Colmcille (I)

Like the previous story, and several others before that, this story comes from Seán Mac Giollarnáth’s collection Annála Beaga ó Iorrus Aithneach. Once again, I will include a transcription from the book (sadly long out of print, making it difficult to find a copy; in fact, I only know of one copy in America and I was lucky enough to have a friend at that university who scanned some of it for me, which is where I’m copying these from) as well as notes on any dialectal features which jump out to me. Please realize there are likely more in the text that I am unaware of, but I can at least stress the key ones.

Nuair a cailleadh Colmcille d’orduigh sé cónra chloch a chur air agus a caitheamh amach sa bhfairrge. Tháinig an chloch i dtír i n-aice leis an áit a raibh Brighid agus Pádhraic curtha.

Tá tobar Cuilmcille i Leitreach Árd. An 9adh lá de’n Mheitheamh an lá féile. Níl aon fhear ar an mbaile a’ gul ag déanamh aon bhlais oibre an lá sin.

Tá tobar Chuilmcille san Áird Thiar. Tá leac ar dhéanamh clár bácúis ar bheal an tobair. Rug mé uirthe agus mé a’ gul le cladach tráth a raibh rabharta mór ann. ‘Sé an t-ughdar gur thóig mé í go ndubhairt fear liom dá gcaithtí taobh amuich de na Sgéirdí í go mbeadh sí san áit chéadna arís. Chaith mé de mhullach aille í i n-áit a raibh dhá throigh dhéag d’uisge ann an trághadh is mó a bhí ann ariamh. Chaith mé amach í chomh fada agus bhí mí i ndon. Dubhairt mé go mbeadh fhios agam a raibh an fear seo ag déanamh na fírinne liom. Tháinig mé thart arís faoi cheann coigcíse agus bhí sí ins an áit chéadna ins an tobar. Sin í an fhírinne chómh siúrálta is atá tú dhá sgríobh. Chonnaic mé cruthuighthe é.

Tá cuisle dhomhain idir an dá bhaile, an Áird Thiar agus an Áird Thoir. Tá cora sa gcuisle agus tá an tobar i gcoirnéal na cora i dtaobh aille, ar bhruach an taoille. Teagann ‘chuile thaoille insteach ann. Tá an tobar a’ gul ag triomú ‘chuile thrághadh.

• cónra – This is written in the standard form, but would often be pronounced as if it were ‘cúntra’ in Connemara. /o:/ > /u:/ is a common change if in the presence of a nasal (either before or after, and unless it’s also in the presence of a liquid, thus ‘mór’ doesn’t change, though ‘mó’ does become ‘mú’; I’ve heard some evidence this might be a change in process and that it is spreading to all cases), and an epenthetic t is often inserted between /n/ and /r/ (it appears in ‘scantraigh’, for instance)
• sa bhfairrge – ‘sa’ eclipses in Connemara
• a’ gul ag X – This is similar to the English expression ‘going to X’. It’s common enough in Connemara, though possibly came from English; either way, it’s long established in the dialect.
• i ndon – ‘in ann’ in the modern spelling. I prefer the ‘i ndon’ form myself, as it seems to reflect the pronunciation better, and reflect that the phrase, etymologically, doesn’t have anything to do with the 3rd person masculine singular form of ‘i’.
• teagann – A very common for of ‘tagann’, to be heard in Connemara. ‘tar’ has plenty of different verbal stems; from what i can gather, ‘teag-‘ is the most common one in the present tense nowadays; at least, that’s what Leabhar Mór Bhriathra na Gaeilge seems to suggest.