| Manx | English | |
|---|---|---|
| Conversational Manx | ||
| By John Gell | ||
| A Series of Graded Lessons in Manx and English with phonetic pronunciation | ||
| PRINTED BY MONA’S HERALD, LTD., RIDGEWAY STREET, DOUGLAS, I.O.M. | ||
| Conversational Manx | ||
| By John Gell | ||
| A Series of graded lessons in Manx and English, introducing the student quickly and easily to idiomatic and conversational Manx Gaelic. | ||
| Dedication | ||
| Ayns cooinaghtyn ghraihagh jeh ooilley ny Manninee dooie shen veuesyn hooar mish y Ghailck, as maroosyn ayns nyn dhieyn hooar mee lheid y caarjys, kenjallys, as giastyllys. | In affectionate memory of those native Manx people from whom I got the Manx and with whom in their homes I found such friendship, kindness and hospitality. | |
| Alas! Most of them are now gone, and there will never be their like among us again. God’s Peace be with them. | ||
| Introduction | ||
| The author in need of an introduction for his book usually prevails upon some well-known but kindly disposed personality to recommend his work. The seal of solid respectability thus set upon it sends the book off to a flying start and dispels from the minds of timorous readers all doubts as to its soundness. Not so, however, is Mr Gell. He is not interested in the impression his book may have upon the eminent, but only in its value to the ordinary people — of which I am one, and so, if I, as an ordinary man, think that his work is valuable, it is fair to believe that other ordinary men and women will do so too. | ||
| For many years I have been interested in the Gaelic languages, and have seen numerous text-books designed to help the learner. Some I have found very good; others less useful. Amongst them all Juan y Geill’s volume is practically unique, in that it meets squarely the real difficulty which must be found in learning a language; that the language is primarily spoken. | ||
| Now the ability to speak a language fluently does not lie so much in the possession of a good vocabulary and a sound knowledge of its grammar, as in the ability to string words into phrases and sentences with the rythym and accent given to them by the native speakers. Many dictionaries and text-books give the pronunciation of single words, but all too few tell us the sound of these same words when used in conversation. | ||
| For the student of Manx, unable to spend time with a native speaker, this difficulty has in the past been quite insuperable, Kneen’s Dictionary alone has revealed what hitherto was an exasperating secret; how to pronounce the Manx. Mr Gell’s book carries the work to its logical conclusion and tells us how to speak it. | ||
| In the matter of pronunciation he has followed the conventions adopted by the late J. J. Kneen, with a few exceptions. Undoubtedly, argument could be brought forward for the use of the conventional signs of the International Phonetic Alphabet, and such arguments would be cogent, but, to the ordinary student, the system as used by Kneen, which is related to English syllables as pronounced in the Island, must necessarily have the appeal of simplicity. In my own opinion Mr. Gell is wise in adopting it rather than the moe difficult Phonetic Alphabet. | ||
| The sentences and phrases should be spoken rythmically with the accent as shown in heavy type, and having thus attained some fluency in using the set phrases, it is a relatively simple step without losing either rhythm or fluency. | ||
| Finally, practise as often and as regularly as possible — speak the language and keep on speaking it, for its life and preservation is both a charge upon the conscience, and a challenge to the patriotism of this generation! | ||
| Dy voddey beayn yn ghlare ain, as rish dy chooilley studeyr ny Ghailck yiarrins, Raah dy row ort! | [Long live our language, and to every student of Manx I would say, Good luck to you!] | |
| FRANK BELL KELLY | ||
| Wolverhampton | ||
| Y Chaisht, 1954 | [Easter, 1954] | |
| Preface | ||
| FOR some years past, students and teachers of the Manx Language have felt the need for a series of graded exercises in conversational Manx, and to meet this demand these lessons were prepared and pub lished in weekly instalments by the "Mona's Herald" last winter. They now appear in book form in the hope that they will enable even the casual reader to learn a few phrases, and the more serious student to become conversant with the idiom and fluent in speaking our ancient mother tongue. | ||
| The pronunciation of Manx is a very real difficulty, and even with the assistance of a native speaker, the English tongue cannot quite re produce the true Gaelic sounds. Admittedly, those who acquired the language in childhood from parents or grandparents are the best speakers, but such alas, are reduced in number to a mere handful, and even the Anglo-Manx dialect, so rich in the idiom and so full of true Gaelic words, has almost disappeared so that most students have no choice but to try to learn the pronunciation from imitated phonetic symbols. | ||
| Unfortunately, no system of English spelling can adequately represent the spoken Manx; the best would undoubtedly be the International Phonetic Alphabet, but this in itself would create still more difficulty for the average student. Hence, I have conformed in general to the system used by the late Mr. J. J. Kneen in his English-Manx Pronouncing Dictionary, a second edition of which has recently been published by the Mona's Herald Press, and which I whole-heartedly commend to the student for a full explanation of the phonetic symbols and a valuable aid to building up a good vocabulary. | ||
| Note the following variations from Mr. Kneen’s system: | ||
| a is used for that indeterminate vowel heard in English ‘about’, or the short ‘e’ in ‘the boy’. | ||
| ch always as in English church. This is the equivalent of the slender ‘t’ in Gaelic. (e.g. Manx, 'cheer', a country = Gaelic, 'tir'.) | ||
| ch represents the aspirate of ‘c’ or ‘k’, pronounced as the Scot would say ‘loch’. | ||
| The t. and d. as used by Mr. Kneen cause some difficulty, so I have used t.th and d.th. These may look clumsy, but they give a better idea of the sound : viz. | ||
| ayns y thie like English in 'unset thigh.' | ||
| towse as in Lancs. dialect ‘t.thouse’ | ||
| deyr like English ‘wanted there’ | ||
| dou like English ‘said thou’ | ||
| The short vowel a and e, also o and u, are not so distinct as in English; in the dialect one would hear ‘donkey’ pronounced almost as 'd.thunkey,' and the word 'better' as 'bat.tha.' Note also that the ‘oo’ in Manx is always long, as in the English ‘mood’ - a true Manxman will pronounce ‘good’ as though written ‘gude’. | ||
| I must emphasise that phonetics can only approximate to the actual spoken Manx, and I strongly advise those who can, to attend the Manx Language classes, or better still, spend some time with a native speaker if that is possible. | ||
| Finally, I hope that the Manx Language Society will have all the Manx sections of these lessons recorded on the tape machine, and copies made available for use in the Language classes and for individual students, so that in the years to come, when our last native speaker will, alas, have passed away, the pronunciation of Manx will be assured. | ||
| JUAN Y GEILL. | ||
| Purt l.e Moirrey, | ||
