Corpas

NOTES AND QUERIES.

(186).  Deiseal, tuafal (tuaithbhil), are words descrip-
tive of motion in a circle, deiseal being used when the
motion is in the same direction, as that of the sun, or of
the point of the hand of a clock (the motion being towards
the right hand, lámh dheas, of the spectator), and tuafal,
when the motion is in the opposite direction, which is
supposed to be an unnatural way of movement, hence ag
dul tuafal, going in the wrong way.  In twisting a
súgán, the person making the rope directs the twister by
the words deiseal, tuafal, réidhteach (Aran) = twist
to the right (sunwards), to the left, stop!  There is also
an Aran saying that reminds us of the practice Walter
Scott so often refers to, of sending the bottle, deiseal,
round the table.  The Aran saying is : bígidh ag ól go
bhfeicidh sibh an gloine ag 'ul tuafal, annsin glanaigidh
a bhaile!  The custom of regarding the deiseal move-
ment as right, and the opposite as wrong, is supposed to
be a relic of sun-worship. - E. O'G.

<L 68>
(187).  Students must have noticed how in words like
sgadán, casóg (cassock, overcoat), bradán, etc., the a of
the first syllable is, even in Connaught, pronounced u.
This seems to be caused by the stress laid on the long
vowel of the last syllable; the vowel of the first syllable,
being somewhat neglected, tends to become obscure.  In
Munster, as we know, it sometimes vanishes altogether,
as in slach for salach, glánta for galánta.  Whether
casán, cosán, a path, is an example of this may be
doubted.  The literary form is certinly casán, B. of
Leinster, cassán, but the word is probably form cos, a 
foot-path.  Dallán, "a blind riddle," i.e., with a leather
bottom (this form of riddle is called woight, wecht in
some parts of the country, and buarán in Irish) is pro-
nounced dullán in Meath.  In Aran dullán is the
"eye," or point whence young willows sprout when the
old growth is cut down.  Compare also mucánta (for
mac-), spudánta, scufánta; pioláid, from Latin,
palatium, a palace; mionnán, from older Irish meann.
- E. O'G.

(188).  Further examples in reference to N. & Q. No.
172 (is mhaith an t-each í).  Capall bán a bhí innti, agus
í caoch (a version of the eastern story, in which a wise man,
from mere examination of the place where a horse had
travelled, undertook to describe the horse, tell its age,
nature of load, etc.), it was a white horse, and was half-
blind.  - Aran.  Laogh boinionn atá innti, it is heifer-
calf.  - Aran.  Tuitios an t-each leis sin tar a hais siar,
go dtárla Cormac fúithche.  Thereupon the horse falls
backwards and Cormac (Mac Cuilennain) fell under it.
- Keating.  Is maith an páiste í.  Stail dheas é.
Cómhairle na bárd-sgolóige.  Sean-sgológ agus é 'na
shuidhe cois an teallaigh.  Is maith an chú í.  Laoi na
Con Duibhe.  - All from Aran. - E. O'G.
Historical Irish Corpus
1600 - 1926

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Historical Irish Corpus1600 - 1926

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Historical Irish Corpus
1600 - 1926
