Irish Translation Forum

I guess I shall be the one to start off the thread of Irish History & Culture. The intent of this thread being to offer insight, URLs, facts and general (friendly) emotional outbursts on the history of Ireland and the good fortune of those that have been blessed enough to actually be Irish.

I am not Irish by blood. I am Irish by marriage - and Irish by desire. My husband and I frequently spoke about finding out the intimate details of his Irish heritage. He actually had a cousin who made a fact finding sojourn to Ireland and located the original farm of his ancestors. We dreamed of going there one day ourselves. But, as is often the case, other day to day details got in the way and we never really did the research ourselves to find out more. And then I turned around to find my life turned upside down and I have been learning to deal with the death of my beloved. There were two extremely helpful people in the beginning - Eoin - the founder of this site and a poster who went by the name tombraider, who seems to have disappeared. I have had the first translation I ever requested from this site engraved on the gravestone for my husband's and my grave site: go síoraí i mo chroí. Thank you to Eoin for giving me that translation.

This forum has been a place of great comfort to me - I think the anonymity made me feel safe in the beginning. Safe enough to ask for translations that expressed the heaviness of my heart as well as the translations that expressed the unbounded joy and happiness that my husband and I shared for 24 years.

As my residency in this forum has developed, I found that I just full out enjoy these men and women, I admire the knowledge of the regulars, and camaraderie and sense of humor that we all share, - well, it just can't be equaled anywhere!

All of that leading up to say: Celebrate your heritage; learn to speak this beautifully romantic and poetic language, if you don't already. Don't put it off. In an instant your life can be devastatingly altered, leaving you with the regrets of not learning all that you could about the history and culture of The Emerald Isle and its beautiful language.

BTW - my "blood" heritage is German and Russian - which I suppose is where my tenacity on this quest to learn comes from...

One of the first conflicts that I researched in Irish history (and yes, this history is filled with more than its fair share of conflict) was the Nine Years War. Red Hugh O'Donnell was one of the heroes of that war and I found his story fascinating.

Here are some links on the story:

http://www.irishclans.com/articles/kinsalebatt.html

http://www.hoganstand.com/general/ident ... eyears.htm

http://www.ireland.org/irl_hist/hist26.htm

And, a link to an earlier posting I did to share the lyrics of a song that tells the story of Red Hugh O'Donnell: viewtopic.php?t=2489

So, ladies and gentlemen - I've kicked it off - shall we all share our favorite stories and links to information for Irish History & Culture?

Deb,

Thank you for sharing such a personal story. This thread is an awesome idea and I'm sure it will be used quite often for reference/discussion.

I think the people/personalities on this forum are what make it so much fun and I'm ever so glad I discovered it's existance.

Patrice

I think I remember somebody came on here with a question and they mentioned thet were writing a story about Hugh. What I really find interesting in history is the lives of ordinary people but of course so little of that was ever recorded.

What I'd really like to know is how the ordinary people, the peasantry fared in Gaelic society. I wish I knew more about the Brehon Laws, school history books always made mention of them but didn't go into any great detail about them. Anyone got any good links?

Deb,

Kudo's for your bravery. You have (as you all ready know) been so blessed to be able to feel passionately about another human being.

Thanks for starting this thread.

A-

Try this site. I too am an explorer--

http://ua_tuathal.tripod.com/testdefault.html

also, I typed in Brehon Law in Google & was overwhelmed.

So, lads & lasses (lassies?-reminds me of the dog) , I received my "Irish On Your Own" tapes yesterdayand low and behold, nowt here is Teachme Irish ! Oh well, I'm sticking to what I got & waiting for my Dictionary & Grammar book. I'll start there! I can listen whilest I am quilting Aillis beautiful words...

C-

Deb, I too have been overwhelmed by this site and the people associated with it. I dabbled in Irish a few years back as a way to get in touch with part of my heritage. I went through some pretty traumatic events the past few years. I am a professional firefighter and was almost killed on the job 2 years ago. My whole life changed. I could no longer do the job I loved, my appearance changed. My mind and body were no longer the same. Then my wife and I separated, and things went down from there. Then, I just one day decided to try and do all the things I always wanted to do, but was either afraid, embarrassed, etc. I guess that's why I decided to buy a Harley(FREEDOM), grow my hair a little longer(FD regulations won't let it get TOO long) and really devote some time to learning this language that I've come to love. Thank all of you for accepting me for who I am, without knowlege of age, race, gender or looks. That is hard to find in these times. I will be around for some time to come.

Corvus93:
WOW - great link on the Brehon Laws - I can't wait to get home so I can peruse it without feeling guilty about running past my lunch hour!

JSmith:
Glad you survived your accident. I have a dear friend whose Dad was a Fire Chief in Cincinatti. She has a remarkable collection of firefighting memorabilia. Have you taken your Harley to Sturgis yet? My husband and I were not bikers, but happened to be in SD in 1988 visiting our grandson and made a day trip to Sturgis - if you've never been, you should plan to go. It is the most amazing collection of machinery and people that you will ever see.

Deb,

My favorite work joke:

Man at his desk doing something close to nothing...

Boss enters mans office & asks man why he doesn't look busy.


Man says: I didn't see you coming!

C-

Deb wrote:Corvus93:
WOW - great link on the Brehon Laws - I can't wait to get home so I can peruse it without feeling guilty about running past my lunch hour!

JSmith:
Glad you survived your accident. I have a dear friend whose Dad was a Fire Chief in Cincinatti. She has a remarkable collection of firefighting memorabilia. Have you taken your Harley to Sturgis yet? My husband and I were not bikers, but happened to be in SD in 1988 visiting our grandson and made a day trip to Sturgis - if you've never been, you should plan to go. It is the most amazing collection of machinery and people that you will ever see.

Haven't made it to Sturgis, yet. Just some local stuff. I live near Gettysburg, PA so I mostly just hit stuff in PA, MD, VA, DE, that kind of thing. But, I would love to go. I've collected some memorabilia over the years also. My father was a firefighter, his brother was a firefighter, and my great-great uncle was a firefighter during the Great Baltimore Fire in, I believe, 1901. So, it's a tradition. That's why it was so devastating to have to sit behind a desk. Kind of a bird in a cage type thing. Thanks!!

Jsmith13,

I'm sorry to hear about your accident and the frustration you must feel now. But with decades of history of fire fighting in your family, have you considered writing your family's memoirs? What an awesome way to 'live vicarously' and keep in touch with a profession you so apparently love. We can't thank fire fighters enough for what they do. It's a tough job that I don't believe has truly been given its due until after 911.

Patrice

The cool thing is that my great, great uncle was Thomas Dunn, an Irishman from Cork. I guess I could put my story to paper, but I don't know of any famous authors.............