| 1954 | ||
| Lesson 1 | ||
| 1. Moghrey mie, Ned, cre’naght ta shiu? | 1. Good morning Ned, how are you? | |
| 2. Lane vie, gur eh mie eu. | 2. Fairly well, thank you. | |
| 3. Kys ta shiu hene ? | 3. How are you yourself ? | |
| 4. Cha nel mee g’accan. | 4. I am not complaining. | |
| 5. Ta mee clashtyn dy vel Thom ching. | 5. I hear that Tom is sick. | |
| 6. O dy jarroo, c’red ta jannoo er? | 6. Oh, indeed, what ails him? | |
| [NE: Oh, really, what’s up with him?] | ||
| 7. Cha ’sayms, agh cha nel eh g’obbragh. | 7. I don't know, but he is not working. | |
| 8. V’eh g’obbragh jea. | 8. He was working yesterday. | |
| 9. Va, agh cha row eh jeeaghyn ro vie. | 9. Yes, but he wasn’t looking too well. | |
| 10. Vel oo goll thie nish? | 10. Are you going home now ? | |
| 11. Cha nel. Ta mee goll gys Doolish. | 11. No, I am going to Douglas. | |
| 12. Jean siyr eisht ta’n barroose cheet. | 12. Make haste then, the bus is coming. | |
| [NE: Hurry up then, the bus is coming.] | ||
| 13. Bannaght lhiat, Yuan. Slane lhiat, Ned. | 13. Goodbye Johnnie. Farewell Ned. | |
| 14. Jeeagh quoi ta cheet nish! | 14. Look who’s coming now! | |
| 15. She Illiam t’ayn. | 15. It’s William (that’s in). | |
| 16. Moghrey mie, Illiam, cre’n driss t’ort ? | 16. Good morning, William, what rush is on thee? | |
| [NE: Morning, William, what’s your hurry?] | ||
| 17. Ta mee goll gys Purt le Moirrey, | 17. I am going to Port St. Mary. | |
| 18. Vel oo goll eeastagh? | 18. Are you going fishing ? | |
| 19. Ta, vel oo cheet marym? | 19. Yes, are you coming with me? | |
| 20. Cha nel jiu edyr, ta mee ersooyl dy-valley. | 20. Not today at all, I’m away home. | |
| [NE: No, not today. I’m heading home.] | ||
| Notes on Lesson 1 | ||
| 1. Much use is made in colloquial Manx of the first person singular, thee and thou, especially when speaking to a person one knows well, but the plural ‘shiu’ is used out of courtesy to an elder or a stranger. | ||
| 2. ‘Lane vie’ = full well, but a Manxman, always conservative, rarely admits this. | ||
| ‘Gur eh mie eu’ =literally, may there be good at you. | ||
| 3. ‘Kys’, pronounced ‘kunnas’ or ‘kennas’, similar to the Irish, ‘cunas’. | ||
| 4. Note the ‘g’ prefixed to verbal noun commencing with vowel. | ||
| 5. ‘dy vel’, an example of the dependent form of the verb. | ||
| 6. Literally = ‘what is doing on him?’ | ||
| 7. ‘Cha ’sayms = an abbreviation of ‘Cha nel fys ayms’ (There is not knowledge at me). | ||
| 19. ‘jeeaghyn’. Jeeagh is given as imperative of ‘fakin’, but actually it means ‘look’. | ||
| 15. ‘She’, the assertive verb ‘to be’, meaning ‘Tis’, the negative of which is ‘Cha nee’. | ||
| 19. ‘marym’, most propositions combine with the personal pronouns giving a special form for each person. Note also that ‘marym, mayrt, marish,’ etc., mean, ‘along with’, ‘in company with’, as opposed to ‘lesh’ which usually implies possession. | ||
| 20. ‘edyr’, an interjection often used in Manx idiom. | ||
| ‘dy-valley ', the word ‘balley’ means a place, town, homestead or farm, and ‘Dy-valley’ is the adverbial form. ‘Thie’ = house or home, and is used adverbially without ‘dy’, as in No. 10. | ||
| Lesson 2 | ||
| 1. Fastyr mie eu, Vainshter Quilliam. | 1. Good afternoon, Mr. Quilliam. | |
| 2. Fastyr mie, Yuan bhoy, nagh vel oo goll dy scoill? | 2. Good evening, John boy, aren’t you going to school ? | |
| 3. Cha nel, ta laa-feailley ain. | 3. No, we have a holiday. | |
| 4. S’mie shen, as ta laa braew ayn. | 4. That’s good, and there’s a fine day in. | |
| 5. Ta, laa braew grianagh. | 5. Yes, a fine sunny day. | |
| 6. Cre shen t’ou gra ? Cha nel mee clashtyn feer vie. | 6. What’s that you say? I don't hear very well. | |
| [NE: What’s that you’re saying? I can’t hear very well.] | ||
| 7. Ta mee gra dy vel laa braew grianagh ayn. | 7. I say that it’s a fine sunny day. | |
| 8. Ta dy jarroo, agh te feayr. | 8. Yes indeed, but it is cold. | |
| 9. C’raad ta’n jishag ayd, Yuan ? | 9. Where’s your dad, Johnnie? | |
| 10. T’eh ersooyl ayns Liverpool. | 10. He’s away in Liverpool. | |
| [NE: He’s gone to Liverpool] | ||
| 11. C’red t’eh jannoo ayns shen? | 11. What is he doing there ? | |
| 12. T’eh kionnaghey cabbyl. | 12. He is buying a horse. | |
| 13. Agh nagh vel daa chabbyl echey? | 13. But hasn’t he two horses ? | |
| [NE: But hasn’t he got two horses?] | ||
| 14. Ta, agh ta’n cabbyl dhoo g’aase shenn. | 14. Yes, but the black horse is growing old. | |
| [NE: Yes, but the black horse is getting old.] | ||
| 15. Ta mee clashtyn dy vel cabbyl noa ec y Valleyskeag neesht. | 15. I hear that there’s a new horse at the Ballaskeg too. | |
| [NE: I hear the farmer at Ballaskeag has a new horse too.] | ||
| 16. Va mee clashtyh jea dy row cabbyl mooar glass echey. | 16. I was hearing yesterday that he had a big grey horse. | |
| [NE: I heard yesterday that he had a big grey horse.] | ||
| 17. Jeeagh! Quoi shen er y clieau? | 17. Look! Who’s that on the mountain? | |
| 18. She Thom Pheric t’ou fakin, t’eh cur shilley er ny kirree echey. | 18. It’s Tom Pheric you’re seeing, he’s putting a sight on his sheep. | |
| [NE: It’s Tom Pheric you can see, he’s gone to see his sheep.] | ||
| 19. Vel monney kirree echey mleeaney? | 19. Has he many sheep this year? | |
| [NE: Does he have many sheep this year.] | ||
| 20. Cha nel monney, va ram caillt ayns y sniaghtey. | 20. Not many, a lot were lost in the snow. | |
| Notes on Lesson 2. | ||
| 1. & 2. There is no word for afternoon’ in Manx. ‘Fastyr’ is used for any time after mid-day until nightfall. Note also the vocative case when addressing a person, which causes aspiration in certain initial consonants; hence M to V in Vainshter, and J to Y in Yuan. | ||
| 3. ‘Laa-feailley’ = literally, a feast day, as were all the oldtime ‘holy’ days. | ||
| 4. S’mie = a contraction of ‘she mie’ = ’Tis good. Many idiomatic com binations of the assertive verb ‘she’ and adjective or proposition are found in all Gaelic languages. | ||
| 6. ‘feer’ =v ery, truly; one of the prefixed adjectives causing aspiration in the noun. | ||
| 7. ‘feayr’, pronounced ‘foor’, or ‘fuar’ as in Erse and Scots Gaelic, though in the West and North of the Island it sounds like ‘feer’ or the German ‘fur’. | ||
| 13. Two, in counting is ‘jees,’ but ‘daa’ is the adjective and is followed by the singular noun, not plural as in English. It also causes aspiration. | ||
| 15. Note the article before ‘Ballaskeg.’ (The Ballaskeg.) This could mean of course, the Hawthorn Farm, but colloquially would refer to the man who owned or farmed Ballaskeg. ‘neesht’ = also, too; and pronounced ‘n’yiss’. | ||
| Much, many.= mooaran or ymmodee, but in the negative or interrogative, ‘monney’ is used. ‘Ram’ = a lot. This is a word commonly used, though not given in any dictionary. | ||
| Lesson 3 | ||
| Baarle | ||
| 1. Vel naight erbee eu? | 1. Have you any news? | |
| [NE: Got any news?] | ||
| 2. Cha nel. Vel red er bee noa euish? | 2. No. Have you anything new? | |
| [NE: No. Have you got any news?] | ||
| 3. cha nel veg noa aym. | 3. I have nothing new. | |
| [NE: There’s nothing new at me.] | ||
| 4. Vel argid erbee euish, eisht ? | 4. Have you·any money, then? | |
| [NE: Do you have any money, then?] | ||
| 5. Cha nel ping aym. | 5. I haven’t a penny. | |
|
[7]
[gad] a rope, a withe made of heath or ling.
