Tomhas na Teanga

Eanáir/Feabhra 2005

Athbhliain faoi mhaise daoibh! (Don’t know what that means? Check out our archive at http://www.scoilgaeilge.org/t_na_t/index.htm ).

Hey – we’re all Catholics! That means I can talk about prayers! Many people have learned the Our Father in Irish, and some of our division web sites even have this. Let’s look at it together here. (You can hear it at http://www.scoilgaeilge.org/t_na_t/OurFather.wav ).

Ár n-athair (our father. Plural possessives will prefix an ‘n’ to words starting with a vowel. They will ‘eclipse’ the consonants of other words, where possible – for instance, ár bpáistí – our children – the ‘b’ cancels out or ‘eclipses’ the ‘p’).

atá ar Neamh (who is in heaven. This is a direct relative clause - atá is just ‘tá’ used that way)

Go naomhaítear d’ainm (hallowed be thy name. Wishing for something uses ‘go,’ and usually a special form of the verb – as in ‘go raibh maith agat.’ Naomhaítear is the autonomous form of the verb ‘to hallow,’ something special to Irish. The verb has no subject. It just happens. We kind of use ‘they say’ in English for something that is said, without attributing a real source to it. That’s as close as we get. D’ainm is short for do ainm (your, singular) name.)

Go dtaga do ríocht (May your kingdom come. Same wishing mode, but this verb has a subject – ríocht is doing the coming)

Go ndéantar do thoil (may your will be done. Here’s another autonomous verb form.)

Ar an talamh, mar a dhéantar ar Neamh (on Earth, as it is in Heaven. ‘a dhéantar’ is in a direct relative clause, and the particle ‘a’ (which is attached in ‘atá’) usually causes lenition (an ‘h’ after the consonant). So do most singular possessives (do, mo, a (his). ‘a’ for ‘her’ does not, and ‘a’ for ‘their’ is plural, so it causes eclipsis).

Ár n-arán laethúil (our daily bread – notice the prefixed ‘n’ again. Adjectives follow the noun almost always in Irish.)

Tabhair dúinn inniu (give to us today. Imperative verb form. Prepositional pronoun ‘to us’).

Agus maith dúinn ár bhfiacha (and forgive us our debts. Idiomatic – kind of like ‘make good to us’ our debts. Notice the eclipsis (bh before f) on fiacha.)

Mar a mhaithimidne dár bhféichiúna féin (as WE forgive our debtors. Relative clause after ‘mar’ (as). The ‘ne’ added to ‘we forgive (make good)’ is the way Irish makes a word emphatic. There are different endings for different persons, this being first person plural. ‘dár’ is short for ‘do ár,’ and ‘do’ is the preposition that ‘dúinn’ is made from – but no pronoun is used here – we have the noun. ‘féin’ means ‘our own,’ and is reflexive, usually for emphasis or distinction.)

Agus ná lig sinn i gcathú (and lead us not into temptation. Negative imperatives use the particle ‘ná.’ ‘Sinn’ is ‘us.’ The preposition ‘i’ causes eclipsis.)

Ach saor sin ó olc. (But deliver us from evil)

Amen (sometimes ‘Áiméin’).

How about the sign of the cross (comhartha na croise)? Here we get to see lots of examples of the genitive case of nouns – the ‘of the’ case. ‘Cros’ is cross, ‘croise’ is ‘of a cross.’ The definite article is ‘an’ for all singular nouns. If the noun is feminine, in the genitive case it switches to ‘na.’ ‘na’ is also used for all plurals. Different classes of nouns change different ways, but there are not really that many possibilities, and these come with time.

In ainm an athar (in the name of the father – ‘athair’ is the regular form)

Agus an mhic (and of the son – masculine genitives are lenitted after the article, if possible)

Agus an Spioraid Naoimh. (and of the Holy Spirit. Here the adjective is also modified to be in the genitive case. Spiorad Naomh is the regular form. NB – ‘Sp’ before a slender vowel is still pronounced as it is in English). Amen (‘Áiméin’).

There are many, many traditional prayers in the Irish language. There are a few good books of these. I have ‘Gairdín an Anama’ (garden of the soul) and ‘Ár bPaidreacha Dúchais’ (our native prayers).

Cúpla lá roimh Lá Altaithe, chuaigh mé go Pennsylvania (Coill Phenn). Bhuail mé le beirt bhall eile den AOH ansin, William Watson agus John Ahtes, ag Ollscoil Immaculata. Tá siadsan ag déanamh sár-oibre ag tabhairt scéal Duffy’s Cut chun solais. Tharla rud uafásach ann in 1832. Fuair 57 inimirceach Éireannach bás ag obair ar an iarnród, mar gheall ar an gcalair (ceaptar). Cuireadh iad in uaigh mhór sa choill, i ngan fhios d’éinne, i bhfad ó bhaile. Bhí béaloideas ann sa chomharsanacht fúthu le blianta fada. Leis sin, tá scéalta ann faoi thaibhsí sa choill sin. Ach fuair an Dochtúir Watson leabhar óna shinsear ina raibh an scéal, mar a bhí sé ag an iarnród. Rinne sé agus a chairde taighde faoin scéal, agus le déanaí, fuair siad cnámha na bhfear faoi thalamh, le córas x-gha.

Nuair a thug mé cuairt orthu, taispeánadh an suíomh dom. Bhí mo bhean is mo chlann i mo theannta. Dúramar paidreacha ar son na bhfear seo. Mar bhí a spioraid míshocair, rinneamar idirghuí ar a son, as Gaeilge. D’iarr mé orthu an áit ina bhfuil siad a insint dóibh an lá dar gcionn. Ba é sin an lá roimh a fuarthas mar a gcuireadh na fir. D’inis siad a scéal, is dócha.

Tá níos mó faoin scéal seo ag http://www.aoh61.com/history/Tracking_History.htm.

I measc na bpaidreacha a dúirt mé, tá na cinn deasa seo leanas. Is fiú a bhfoghlaim, sílim.

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Beannaím daoibh, a fhíréana Chríost

Atá anseo ag feitheamh le aiséirí glórmhar.

An Té a d’fhulaing Páis ar bhur son

Go dtuga Sé suaimhneas síoraí daoibh.

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Go mbeannaí Dia daoibh, a fhoireann,

Go mbeannaí Dia daoibh agus Muire.

Bhí sibhse tamall mar atá sinne,

Beimidne fós mar atá sibhse.

Go rabhaimid go léir fé (faoi) mhaise

Ag Rí geal na cruinne.

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