Irish Translation Forum

PJ wrote:I remember hearing my first Irish curse which was basically " may you have stones in your oats "... terribly unsatifying for a teenager at the time.

...Celtic curse?

the only kind a chara.

what I like even better is when someone says... oh you speak Seltic (as they pronounce it ) doesn't you ?

and I had one person at the office comment when she heard me speak in Irish to a friend over the phone " I love it when you speak Elf "

Cymro-Breatnach wrote:

PJ wrote:Is Irish tea the same as Celtic tea ?

By the way - have you tasted American coffee? It's burnt, isn't it?

See? Was the Boston Tea Party really worth it?










Ok - yes!

as in most Irish/Celtic Proverbs and curses... some barnyard animal and oats are involved.

PJ wrote:the only kind a chara.

what I like even better is when someone says... oh you speak Seltic (as they pronounce it ) doesn't you ?

and I had one person at the office comment when she heard me speak in Irish to a friend over the phone " I love it when you speak Elf "

I know! The "seltic" thing totally burns me. I go into a mini Greek course to prove to anybody that it's pronouced with a "k" sound..."Celtic comes from the Greek "Keltori" and therefore should be pronounced as thus..." Forget the bloody basetball team!

It is a real word. I have seen it used before in the same context. Caim meaning "loop" (bend, etc.) in such a context is translated as "Compassing" or encircling. A Compassing is indeed an encircling protective prayer as described in one of the above posts; I have never heard it called Christian as it is pretty clearly more of a spell than a prayer. The word is Irish (not "Celtic") and I believe the same or a similar word appears in Scottish as well, as some Compassings appear in the Carmina.

Example of its use:
"Caim Lugh, agus a laimh dheas
Beidh air mo chorp agus air mo chneas
...etc."

I have pronounced it COMM and am interested in other people's pronunciation if it differs.

E

Sure, it's a word. It means a loop (lúb), if you're knitting.

It's quite possible that it was adopted as a term for the ritual you describe; that's just not a definition that most (any?) of us have in our dictionaries.

FWIW, a chara, just because we've all "seen it used" doesn't make a word real. I've read, written or typed "adn" dozens of times myself, but that still doesn't make it a valid conjunction.

I'd say "com," too, but pronunciation's not my strong suit; somebody else'll know for sure.

Abigeál

Abigeal wrote:Sure, it's a word. It means a loop (lúb), if you're knitting.

FWIW, a chara, just because we've all "seen it used" doesn't make a word real. I've read, written or typed "adn" dozens of times myself, but that still doesn't make it a valid conjunction.

Abigeál

Agreed, Abigeál, and just because we haven't seen something used doesn't make it not real.

BTW, what is FWIW?
e[/b]

I just wonder why Ó Dónaill didn't include it in his dictionary...

oisin718 wrote:I just wonder why Ó Dónaill didn't include it in his dictionary...