| ||
| [NE: I don’t have a penny.] | ||
| 6. T’ou cho boght as lugh killagh eisht? | 6. Thou’re as poor as a church mouse then? | |
| [NE: You’re as poor as a church mouse, then?] | ||
| 7. Cha s’ayms, ‘cha nee eshyn ta red beg echey ta boght, agh eshyn ta geearree ny smoo.’ | 7. I don't know, ‘tis not he who has little who is poor, but he who desires more.’ | |
| [NE: I dunno, someone who hasn’t got much isn’t poor, it’s someone who desires more (than he has).] | ||
| 8. Va shen grait dy-mie, bhoy. | 8. That was well said, boy. | |
| 9. Cha nel argid dy chooilley nhee. | 9. Money is not everything. | |
| 10. Ta palchey argid ec Juan Thom, as jeeagh cho treih as t’eshyn. | 10. John Tom has plenty of money, and look how miserable he is. | |
| 11. Row shiu rieau ayns y thie echey? | Were you ever in his house? | |
| [NE: Have you ever been in his house?] | ||
| 12. Cha row, agh ta mee clashtyn dy vel eh baghey ‘gollrish muc.’ | 12. No, but I hear that he is living like a pig. | |
| 13. Ta, gollrish muc ayns muclagh. | 13. Yes, like a pig in a pigsty. | |
| 14. Row Chalse ’sy thie euish moghrey jiu? | 14. Was Charlie in your house this morning ? | |
| 15. Cha row, t’eh ayns Rhumsaa. | 15. No, he is in Ramsey. | |
| 16. Nagh vel y ven echey ayns Doolish? | 16. Isn't his wife in Douglas ? | |
| 17. Ta mee credjal dy vel. | 17. I believe so. | |
| 18. Row fys eu dy vel Gailck vie eck? | 18. Did you know that she has good Manx? | |
| [NE: Did you know that she speaks Manx well?] | ||
| 19. Cha row fys aym er shen. | 19. I didn't know that. | |
| 20. Cre voish hooar ish y Ghailck ? | 20. Where did she get the Manx from? | |
| [NE: Where did she learn Manx?] | ||
| Notes on Lesson 3. | ||
| 3. Beg = little, small. an adjective, but the aspirated form ‘veg’ is here used as a noun, and is a peculiar idiom of the colloquial Manx. It is only used in the negative or interrogative, and can mean ‘anything’, or ‘nothing’. For example :- | ||
| No. 2 above, could be - Cha nel, vel veg noa euish? | ||
| No. 4, similarly, Vel veg dy argid euish, eisht? (Is there anything of money at you.) | ||
| [NE: Do you have any money?] | ||
| 6 and 7. Manx proverbs. | ||
| 9. ‘dy chooilley nhee’. This is really a corruption of 'dagh ooilley nhee' exactly the same as the Irish, ‘dach uile ní’. | ||
| 10. argid = silver, money. Similar to the use of ‘argent’ in French. | ||
| cho....as, = as ....as, more often written, ‘cha ... as’, but to avoid confusion, 'cho' is preferable, as is done in the Scots Gaelic. | ||
| 17. credjal, colloquially pronounced as though written ‘cra’al’. | ||
| 19. The Manx idiom is, ‘to be knowledge at a person on something,’ | ||
| 20. ‘ish’, the emphatic of the personal pronoun ‘ee’. | ||
| Lesson 3 | ||
| 1. Vel peiagh erbee sthie? | 1. Is there anyone in? (at home.) | |
| [NE: Is anyone home?] | ||
| 2. Ta, nee uss t’ayn, Yamys? | 2. Yes, it is thou (that’s in) Jim? | |
| [NE: Yes, is it you Jim?] | ||
| 3. Trooid stiagh as jeigh yn dorrys. | 3. Come in and shut the door. | |
| 4. S’atchimagh ta’n [sic] oie, vel oo feayr? | 4. It’s a terrible night, art thou cold? | |
| [NE: It’s an awful night, are you cold?] | ||
| 5. Cha nel mee feayr edyr, agh ta mee skee. | 5. I’m not cold at all, but I’m tired. | |
| 6. Soie sheese eisht, as gow aash. | 6. Sit down then, and take rest. (ease.) | |
| [NE:Sit down then, and take it easy.] | ||
| 7. Daink shiu veih Balleychashtal noght? | 7. Did you come from Castletown tonight? | |
| 8. Cha daink, va mee ec y thie Hom Dan. | 8. No, I was at Tom Dan’s house. | |
| 9. Dy jarroo, as kys ta’n dooinney hene? | 9. Indeed, and how’s the man himself? | |
| [NE: Oh really? And how’s the man himself?] | ||
| 10. S’foddey nish neayr’s honnick mee eshyn. | 10. It’s a long time now since I saw him. | |
| 11. T’eh-hene goll dy-dunnal, agh cha nel y ven echey agh moal. | 11. Himself is going bravely, but his wife is only ‘moal.’ (in poor health.) | |
| [NE: He’s doing well himself, but his wife isn’t great.] | ||
| 12. Moal dy liooar, er-lhiams, agh ta cree vie eek. | 12. Poorly enough, I'm thinking, but she has a good heart. | |
| [NE: Pretty bad, I think, but she’s in good spirits.] | ||
| 13. Cha geayll mee rieau accan assjee. | 13. I never heard a grumble out of her. | |
| [NE: I’ve never heard a complaint from her.] | ||
| 14. Cha naik mee rieau e lheid roie. | 14. I never saw her like before. | |
| [NE: I’ve never seen anyone like her before.] | ||
| 15. As cre’n aght ta’n guilley beg? | 15. And how is the little boy? | |
| 16. V’eh trome ching Jesarn, agh lane dy vree laa ny vairagh. | 16. He was very ill on Saturday, but full of energy next day. (day of the morrow.) | |
| 17. Shen yn aght lesh paitchyn. | 17. That’s the way with children. | |
| 18. Yn derrey laa ching, as yn laa elley lane vie reesht. | 18. One day sick and another day quite well again. | |
| [NE: Sick one day and fine the next.] | ||
| 19. Jeeagh er y chlag! Te traa goll thie. | 19. Look at the clock ! It’s time to go home. | |
| 20. Oie vie eisht, gow kiarail jeed-hene ayns y dorraghys. | 20. Good night then, take care of thyself in the darkness. | |
| [NE: Good night then, take care of yourself in the dark.] | ||
| Notes on Lesson 4 | ||
| 1. ‘peiagh,’ or ‘pyagh,’ = a person. Some think that this is synonomous with ‘peccagh,’ a sinner (‘All men are sinners’?) Certainly ‘peccagh’ as pronounced by native speakers, with the medial ‘cc’ slurred, would give much .the same sound. | ||
| 5. ‘edyr.’ = at all, an idiomatic interjection often used in Gaelic, and in the dialect. Not to be confused with ‘erbee,’ meaning none at all, or with ‘eddyr,’ a preposition meaning ‘between.’ | ||
| 8. ‘Yes and No,’ have no counterpart in Manx. They can only be expressed by a repetition of the verb used in the question, hence, ‘Daink shiu?’ ‘Haink,’ Yes. ‘Cha daink,’ No. | ||
| 9. ‘neayr’s’ pronounced as ‘n’yirrus.’ | ||
| 11. ‘cha nel .... agh.’ (Is not .... but.) Similar to the Yorks. dialect | ||
| ‘He is nobbut ... .’ | ||
| 12. ‘er-lhiam,’ an idiom peculiar to Gaelic and cannot be translated literally. It means, ‘methinks, I imagine, etc.’ Similarly with other persons. ‘Er.lhiat, er-lesh. etc.’ | ||
| 14. ‘e lheid,’ = anyone like her, her sort, her kind of person. | ||
| 16. ‘trome’ = heavy. Here used as an intensive, as ‘very sick’ or ‘exceedingly ill.’ | ||
| 18. ‘derrey’ as an adverb, means ‘until,’ but here the idiom is ‘yn derrey yeh as yn jeh elley.’ (The one .... and the other.) Any other noun can take the place of ‘yeh and jeh.’ | ||
| 19. The Manx idiom is ‘to look on something,’ not ‘at,’ as in English. | ||
| Lesson 5 | ||
| (Revision Exercise for Oral Practice) | ||
| 1. C’raad ta Juan? Cha ’sayms edyr. | 1. Where is John? I don’t know at all. | |
| 2. Nagh vel eh ’sy thie? | 2. Isn’t he in the house? | |
| 3. Cha nel mee fakin eh. | 3. I don’t see him. | |
| [NE: I can’t see him.] | ||
| 4. Jeeagh er shen! C’red t’ou fakin? | 4. Look at that! What art thou seeing? | |
| [NE: Look at that! What do you see?] | ||
