djwebb2021 wrote:
I: Óige Wolfe Tone (1763-1782)
Tuairisc ar a mhuíntir, ar a dhriotháracha agus ar a dhrifír. Tone ar scoil. A bheag-dhícheall chun foghlama. Suím i saighdiúireacht. A dhul go Coláiste na Tríonóide.
Paris, Lúnasa 7, 1796
Ó thárla go mbead i gcionn roinnt laethe ag dul i mbun gnótha nách fios cad é a dheireadh, bainfead feidhm as an dtráth atá ar mo thoil agam chun beagáin a chur ar pháipéar, im thaobh féin agus i dtaobh mo mhuíntire, a dhéanfaidh abhar taithnimh dom chlaínn mhac má thagann ar ball ar láimh chúthu.
Do rugadh me i mBaile Átha Cliath an 20ú lá den Mheitheamh, 1763. Feirmeóir conáigh dob ea mo sheanathair in aice le Nás na Rí i gCúntae Chíll Dara. Thit sé lá de stáca dá chuid féin agus do maraíodh é agus tháinig a chuid fé léas saor-ghabhálthais i seilbh m’athar, an mac ba shine leis, a bhí uim an am san go rafar i mbun gnótha ’na shaor cóiste. Dá bhrí sin, do chuir sé an talamh a tháinig mar sin chuige ar cíos chun an driothár dob óige ’ bhí aige, ní dá dtáinig iomad de chúrsaí dlí eatarthu ar deireadh, gurbh é críoch a bhí ar an scéal ná breithiúntas i gcúirt an tSainsiléara i gcoinnibh m’athar, rud d’fhág beó bocht ’na dhiaidh é—ach tráchtfam air sin arís.
Lamport dob ainm dom mháthair agus iníon dob ea í do Chaptaein luinge a bhíodh ag tráchtáil leis an India Thiar, agus, de réir na scéaltha ’ fuaras air óm mháthair, duine fé leith dob ea é. Do bhí driotháir aici a bhí ’na mharaí tréitheach a bhí ’na chéad Lieutenant ar bórd an Buckingham fén Aimiréal Tirrell, oifigeach mór-chlú i seirbhís na Breataine.
Mise sínsear na clainne mac, ach sara dtosnaíod ar mo stair féin, ní mór dhom beagán a rá i dtaobh mo dhriotháracha. Do ceapadh do William, a rugadh i mí Lúnasa, 1764, go raghadh sé le tráchtáil agus, dá bhrí sin, do cuireadh ar príntíseacht é, in aois a cheithre mblian ndéag, chun reiceadóra cáilmhair leabhar. An fhaid a bhí sé ’na theannta-súd, do léigh gach a bhfuair d’eachtraithe farraige agus roinnt de stair mhileata, agus leó-san do hadhnadh bruith-thine fé mheón a bhí teasaí díograsach ó dhúchas i dtreó, in aois sé mblian ndéag do, gur éalaigh leis go Lúndain agus go ndeighidh in’ óglach i seirbhís Chuallachta an India Thoir; ach níor éirigh an t‑ádh leis sa chéad iarracht san; mar, in inead an India ’ bhaint amach, is amhlaidh a cuireadh cosc leis ag oileán St. Helena, agus thug sé tréimhse sé mblian ar an lom-charraig sin, ar an lucht cosanta, nú gur fhíll sé ar an Úróip ar bheith dá théarma caite. Is mór an chreidiúint do, bíodh go raibh sé i gcoidreamh go hóg le cuideachtanas den chineál mí-thréitheach a bhí, ní foláir, le fáil i measc na saighdiúirí a bhí i seirbhís na Cuallachta, gur ghoibh sé tríothu gan truaillíocht a nós ná a bprínseabal do ghoilliúint air.
Notes:
drifír: dative of
driofúr, less common in modern CDh Irish.
a bheag-dhícheall: as David points out, this construction is quite unnatural, and
laighead (pronounced
laíghead in Muskerry Irish)
a dhíchill would be more native sounding. Do you think that as a general rule it could be stated that compounded words are more unnatural/less native constructions than those synthesised otherwise?
chun: more often found as
chuin in modern CDh Irish. In the works of those such as Tomás Ó Criomhthain both forms were often found alongside each other.
