation "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we may die." One could invoke this proverb to work longer, as well as to play harder. Perhaps, another rhetorical English equivalent was written by Thomas Pinchon who 'quoted' an epitaph from an old New England gravestone, "Death is a debt to nature due. Mine is paid. How about you?"
Note also: This seanfhocal is an example of a common idiomatic use of the preposition 'ar' and a pronoun. In this case, the preposition 'ar' is combined with the old pronoun 'sinn' to form the prepositional pronoun 'orainn.' 'Orainn' means 'on us.' So translated literally, this seanfhocal says, "Many a day is in the churchyard on us." It is a reflection of a different Irish perspective.
|

©Daltaí na Gaeilge