| 5. Ta Juan er y clieau. | 5. John is on the mountain. | |
| 6. C’red t’eh jannoo? Fow magh! | 6. What’s he doing? Find out! | |
| 7. Moghrey mie, c’red ta jannoo ort? | 7. Good morning, what’s the matter? | |
| [NE: Good morning, what’s up with you?] | ||
| 8. Ta’n cabbyl glass ersooyl. | 8. The grey horse is gone. (away) | |
| [NE: The grey horse is missing.] | ||
| 9. Nagh vel eh ’sy vagher shid? | 9. Isn’t he in yonder field? | |
| [NE: Isn’t he in that field over there?] | ||
| 10. Cha row eh ayns shen moghrey jiu. | 10. He wasn’t there this morning. | |
| 11. T’eh kiart dy-liooar nish. | 11. He’s right enough now. | |
| [NE: He’s ok now.] | ||
| 12. Ta mee clashtyn oo feer vie. | 12. I hear you very well. | |
| 13. Vel oo goll thie reesht? | 13. Are you going home again? | |
| 14. Cha nel foast, cre’n driss t’ort? | 14. Not yet, what rush is on thee? | |
| [NE: Not yet. What’s your rush?] | ||
| 15. Ta mee goll dy Colby, vel oo cheet? | 15. I’m going to Colby, art thou coming? | |
| [NE: I’m going to Colby, are you coming? | ||
| 16. Trooid eisht, lhig dooin goll. | 16. Come then, let’s go. | |
| 17. Jeeagh quoi ta cheet? | 17. Look who’s coming! | |
| 18. She Billy t’ayn, as y moddey echey. | 18. It’s Billy and his dog. | |
| 19. Ta moddey mie ayd, vel Gailck echey? | 19. There’s a good dog at thee, has he Manx? | |
| [NE: You’ve got a good dog, does he know Manx? | ||
| 20. Cha nel Gailck erbee echey. | 20. He has no Manx at all. | |
| [NE: He doesn’t know any Manx.] | ||
| 21. Cre voish t’eh? Voish Sostyn. | 21. Where’s he from? From England. | |
| 22. Cha row mee rieau ayns shen. | 22. I was never there. | |
| [NE: I’ve never been there.] | ||
| 23. Row uss rieau ayns Rhumsaa? | 23. Wast thou ever in Ramsey? | |
| [NE: Have you ever been to Ramsey?] | ||
| 24. Va, dy jarroo, keayrt ny ghaa. | 24. Yes indeed, many a time. | |
| 25. Hie mee dysen ’sy vaatey. | 25. I went there in the boat. | |
| 26. Ta laa braew ayn jiu. | 26. There’s a fine day in. | |
| [NE: It’s a fine day.] | ||
| 27. Laa braew grianagh dy jarroo. | 27. A fine sunny day indeed. | |
| 28. Cha nel eh feayr edyr. | 28. It’s not cold at all. | |
| 29. Vel oo clashtyn red erbee? | 29. Dost thou hear anything? | |
| [NE: Can / Do you hear anything?] | ||
| 30. Cha nel mee clashtyn veg. | 30. I hear nothing. | |
| [NE: I can’t hear anything.] | ||
| Lesson 6 | ||
| 1. Va mee ayns Doolish jea, row shiuish ayns shen? | 1. I was in Douglas yesterday, were you there? | |
| 2. Cha row. cha jagh mee foddey voish y thie. | 2. No, I didn’t go far from home. (from the house). | |
| 3. Hie mee choud as Purt Chiarn. | 3. I went as far as Port Erin. | |
| 4. Naik shiu Paaie 'sy phurt? | 4. Did you see Peggy in the Port? | |
| 5. Honnick, agh cha row mee loayrt r’ee. | 5. Yes, but I wasn·t speaking to her. | |
| 6. Cheayll mee dy vel ee sooree. | 6. I heard that she is courting. | |
| [NE: I heard she’s dating.] | ||
| 7. S’firrinagh dy liooar shen. | 7. That’s true enough. | |
| 8. Ta dooinney eck fy-yerrey hoal! | 8. She has a man at long last ! | |
| 9. Quoi eshyn? Nee· Manninagh eh? | 9. Who is he? Is he a Manxman? | |
| 10. She, Manninagh dooie veih Skylley Vride. | 10. Yes, a native Manxman from Bride Parish | |
| 11. Cha nel mee er n’akin Paaie rish ymmodee bleeantyn. | 11. I haven’t seen Peggy for many years. | |
| 12. Insh dou, vel ee jeeaghyn dy mie? | 12. Tell me, does she look well? | |
| 13. Cho aeg as bwaagh as v'ee rieau. | 13. As young and pretty as ever she was. | |
| 14. As y dooinney eck, c’red t’eh jannoo? | 14. And her man, what does he do? | |
| 15. Cha ’sayms, agh s'likly t’eh gobbragh er y thalloo. | 15. I don't know, but it’s likely he works on the land. | |
| [NE: I don’t know, but he probably does farm work.] | ||
| 16. S’mie shen. Shoh slaynt as aigh vie orroo. | 16. That’s fine, here’s health and good luck to them. | |
| 17. Eaisht! Vel oo clashtyn red erbee? | 17. Listen! Do you hear anything? | |
| 18. Nagh row crank er y dorrys? | 18. Wasn’t there a knock on the door? | |
| 19. Immee as jeeagh quoi t’ayn. | 19. Go and look who it is. | |
| [NE: Go and see who it is.] | ||
| 20. Cha nel peiagh erbee ayns shoh. | 20. There’s no one at all here. | |
| [NE: There’s no one here at all.] | ||
| Notes | ||
| 2. ‘foddey,’ can mean ‘far’ as regards distance, or ‘long’ in time. | ||
| 3, ‘choud as.’ or ‘choud’s,’ an abbreviation of ‘cho foddey as,’ usually translated ‘whilst,’ but also means, ‘as far as.’ or ‘as long as.’ | ||
| 5. ‘loayrt rish.’ Many Manx verbs require a different preposition to that used in English. and these should be noted carefully. | ||
| 8. ‘jerrey’ =end. finish. ‘fy-yerrey’ = ultimately. finally, at last. ‘hoal’ = over, beyond. Thus ‘fy-yerrey’ hoal’ = at long last. | ||
| 10. ‘Bride’, is sometimes written ‘Breeshey,’ with medial ‘sh’ pronounced as in ‘leisure’. . | ||
| 11. Note the idiomatic use of ‘rish’, meaning ‘for’, or ‘since' many years. | ||
| Lesson 7 | ||
| 1. Cre’n oor te, Rob? (cre’n traa te?) | 1. What time is it Robert? | |
| 2. Te bunnys hoght er y chlag. | 2. It’s nearly eight o’clock. | |
| 3. Nagh vel Juan dooisht foast? | 3. Isn’t John awake yet? | |
| 4. Cha nel, t’eh cadley trome. | 4. No, he’s fast asleep. | |
| 5. Te lane traa v’eh er-chosh. | 5. It’s quite time he was afoot. | |
| [NE: It’s time he was up.] | ||
| 6. V’eh ro anmagh goll dy lhie. | 6. He was too late going to bed. | |
| 7. Immee as insh da te gaase anmagh. | 7. Go and tell him it’s getting late. | |
| 8. Jean siyr, Yuan, nagh vel oo goll dys y vargey jiu? | 8. Make haste, John, aren’t you going to the fair (market) today? | |
| [NE: Hurry up, John, aren’t you going to the market today?] | ||
| 9. Dy jarroo ta, jean oo fuirraght rhym? | 9. Indeed yes, will you wait for me? | |
| [NE: Yes, definitley, will you wait for me?] | ||
| 10. Mie dy liooar, agh ny bee foddey, | 10. Good enough, but don’t be long. | |
| [NE: Okay, but don’t be long.] | ||
| 11. Hee’m oo er y droghad rish yn awin. | 11. I’ll see thee on the bridge by the river. | |
| [NE: See you on the bridge by the river.] | ||
| 12. Ve lurg nuy er y chag tra raink Juan y droghad. | 12. It was after after nine o’clock when John reached the bridge. | |
| 13. T’ou uss litcheragh agglagh, Yuan bhoy. | 13. Thou art awful lazy, John boy. | |
| [You’re awful lazy, John boy.] | ||
| 14. Cre shen va my warree cliaghtey gra? | 14. What was that my grandmother used to say? | |
| 15. “Litcheragh goll dy lhie, | 15. “Lazy going to bed, | |
| Litcheragh girree seose, | Lazy getting up | |
| as Litcheragh goll dys y Cheeill Jydoonee.” | and lazy going to Church on Sunday.” | |
| 16. Cha lias dhyt jannoo froaish, Rob. | 16. Thou needn’t brag Robert. | |
| [NE: No need to brag, Rob.] | ||
| 17. Cha row uss ro ghastey jea! | 17. You were not too lively yesterday. | |
| [NE: You weren’t so smart yesterday] | ||
| 18. As cha row uss er-chosh roish ieih er y chlag arroo-y-jea | 18. And you weren’t up before ten o’clock the day before yesterday. | |
