Irish Translation Forum

bluebunnybatman

I love the song "Whiskey in a Jar" and was wondering if anyone knew the meaning of "Musha ringum duram da." Please let me know if you do!

Real Irish girl Wink

Ailill

It's just lilting, just sounds to go along with the music.

Is that your picture, for real?

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"Tá an saol mór lán den fhilíocht ag an té dar dual a thuigbheáil agus ní thráfaidh an tobar go deo na ndeor."
Seosamh Mac Grianna, Mo Bhealach Féin

Méabh

She's cute Very Happy

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Dá fheabhas é an t-ól is é an tart a dheireadh.
However good the drinking, thirst is how it ends.

phelan

awwwww ..........can't we just tell ppl it translates to "danny boy is bunk"!? hehehehehe Twisted Evil

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Phelan

labhair amach os ard 's tabhair bata beag leat.

bluebunnybatman

Yes, it's me, red hair, pale skin and all. Proud to be Irish!

Séafra

I'm proud to look at you being Irish... hahaha
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Please wait for confirmation on anything that I translate. I'M ONLY A STUDENT

I only drink on days of the week that end in Y

Dunlaith

Some of my thoughts:
I kept looking but everywhere I look tells me the same thing: the words in the chorus are just nonsense. Some say the words are derived by drinking too much whiskey lol, but I find that hard to believe. It sounds very much like the little Irish I know:

"Musha ring um a do um a da" is very very similar sounding to these Irish words:
Musha => M'uishe (my whiskey)
ring um a => rinne me/ (rinne = past tense of "de/an" which is "do, make, perform, carry out, commit, turn out, reach, establish"; me/ = "I, me")
do => don (from "do" + "an" = "to the, for the")
um a da => amada/n (fool)

which translates to "I made my whiskey for the fool." Which, as a translation, has the nice qualities that it follows correct Irish grammar and also follows stress rules for both sentences and individual words. It also has to do with whiskey, which is nice.

my whiskey made a fool of me would translate to, I think:
Rinne se/ m'uishe me/ amada/n. Which doesn't work as a translation because the subject has to follow the verb.

"Whack for the daddy-o" is sometimes said to be a mistranscription of "work of the devil-o" which makes some sense as far as my first translation goes in an "alcohol is the devil's brew" sort of sense. It is also in keeping with the story line revolving around a highwayman.

A possible anternative Irish translation is as follows:
uacht failte ta/ diobh,
which sounds like "whack fol cha ta jiov" which is pretty close. Unfortunately, I don't think it makes any sense since it translates to "It is a testament of welcome for them".

My last thought is that maybe it has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with whiskey at all. Maybe the line "there's whiskey in the jar" is actually the mistranscribed line. Maybe the chorus never had anything to do with whiskey.

The Irish word for whiskey, "uisce" (pronounced "ish-keh"), is also the Irish word for water. And many of the versions of the song have his girl filling up his cartridges with water as a main plot point.
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As always, get a second, third, or fourth opinion. I'm prone to make mistakes. lol Sonas ort!

Niall Mór · "Laoch na nGael" Joined: 18 Apr 2004 Posts: 933

what about Máise, rinne dom an-dubh d'amadan?
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www.nigelmcloughlin.com Garda na dTóineanna
I have a University Diploma in Irish and a Fáinne Óir
but this does NOT mean that I can't be wrong!
If this is going on Skin, Stone or Precious Metal
ALWAYS GET AT LEAST ONE CONFIRMATION

Dunlaith

hang on deeply to reality fool maybe? Not exactly sure
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As always, get a second, third, or fourth opinion. I'm prone to make mistakes. lol Sonas ort!

Gearóid Ó Glaschu

how about the first word being ' muise ' , as in ' indeed ' ?