358
AN GAOḊAL.
OIL CITY, PA., MAY 12. '84,
To the Editor of the GAEL.
Dear Sir. — I have attempted to
gratify the readers of the GAEL by
sending you a translation into Irish of
Moore’s beautiful melody written by
him to the air of Nóra Ċríonna. I am
not aware that the composition has
been hitherto translated into Gaelic;
perhaps the deterring cause has been
the difficulty of the air and rhythm.
I am not so vain as to imagine that I
have attained to the climax of perfec¬
tion in my performance; but if any
critic may suppose that he can do bet¬
ter, let him try a version ; avoiding, at
the same time, the use of my terms
and phraseology. I think I have con¬
ferred a slight benefit upon our lang¬
uage by introducing into this song two
terms which, I believe, have not be¬
fore now found their way into the writ¬
ten idiom; for I have used the term
ċroiḋe to represent the English adjec¬
tive “dear"; for this practice is custo¬
mary in the spoken dialect; as, a
Ṁáire ċroiḋe; Dear Mary; a Ḋoṁnaill
ċroiḋe, &c. A ċroiḋe na páirte; and
a ċroiḋe na n-drólann, are also terms
of endearment in Irish. The other word
which I have introduced is groíḋin, it
is in use in the south of Ireland, is pro¬
nounced very much though not exact¬
ly like the English word "groin,” and
denotes superior excellence or some¬
thing extremely occeptable, and in that
sense bears a close analogy to the
Scotch term "gree."
N B. In my last production publish¬
ed in the Gael, namely, Nead na Cua¬
iċe, there was an omission of one word
in the fourth line of the first verse;
the whole line corrected runs thus in
the Gaelic, —
'S an smólaċ milis, ġuiṫeaċ a foínn
san n-garrán.
Yours, very truly
Wm. Russell.
(Also, read fifth word of third line and
verse of translation, "predaceous.” Ed.)
Ag Lesbia tá súil lonnraċ ġlé,
Aċ d'aon ní fios cé ḋó do lonnrann;
A gaeṫe sgéiḋig air deis, 's air cléiṫ,
Aċ cad uime, ag aon ní'l cúntas.
Is dilse féaċain seal le gean,
Air ḟoġra Nóra 's gnáṫaċ dúnta;
Is tearc a dearc — aċ gaċ le ċeann,
Mar luisne obann bíḋeann sé ion'taċ!
O! mo Nóra Ċríonna, ċroiḋe,
Mo Nóra ċaoṁnaċ, ṁaorga, Ċríonna!
Tá áille súl ann iomadaṁuil,
Aċ ad ḋearcaiḃ searc, a Nóra Ċríonna!
Ag Lesbia tá daor-ġúḋnna óir,
Ċóṁ tarrangṫa cúṁang, an ċuilionn,
ṫimċioll,
Náċ ḃ-fanann brioċt de 'n áille ċóir
Air ḃall d' á cruiṫ 'nuair ḃíḋeann sé
uímpe.
Mo ġroiḋin-se gúḋnna Nóra ċroíḋe,
Ċóṁ luċṫṁar tá le lóiṫne gaoiṫe,
Ag fágainn gaċ h-uile áille saoir
Mar is áil le Neaṁ é — árd, no ísiol!
Seaḋ, mo Nóra Ċríonna, ḋíl!
Mo Nóra ṁánla, ġrás'úil, Ċríonna!
Sí 'n áille sár an rób' is feárr —
An róba tá air Nora Ċríonna.
Ag Lesbia tá-san eagna ġlic;
Aċ a poínc 'nuair lonnraid ṫimċioll-
Ní feasaċ d'aon cad é a d-toisg;
Nó an sinn do ḋallaḋ, nó do ḋíoṫċur?
Ag Nóra sinte air a cneas,
Go sáṁ na ṡuam tá gráḋ, faoi ṡoġċas,
Leaba aoiḃin síṫeaċ, ṫais,
Ar geall a gairḃe leis na rósaiḃ!
O! mo Nóra Ċríonna ċroiḋe!
Mo Nóra ċaoin neaṁ-ġaoiseaċ Ċríonna!
Ag céill, cé doiṁinn, aon spreiḋ ní
ḃ-faíġim
Mar ṫéiġeann do raḋarc, a Nóra Ċrí¬
onna!
TEAĊ NA bh-FEAR RIAĠALTA,
Naoṁ Ióseṗ, O.
Do Ċlóḋadóir An Ġaoḋail.
A Ṡaoi — Coiṁéad an Gaoḋal ag
imeaċt. Sé buanas an Ġaoḋail beaṫ¬
a ar n-airdíntinne.
Do ċara,
MIĊEÁL O,HOURAGÁIN.
(Father Horrigan believes in brevity, Ed.]
