Na h-Eòin

Date: Sun, 23 Feb 1997 05:53:14 -0500
From: "Colin B. D. Mark" <106013.1234@COMPUSERVE.COM>
To: GAIDHLIG-B@Danann.hea.ie
Subject: Na h-Eòin -1

Bha an sgeul seo air a thogail à seann leabhar-sgoile Gàidhlig. Tha mi
air a chur air an liosta anns an dòchas gum bi e ùidheil agus feumail
do luchd-ionnsachaidh aig ìrean eadar-dhealaichte.

This story was taken from an old Gaelic school book. I have placed it
on the list in the hope that it will be interesting  and useful to
learners at various stages.  Though the language is simple (from a
Gaelic speaker's point of view), there are some very useful idioms and
a lot of useful vocabulary.

Na h-Eòin

Earran I

Ma chreideas sinn seann sgeul, bha Gàidhlig aig na h-eòin aon uair. Is fada, fada o'n àm sin.
Eisd ris na h-eòin agus saoilidh tu gu bheil pongan 'nan ceileir glè choltach ri facail Ghàidhlig.
Is milis ceòl nan eun air feasgar ciùin, an uair a bhios iad 'nan suidhe air gèig, an iomall coille.
Nam biodh tu 'nad dhùisg glè thrath air madainn earraich chluinneadh tu bìdeil, mar gum biodh iad 'gan dèanamh fhèin deas gu seinn.
An uair a dh' èireas a' ghrian nas àirde, tòisichidh gach eun ri seinn a òrain fhèin, mar gum biodh e a' cur fàilte air a' mhadainn. Tha iad uile cho sona.
An aithnich thu ainmean nan eun a bhios a' seinn anns a' choille air meanglan craoibhe, no air gèig fo dhuilleach nam preas?
An aithnich thu an smeòrach, an uiseag, am brù-dhearg, an lòn-dubh, an dreathan donn, agus breac-an-t-sìl?
Am feadh a bhios an uiseag 'na suidhe air na h-uighean, 'gan cumail blàth, èiridh an coilich gu h-àrd, a' cheud rud anns a' mhadainn mhoich.
Bidh e a' seinn fad an t-siubhail air iteig, gus an tèid e à sealladh.
An sin stadaidh e de òran, agus thig e a-nuas gu luath, mar gum biodh e a' dol a thuiteam.

Earrann II

Is aithne do chloinn am brù-dearg le a bhroilleach donn. Is eun beag sgiobalta e, agus cha bhi eagal air a bhith tighinn chun na h-uinneige, an uair a bhios an t-acras air.
Is gille spaideil e. Tha e fhèin agus an dreathan glè choltach r'a chèile. Ach tha an dreathan na's lugha - aon de na h-eòin as lugha nar dùthaich.
Tha breac-an-t-sìl gu math coltach ris a' bhrù-dhearg, ach tha a bhroilleach na's duinne.
Tha boinn gheala air a sgiathan, agus tha bàrr cuid dhiubh buidhe.
Ach is ann le bhith gabhail beachd air na h-eòin air na geugan, as fheàrr a dh' aithneachas tu iad, na le bhith cluinntinn mu an timcheall.
Is fhiach ceileir nan eun èisdeachd ris. Tha na pongan cho milis is cho ceòlmhor.
Ma tha do chluas biorach, saoilidh tu gu bheil iad a' seinn an Gàidhlig.
Thig, thig, thig an seo" their aon. "Ol, òl, òl e; dileag, dileag bheag," their aon eile. An dèidh sin cluinnidh tu, "Big, big, bigid e siud."
An uair a gheibh thu cothrom air èisdeachd ri smeòraich, fiach an dèan thu mach ciod tha i ag ràdh.
Is toigh leis na bàird a bhith moladh ceòl nan eun 'nan dàn, co-dhiùbh an Gàidhlig no anns a' Bheurla Ghallda.

Notaichean:

I have, by and large, left the punctuation as it was, but have made some small changes e.g. replacing "fèin" with "fhèin". Note that forms such as o'n, 'nan etc. are now more commonly written as "on" and "nan".

ma - 'if', is accompanied by a special form of the Future Tense when the future is referred to or implied. This special form, called the Relative Future, always ends with -as or -eas in Regular Verbs.

seann - is one of a small number of adjectives which may precede the noun. It lenites the following noun where possible. Vowels, l, n, and r and the consonant groups sg, sm, sp and st are, of course, exempt, as well as d and t in this case.

Thus: 'Seann shaighdear', 'an old soldier' but 'seann duine', 'an old man' and 'seann taigh', 'an old house'.

bha Gàidhlig aig na h-eòin = (there) was Gaelic at the birds =the birds spoke Gaelic. A bheil Gàidhlig agad?, Do you speak Gaelic? Tha. Tha beagan Gàidhlig agam. Yes. I speak a little Gaelic. Note that Gaelic doesn't need a word for 'there' in this situation. The word for 'bird' is 'eun'. An t-eun', 'the bird'; 'eòin', 'birds'; 'na h-eòin', ' the birds'.

is fada - Here a special verb called the Assertive Verb, is being used to stress 'fada' i.e. it is LONG, LONG

o'n àm sin = o an àm sin = from that time. Now written as on àm sin The 'an' is the definite article, which is always used with 'sin' 'that' and 'seo' 'this' when they accompany a noun. e.g. 'an taigh sin', 'that house'; 'am bogsa seo', 'this box'.

èisd ris na h-eòin = listen to the birds where 'èisd' is the command form or imperative, when speaking to one person. When speaking to more than one person you would say 'èisdibh' This is followed by a form of the preposition 'ri' = 'to' which is used before a definite noun.

saoilidh is the future tense of the verb 'saoil', 'think'. The future tense is usually followed by an unlenited form of the personal pronoun 'thu'.

gu bheil = 'that there are'. Note again that, as in section 1., the Gaelic uses no word for 'there' in this situation. 'Gu' is a word of many meanings, but here it is the 'that' of indirect speech i.e. He says that he is tired. He thinks that we are mad, etc.

pongan is the plural of 'pong' 'a note in music'.

'nan = (ann) an + an = in their

ceileir (sometimes written 'ceilear') masc., singing of birds, warbling etc.