| Manx | English | |
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| [TO THE EDITOR] | TRANSLATION | |
| My Charrey Deyr,— (See original article for original spelling). | My Dear Friend,— | |
| Ta mish er scrieu dhyt mychione sheshaght ren meeteil fastyr Jedoonee. | I have written to you about a company which met on Sunday evening. | |
| Haink Dan Uan as Billy Beg gys y thie laccal mish goll mâroo dy chur shilley er Juan, ta beaghey ayns y thie heose. | Dan Uan and Billy Beg came to the house wanting me to go with them to see (put a sight on) Juan, who lives in the upper house. | |
| “Royd lhiat,” dooyrt my ven rhym, “as gow ny laghyn mie choud as t’ad goll. Bee dy liooar feayraght as fliaghey çheet foast.” | “Away with you,” said my wife to me, “and take the fine days while they are to be had. There will be enough cold and wet coming yet.” | |
| V’eh braew chirrym, as hie shin ooilley cooidjagh. Ny yeih, va ny raaidyn mooarey laae jeh laagh, as s’veg sleih va shooyl. Ayns y magheryn[1] ta’n faiyr glass dy mie er dy chooilley cheu. Cha bee eh goll-rish yn Ollick fegooish red beg jeh[2] sniaghtey as rio— “Ollick glass Rollick roauyr.” | It was fine and dry, and we all went together. The highways, however, were full of mud, and few persons were walking. In the fields the grass is fresh and green on every side. It will not be like Christmas without a little snow and frost. “A green Christmas brings a fat churchyard.” | |
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[1] y magheryn] — the use of the singular form of the definite article before plural nouns is common in late 19th C and early to mid 20th C Manx.
[2] jeh] — ‘dy’ would be expected here.
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| Quoi va er y chronk agh Juan eh hene, Joe voish y glion, Illiam Mooar, as Jammey ta jannoo arrane; as quoi ren cheet seose er y chassan agh Bobby yn faasaag, as briaght eh cre red va shin jannoo ayns shoh ooilley ry-cheilley. | Who was on the chronk but Juan himself, Joe from the Glen, big William, and James the song-maker ; and who was coming up the pathway but Robby the Whiskers, and he inquired of us what we were all doing here together. | |
| “Ta shin er cheet cooidiagh,” dooyrt shin “dy ghoaill coyrle (mannagh vel eh ro anmagh as y traa er n’goll shaghey), dy ghoaill schooil cooidjagh—gra, un oie sy chiaghtyn, ayns y chenn ghlare, as dy ynsagh ny paitchyn ayns glare y chenn ayraghyn.”[3] | “We have come together,” we said, “to take counsel together (if it is not too late, and the time gone by), to have a school among ourselves—say, one night in the week—in the old language, and to teach the children in the language of their forefathers.” | |
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[3] glare y chenn ayraghyn] — the use of the singular form of the definite article before plural nouns is common in late 19th C and early to mid 20th C Manx. The ‘standard’ form would be ‘glare ny shenn-ayraghyn’.
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| “Ta shiu jannoo dy mie,” dooyrt Robby. | “You are doing the right thing,” said Robby. | |
| “Vel y feddan ayd Joe, cur eh dys dty veeal eisht, as cur carr dooin. ‘Tranquility’ (Eaisht sleih!) :— | “Is the flute at you. Joe ? Then put it to your mouth and give us a tune. ‘Tranquility.’ (Harken people).” | |
| O Yee Gloyroil, Hood’s ta shin geam, | O Glorious God, to Thee we cry, | |
| Nyn vriw, nyn Ayr, as carrey traa nyn veme, Haualtagh casherick, Ree dy flaunys, | The Judge, the Father, the Friend in time of need ; | |
| Ec dty stoyl-reeoil ta shin coyrt ammys. | Holy Saviour, King of Heaven, | |
| At Thy throne we pay our homage. | ||
| “Ta’n maidjey shoh feer cham, ny yeih, nee eh jannoo mie dy-liooar,” dooyrt eh. Eisht hrog eh eh jeeragh syn aer, “ooilley cooidjagh son nyn mioys.” Tra va ooilley yn arrane harrish hie Robby ersooyl. | My stick is very crooked, however it will do very well,” he said; then he lifted it straight in the air, saying “All together for your lives.” When the hymn was all over, Robby went his way. | |
| “Ta mee cooinney”[4] dooyrt Billey “dy vel eh goll sooree gys y twoaie. Ta monney mraane aeg sheese bwaagh as aalin, as dy palchey argid, as t’ad toiggal ny share jeh deiney voish y cheu jiass[5]. Eisht ghow Illiam mooar yn chenn lioar as lhaih eh dooin keayrt as v’eh cur soilshey dooin er ny focklyn mooarey as ny raaghyn dowin (te dooiney agglagh son focklyn croutagh). | “I am thinking,” Billy said, “that he is going courting to the North. There are many young women down, handsome and comely, (and of plenty of money) and they think more of men coming from the Southside.” Then big William took the old Book (the Bible) and read to us a while, and he was giving us light on the big words and dark sayings. (He is a wonderful man for difficult and uncommon words.) | |
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[4] cooinney— ‘of memory’, likley a mistake for smooinaghtyn, ‘thinking’, or cooinaghtyn, ‘remembering’.
