PROVERBS—MUNSTER.
(Mr. P. M‘Carthy, Clohane Castle).
1. Seasaṁ fada ar cosaiḃ laga.
- Standing long on weak feet.
- [Feiṫeaṁ fada ⁊c. in Beara.—P. O L.]
2. Muiṁneaċ láġaċ, Laiġneaċ spleáḋaċ.
- Munsterman loquacious, Leinsterman obsequious.
3. Faoiliġ a ṁarḃaiġeas na caoiriġ.
- February kills the sheep [Faoidiġ in Béara.—P. O L.]
4. Ní gearánta ḋom, ar nós ḟir na coise briste.
- I shouldn’t complain, like the man of the broken leg.
- [“Ní gearánta ḋom,” arsa fear na coise briste, that is, though matters are bad enough, yet they might have been worse; gearánta is a remnant of the O. I. participle of necessity, of which instances still exist in Munster.—P. O L.]
5. ’Sé a ḋíċioll meaṫ.
- If things come to the very worst, they cannot go beyond failure.
- [Sé díċioll an sgéil meaṫ.—P. O L.]
6. Is úr stiall do leaṫar ḋuine eile.
- One is generous with what is not one’s own (lit., soft is a piece of leather belonging to another). [Is úll ⁊c., úll=oll: mar ġioll has become mar ġiull; os cionn, os ciún: and why not oll, úll?—P. O L.]
7. Solus fé béal daiḃċe.
- A light under a kieve turned upside down. [Rún ⁊c. in Béara, that is, a secret that will leak out.—P. O L.]
8. Ní’l aċt sár róṁam ⁊ leanfad ċu.
- It is merely, haste thou before and I will follow thee—that is, death at farthest is near to the youngest of us.
9. Is feárr déiḋionaiġe ná ró ḋéiḋionaiġe.
- Better late than never.
10. Castar na daoine as a ċéile, aċt ní castar na cnoic ’ná na sléiḃte.
- People meet, but hills and mountains don’t meet, that is, don't ever do one a bad turn.
11. Tarrai[n]geann taiṫiġe toil,
- Aċt tarrai[n]geann taiṫiġe loċt.
- Practice draws desire on,
- But practice [too] draws crime on.
- [Taiṫige ṁeuduiġeas toil,
- Taitiģe ṁeuduiġeas loċt.—P. O L.]
12. Coṁraḋ ban ar ċléiṫ.
- The conversation of women on a cliath, i.e., a wickerwork kind of seat near the fire.
- [To which is added, in Beara,
- Cóṁraḋ ná bíonn réiḋ.]
13. Is teann gaċ madraḋ ar láṫair a ṫiġe féin.
- Valiant is every dog on the site of his own house, that is, confidence is a good part of success.
- [Is teann gaċ madraḋ geárr an urlár a ṫiġe féin, in Beara.—P. O L.]
14. Ní ṫéiḋeann roġa ó réitioċ.
- There is no better selection than agreement or peace (lit., Selection goes not from agreement).
(To be continued.)
NOTES AND QUERIES.
(60). See October’s Journal, pp. 110, 111.
I.—1. umárd or iomárd: umard or iomard in Beara.
4. pas: This is a corruption of bas, I think, and was, no doubt, used this way:—bas leaṫan, bas árd, bas gearr, ⁊c. I have often seen people use the bas (or bos) for measuring. Finally, when bos was corrupted to pas, the meaning was lost, and so pas deirionnaċ, pas moċ, ⁊c., were said.
7. foċar aga: foṫa raga in Béara. foṫa, cause, rag, a wrinkle (O’R.’s Dict.)
9. Ní’l sé fé (yee-a) an tiġe, I heard. . . . fé ḋíon tiġe, a few times: this seems to point to the right word.
11. Ar dínn an lae: i dteiniḋ an lae in Beara.
14. Ḃí sé aer aige: This is nothing but the prep. pr. air (on him), as ḃí sé orm, ort, ⁊c., é ḋéanaṁ (I, you, &c., had to do it) clearly proves; besides, if it were eire, a burden, the prep. do or d’ would be prefixed to it, as in d’ uallaċ, do ḃí sé d’ uallaċ ort an méid sin do ḋéanaṁ. In the following we have some what similar prep. pr. coming together: Ní raḃas faoi ḋo, I wouldn’t tolerate from him; ó ċuaiḋ se ċuige aige, or ó ċuaiḋ se ċuige de, since he has carried matters so far, sınce he has pushed it to such extremes, since it is come to it (that).
16. soiniuġad: sár soingiuġad in Beara.
III.—5. nár a dé do veis: Over and over again we are told that dia do ḃeaṫa, or dia ḃeaṫa means welcome. Dé do ḃeaṫa, or dé ḃeaṫa, is what I have always heard, and I live in a locality where there is splendid Irish
