Would really love if anyone spots an error if they would tell me or if they would like to contribute! Also, if there’s a word in the book you do not know and is not in the course, tell me that, too.
You are also welcome to discuss the book here, or any grammar points that need clearing up. Anything like that as long as it’s related to the book~
UPDATE: Irish Language Learner’s Book club is reading this book as of Jun 1 2020.
Hello @leoithne27, I just got a copy of the book through interlibrary loan today. It is probably (quite) a bit beyond my level of Irish, but I’m curious and will give it a try, and I’ll work through your course as I go (slowly!).
Ar fheabhas!
Definitely take your time~ (Hopefully doing my course by the page will help)
Would love to discuss the book or any edits I need to make to the course with you
Go n-éirí leat!
Hello leoithne27
Thanks for drawing my attention to this wonderfully-written book! It’s the first book I’ve tried that’s not aimed at beginners, so I’m just going over the first few pages for now, trying to up my level.
Do you still have time for queries, input, and so on?
“Gur chuir a hairde dhá mhéadar, nach mór, agus a gruaig fhada fhionn lena frainse ghéar, fhéinbearrtha, faitíos orthu”
I got stuck on this sentence and, although I now get the general sense of it, I still can’t get what’s going on grammatically. Could you give a literal translation of it and/or say something helpful? Thanks.
I’m doing this book specifically because of this group here: Irish Learners’ Book Club. This group has its members translate some lines from Irish books we are group reading, and then there is corrections and discussions about the words and grammar.
They read two books together, a harder one and an easier one. Ó Lúibíní Lú is the next book coming up for the easier one. I really recommend joining the group and getting on the translating list. And they accept everyone no matter your level!
We are finishing up Hóng now so you have a bit of time yet
That’s just what I needed; the róle of “gur” and “chuir” were the sticking points.
Building on what you’ve done, I’ve now discovered that “nach mór” can be used to mean “nearly”; it also occurred to me that “féinbearrtha” could mean “self-trimmed”. This would give:
That [they] put her height [at] two metres, nearly, and her hair long fair with fringe sharp, self-trimmed, fear [was] on them. (Can’t say I blame them!!!)
I don’t usually go into a sentence so thoroughly, but if she really were 6 foot 7 that would be exceptional, and change the nature of the book; I even wondered if it were going to be some kind of fantasy… Whereas what is said is that they put her height at 2 metres, almost. Well, in the British Isles, people often use “metres” interchangeably with “yards” and, being startled by her anyway, may have exaggerated. So she’s probably coming up to 6ft, not that unusual for a Dutchwoman.
Building on what you’ve done, I’ve now discovered that “nach mór” can be used to mean “nearly”; it also occurred to me that “féinbearrtha” could mean “self-trimmed”.:
I feel silly now since I focused too much on “inbearrtha” being a word in itself. Féin + bearrtha = self-trimmed makes more sense for sure. I’m going to edit that level then~
Despite being Canadian, I’m really bad at actually picturing what someone’s height is (especially when described in meters -I don’t usually bother to do the conversion). But yes… now that I think about it, exactly 2 meters would be crazy!
(Ah, it’s very nice to have someone to read along and discuss this type of stuff with!)
Well, your interpretation worked for me; I thought, Rebekka’s undertrimmed her fringe to hide that dodgy eye!
So it wasn’t what was said but it’s sayable, surely? Not in one word, apparently. “Róbhearrtha” doesn’t seem to have an opposite; I can’t find a prefix that’s the contrary of “ró-”. “Fé” just sticks to being a preposition, unlike the English word “under”, which does double duty as a prefix; and “fé” probably doesn’t have the connotation of being insufficient, anyway.
On second thoughts, there probably is some more obscure prefix that would do the job; need to look in older sources.
Thank you for all the work you’ve done on this course
Probably doesn’t, no, but it’s possible to have snuck in their anywho, considering Hijmans isn’t a native speaker. Béarlachas happens. Sometimes I can’t tell if it’s Béarlachas or if it’s always been such sometimes
No problem~
Could be doing a lot more and I’m sure I have a fair few mistakes, but thanks anyway, haha.
So, I never realized this before, but if you become a member on www.ClubLeabhar.com you can actually get a pdf glossary for the book of the month! Aiséirí was one of them, so I am going back through and may have at least one or two changes for things you may have already done. I’d recommend grabbing the glossary yourself, because I won’t add everything on the glossary in the course. (Still, if you need me to add something let me know!)
Also, Nicodermus, you were more correct on your translation; in the glossary it shows ‘‘lena frainse ghéar, fhéinbearrtha,’’ is ‘‘with its severe, self-cut fringe’’.
Thanks very much for mentioning www.ClubLeabhar.com - that seems like a very helpful resource. I struggled through the first couple pages of Aiséirí several months ago before putting it aside, but hope to come back to it aided by your course and this glossary (and a few more months of Irish study) soon.
