Do ċaoin ó scairt, ’s níor ḃean a déara as
cnáid;
San Ġaoiḋealg ḃeaċt faoi ṡnas, go héag do
ġráḋuiġ.
IV.
Do ġráḋuíg, oir níor ġéill do ḃaosraḋ áil
an uaḃair,
Do ġráiniġeann ’na maos gaċ gaoḋal ċleaċd
is ársa buaiḋ;
Aċt dána do ṡaoṫruiġ gan taoḃ le bláḋ ná
uaill
Caint árd na hÉireann do ṡaoraḋ ó stáid
a truaiġe.
V.
’Na truaiġ níor ṁasluiġ an teanga is
ceólta foġar,
Aċt le duaisiḃ geala i ḃfarraḋ a ċómaċt
do ċaḃair
Le fuasgailt na nasg atá ag taċtaḋ a
scórnuiġ seang;
Ag buaiḋ ḋi a ceart ar feaḋ na Fódla ann.
VI.
Ann fós beiḋ a glór dá luaiḋeaḋ go hárd,
Luċt a foġla gan sóġ ag féóṫ, faoi fuaṫ
ag cáċ;
’San croḃaire cróḋa san ngleó do ruaig a
náṁaid
Go lonnaċ leoḋaċ, í mbeólaiḃ na suaḋ go
bráṫ.
VII.
Go bráṫ ’n ḟaid faoi’n ngréin do’n Ġaoḋal
ḃeiḋ aiṫid beó,
Ḟíor ġráḋuiġios céim agus réim a aicme ċoír,
Gan táṫaḋ taoḃ go héag le malairt ṗóir,
Beiḋ tráċt go glé ort, a Ċléaḃraiġ faoi
sgraṫ, mo ḃrón!
TRANSLATION.
My sorrow, my want three times, my spear in my heart, This news of woe coming hither from beyond the sea, Telling to the throng with whom faint is the tale, That the generous Cleaver is without strength in the bonds of death.
O Death, how surprise-taking, mangling, treacherous thou art. The heavenly-man, pleasant and sensitive, thou didst take in thy net, And thou didst leave the seed of the mire and the children of deceit, Growing in their un- wieldy masses of fatness, romping in folly.
In folly lived not the man without prejudice, without blemish, The dear land of his ancestors oppressed by slaughtering villains. He wept dolefully (lit. from the caul), and her tears extracted not scoffing from him, And the elegant Gaelic unused (lit. under must) till death he loved.
He loved (it), for he did not render homage to the brood of pride, Who hate in their hearts each Irish custom of most ancient renown; But courageously he laboured, without looking to fame or vainglory, The high tongue of Eire to save from its condition of misery.
In her misery he injured not the tongue of most musical sound, But with bright gifts along with his own might he helped, To break the ties which are squeezing and choking her majestic-thin neck. Gaining for her, her just rights throughout the length and breadth of Fodla.
In it (Fodla) yet, will her voice be speaking high, Her plunderers without happiness, withering, hated by one and all; And the valiant champion, who in the battle put to the rout her enemy Fierce and furious, in the mouths of the sages for ever.
For ever while beneath the sun, there will be a living wight of the Gael, Who truly loves the dignity and sway of his own right people, Without joining sides till death with a different race. There will be bright mention of thee, Cleaver, under the sod, my sorrow!
Pádruig OLaoġaire
On DO FHOBAIR (HOBAIR) or D’FHOBAIR (D’OBAIR).
I have long intended to say a few words about the above, as it gives rise to some very idiomatic constructions. Do ḟobair, though of much the same sense as is beag naċ, is yet far stronger than the latter phrase, being always used in regard to something which was very near happening, but failed to come to pass, as in the common instance, d’ḟobair dam tuitim, I had like to fall. It is usually Englished “had (or was) like,” but also “came near (falling, &c.),” “nearly or almost (fell, &c.),” and in Donegal “had a’most (to fall).” I may confidently assert that this word is in common use in the spoken Irish of every Irish-speaking district of Ireland. I have heard it used by Gaelic speakers of the following counties: Waterford, Cork, Kerry, Galway, Mayo, Meath, Armagh. Louth, Tyrone, and Donegal. This shows that it is a universal, and by no means a provincial expression, though it is certainly true that its pronunciation differs slightly according to the three main varieties of vernacular Irish, viz., Northern, Western, and Southern. Although so widespread colloquially, hitherto I have been able to find only one example of this word in the modern litera- ture—that is, in a text, for it is given in O’Begley’s dict. This instance, quoted below, occurs in Stair Eamoinn Uí Chlériġ, written in the last century by Seaġán O Neaċtain, a native of Meath. So far as I know, D’ḟobair has not been found in the works of Keating, or of any other classical writer of his time, nor in the more abundant older literature (though it may yet, perhaps, be discovered in some one of the numerous unpublished MSS. Strange to say, there appears to be no trace at all of it in Scotch Gaelic.
There are five colloquial forms of the word:
(1) ḟobair (hobair), both spellings found; ḟ = ṫ or h, o short (Ulster and Mayo).
(2) ḟóbair (hóbair), as above (1), but o long (Galway).
(3) óbair, used after as or buḋ (Galway).
