Naomh Pádhraic agus Crom Dubh

This the second story in Annála Beaga ó Iorrus Aithneach. Like with the last story, I am going to transcribe it here, and note any dialectal features in it. I will not attempt a translation, however.

Ar Dhomhnach Chrum Dubh tugtar turas na Curaiche. ‘Sé an Domhnach deireanach é i mí Iúil. I n-aimsir Naoimh Pádhraic bhí Crom Dubh ina phágánach. Bhí sé ina chómhnaidhe i n-áit eicínt i n-aice le Cruach Phádraic. Bhí sé féin agus Naomh Phádraich carthannach le chéile, ach mar sin féin ní raibh sé sásta ar athrú i n-a chriostaide. Lá bhí mart marbh aige chuir sé a bhuachaill le ceathramha mairt de bronntanas chuig Naomh Pádraic.

“Dia gráistias!” adubhairt Naomh Pádraic nuair adubhairt an buachaill “Seo ceathramha mairt a chuir mo mháighistir chugat”

Nuair a chuaidh an buachaill ar ais d’fiafruigh Crom Dubh dhe cé’n buidheachas a ghlac Pádraic leis féin as an gceathramha mairt a bhronnadh air.

“Níor dhubhairt sé”, adubhairt an buachaill, “ach ‘Dia Gráistias,’ agus níl fhios agam-sa céard a chialluigheanns an focal sin.”

“Seo ceathramha eile,” adubhairt Crom Dubh, “agus bronnfamuid air í go bhfeiceamuid cé’n buidheachas a ghlacfaidh sé”

Thug an buachaill an darna ceathramha chuige.

“Seo ceathramha eile,” adubhairt an buachaill, “atá mo mháighistir a bhronnadh ort.”

“Dia Gráistias” adubhairt Naomh Pádhraic.

Chuaidh an buachaill ar ais. D’fhiafruigh Crom Dub dhe cé’n buidheachas a ghlac Naomh Pádraic faoi’n darna ceathramha.

“Níor ghlac sé buidheachas ar bith,” adubhairt an buachaill, “ach, ‘Dia Gráistias,’ a rud céadna adubhairt sé leis an gcéad cheathramha.

“Tá mé ag cur an tríomhadh ceathramha chuige,” adubhairt Crom Dubh, “go bheicidh mé an nglacfaidh sé aon bhuidheachas liom thairis sin”

Tháinig an buachaill chuig Naomh Pádhraic leis an tríomhadh ceathramha.

“Seo ceathramha eile,” adubhairt an buachaill, “a chuir mo mhághistir de bhronntanas chugat.”

“Dia Gráistias!” adubhairt Naomh Pádhraic.

D’imthigh an buachaill ar ais go dtí a mháighistir.

“‘Seadh, cé’n buidheachas a ghlac sé anois leat mar ghell ar an tríomhadh ceathramha?”

“Níor ghlac sé aon bhuidheachas ach ‘Dia Gráistias’ a rádh, an rud céadna adubhairt sé leis an dá cheathramha eile.’

“Badh cheart dhó níos mó buidheachais a ghlacadh liom-sa,” adubhairt Crom Dubh, “as ucht mo thrí cheathramha mairt a chur de bhronntanas chuige. Téirigh go dtí é anois agus abiar leis thigheacht go dtí mise go toibeann, agus gan aon mhoill a dhéanamh, nó go ngabhfaidh mise go dtí é”

Chuaidh an buachaill go dtí é agus dubhairt sé leis go raibh a mháighistir dhá iarraidh chun a thighe is gan aon mhoill a dhéanamh go dtéigeadh sé ina láthair.

“Beidh mise leat,” adubhairt Naomh Pádhraic, “chun a thighe.”

Tháinig sé i n-éinfheacht leis a mbuachaill i dteach Chruimh Dubh.

“Cé’n sórt buidheachas é seo a ghlac tú liom-sa, a Phádhraic, as mo thrí cheathramha mairt a chuir mé de bhronntanas chugat?” adubhairt Crom Dubh.

“Ghlac mé buidheachas mór leat,” adubhairt Pádhraic.

“An bhfuil trí cheathramha mairt agat chómh maith leis na trí cheathramha a bhronn tú orm-sa?”

“Tá,” adubhairt Crom dub, “trí cheathramha agam chomh maith leob”

“Cuir isteach sa sgála anois iad,” adubhairt Pádhraic.

Chuir. Sgríobh Pádhraic, “Dia Gráistias” trí huaire ar phíosa páipéir agus leag sé isteach ins an sgála eile é i n-aghaidh na dtrí ceathramha mairt, agus chroch an páipéar agus “Dia Gráistias” trí huaire sgcíobhtha air, chroch sé na trí cheathramha mairt.

“Ó, a Phádhraic Naomhtha,” adubhairt sé, “mise atá as bealach leat-sa. Baist mise agus mo chómhluadar. Tá mé a’ gul ag athrú imo chriostaidhe leat, agus gach a bhfuil de dhaoine faoi mo chumhachta caithfidh siad athrú ina gcríostaidthe.”

