Corpas

A certain Diarmuid Mac Airt (or O hAirt) incurred
the displeasure of his neighbours, including the poet, who
addressed a sympathetic remonstrance to him, commence
ing "A Dhiarmuid, is dubhach liom," and, finding no
doubht that this was ineffectual, appears to have followed 
it up with a piece of biting raillery called “Barántas
Dhiarmada Uí Airt,” or, “A Warrant (for the arrest
of Diarmuid O hAirt.”  The opening verses are as
follows:—

Tá Diarmuid cas glas d'á éileamh:
Ar lorg a thuairisg' go buan le béargaachd
Ar fuaid curraiche is boiginne sléibhe,
Bailte móra, cuanta is céide!

Cuarduighidh garbh-chnoc, gleann, is féith dho,
Bóthar árd is bán is réidh dho
Cosáin chomhgair is róda leathna
Tré lasracha gréine is séideadh fearthanna.

Tosnuighidh thiar i n-iarthar Bhéarra
Ná fágaidh conair ná cumarach gaortha
Gan siubhal ar a losg gan sosadh gan traochadh
Go dtiubhraidh sibh chughainn fá ughaim ar ghéig é.

Ná fágaidh Beanntraighe ar ionntaoibh aon-ne'
Cuan Dor (cuan borr), ná Dún na Seuda,
An sgibirín — “sgriobadh ar fhíon” aosda,
Na Clanna Coillte gan mheadhair gan bheusa.

As sain tagaidh go feasgalach faobhrach
Go Corcaigh an tsuain, an cuan ciúin aedhearach,
Is déunaidh lorg go brosduightheach éigneach
Ar Dhiarmuid spairt Mac Airt, an méirleach!

Feuchaidh go dlúth tré chiumhais gach coilleadh,
I mbarraibh na gcrann 's i ngabhal gac bile,
I n-uaimh gach leasa 's i sleasaibh maol-chnoc;
Na fágaidh gan cuardach de'n tuaith úd aon phioc.

Spiúnaidh an luaith sois taoibhe na ndóirse;
Cuarduighidh port is poll is póirse;
Is tugaidh chugainn, go bhfaghaidh a cheart,
Diarmuid diabhal gan riaghail Mac Airt!

NOTES

srúill, a slow stream; brídeach, a maiden
uirrimeach, common for urramach, or urraimeach.
réilteann (t is often aspirated after l in parts of 
Munster) a star, metaphorically a maiden.
gasradh (declined like marcradh, I.) youths, collec-
tively; feadhmach, active.
beartuigh, take up in hands.
stríocáil means “to submit,” or “fail in resistence.” 
Perhaps mar luach stríocála means “in reward for not
‘coming to the scratch.’”
brathair mór, buaf, píocárd appear to be local names
for species of fish of no great value; buaf usually means
“toad.”
líontán, apparently = líon, a net,
Beit Bhochd, “poor Bet,” the goat's name.
fachtar = faghthar. imperative passive of fagh.
suaighte, worn out, lit. kneaded.
eadarshuth (variously written) morning milking-time.
duanaireacht, crying, lit. making duans, odes.
creabhar, a horse-fly.  English speaking people in
County Dublin call the horse-fly Kirr-a-var.
tuair dhroichid a' dobhair, “the sign of the bridge o
the water” (?) Does this mean the morning rainbox, a
sign of rain?  Dobhar is an old word, meaning water.
Dobhar-chu, otter.
lobhar, a sick person, a leper.
odhar, pallid.
binnseach, apparently = she-goat, from beann, horn.
O'R. gives minnseóg, a young she-goat, from meann,
stammering, whence meannán, mionnán, a kid, and
mionntán, a tom-tit.  English speaking people in country
parts of Ireland use “minn, minn” as a callword for
kids.
sean-phoc, pronounce here seana-ph, old he-goat.
i riocht pleusgtha, in the way of splitting.
déithe, nom. and gen. pl. of dia.
barra, often in Munster for barr; fearra, for fearr.
suabh, mannerly, well-bred, mild, O'R.
d'á éileamh, being sought after.
béargachad, diligence, O'R.; curraiche, moors.
boiginne? bog-bhuinne and bog-sheimhin means bul-
rushes, and the word has various other forms.
céide, a green or plain, etc.
féith, a marsh.  O'Donovan, feith, a boggy stream.
bán, a green field, lea land; réidh, open ground.
tosnuigh, Munster for tosuigh(elsewhere toisigh).
conair, path; cumarach gaortha?
sosadh, halt; fá ughaimh, under harness, lashed.
ar ionntaoibh aon-neich, relying on anyone.
Beanntraighe, Bantry; Cuan Dor, in south of Cork
County.  Dún na Seuda? Clanna Coillte, Clonakilty.
feasgalach, a herald.
spairt, dull; spiún, search.
Some of the Munster readers of the Journal will, no
doubt, be able to clear up any difficulties that arise in
Fitzgerald's inexhaustible vocabulary, and to connect any 
wrong explanations in these notes.
Historical Irish Corpus
1600 - 1926

Barántas Dhiarmuda Uí Airt.

Search Texts

Historical Irish Corpus1600 - 1926

Barántas Dhiarmuda Uí Airt.

Search Texts

Historical Irish Corpus
1600 - 1926
