NOTES AND QUERIES.
(31) A correspondent from Carrick-on-Suir sends us the following inscription which is copied from a tombstone in the priory churchyard:
(On front of stone).
“Bíoḋ truaġ agaiḃ ḋam, bioḋ truaġ agaiḃ ḋam, go háiriġṫe siḃ-se mo ċáirde féin. Iob. xix. 21. Faoi sgaṫ na croise so atá aḋlaicṫe colann Mhuiris Breaṫnaiġ, Baile-an-diseirt; Do fuair bás an treas lá de ṁí Luġnasa 1877. ’San deaċṁaḋ bliaḋain, ar trí fiċid d’á aois—Agus a Chéile Siġle, d’ḟág an saoġal so an naoṁaḋ lá deug de ṁí ḋeiriḋ an tsaṁraiḋ 1888, ag aois a hoċt mbliaḋan a’s trí fiċid. Mar an gcéadna, a ḋearḃráṫair Seaġan; do fuair bás ’san mbliaḋain 1872, ag aois sé mbliaḋan déag a’s dá fiċid. R.I.P. A Íosa ṁilis déan trócaire orra; a Mhaiġdean Mhuire ḋílis guiḋ orra.
On left side.
Atá an líon briste agus atámaoidne saor. Sailm, cxxiii.—7
On right side.
Is beannuiġṫe na mairḃ ġeiḃ bás is an Tíġearna. Aisling, xiv 13.
On back.
’Sé an Tiġearna mo ṡolus agus mo ṡlánuġaḋ: Cia roiṁe a mbeiḋ eagla agam. Sailm, xxvi.
(32) In Galway, a feminine proper name in the genitive is not inflected when followed by an adjective, and takes the adjective in the genitive masculine: cos Bhríġid ḃig, láiṁ Cháit ṁóir, not Bhríġde bige, Cháite móire. The forms an t-aonṁaḋ, an t-oċtṁaḋ are used before feminine nominatives, and before masculine and feminine genitives. See Molloy’s Grammar, pp. 50, 124, 213.—C. P. B.
(33) I have not seen in any Irish Grammar an attempt to explain the particle a before cardinal numerals used absolutely, i.e., without a noun following, as a haon, a dó, a cúig, a hoċt, a haon deug, &c. It has been suggested, I think by Dr. Atkinson, that it may be a remnant of the old neuter article. But this is untenable, as in that case we should have a n-aon, a gcúig, a n-oċt, &c. No form of the article corresponds in usage to this particle, which does not vary for case,—tar éis a seaċt, tar éis a hoċt, roiṁ a hoċt. What does correspond to it is the feminine possessive adjective, a, which this a before numerals resembles in prefixing h to vowels and in not changing consonants. Is it possible that the two particles, a = ‘her’ and a before numerals, are identical? It is well known that the hand is the primitive instrument of reckoning in most countries, and is indeed so used still by children and persons of little arithmetical skill in these countries. The word or hand in Irish, láṁ, is feminine. I suggest the possibility that the particle in question is really the possessive adjective a, ‘her, its,’ referring to the hand. We can imagine how originally a person, in counting a sequence of numbers, identified each number with one of the fingers, going round them as [ 91 ]children do—’sin a haon, ’sin a dó, a trí, &c., ‘that is its (the hand’s) one, two, three, &c.’ Note that the particle does not occur before any numeral higher than 10, the number of fingers on both hands. We never find a fiċe, a ceud, a míle. It is true that after a preposition ending in a vowel, the particle becomes ’n,—ceaṫraṁa do ’n deiċ ‘a quarter to ten.’ But this may have arisen from a later confusion with the article when the n of the article began to be dropped in contact with consonants, and restored when a vowel came into contact with it. Even in such cases, the numeral particle still differs from the article by preserving its h before vowels, as in ceaṫraṁa do’n haon ‘a quarter to one.’—Mac Léiġinn.
(34) In a copy of the song Fan ar an ḃaile am’ ċoṁair, taken down by me from John J. O'Donnell, Ranafast, County Donegal, the second couplet of Stanza I. runs:—
’Sé adeuraḋ gaċ duine fá ’n ċuan, ’nuair a ṫáinic mé anuas fá ’n ċéiḋ,
“O! aiṫniġim go maiṫ ar do ġruaim gur fear ṫú ’ḃfuil ruaig ad’ ḋéiġ;” and the words, Casaḋ ḋaṁ cailin beag óg, begin Stanza II.
The phrase “galún Ui Dhoṁnaill” had the following origin, according to Mary O'Donnell, an old resident of this island:—Some six or seven score years ago, a pedlar named Dominick O’Donnell, of the Rosses, was treating some of his supporters in a public-house, after a faction fight. The party numbered sixteen, and O’Donnell wishing to order sixteen half-pints (i.e., a gallon) of whiskey for them, ordered by mistake sixteen gallons! When the mistake was discovered, he refused to cancel the order, and the expression “galún Ui Dhoṁnaill” passed into a proverb. They say at a feast, “Tá gaċ seort ann so ċoṁ fairsing le galún Ui Dhoṁnaill.”—Anthony J. Doherty, Cruit Island N.S., Co. Donegal.
(35) Drae. This word may be draoi, in the sense of magus or demon; the phrase drae sgeul would then be synonymous with ḋeaṁan sgeul, diaḃal sgeul. By the way, diaḃal (now d-youl) must once have been more correctly pronounced deé-ă-wăl, for as a euphemism they say in Mayo t’anam ó’n, reé-oul. In W. Cork, ree′-ăl is used commonly for diaḃal. But possibly this may be riġ-ḋiaḃal, or connected with riaḃaċ, which is also used = diaḃal. The word glaim, with ai short, not ái, means a very loud shout, from fear or excitement. Different from glám, which is a greedy seizing of something.
(36) Stró is a pretty common word. Suppose you are walking the street about your own business, and some fellow would fain avoid his own company for a spell, and take yours instead, the accosling you of such a fellow would be “putting a stró” upon you. The idea of not being wanted by the stróee is always present. [To this I may add the following use of the word: (1) Is mór an stró a raiḃ siad ann, great was their affluence, or wealth (Donegal); (2) ná déan stró as, do not be conceited about it (Arran Islands); (3) gun mórán stró, without much difficulty (Galway). E. O’G.]
The above are sent by S. M. O’R., from whom we hope to hear oftener.
(37) Some notes on trí bior ġaoiṫe. See index. (a) déag, teen, ní ḟuil sí as a déagaiḃ fós, she is not out of her teens yet; (b) dearg, prepare. It is rather (reddening) ploughing or turning up ground so as to present a new surface. There is another use of the word seen in Keating’s poem:—
Beannaċt leat, a sgríḃinn!
Go h-inis aoiḃinn Ealta,
Truaġ naċ léir ḋom a beanna
giḋ gnáṫ a teanga ḋeargaḋ.
What is the meaning of the last line, or is it a corrupt text? (c) fáṫaċ, mystic would seem the best translation. (d) féiṫle means, I think, a tough hand, féiṫleóg is common, meaning the broad flat tendons of beef. [This note and the Cork proverbs in this issue were sent by a writer who does not give his name].