Irish Translation Forum

Will be with you shortly... I have a work deadline to meet this morning and then I can take a look.

Okay, sorry folks, finally got my work cleared and then had a minor emergency at home, fridge died and may take some time to fix...

Back to the translation, I'd like to look over the versions given by Bríd and Teifeach line by line and try to arrive at a hybrid with input from anyone willing to offer it.

This is because I personally don't like to sing something that's: 1. not correct gramatically; and 2. sounds excruciatingly awkward because it has too many or too few syllables for the metre.

Things I don't worry as much about compared to other translations: a. losing or adding a few words here or there to avoid 2. above; b. rhyming (traditional Irish songs seldom rhyme). However, if we get a bit of alliteration or vowel agreement going, that's a bonus.

First line "Black is the colour of my true love's hair":

Tá gruaig dubh ar mo ghrá-gheál, (Bríd)
Tá gruaig chomh dubh ar mo ghrá mo chroí (Teifeach)
Dubh é an dath ar ghruaig mo ghrá (Breandán)

Since this is the title of the song, the opening line of the song, and the first line in the chorus, i think it is important to get at least this part right. The rest of the song will probably need much less scrutiny.

My comments (open to correction or refutation):

A Bhríd, I think it would need to be Tá gruaig dhubh ar mo ghrá gheal as gruaig is feminine, and geal has no síneadh and is an adjective, so no hyphen. Lenition appears to be optional here.

A Theifigh, I believe you can only have one mo in a phrase like *mo grá mo chroí, just as you can only have one article in compounds with a similar construction - ar ghrá mo chroí would be fine. I don't think chomh works here either, perhaps fíor-dhubh: Tá gruaig fíor-dhubh ar ghrá mo chroí ?

I've put mine up again for review. I thought of ar ghruaig mo sheirce as well but ar ghruaig mo ghrá fits the metre better. If there's a reason it is gramatically or otherwise incorrect, please feel free to correct it.

Any opinions on which version to go with? or any additional translations people wish considered?