[C 1] [Blank] [C 2] [Blank] [C 3] <eng>GAELIC PROVERBS Maclachlan & Stewart [DA 1] GAELIC PROVERBS. [DA 2] [Blank] [DA 3] A COLLECTION OF GAELIC PROVERBS AND FAMILIAR PHRASES. BASED ON MACINTOSH’S COLLECTION. EDITED BY ALEXANDER NICOLSON, M.A., LL.D., ADVOCATE. <gai>An sean-fhacal gu fada fìor, Cha bhriagaichear an sean-fhacal.<eng> EDINBURGH: MACLACHLAN AND STEWART. LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO. 1881. [DA 4] [Blank] [DA 5] THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF THE REV. NORMAN MAC LEOD, D.D., MINISTER OF ST. COLUMBA CHURCH, GLASGOW; A MAN WORTHY TO BE REMEMBERED WITH AFFECTIONATE VENERATION BY ALL LOVERS OF THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS, THEIR PEOPLE, AND THEIR LANGUAGE; WHOSE PERFECT KNOWLEDGE OF GAELIC PROVERBS, AND HAPPY USE OF THEM, GAVE A SPECIAL CHARM TO HIS HIGHLAND DIALOGUES, WHICH IN WISDOM, HUMOUR, TENDERNESS, IN HEIGHT OF AIM, PURENESS OF SPIRIT, AND SIMPLE BEAUTY OF STYLE, HAVE NOT BEEN SURPASSED IN THE LITERATURE OF ANY COUNTRY. [DA 6] [Blank] [DA 7] PREFACE. The collection of Gaelic Proverbs and Phrases, on which the present collection is based, was first published at Edinburgh in 1785. Some account of the compiler and the publication will be found at the end of this volume. Though small in bulk, and in several respects defective, Macintosh’s collection was a valuable contribution to Celtic Literature. It was at that time, and has continued to be, the only collection of Celtic Proverbs gathered into a book, and translated for the benefit of the world. It had the still greater merit of being a genuine product of the past, the editor’s share in the compilation of which consisted in simply giving as correctly as he could the words of sayings familiar to the people among whom he lived, rendering them into English, and occasionally illustrating them by an explanation, an anecdote, or a parallel. Macintosh contemplated a new edition some time before his death, which took place in 1808, and a new dedication, to Sir John Macgregor Murray of Lanrick, was found among his papers. But the second edition, which did not appear till 1819, shows no other mark of his hand. The additions to the collection were probably found among his papers, but the new editor, Alexander Campbell (author of ‘The Grampians Deso- [DA 8] late,’ and other works), says nothing on the subject. A short memoir of Macintosh forms the Preface, and may fairly be characterised as a curiosity in Biography. The title-page says that the collection is ‘Englished anew,’ and the claim is well founded, much of the English being of a very novel kind. The ignorance of the elements of Gaelic displayed in some of the new translations is still more extraordinary, often so ludicrous, as to make it matter of wonder and regret that Campbell ventured on the task. (1) Macintosh’s translations are on the whole creditable, sometimes happy; the new ones substituted for them are rarely changes for the better; much oftener they give nonsense for sense, and turgid commonplace for pithiness. A few specimens are given below. (2) The spelling in the new (1) It is with compunction that one speaks thus of a man for whom both Burns and Scott had some regard, and to whom we are in that respect indebted not a little. Several of Scott’s best songs, ‘Jock of Hazeldean,’ ‘Pibroch of Donald Dhu,’ ‘MacGregor’s Gathering,’ ‘MacCrimmon’s Lament,’ ‘Donald Caird’s come again,’ were written for ‘Albyn’s Anthology,’ a collection of Scottish Songs and Music, edited by Campbell. (2) <gai>‘A lion beagan ’us beagan,’<eng> is rendered Fill little and little; <gai>‘B’e sin seangan toirt greim a gearran,’<eng> That were the emmet’s bite bewailing; <gai>‘Cha ghille mur umhailt,’<eng> He is not a disobedient man-servant; <gai>‘Léintibh farsuin,’<eng> &c., Narrow shirts; <gai>‘Cha d’ ith na coin an aimsir,’<eng> The dogs did not worry the wether; <gai>‘Dalt arain-eòrna Mhic Philip,’<eng> MacGillip’s oat- cake foster-child; <gai>‘Gheibh bean bhaoth dlùth gun cheannach, ’s cha ’n fhaigh i inneach,’<eng> A wizard’s wife will get retribution without buying it, and she will not get a cure; <gai>‘Leigheas air leth a’ losgadh,<eng> Burning is half cure; <gai>Leann dubh air mo chridhe,<eng> Black-beer at my heart; <gai>‘Trod nam ban mu ’n scarbh,’<eng> The wife’s scolding about the heron (This is one of the comparatively few mistranslations of Macintosh); [DA 9] edition is far worse than in the old, which, for the period when it appeared, may be considered very respectable. A more remarkable defect in both editions is the omission of many of the most familiar and popular proverbs and phrases, such as, <gai>An là a chì ’s nach fhaic, Am fear a bhios air dheireadh beiridh a’ bhiast air, An gad air an robh ’n t-iasg. Am fear a bhios gun mhodh, saoilidh e, &c., Aisling caillich, &c., Gach dileas gu deireadh, Is treasa tuath na tighearna, Saoilidh am fear a bhios ’n a thàmh, &c., Tarruing am bleidir’ ort, &c., &c.