[5] cheu jiass] — ‘cheu yiass’ would be ‘standard’ here.
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| “Te bunnys traa dooin goll sheese gys y thie nish,” dooyrt Juan. | “It is nearly time for us to go down to the house now,” said Juan. | |
| “Cha nel monney cloie as mitçhooraght ayns ny paitchyn nish, cha nel caggey erbee goll nish as y vichooraght oie houney ooilley harrish, eer ny guillyn bane cha nel ad cheet nish,” ren Joe gra. | “There is not much play or roguishness in the children now. There's no fighting going on now. and the roguish tricks played on Hollantide Eve are all over: even the Whiteboys, they don’t come now,” Joe said. | |
| “Chamoo vel cammag er akin. Beaghey gyn-oayl ta jannoo shen,” dooyrt Illiam. “Cha-nel sleih gee arran oarn as pishyragh myr v’ad; ayns my aegid va’n ghuillyn cha lajer as dew, as cha bieau as mwaaee; nish eer yn eirrinee hene, ooilley arran oghe t’ad gee, as jeeagh er nyn n’ghuirn lane jeh mess as feill as eeast. Jeigh’t seose lesh leaoie, ta cheet voish bunnys dy chooilley cheeraghyn, as ta Jee ny lomarcan toiggal cre ooilley ta ayn ad[6], ny yeih ta’n sleih gee ad millish. Cha nel eh yndys ta mooarane doghan’n jannoo er sleih nish, agh son y paitchyn nyn meealyn follym jeh feeacklyn, as myr shoh be eh choud as ta sleih gee ny smoo jeh ny reddyn ta gaase ayns cheeraghyn cheh ; cha cheayll me rieau jeh peccagh ching, choud v’ad gee dy phalchey phodaase, scaddan sailjey, as arran oarn, as giu banney geyre as jough imlit sy thie, goll-rish ta ayd ayns shoh Juan; doghan’n taa-oo gra, te ooilley lesh gee mess gyn-oayl. | “Neither is chammag seen (played). Foreign food is doing that,” said big William. “People are not eating barley bread and peas as they were. In my young days the lads were as strong as oxen, and as swift as hares; but now even with the farmer himself it is all oven bread (bakers') they eat; and look at the cans (tins) full of fruit and flesh and fish, closed up with lead, coming from almost every country, and God alone knows all what they contain, and yet the people eat them sweet- It is no wonder so many disorders do on people now. And the children, their mouths are empty of teeth, and this is how it will be so long as people eat so much of things that grow in warm climates. I never heard of persons sick so long as they ate plenty of potatoes, salt herring, and barley bread, and drank buttermilk and homebrewed ale such as thou has here, Juan. Disorders you’re saying ? It is all with eating foreign fruit.” | |
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[6] ayn ad—‘in them’, ayndoo or ayndaue are the standard forms.
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| As rish y thaggloo va ain ren y dorraghys snaue orrin, as vein foast cheet[7] reesht gys slyst ny marrey rish soilshey yn eayst. As nish charrey deayr, Ollick ghennal as blein vie noa dhyt. | And with the talking we had the darkness crept upon us, and we had to come again to the borders of the sea by the light of the moon. And now, dear friend, a pleasant Christmas and a good New Year to you. | |
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[7] vein foast cheet—‘we had to come’.
‘Vegin’ does not exist as a past tense form of Shegin, so it is difficult to see discern what ‘vein’ is here, unless it is a contracted form of ‘va orrin’.
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| YAMYS MYLVAANTYN | YAMYS MYLVAANTYN. | |