| 19. Ny lhig dooin tuittym-magh kyndagh rish. | 19. Lets not fall out about it. (because of it). | |
| 20. N’abbyr fockle, ta shin rey rish. | 20. Don’t mention it. It’s finished with. (we are done with it). | |
| Notes | ||
| 1. ‘traa’ =time, ‘oor’ = hour. (‘oor,’ as an adjective = fresh.) anther expression is ‘C’wooad er y chlag te?’ = How much on the clock is it? | ||
| 2. As there is no neuter gender in Manx, ‘t’eh’ can mean he is or it is, and ‘te’ is often used for ‘it is.’ | ||
| Notes | ||
| 5. ‘er-chosh,’ a relic of the obsolete dative case, from ‘cass’ = a foot. | ||
| 6.‘dy lhie,’ literally to lie (down). | ||
| 7. Note the preposition 'da' with verb ‘insh.’ | ||
| 9. Similarly, ‘rish’ with verb ‘fuirraght.’ | ||
| 11. ‘raink’ = reach or arrived. The only part of this verb now used in Manx. | ||
| 14. ‘mwarree,’ the familiar and colloquial word for grandmother. The ‘m-‘ is mutated after the possessive pronoun ‘my.’ | ||
| 16. ‘S’lias dou,’ = I need to . . . . . . Many idioms of this kind occur in all Gaelic. | ||
| 17. ‘Lhig dou’ :=let me, allow me, ‘kyndagh rish’ =on account of. | ||
| 20. ‘Ny abbyr’ = negative imperative, say not. | ||
| Lesson 8 | ||
| 1. Jeeagh quoi ta bio! | 1. Look who’s here! (Look who’s alive). | |
| 2. Yn dooinney-hene, Dannie Cain! | 2. The man himself, Dannie Cain. | |
| 3. S’foddey neayr’s honnick mee uss. | 3. It’s a long time since I saw thee. | |
| [NE: Long time no see.] | ||
| 4. C’red t’ou uss jannoo ayns Purt le Moirrey? | 4. What are you doing in Port St. Mary? | |
| 5. Ta mish ec yn eeastagh mleeaney. | 5. I am at the fishing this year. | |
| [I’m participating in this year’s fishing (season).] | ||
| 6. Va shin gobbragh mooie jeh’n Cholloo riyr. | 6. We were working out off the Calf last night. | |
| 7. Haink shin stiagh ayns y phurt mysh shey er y chlag moghrey jiu. | 7. We came into the harbout about six o’clolck this morning. | |
| 8. Vel monney baatyn-eeastee gobbragh? | 8. Are there many fishing boats working? | |
| 9. Cha nel agh queig baatyn Manninagh. | 9. There are only five Manx boats. | |
| 10. Row monney skeddan eu? Cha row. | 10. Had you much herring? | |
| [NE: Do you catch many herrings?] | ||
| No. | ||
| 11. S’goan ta’n skeddan ec y traa t’ayn. | 11. The herrings are scarce at present. | |
| 12. Nagh row lane eayst ayn riyr? | 12. Wasn’t there a full moon last night? | |
| 13. Va, shen yn oyr nagh dooar shin veg! | 13. Yes, that’s the reason we go nothing! | |
| [NE: Yes, that’s why we didn’t get anything!] | ||
| 14. Jed shiu magh reesht fastyr jiu? | 14. Will you go out again this evening? | |
| 15. Cha jed, nagh nee Jesarn t’ayn? | 15. No, isn’t it Saturday. | |
| [NE: No, it’s Saturday, isn’t it.] | ||
| 16. As bee laa ny vairagh Jydoonee | 16. And tomorrow will be Sunday. | |
| [NE: And i’'s Sunday tomorrow.] | ||
| 17. Cha jagh rieau Manninagh dooie gys obbyr er y Ghoonaght. | 17. No true Manxman ever went to work on the Sabbath. | |
| 18. Vel shiu kiarail goll thie dy chur shilley orroo? | 18. Do you intend going home to put a sight on them? | |
| [Do you intend to go home to see them?] | ||
| 19. Cha nel, my vees ooilley dy mie, beemayd ayns Rhumsaa sy chiaghtin shoh cheet. | 19. No, if all is well, we shall be in Ramsey this coming week. | |
| [NE: No, if everything goes well, we’ll be in Ramsey next week.] | ||
| 20. Mannagh vel oo goll thie eisht, trooid as gow jinnair marin mairagh. | 20. If you’re not going home then, come and take dinner with us tomorrow. | |
| [NE: If you aren’t going home, come and have dinner with us tomorrow.] | ||
| 21. Nee’m, gur eh mie mooar eu. | I will, thank you very much. | |
| Notes on Lesson 8 | ||
| 3. Could be translated, “How long it is since ...” | ||
| 5. ‘mleeaney,’ an example of eclipsis, as in Irish, ‘im bliadhna.’ (lit. = in the year.) | ||
| 6 ‘jeh,’ can mean both ‘of’ and ‘off.' | ||
| 7. Notice that in Manx, prepositions implying motion have a different form to that implymg rest, and also that two are required in Manx (magh ass y phurt = outwards out of the harbour.) | ||
| 8. ‘eeastee,’ the genitive form = of fishing (ollagh = cattle· thie-ollee cattle house.) | ||
| 10. ‘skeddan,’ generally considered as a collective noun, no plural required. | ||
| 11. ‘ec y traa t’ayn’ = at the time (that’s) in. | ||
| 12. Adjectives generally follow the noun in Manx but sometimes are prefixed to form a compound word. | ||
| 13. ‘shen yn oyr’, or ‘shen y fa’ that’s the reason or cause. Hence the dialect expression, ‘that’s the for.’ | ||
| 14. Future tenses of irregular verbs are difficult to memorise, and among native speakers one often hears, ‘jean oo cheet?’ for ‘jig oo?’ etc. This use of the future of Jannoo is usually accepted in colloquial Manx. Similarly in the subjunctive, ‘cha jinnagh eh clashtyn rhym.’ (He would not hear me.) | ||
| 17. Doonaght = Sabbath; preposition and the def. article before a noun generally cause mutation. | ||
| 18. Notice the idiom·for ‘going to visit.’ | ||
| 21. ‘gur eh mie mooar eu’ = may there be great good at you. The Irish use ‘míle’ = a thousand thanks. | ||
| Lesson 9. | ||
| 1. Vel shiu clashtyn rish [sic] ny paitchyn? | 1. Do you hear the children? | |
| [NE: Can you hear the kids?] | ||
| 2. T’ad geamagh as gyllagh er y cheilley. | 2. They are shouting and calling to each other. | |
| 3. T’ad cheet magh ass y scoill. | 3. They are coming out of school. | |
| 4. S’mooar ta’n boggey oc goll thie. | 4. How great their joy to go home! | |
| [They’re really happy to go home!] | ||
| 5. Jeeagh cho mitchooragh as ta Rob! | 5. Look how mischievious Robert is! | |
| 6. Mitchooragh myr va’n jishag echey. | 6. Mischievious as was his father. | |
| [NE: Naughty, like his dad was.] | ||
| 7. S’maynrey ta laghyn ny h-aegid. | 7. How happy are the days of youth! | |
| 8. Agh cha jig ad er-ash dy bragh. | 8. But they will never come back again. | |
| 9. Jig shiu maryms dys y clieau? | 9. Will you come with me to the mountain? | |
| 10. Hig, s’aalin ta’n emshir t’ayn. | 10. Yes what lovely weather! (that’s in) | |
| 11. Cre’n raad gowee-mayd? | 11. What road shall we take? | |
| [NE: What way will we go?] | ||
| 12. Lhig dooin goaill y raad mooar. | 12. Let us take the high road. | |
| [NE: Let’s take the highway.] | ||
| 13. Vel shiu fakin y thie-thooit shen? | 13. Do you see that thatched house? | |
| 14. Ta, quoi ta baghey aynsyn? | 14. Yes, who lives in it? | |
| 15. Cha nel peiagh erbee baghey aynsyn. | 15. There’s no one living in it. | |
| 16. Cha nel eh agh tholtan nish. | 16. It is only a ruin now. | |
| 17. Va shenn ven cummal ayns shen. | 17. There was an old woman dwelling there. | |
| 18. Va gailck mie yindyssagh eck. | 18. She had wonderfully good Manx. | |
| 19. Cha ren ee toiggal fockle dy Vaarle .[1] | 19. She didn’t understand a word of English. | |
|
.
[1] Cha ren ee toiggal fockle dy Vaarle.] — the original Manx is ommitted from the book in error, but reconstructed here from the pronunciation guide and English version.