<eng> These various defects in both editions, and the comparative rarity of the book, suggested the present edition. The whole original collection has been translated anew, so far as that seemed necessary, and the additions to it, through the kind assistance of numerous friends, have trebled the number of proverbs and phrases given by Macintosh. The number in the first edition was 1305; in the second, 1538; in this edition it exceeds 3900. The coming in of fresh materials from time to time, and the desire to make the collection as complete and correct as possible, have delayed the publication to a degree requiring some apology. <gai>Cha bhi luathas agus grinneas,<eng> a very Celtic sentiment, has perhaps been too <gai>‘Tha ’n uaill an aghaidh an tairbh,’<eng> Pride is in the bull’s front. One specimen of Campbell’s grandiloquence may suffice. <gai>‘Cha ’n ann do ’n ghuin an gàire,’<eng> is fairly rendered by Macintosh, Smiles are not companions of pain. Campbell’s improved version is, The laugh is not excited by the sharp lancinating pain of a stitch. [DA 10] influential. But the alphabetical arrangement was decided on from the beginning, as the most useful and feasible; and some of the best additions came at the very last. (1) It is fair also to state, that the most of these valuable new materials were received without translations, in most cases without note or comment, and not always in the most legible handwriting. Nor will it be new to any one who has meddled with Proverbs to hear, that the most diverse interpretations of the same saying are sometimes given, by persons of the most competent qualifications as judges of Folk-Lore. This fact consoles one somewhat under the certainty that all the translations and explanations will not please everybody. We have as yet no absolute standard of Gaelic orthography, and it is no disgrace, considering that William Shakespeare spelled his own great name in several ways, and that even Samuel Johnson’s English spellings are not all followed now. Our Gaelic version of the Bible is generally accepted by all reasonable persons as our grammatical standard, but being a human production it cannot claim infallibility, and it was from the beginning too much regulated by deference to the practice of Irish grammarians, and a slight dread of anything too vernacular and simple. The latest edition of it, an admirable one, (2) proves that it is possible to get three Gaelic scholars to agree in orthography. But (1) There are still a good many Gaelic sayings which have never got into print. The present Editor will be glad to get any such. (2) Published for the Edinburgh National Bible Society, 1880. [DA 11] Mr. J. F. Campbell does not exaggerate when he questions, whether “there are ten men now living who would write a hundred lines of Gaelic offhand, and spell them in the same way”. I have been very desirous to make this book in that respect as correct as possible, and in general accordance with the best authorities. But an occasional divergence from the canonical norm, and even varied spellings of the same word, have seemed to me not only excusable but desirable. The phrases in which these words occur belong to the simplest vernacular forms of speech, and ought to be so given as to represent faithfully the varieties of phrase and pronunciation found among Gaelic-speaking people. The greater part of the two thousand three hundred sayings here first collected were received in MS., mostly from good Gaelic scholars, who spelled sometimes in different ways. Among these varieties of spelling are béul and bial, bréug and briag, féur and fiar, sgéul and sgial, rìs and rithist, &c. To adhere uniformly to any of these would sometimes spoil the rhyme or rhythm on which the charm of a proverb often depends. The only positive innovation in this volume, so far as I know, is a very small one, seo for so, chosen because it more correctly represents the sound sho, the common pronunciation of the word in the Highlands. For the same reason I have invariably substituted sid for sud, and dhaibh for dhoibh, the former being the pronunciation of Inverness-shire, which I naturally preferred to that of Argyllshire. The addition of the acute accent to such words as béul and lóm is not an innovation, having the sanction of such a [DA 12] Gaelic scholar as James Munro.