ó thárla:
ó thárlaidh in the original, as is common in CDh Irish.
nách fios:
nach fios in the orignal, though
nách fios would be more common. I have also encountered forms that would yield
nach fios and
ná fiosmá thagann ar ball ar láimh chúthu: note the omission of the pronoun here: since the subject has already been established the verb can be used without a subject pronoun
rugadh:
beireadh is often used in modern CDh Irish as opposed to
rugadh. When past tense forms beginning with
rug- are found, the initial
r- is often slender (i.e.
riug-), as a result of the softening of the initial
r sound in contexts that would normally cause lenition (though, it is important to note that the slenderisation of broad initial
r in contexts that would cause lenition is almost never found regularly in CDh Irish, but is relatively common in this context). However, I cannot recall ever encountering the form
riugadh, with a slender initial
r- in the past autonomus, presumably following the rule that verbs are kept unlenited in the autonomus form of the past tense, though I wouldn't be surprised to find this form by analogy of the other past tense forms.
uim an am san:
ar an am san in the original. As for the preposition David gives, in CDh both
uim and
um are found as forms of it
beo bocht: 'penniless, poor, impoverished'
tráchtfam: 'we will discuss'. This form of the verb is found alongside
tráchtfaimíd, albeit the latter seeming to be slightly more common, and the former ending being very common in the imperative (but in the imperative
tráchtam,
tráchtfam is the future tense), e.g.
téanam ort! 'let's go!'
arís:
aríst in CDh, with a broad
-r-dom mháthair: pronounced
dom báthair. When
b/m are lenited after
m they are pronounced as /b/
iníon: pronounced
níon in CDh
scéaltha:
scéalta in the original. It is a feature in Muskerry Irish to lenite
-t- to
-th- when following
-l-. This feature exists in CDh Irish as well, however it is not nearly as common/standard. Both forms are found with perhaps a stronger tendency towards the latter example (
scéalta). This feature (i.e.
scéaltha instead of
scéalta) becomes increasingly less common when one progresses farther west on the peninsula (e.g. in Dún Chaoin
scéalta is far more common than
scéaltha).
fuaras:
fuaireas in CDh Irish, as is found in the original
duine fé leith:
duine ar leith in the original. David marked this saying he thought it was incorrect. I'm wondering if he has encountered it at all in Muskerry Irish, or if maybe
fé leith and
ar leith carry different meanings in that dialect. I have definitely encountered
ar leith in CDh Irish. Ó Dónaill lists them alongside each other in his dictionary.
sínsear: 'the oldest (sibling)'
tosnaíod: I haven't encountered this form of the verb before. I assume it isn't confined to the verb
tonsuigh. Based on this I would assume that the other conjugations would be
tosnaíod, tosnaír/tosnaídh tú, tosnaídh sé/sí, tosnaímíd, tosnaídh sibh, tosnaídh siad/tosnaíd siad/tosnaíd? Would I be right in assuming that this is perhaps a more superseded/literary form?
ní mór dhom: I've only ever encountered
ní mór dom in CDh Irish
do ceapadh: note that the initial consonant is not lenited in the past autonomus
aois: dative of
aoscáilmhar: I've only encountered
cáiliúil in CDh. I suppose this would be pronounced
cáiliúr in the dialect.
chun reiceadóra cáilmhair leabhar:
chun reiceadóir cáilmhar leabhar in the original, featuring the genitive dual form, where the phrase is treated as one unit, and instead of puting the first noun in the genitive, it is kept in the nominitive and lenition is placed on the first consonant (though, of course,
r- does not lenite in orthographical practices). The bracketing of the noun phrase can, in theory, refine the meaning of the phrase, e.g. David's example of
chun [reiceadóra cáilmhair] leabhar 'to a celebrated collector of books', vs
chun reiceadóir cáilmhar leabhar 'to a celebrated book-collector'. Though I would argue that this is more argumentative than functional, as both forms work perfectly in Irish.
sé mblian ndéag:
sé mblian déag in the original
go ndeighidh: now superseded in CDh Irish
i seirbhís Chuallachta an India Thoir: again, bracketing:
i seirbhís [Chuallachta] an India Thoir 'in service of the company of East India' vs
i seirbhís [Chuallacht an India Thoir] 'in service of the East India company'
in inead:
i n-ionad in the original. The former is more common in CDh
goibh:
gaibh in CDh Irish
I apoligise for my absence on this thread. I plan to post notes on the rest of the text that David has posted tomorrow, and will get back to the thread regularly.
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