| ||
| 20. Yinnagh ee loayrt rish y moddey eck. | 20. She would speak to her dog. | |
| 21. Va’n moddey toiggal y Ghailck eisht? | 21. The dog understood Manx then? | |
| 22. Va dy jarroo, cha geayll eh rieau y ghlare Vaarlagh. | 22. Yes. Indeed, he never heard the English language. | |
| Notes on Lesson 9 | ||
| 2. Verbs commencing with a vowel are preceeded by ‘g’ to form the verbal noun (infinitive). This is a relic of the Gaelic ‘aig’ (at). Note that the Manx idiom is to shout or call ‘on’, not ‘at’ or ‘to’ as in English. ‘Er y cheilley’ = literally, on his fellow. | ||
| 5. ‘cho ... as’ equivalent to ‘as ... as’ in English. | ||
| 7. When two vowels come together at the end of one and beginning of another word an ‘h’ is often inserted. | ||
| 8. In the Manx Bible the English word ‘back’ (adverb) is often found, although ‘er-ash’ gives the equivalent: ‘cheet er-ash = coming back, re-appearing. | ||
| 17. ‘cummal’ = holding, dwelling. Used either as noun or verbal noun. | ||
| Lesson 10 | ||
| Revision Exercises for Oral Practice). | ||
| 1. Quoi shen ec y dorrys? | 1. Who’s that at the door? | |
| 2. Nee uss t’ayn Ned? Trooid stiagh. | 2. Is it thou, Ned? Come in. | |
| [NE: Is it you Ned? Come in.] | ||
| 3. Daink shiu veih n’Erin? | 3. Did you come from Ireland? | |
| 4. Cha daink, quoi va gra shen? | 4. No, who was saying that? | |
| [NE: No, who said that?] | ||
| 5. Naik shiu y phabyr-naight noght? | 5. Did you see the newspaper tonight? | |
| 6. Cha naik, row veg noa aynsyn? | 6. No, was there anything new in it? | |
| 7. Va baatey noa ayns Doolish. | 7. There was a new boat in Douglas. | |
| 8. Haink ee stiagh ’sy phurt riyr. | 8. She came into the harbour last night. | |
| Ren ee faagail ec mun-laa. | 9. She left at midday. | |
| 10. Cha bee ee foddey ersooyl. | 10. She will not be long away. | |
| [NE: She won’t be gone for long.] | ||
| 11. Daink shiuish veih Doolish? | 11. Did you come from Douglas? | |
| 12. Cha daink, va mish ayns Rhumsaa. | 12. No, I was in Ramsey. | |
| 13. Naik shiu Thom Mylchreest ayns shen? | 13. Did you see Tom Mylchreest there? | |
| 14. Honnick, v’eh kionnaghey cabbyl. | 14. Yes, he was buying a horse. | |
| 15. Bee shiu thie reesht noght? | 15. Will you be home again tonight? | |
| 16. My vees ooilley dy mie. | 16. If all be well. | |
| [NE: If everything goes well]. | ||
| 17. Row shiu ec y [sic] thie Hom Beg? | 17. Were you at Tom Beg’s house? | |
| 18. Va, agh cha row peiagh erbee sthie. | 18. Yes, but there was no one at home. | |
| 19. Va thom mooie ’sy vaatey. | 19. Tom was out in the boat. | |
| 20. Nagh vel ny guillyn shid veih’n Erin? | 20. Aren’t yonder boys from Ireland? | |
| [NE: Aren’t those boys over there from Ireland?] | ||
| 21. Cha nel, t’ad voish ’n Albin. | 21. No, they are from Scotland. | |
| 22. Te jeeaghyn rish fliaghey. | 22. It’s looking like rain. | |
| 23. Cha nel eh ceau foast. | 23. It is not raining yet. | |
| 24. Cha bee oo foddey goll thie. | 24. Thou wilt not be long going home. | |
| [NE: You won’t be long going home.] | ||
| 25. Keayrt va mee aeg, agh nish ta mee shenn. | 25. Once I was young, but now am old. | |
| 26. Keayrt va palchey aym, agh nish cha nel veg. | 26. Once I had plenty but now I have nothing. | |
| 27. Jean oo cheet mairagh? | 27. Wilt thou come tomorrow? | |
| 28. Cha jean, ta rouyr ayms dy yannoo. | 28. No, I’ve too much to do. | |
| 29. Lhig da’n obbyr fieau. | 29. Let the work wait. | |
| 30. Traa dy liooar as lhiggey my hraa! | 30. Time enough, and procrastination. | |
| [NE: No hurry, and wasting my time.] | ||
| Lesson 11. | ||
| “UP AND DOWN” | ||
| The student is ofen confused by the use of so many words in Gaelic to express 'up ' and ' down,' so perhaps the following notes, table and examples will help to explain the occasions on which the various forms are to be used. | ||
| First of all, everything must be considered from the position of the speaker, that is, immobile above or below him, going up from him or coming down towards him, or going down from him, or coming up towards him from below. | ||
| The termination - EESE means 'down': - EOSE means 'up,' and the initial ‘H’ implies rest or immobility, while ‘S’ or ‘SH’ implies motion to some place or position away from the speaker and the initial ‘N’ signifies motion from some place towards the speaker. | ||
| Consider now the following table :- | ||
| EESE | UP | |
| EOSE | DOWN | |
| H | REST | |
| S, SH | Motion away from the speaker | |
| N | Motion towards the speaker | |
| Heese | Down below. | |
| Sheese | Downwards | |
| Neese | From down, up from below | |
| Heese | up, above. | |
| Seose | upwards | |
| Neose | from up, down from above | |
| 1. Ta Ned heose er mullagh y thie-ollee. | 1. Ned is up on the top of the cow-house. | |
| 2. As ta Hal heese er y thalloo. | 2. And Hal is down on the ground. | |
| 3. Dooyrt Hal, “C’red t’ou jannoo heose ayns· shen?” | 3. Said Hal, “What art thou doing up there?” | |
| [NE: Hal said, “What are you doing up there?”] | ||
| Dooyrt Ned, "ta towl ayns y thoo, tar neese as jeeagh er shoh, Hal.” | 4. Said Ned, “There's a hole in the thatch, come up and look at this Hal.” | |
| [NE: Ned said ...] | ||
| 5. Hie Hal seose, agh ve feayr | 5. Hal went up, but it was cold. | |
| 6. Haink eh neose, reesht gys y thalloo. | 6. He came down again to the ground. | |
| 7. Honnick eh y vummig echey heese ec y thie. | 7. He saw his mother down at the house. | |
| V’ee gyllagh er dy beet neose gys y thie. | 8. She was calling him to come down to the house. | |
| Dooyrt Hal rish Ned. “Ta mee goll sheese dy gheddyn jough | 9. Hal said to Ned, “I'm going down to get a drink.” | |
| “Tar neose, Ned, as hemmayd sheese dy cheilley.” | 10. “Come down Ned, and we’ll go down together.” | |
| Lesson 12 | Lesson 12 | |
| 1. Ren shiu rieau goll er “Quaaltagh?” | 1. Did you ever go on the ‘quaaltagh’? | |
| 2. Va dy jarroo, agh atreih! | 2. Yes indeed, but alas! | |
| 3. Cha nel ny Manninee cur monney geill da’n chenn chliaghtey nish. | 3. The Manx people don’t pay much heed to the old customs now. | |
| [NE: The Manx don’t pay follow the old customs now]. | ||
| 4. Bleeantyn er-dy-henney, b’oayllagh ny guillyn aegey goll er ny thieyn Oie’ll Voirrey as Laa ’n Ollick Beg. | 4. Years ago, the young boys used to go (around) on the houses on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day. | |
| 5. Ec y dorrys yinnagh peiagh aa-loayrt ny goan shoh : | 5. At the door, (a person) one would recite these words : | |
| [NE: At the door you’d recite these words:] | ||
| 6. “Ollick ghennal erriu as blein feer vie. | 6. A Merry Xmas on ye, and a very good year | |
| 7. Seihll as slaynt da’n clane lught-thie, | 7. Long life and health to the whole family. | |
| 8. Bea as gennallys eu bio ry-cheilley | 8. Life and merriment living together, | |
| [NE: (You) having life and cheer living together] | ||
| 9. Shee as graih eddyr mraane as deiney | 9. Peace and love ’twixt women and men. | |
| [NE: Peace and love between women and men.] | ||
| 10. Cooid as cowryn, stock as stoyr, | 10. Goods and wealth, stock and store, | |
| 11. Palchey phuddase as skeddan dy-liooar, | 11. Plenty potatoes and herring enough, | |
| 12. Arran as caashey, eeym as roayrt. | 12. Bread and cheese, butter and beef, | |
| 13. Baase myr lugh, ayns uhllin ny soalt; | 13. Death like a mouse in the corner of the barn; | |
| 14. Cadley sauchey tra vees shiu ny lhie, | 14. Sleeping safe when you’ll be in bed. | |
| 15. As feeackle y jiargan nagh bee dy mie. | 15. And the tooth of the flea, may it not be good.” | |
| 16. Eisht veagh guilley lesh y kione dhoo cuirrit dy heet stiagh ayns y thie. | 16. Then a dark-haired boy would be invited to enter the house. | |
| 17. Va jough as greim dy vee currit da yn chooid share v’oc ayns y thie. | 17. Drink and a bite of food were given him, the best they had in the house. | |
| 18. Tra v’ad giu, yiarragh y guilley: | 18. When they were drinking, the boy would say, | |
| 19. “Shoh slaynt as shee as eash dy vea, | 19. “Here’s health and peace and age of life. | |
| 20. As maynrys son dy bragh.” | 20. And happiness for ever.” | |
| Notes on Lesson 12 | ||
| 1. The custom and supersitions of ‘the first step’ are common to all Celtic peoples. | ||
| 2. “Oie’ll Voirrey,” (Colloquially pronounced eel verree) is an abbreviation of “Oie Feaill Voirrey,” (the night of, or before, the feast of Mary-Xmas Eve). The New Year festivities were known as the little Xmas. | ||
| 5. The prefix “aa” is equivalent to the Latin “re” = repetition, over again. “goan” is the plural of “goo” = Word, repute, fame, a saying. | ||
| 7. “seihll” = the world, and here means a person's lifetime in the world. | ||
| 9. “mraane,” the plural of “ben,” the r being strongly nasalised when spoken. | ||
| 10. “cowrey” = a sign, mark, omen, emblem, and the plural is “cowraghyn.” the form “cowryn” means emblems of prosperity, wealth. | ||
| 12. ‘roayrt’ = the flood tide, hence a great flow of anything. Beef was a great luxury in the hard times of long ago. | ||
| “uhllin,” = elbow, corner, bend. The meaning here is doubtful, but perhaps that death will keep away and hide as the mouse in the barn.[2] | ||
|
[2]
[uhllin] = elbow, corner, bend. The meaning here is doubtful, but perhaps that death will keep away and hide as the mouse in the barn.
