Irish Translation Forum

Neither Dochterty nor Doran ring a bell to me as regards to founding the IRA.

phelan wrote:Just to clarify ......... he did say calmed down!

D'oh!

Zugai wrote:1.Are there any good christian or catholic groups that make biblical music in irish?

Quite a lot of ceol traidisiúnta is Christian-based, but depends on what ya mean. A lot of other folk have posted some good info on that subject, so I will move on to the next one

Zugai wrote:2.I was told by a relative of mine that my Irish ancestors were kicked out for well, helping to start the IRA. After I calmed down I decided to find out whether or not this is true. My names on that side of the family are Docherty and Doran. If someone could confirm that it'd be great. If not I guess I'll have to find out why I keep getting cavity searches whenever I get on a plane.?

"helping to start the IRA" is a bit of a tricky question. Remember, the IRA is over a century old, having been formed from various cultural and nationalist movements such as the Fenian Brotherhood, which my family was involved in at the time. The IRA wasn't a bad name back then, not until the Civil War when they had a disagreement with de Valera and the others who let England retain control over much of Ulster. My great grandda fought as a Fenian for what became the IRA, but later fought against them in the Civil War because he felt they were being disloyal to the Irish government. As with many things in Ireland, the truth is VERY complicated and VERY confusing.
In it's most recent incarnation, it's hard to say who kicked into high gear as a paramilitary, but regardless, you should have no problems nowadays due to the Peace Accords.

Zugai wrote:3.What are some great books to read up on St Patrick and on Irish mythology? I have a copy of the mabinogion (Ok, lots of it is welsh, some of it is irish) but I would like something more.?

"Saint Patrick" was actually Maewyn Succat, the half-Roman, half-Frankish son of the Roman governor in Britania. He was not Irish, his color was blue, not green, and he was not the first missionary in Ireland. These are just a few misconceptions that a lot of well-meaning but innacurate books and websites purport. Use these facts to compare when looking through the info you get so that you get an accurate picture rather than a biased one.
As for Irish mythology, it pretty much grinds to a halt shortly before he showed up, and something that personally chaps my toin as a researcher is the revision of much of the lore to Christianize it and make it "Church friendly". This makes accurate anthropological research very difficult and blurs areas that take decades of evidence-based speculation, research, and flat out guess work to clarify. However, some good items to read would be the Táin Bó Cúalnge, Scél Mucci Mic Dathó, and Gods and Fighting Men: The Story of the Tuatha De Danaan and of the Fianna of Ireland, By Lady Augusta Gregory.

Zugai wrote:4.Is there any chance of me getting a translation of songs that my church has written and any hope that they will fit the same tunes?

There are some hardcore folks here who love to translate things, such as Monty Python (sick bastages), so ya might get lucky

odd, html is off for some reason... any help?

breandan_ui_ciarraide wrote:[...
In it's most recent incarnation, it's hard to say who kicked into high gear as a paramilitary, but regardless, you should have no problems nowadays due to the Peace Accords...

Tell that to Malachy McAllister Granted, he was INLA, but still...

oisin718 wrote:Tell that to Malachy McAllister Granted, he was INLA, but still...

Granted, for current folk directly associated with the IRA in Ireland, it is still an issue, but for a foreigner who's ties to it are nebulous at best, the likelyhood of getting knocked around by some heavy-handed RUC fella or Garda are remote, and more likely to be done if the person is seen as turasóir Meireacánach with a lot of Celtophile bluster (run into them regularly, and I apologize on behalf of all U.S. residents for letting them slip past the minefields and get to Ireland, they do NOT represent America...they've just seen Braveheart one too many times ).

So, unless the original poster goes over there wearing a Che Guevara T-shirt with "Kill the Limeys!" on the back while spouting off "Sassenaich Bastards!" (I kid you not, I have run into someone like this at a Celtic Festival in Houston) while in Belfast, he or she should be okay

Breandán I edited your html links, but in general we don't have HTML on here

just replace the <> tags with [ ] ones for the most part, or highlight the text to be formatted and click on the buttons for help

Sacred Texts is a great link!!
and Vassar College was kind of the "official rival/drinking buddy" of my alma mater, Bard College

If you have any questions about the IRA, just ask me. I have a huge book called "History of the IRA"

Don't worry, I won't kill anyone.