AN GAOḊAL.
27.
1337 Catherine St. Phila., Pa.,
April 7, 1897
Dear Sir ;— We are indebted to Mr. Michael
Melly, Coaldale, Pa., a native of Raithnidhe near
Tuaim, in Letter macaward, Co. Donegal, Ire¬
and, for this song. It was composed by one Ed¬
ward McGeehan (Neididh Mhaire). If there be
any more verses belenging to it, I hope that our
Donegal scholars will favor us with them. I have
some more of his songs, and will send them as
soon as I go over them again with the people who
sing them.
My greatest difficulty with the Irish language,
is the spelling. I see that Father O’Growney
complains, in his letter to the “Irish-American",
of what he calls the carelessness of the scholars.
He say that one would be ashamed to spell wrong¬
ly one English word, in a short composition,
whilst there is no shame about Irish spelling.
This is not altogether true. Poor spelling in Eng¬
lish, may show ignorance * on the part of the wri¬
ter, but it does not so in Irish. The real cause of
the different spellings is, that the spellings given
in Irish books, in many words, gives neither the
roots of these words, nor the pronunciation used
by the Irish speakers. We have so much guess-
work derivation that it is more than an Irish puz¬
zle to make out what the word means. We need
not find fault with the Irish language, on this
point, which is almost without fault in its orthog¬
raphy, when we see that there is no language in
the world so illogical, in the combination of ety¬
mology and orthoepy, as the English language.
However, if you wish to make any change in the
spelling, in the song, you are welcome, you are
the editor. It is better for us to give the songs,
anyhow, whilst the language is living, than to let
them pass into oblivion.
Respectfully yours,
Rev. D. J. Murphy.
[ * We beg to differ with Father Murphy. The
spelling of Irish is as firmly fixed as that of Eng¬
lish. Anyone that spells according to O'Reilly
or Coneys cannot be objected to no more than
those who, in English, spell according to Webster
or Johnson. As to roots, we would like to see a
philological dissertation on the roots of the mod¬
ern words “boycott, and "loafer.” However, to
show the local peculiarity, we print the song
without any sensible change — Ed.]
Mo beannaċt leis na buaċailliḋ,
A d' imṫiġ uainn ṫar sáile,
A d'ḟág a' ċolaiḋ ḋeas agam,
Lé ḋul amaċ Dé Doṁnaiġ;
Cóta mór go talaṁ
Agus feiste de'n t-síoda láidir,
Brístiḋ ḃí san ḟaision,
Agus bróga de'n leaṫar spáinneaċ.
A' t-am a ṫiḋim an ḟairge garḃ,
Sé mo ċroiḋe a tá scárṫai,
A smuaitiuġ' air Nial 's air Diniḋ,
Mar ḃí siad air na bádaiḋ;
Aċ guiḋim-sa Riġ na n-aingiol,
Ó is tú a ṡocruiġeas a' ṗlánóid,
Go ligiḋ tú slán na buaċailliḋ,
Gan cuntaḃairt ṫar a' ḃáiḋe.
Sé an sgeul a fuair mé as Albain,
Ní raḃ sé ann mo ṡásaḋ,
Gur pósaḋ ar g-cuid buaċailliḋ
Air ċailíniḋ ans an áit sin;
Ċá n-é nár ṁaiṫ liom acú iad,
Dá m-beiḋeaḋ siad ann mo ṡásad,
Aċ cailíniḋ na Hialans,
Ċá n-iad a' dream is fearr iad.
Naċ é Dorl ó Conaill a tá gan cuideaċta,
Anois a teaċt an áirnéil,
Doire Leac Ċonaill
