This is the name of a tune played by Séamus Ennis (on the CD Ceol, Scéalta agus Amhráin)
- Úirchill an Chreagáin
on Focal.ie - creagán means either a callus (on your hand) or a patch of stony land.
Could someone help me out please?

Úirchill means graveyard. You're right about creagán, but it's probably a placename, like Creggan (An Creagán) in Derry.

Slán,

Domhnall

_________________
Ultach mé agus Gaeilg Uladh a labhraim go measardha maith!

Go raibh maith agat a chara.
In fact I've been looking around for the meaning of some of the other titles and apparently there have quite a few mistranslations put about. An Binsín Luachra has been given to mean - the little bench of rushes (as if you could possibly make a bench out of them) but in fact I've found on Mudcat that it means the little bunch of rushes.
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=42668
but the song given there isn't at all what Séamus Ennis sings.

Creag is a variant of carraig, a rock. Creagán must mean something like "small rock"...

_________________
Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne

As others have pointed out Creagán is probably a placename.

But a creag in general is a large rock or a very rocky, stony hill almost like a cliff on the landscape, or it can mean a barren rocky bit of land, similar to the Burren. A creagán would mean a small very rocky hill.

Creag has even entered English, rendered as Crag. Crags are very numerous in Scotland.

http://www.google.com.tr/imgres?um=1&rl ... =134&ty=22

There's a great example of a creag in Edinburgh..

Dineen pg.261:

a rock, a crag, a cliff, a barron spot ; a blank in a crop, as from seed-failure, etc. ; tá c. sa gharrdha, there's a blank in the potato-garden ; tá creaganna ann, it has a barren spots.

Úir can mean soil or humus, but is used figuratively to mean a grave. Úir na cille is the church-yard.

Úirchill an Chreagáin The Church-yard or Graveyard of Creg(g)an (or The Church-yard/ Graveyard of the rocky Hill or Land)



An Binsín Luachra is a very old song and has many variations. Binsín Luachra does indeed mean a (a little) bench of rushes and is an idiom for a bed, as beds could be made from rushes in the old days.

Cian

Crossed with Lughaidh

_________________

Please wait for corrections/ more input from other forum members before acting on advice

You can make just about anything from rushes that you can make from wood. The Ohlone people of Northern California used rushes to make boats and cooking pots. They're very like wicker in that respect.

I hear you about mistranslations, though. One of Mel Bay's Irish tune books (I think it may be 110 Irish Tin Whistle Tunes, but I'm not certain) translated "Fear a' Bháta" as "The Man with the Stick" (disregarding the fada on the "á").

Redwolf

Go raibh maith agaibh
I've checked Pota Focal again and there's it's - reilig or reilig na cille.
A bed of rushes makes more sense - and so it's not a bunch - ceart go leor.
I see that one of the other songs on the CD of which the title has also been mistranslated is Na Ceannabháin Bhána.
It comes from the family name Canavan/Ó Ceannabháin. What I find interesting is this derives from Ó Ceanndhubháin which means 'black-headed' - the opposite of what you'd think at first seeing it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Na_Ceannab ... Bh%C3%A1na

The fields are full of the other Ceannbháns (bog cotton) now.
I took photos yesterday of them.. soon on Facebook

_________________
___________________________________________________________

It is recommended that you always wait for three to agree on a translation.
I speak Connemara Irish, and my input will often reflect that.
I will do an mp3 file on request for short translations.
___________________________________________________________

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Mac_Cumhaigh

Chomh fada agus is eol dom, tá Úirchill na Creagain in Ard Mhaca Theas

Go raibh maith agat. On this CD he only plays the air - there's no song that goes with it.

Here are the words of An Binsín Luachra that Séamus Ennis sings - as his version is a different one to what I've seen elsewhere.

Agus bhí mé maidin uaigneach
agus mé ag siúl síos le bruach na trá,
Bhí mo choin agam go huaibhreach
gabháilt' agus gunna i mo láimh,
Nuair a casadh orm stuabhean (?) (perhaps it should be stuama bhean?)
ba chumhra agus ba dheise scáil,
Agus ábhar binse bainte aici
den luachair ba dheise bláth.

A chailín bhig na luachra
is trua liom do bheart ar lár,
Nó an dtiocfá liom ar uaigneas
faoi bhruach na coille is deise bláth?
Sagart ní bhfaighidh scéala air
ná éinneach dá bhfuil beo i gCríocha Fáil,
Nó go dtaga caint don chéirseach
nó Gréigis don laidhrín trá.

Ní mheallfaidh tú mé, a bhuachaill,
le do chluanaireacht is níl maith dhuit ann.
Is a liachtaí cailín stuama
ag iompar ualaigh is gan tú le fáil.
Nuair a b'fhearr liom baint na luachra
is dá tuargan go lá mo bháis,
Ná do leanbh a bheith ar mo ghualainn
á iompar is mé ag dul chun fáin.

Gheall tú giní agus punt dom
agus bhí súil agam é a chur ina cheann,
Culaith ó bhonn go huachtar
agus gúna den tsíoda bán,
Gheall tú a thíocht ar cuairt chugam
gach Domhnach agus maidin bhreá
Le luach mo bheairtín luachra
agus a bhfuair mé riamh dá bharr.