[2]
uhllin] ‘an enclosure beside a farmhouse in which crops are stored’. In Anglo-Manx Dialect ‘a haggard’, here evidently mistaken for
[uillin] ‘an elbow’.
| ||
| 16. If by chance a fair-haired person should be first to enter on New Year's Day, it was a bad omen, and all the misfortunes of the following year would be heaped on his head | ||
| Do not confuse “cuirrit” and “currit.” The former is from “cuirrey” to bid, invite, to sow (as corn) or to shoot (as the herring nets); the latter is from “cur,” to give or put. | ||
| 17. “jough” means drink of any kind, but as home-brewed ale was once the main drink. it has come to means ale or beer. “greim dy vee,” “greim” = a bite grip, hold, or stitch. “vee” is from “bee” = food, victuals. | ||
| This is the traditional Manx toast, used especially at weddings. | ||
| Lesson 13 | ||
| 1. Blein Vie Noa, dhyt, Ealish. | 1. A Good New Year to thee, Alice. | |
| [NE: Happy New Year Ealish.] | ||
| 2. Gur eh mie ayd, Rob, as shen dhyts neesht. | 2. Thanks Robert, and the same to thee also. | |
| [NE: Thanks Robert, and the same to you too.] | ||
| 3. Dy chooilley yeearree mie son slaynt as maynrys car ny bleeaney shoh cheet. | 3. Every good wish for health and happiness throughout the coming year. | |
| 4. Ta’n Vlein Noa gialdyn dy-mie. | 4. The New Year is promising well. | |
| 5. Ta emshir braew ayn nish ansherbee. | 5. There’s fine weather now anyway. | |
| 6. Vel shiu er n’yannoo kiarailyn mie erbee son y Vlein Noa? | 6. Have you made any resolutions for the New Year? (good intentions) | |
| 7. Vel shiuish er ghialdyn veg? | 7. Have you promised anything? | |
| 8. Ta mee kiarail dy chur seose thombaghey. | 8. I intend to give up tobacco. | |
| 9. S’mie shen, agh ta mee goaill aggle jeed, Rob. | 9. That’s fine, but I’m afraid of thee, Rob. | |
| [NE: That’s fine but I doubt you will, Rob.] | ||
| 10. S’aashagh dy ghialdyn agh ny sassey dy yarrood. | 10. It’s easy to promise, but easier to forget. | |
| 11. Ta gialdyn gollrish bleayst-ooh, jeant dy ve brisht | 11. A promise is like and egg-shell, made to be broken. | |
| 12. Cha nee edyr, cha jeanym credjal shen. | 12. Not at all, I will not believe that. | |
| 13. Er my hon-hene, cha jinnin gialdyn shen nagh voddin jannoo. | 13. For myself, I wouldn’t promise that (which) I couldn’t do. | |
| 14. S’liooar dou shen Ealish cha jeanyms gialdyn veg. | 14. That’s enough for me. Alice! I’ll promise nothing. | |
| 15. C’raad ta my phoid as thombagey? | 15. Where’s my pipe and tobacco? | |
| 16. Nearey ort Rob! | 16. Shame on thee Robert! | |
| [NE: Shame on you Robert!] | ||
| 17. Row’n Ollick Vie eu, Ealish? | 17. Did you have a good Christmas, Alice? | |
| 18. Feer vie, agh cha row monney shee ’sy thie ainyn. | 18. Very good, but there wasn’t a much peace in our house. | |
| 19. Veagh palchey ayds dy yannoo, er-lhiam. | 19. There would be plenty at thee to do, I’m thinking. | |
| [NE: You’d have plenty to do, I’d say.] | ||
| 20. S’cummey lhiams yn obbyr. | 20. I don’t mind the work. | |
| 21. Cre gollrish veagh yn Ollick fegooish cloan as caarjyn dy chur shilley orrin? | 21. What would Christmas be like without a family and friends to visit us? | |
| Notes on Lesson 13 | ||
| 2. ‘shen dhyts’ = that to thee, ‘yn lheid cheddin’ = the same, the very same, of the same kind. | ||
| 3. ‘car’ = a turn, twist, a turn round. Hence ‘car ny bleeaney,’ the full cycle of the year. ‘car y touree’ all the summer, ‘car y voghrey’ all the morning. | ||
| 5. ‘ansherbee,’ a colloquialism for ‘aght erbee,’ anyhow, any way, in any manner. | ||
| 8. ‘kiarail’ = care, forethought, purpose, design. ‘seose,’ pronounced either sohss or sooss. | ||
| 9. ‘afraid of thee,’ implying a doubt. | ||
| 10. ‘aashagh,’ ‘ny sassey.’ A number of adjectives in Manx are irregular in the formation of the comparat | ||
| 11. ‘gollrish’ literally ‘going unto,’ for ease of speech, the ‘ll’ is slurred. | ||
| 12. ‘credjal’ sometimes written as spoken ‘cra’al’. | ||
| 13. ‘son’ or ‘er son’ = for, and when used with the personal possessive pronouns, they come between, ‘er dty hon,’ for thee ‘er e hon,’ for him, ‘er e son,’ for her, etc. | ||
| 14. ‘s’liooar’ dou’ = enough for me, but ‘s’liooar lhiam’ = enough with me, meaning ‘I can hardly think it’. | ||
| 19. ‘er-lhiam,’ a peculiar Gaelic idiom, meaning, ‘I suppose, think, in my opinion’. | ||
| Lesson 14 | ||
| 1. Ta drogh-earish ayn jiu, nagh vel? | 1. There’s foul weather today, isn’t there? | |
| [NE: The weather is terrible today, isn’t it?] | ||
| 2. Ta dy jarroo, fliugh as rastagh. | 2. Yes indeed, wet and squally. | |
| 3. S’atchimagh va’n oie riyr. | 3. What a terrible night it was last night too! | |
| 4. Ve sheidey creoi fud ny h-oie. | 4. It was blowing hard all night long! | |
| 5. Cha row monney cadley ayms. | 5. I hadn’t much sleep. | |
| [NE: I didn’t get much sleep.] | ||
| 6. Va’n thie ain ooilley er-craa. | 6. Our house was all a-tremble. | |
| [NE: Our house was shaking.] | ||
| 7. As va ram fliaghey jeant neesht. | 7. And there was a lot of rain too. | |
| 8. Ve ceau trome feiy’n laa. | 8. It was raining heavy all day long. | |
| 9. Cha nel shin rey rish noadyr. | 9. We are not done with it either. | |
| 10. Ta’n gless tuittym foast, as ta’n gheay girree reesht. | 10. The glass is still falling [NE: The atmospheric pressure is still falling] and the wind getting up again. | |
| 11. Ta’n aer baggyrt rish dorrin. | 11. The sky is threatening for a full gale. | |
| 12. As lurg shen tooilley fliaghey! | 12. And after that more rain. | |
| 13. Jeeagh er ny bodjallyn shid! | 13. Look at yonder clouds! | |
| [NE: Look at those clouds over there!] | ||
| 14. Cho dhoo as dorraghey as yn oie-hene. | 14. As black and dark as the night itself! | |
| 15. Cuin oddysmayd jerkal rish caghlaa? | 15. When might we hope for a change? | |
| 16. Cha bee caghlaa son shiaghtin elley. | 16. There will not be a change for another week. | |
| 17. Naik shiu y baatey cheet stiagh jiu? | 17. Did you see the boat coming in today? | |
| 18. Honnick, as va turrys agglagh eck. | 18. Yes, and she had an awful trip. | |
| 19. Va’n cheayn freayney as tonnyn mooarey cheet er y traie. | 19. The sea was raging and big waves coming in on the shore. | |
| 20. S’mie lhiam dy vel y baatey er roshtyn ayns sauchys. | 20. I’m glad that the boat has arrived in safety. | |
| Notes on Lesson 14 | ||
| 1. Both ‘earish’ and ‘emshir’ mean ‘weather time, period, season,’ but one generally hears earish used for bad weather and emshir for fine weather. | ||
| 2. ‘rastagh’ = boisterous, wild, and can be applied to a person meaning ‘uncouth,’ or rough. | ||
| 4. ‘fud’ =throughout, all through. ‘fud ny h-oie’ = literally, the through of the night. | ||
| 6. ‘er-craue’ or ‘er-craa.’ Many such idioms occur in Manx. | ||
