Historical Irish Corpus
1600 - 1926

Notes and Queries.

Title
Notes and Queries.
Author(s)
O'Laoghaire, Padruig,
Composition Date
1895
Publisher
Connradh na Gaedhilge

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Poetry/Prose
1600 1926

NOTES AND QUERIES.



I. - I. umárd or iomárd: umard or iomard in
Beara.



4. Pas: This is a corruption of bas, I think, and was,
no doubt, used this way: - bas leathan, bas árd, bas
gearr, agus c. I have often seen people use the bas (or bos)
for measuring. Finally, when bos was corrupted to pas,
the meaning was lost, and so pas deirionnach, pas moch,
agus c., were said.



7. Fochar aga: fotha raga in Béara. fotha, cause,
rag, a wrinkle (O'R.'s Dict.)



9. Ní'l sé fé an tighe, I heard … fé dhíon
tighe, a few times; this seems to point to the right word.



11. ar dínn an lae: i dteinidh an lae in Béara.



14. Bhí sé aer aige: This is nothing but the prop. pr.
air (on him), as bhí sé orm, ort, agus c., é dhéanamh (I,
your, and c., had to do it) clearly proves; besides, if it were
eire, a burden, the prop. do or d' would be prefixed to it,
as in d'uallach, do bhi sé d'uallach ort an méid sin do
dhéanamh. In the following we have somewhat similar
prep. pr. coming together: Ní rabhas faoi dho, I wouldn't
tolerate from him; ó chuaidh se chuige aige, or ó chaudih se
chuige de, since he has carried matters so far, since he has
pushed it to such extremes, since it is come to it (that).

16. soiniughad: sár soingiughad in Beara.

III. - 5. nár a dé do veis; Over and over again we
are told that dia do bheatha, or dia bheatha means welcome.
Dé do bheatha, or dé bheatha, is what I have always heard,
and I live in a locality where there is splendid Irish.


L. 173


spoken by those who are not ashamed to speak it. I
believe the proper spelling to be déagh (good), and that
dia has nothing whatever to do with it. The following
are heard in Béara, and all over Munster for that matter:
N'a rai' (= ná raibh) déagh do ghnó, Ill may be your
work! That your work may be not good! na rai' déagh
do shaoghal = Bad luck to you! That your life may be not
good! Ná rai' déagh do shláinte; ná rai[bh] déagh do
shaothar; A! ná rai(bh) déagh beatha na muintire do
mhairbh mo ghé!; ná rai' déagh do leigheas; ná rai' déagh
do bhís (bís, cutting teeth); na rai' déagh do mheíos
(mheios I take to be another form of bís,
and certainly the older, as deimhios, a shears = dí-mhios
shows), agus c., agus c. I think these examples prove that déagh
and not dia is the proper spelling. Suppose that it is not,
let anyone put dia instead of deagh in the above examples
and see what can he make of them - nonsense. But,
perhaps, some may say that deagh is the proper form; yes.
certainly, but even in compounds it is deágh, as deágh-
oibreacha, and dy, as in deagh-fhear, as well as dea(gh), so
that it has assumed three froms, or, rather, it is pronounced
in three different ways. Why not a fourth?



Lítis, I believe to be the vegetable Lettuce.



Padruig O'Laoghaire.

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