D’athruigh sé an lá sin, agus baistigheadh an lá sin é, an lá atá baisthe ina dhiaidh ariamh ó shoin, Domhnach Chrum Dubh, an Domhnach a tugtar turas na Cruaiche.

Annála Beaga ó Iorrus Aithneach, S. Mac Giollarnáth, p. 3-6

• ‘sé – is é in the Standard. Often pronounced as ‘sé in every dialect. Same reason why ‘is ea’ becomes ‘sea; ‘is í’ becomes ‘sí.
• dhe – As mentioned in the previous post, and discussed in the Prepositions in Connemara Irish, ‘de’ is pronounced as ‘dhe’, and would actually be said closer to ‘go’
• Níor dhúbhairt – This would be written ‘níor dhúirt’ or ‘níor úirt’ in modern spelling. It’s quite common in Connemara for the <d> in <dúirt> to have been reanalyzed as the past tense particle <do> (which remains seen before other verbs beginning with vowel sounds, such as ‘d’éist’), which thus leads to the root form being ‘úirt’; likewise, the verb has adapted regular verbal prefixes, such as ‘níor/ar’, likely due to this reinterpretation. This you’ll often heard ‘níor úirt’ and ‘ar úirt’.
• a chialluigheanns – In modern spelling, this would be ‘a chiallaíonns’. In the Standard and Munster, it would be ‘a chiallaíonn’, however Connemara and Doengal preserve verbal forms used in relative clauses, .i. those used in the present and future tenses, with direct relative clauses. However, Connemara has made an innovation in the present tense, combining it with the general present tense form, thus giving -(a)íonns, for second conjugation verbs. For first conjugation verbs, it is -(e)anns. Traditionally, and still to be heard in Donegal, it was -(e)as and -(a)íos for first and second conjugation, respectively.
• darna – It’s common to hear ‘darna’ instead of ‘dara’.
• go bhfeicidh – It’s hard to tell what is meant here, as <idh> has been reduced to a schwa in several cases in Connemara. It’s quite likely that this would be pronounced as ‘go bhfeice’ in the standard, instead of ‘go bhfeicidh’, with an /i:/, as is still seemingly common in Donegal; this is confirmed in both IIA and Leabhar Mór Bhriathra na Gaeilge. However, it’s also worth noting that the future tense would likely be preferred in this situation nowadays.
• badh cheart – Ba cheart in the standard; this is the common way to say ‘should’ in Connemara, as opposed to ‘Ba chóir’
• téirigh – Written ‘teighre’ nowadays, this is the common form of ‘go’ in Irish; IIA actually even lists this as the root form of the verb, not ‘téigh’
• thigheacht – As mentioned in the last post, this is ‘thíocht’ in modern spelling and is used over ‘teacht’. It’s often lenited in speech, even when it generally wouldn’t be in the standard (‘goil’, which is ‘dul’ in the standard, does this too)
• go ngabhfaidh – One would expect ‘go rachfaidh’ here, but it’s common enough in Connemara to use ‘gabh’ for the future and conditional roots of ‘téirghe’. ‘Rachfaidh’ or ‘Rachfainn’, etc. would seldom be heard. (Funny anecdote, a former professor of mine once thought this was a loan of English ‘go’ when he first heard it based on the way it sounds. ‘Gofaidh mé!’, but really ‘gabhfaidh mé’)
• dhá iarraidh – This would be ‘á iarraidh’ in the standard. In Connemara, it’s always ‘dhá’ whenever ‘do/de+a’ come together, and this would be ‘do a iarraidh’, which yields ‘dhá’, or ‘á’ in this particular case in the Standard (other places it yields ‘dá’). Sometimes, you can even likely hear ‘a iarraidh’ in this case, as ‘Níl muid do iarraidh’ is something I’ve heard instead of the Standard ‘Níl muid do d’iarraidh’.
• leob – One of the Connemara forms of ‘leo’
• ins an – This is where ‘sa’ comes from in the Standard. The <n> in ‘an’ is often dropped before consonant sounds (both with the article and the question particle, though the latter is sometimes completely left out) giving ‘ins a’, which in fast speech becomes ‘sa’. This is why ‘san’ appears again before vowels as well. ‘ins an’ and the various forms of it (sometimes written ‘insan, insa’ ins a’, etc’) can be found in older works in all dialects, and is often still heard in the Gaeltachtaí — all of them, to my knowledge.
• a’ gul – In speech ‘ag’ is rarely left as ‘ag’ when used before a verbal noun. After a vowel, the <a> is ellided, and before a consonant the <g> is ellided. Thus you can hear things like ‘tá mé goil’, or ‘tádar a’ goil’. Before a vowel sound, the <a” is elided as well, even if it doesn’t follow a vowel; thus ‘ag iarraidh’ sounds like ‘giarradh’ in Connemara – ‘tádar giarradh X’
• gul – This here is ‘go(i)l’ in modern spelling, and is the verbal noun of ‘téirghe’. ‘dul’ would only be said to learners or among those with weaker Irish/school influenced Irish, even though they still migth write it.