Page:Cnuasacht trágha - Sheehan.djvu/65

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17. The three of us. Lit., in a group of three. We may also write ár dtriúr, the three of us; ḃúr dt., three of you, &c.

18. In Irish expressions for position—above, below—are usually made more definite by the use of in áirde or ṫíos. “Up over it,” “down under it.”

19. The word maiġistir appears to be connected with no verb. It is the emphatic subject or subject in position of emphasis. The which follows is the resumed subject. Lit., “the landlord under whom they lived, he, &c.” The “he” would be ungrammatical in English, but is quite good in Irish, and is found at all periods of the language. Emphasis has been one of the great forces at work in moulding the Irish sentence, in determining, for instance, the position of the verb, and the uses of is and atá. The emphatic subject might be called an ṗearsa tionnscnaṁa, the resumed subject an t-aṫ-ṗearsa.

20. “All proceedings were to begin.”

21. “At the man's departure.”

22. “He was not going to speak to anybody at that time.” ar not used with numerals. Do not write a ar an gcúigeaḋ lá ḋo ḃí sé innso, but an cúigeaḋ lá. This is a common mistake.

23. “He had urgent business with him.” leis would be incorrect.

24. “The landlord welcomed him cordially.” Lit., he set towers of welcome before him. Na múrṫa fáilte, “walls of welcome” is heard in Connacht.

25. Lit., the paying of rent to you brought (me here)—i.e., I have come to pay the rent.

26. "Spend it on the children."

27. Note how this is turned. An inferior hand would probably write is iomḋa cíos mar do ċíos-sa do ḃeaḋ uaim ċum mo ḃruid do réidteaċ.

28. “To stop the proceedings which were being taken against him.”

28. “At the end of the year.”

30. Better expressed, “ar a ḃfeicfir de ṫalaṁ.

BRIAN BOROIṀE AGUS NA LOĊLANNAIĠ

1. “The manner in which Brian found an opportunity of catch-ing the Danes was as follows.” The Danes are represented as rath-dwellers in this legend, and take the place of some pre-Milesian folk. The word instead of aċt after loċlannaċaiḃ would be incorrect.