| 8. ‘feiy,’ can mean a ‘fathom,’ a large measurement, so ‘feiy’n laa’ might mean ‘the full measure of the day.’ Notice ‘fud ny h-oie’ but ‘feiy’n laa.’ | ||
| 9. ‘noadyr’ = neither, not either. Notice the double negative ‘Cha nel ...... noadyr.’ In the dialect Manx one sometimes hears ‘nor me nither’ (neither). • | ||
| 10. ‘gless’ = ‘gless-earish,’ the barometer. | ||
| 11. ‘dorrin’ = a tempest, a hard blow of wind. | ||
| 12. ‘toilley’ = more besides, a flood. • | ||
| 20. ‘S’mie lhiam.’ = ‘Tis good with me, I like, I am glad.’ | ||
| Lesson 15 | ||
| 1. Vel jinnair aarloo foast, y chree? | 1. Is dinner ready yet, my dear? | |
| 2. Ta, vel oo dty lomarcan? | 2. Yes, art thou alone? | |
| 3. Cha nel, ta Jem Quine ayns shoh. | 3. No, Jim Quine is here. | |
| 4. V’eh gobbragh marin car y voghrey. | 4. He was working with us all the morning. | |
| 5. Vel red ennagh ’sy phot er y hon? | 5. Is there anything in the pot for him? | |
| 6. Dy jarroo ta, as failt erriu, Jem. | 6. Of course there is, and you’re welcome Jim. | |
| 7. Soie sheese ayns shoh, vel oo gaccrys? | 7. Sit down here, art thou hungry? | |
| 8. Ta accrys mooar orrym, gur eh mie eu. | 8. I’m very hungry, thank you. | |
| 9. S’mie shen, goe dty haie eisht. | 9. That’s fine, get your fill then. | |
| 10. Ta skeddan braew moarey eu, Venainstyr Cannell. | 10. There’s fine big herring at you, Mistress Cannell. | |
| 11. Ta, hooar mee ad voish yn cadjer moghrey jiu. | 11. Yes, I got them from the fish-hawker this morning. | |
| 12. Vel yn sthock currit sheese eu foast? | 12. Have you got the ‘stock’ put down yet? | |
| 13. Cha nel, agh shegin dooin jannoo eh dy gherrit. | 13. No, but we must do it shortly. | |
| 14. Va Hal Mooar ginsh dou dy row kuse dy vaatyn-eeastee hannah ersooyl. | 14. Hal Mooar was telling me that a few fishing boats were already gone (away). | |
| 15. Crenaght ta’n shenn riftan, Hal Mooar? | 15. How’s the old rascal, Big Hal? | |
| 16. Och, ta’n taggloo echeysyn cur y drogh orryms. | 16. Och, his talkig annoys me. | |
| 17. Cammah? Row eh goll as gaccan? | 17. How? (Why?) Was he going and grumbling? | |
| 18. V’eh gaccan mysh dy chooilley nhee. | 18. He was complaining about everything, | |
| 19. Cha row rieau monney rick er. | 19. There was never much ‘rick’ on him. | |
| 20. Cha jinnagh eh rieau gobbragh my oddys eh cosney shaghey fegooish. | 20. He would never work if he could get along (by) without it. | |
| Notes on Lesson 15 | ||
| ‘y chree.’ The ‘y’ is the sign of the vocative case ‘cree’ = heart and used here as a term of endearment | ||
| ‘lomarcan’ must have the necessary possesive pronoun before it, my , dty , ny , etc. | ||
| 6; ‘failt ort,’ (‘failt erriu,’ = Welcome! Another expression, ‘Shee dty vea,’ (nyn mea). In Scots Gaelic ’S e do bheatha; so ‘shee’ is probably a corruption of ‘she dty vea’ (’Tis thy life) | ||
| 7., 8. ‘accrys’ = hunger. Many nouns are used colloquially as verbs, but ‘ta accrys orrym’ is a more literary form. | ||
| 9. saie, = sufficiency, satiety. | ||
| 12. ‘stock,’ the stock of herring salted down in a barrel! | ||
| 13. ‘Segin dou’ = I must. Compound of ‘she,’ (’tis) and ‘egin,’ (force, compulsion) and the prepositional pronoun ‘dou’,(to me) ‘dhyt’, ‘da’, etc. | ||
| 15. ‘riftanyn,’ the plural form = a mob, a rabble. | ||
| 16. ‘cur Y drogh er’ = putting the bad on, making one mad, vexing. | ||
| 17. ‘cammah’, usually means ‘why, for what reason,’ Yet in Scots Gaelic it means ‘how?’, as ‘Ciamar a tha sibh?’ (How are you) This may bethe explanation of ‘how?’ being used in the dialect for ‘why?’ | ||
| 19. ‘rick’, reason, determination, steadmess of character, reliability. | ||
| 20. ‘fegooish’. A, more literary form is ‘n’egooish,’ a similar construction to lomarcan, (Note 2). ‘m’egooish,’ without me, ‘dt’egooish,’ without thee, n’egooish,’ without him or without it. ‘cosney’ = gain profit, get, attain, win, earn. | ||
| Lesson 16. | ||
| 1. Vel Gailck erbee eu foast, Hom? | 1. Have you any Manx yet, Thom? | |
| [NE: Have you learnt any Manx yet, Tom?] | ||
| 2. Cha nel monney agh t’eh cheet lhiam. | 2. Not much, but I’m making progress. | |
| 3. Ta mee goaill boggey clashtyn shen. | 3. I am glad to hear that. | |
| 4. Gow greim urree choud’s ta’n chaa eu. | 4. Get hold of it whilst you have the chance. | |
| 5. Neem my chooid share, ansherbee. | 5. I'll do my best, anyway. | |
| 6. Ta mee goll dys y vrastyl mleeaney. | 6. I am going to the class this year. | |
| 7. S’yindyssagh y Ghailck t’euish, Dan. | 7. It's marvellous the Manx you have, Dan. | |
| 8. Cha n’yiarrins shen edyr. | 8. I wouldn't say that at all. | |
| 9. Cha nel mish agh ynseydagh gollrhyt-hene. | 9. I'm only a learner like yourself. | |
| 10. O dy beigns scoilliar yn lheid euish! | 10. O that I were a scholar such as you. | |
| 11. Va palchey goll er loayrt ayns m’aegid, | 11. There was plenty spoken in my youth, | |
| 12. agh cha dug mee monney geill jee. | 12. but I didn't pay much heed to it. | |
| 13. Yinnagh my warree as my yishag wooar taggloo ry-cheilley ’sy Ghailck feiy’n laa. | 13. My grandma and grand-dad would converse in Manx all day long. | |
| 14. Agh cha row kied ayms gynsagh ee. | 14. But I never got leave to learn it. | |
| 15. “Cur ersooyl yn lioar shen,” yiarragh ad. | 15. “Put away that book,” they would say. | |
| 16. “Cha jean ee dy bragh cosney ping er-dty-hon.” | 16. “It will never earn a penny for you.” | |
| 17. Cha row eie erbee ayms dy row ny shenn Vanninee soiagh beg jeh’n Ghailck | 17. I had no idea (notion) that the old Manxfolk despised the Gaelic. • | |
| 18. “Cha n’eeu veg ta’n Ghailck. lhig j’ee geddyn baase.” v’ad gra ny-cheayrtyn. | 18. “Tis worth nothing, the Manx, let it die,” they were saying sometimes. | |
| 19. Cre voish hooar shiu y Ghailck eisht? | 19. Where did you get the Manx from then? | |
| 20. Veih ny shenn Vanninee er ny baatyn-eeastee, jeih bleeaney as tree feed er-dy-henney. | 20. From the old Manxmen on the fishingboats, seventy years ago. | |
| Notes on Lesson 16 | ||
| 2. ‘cheet lhiam,’ lit. ‘coming with me,’ = I am prospering, getting on [NE: I am managing to] | ||
| 3. ‘goaill boggey,’ lit. ‘taking joy,’ an idiom still sometimes heard in the dialect. | ||
| 5. ‘my chooid share.’ The Manx requires the noun ‘cooid,’ difficult to define exactly in English. It can mean, ‘goods, wealth, furniture a thing, merchandise, etc.’ [NE; an amount] ‘cooid-vooar’ = much, a great deal. ‘cooid hraie,’ = anything washed up on the beach. | ||
| 9. ‘gollrish’ = like, like him. ‘gollrhym’ = like me, and similarly for gollrhym-pene, like myself. | ||
| 10. ‘veign,’ ‘veagh oo,’ = I would, or might be, thou woulds't be. etc. The form ‘dy beign,’ ‘dy beagh oo,’ etc. is sometimes called the conditional future with the meaning, ‘if I might be, that I were, if thou shouldst be, etc.’ | ||
| 11. Note the idiom, ‘going on speaking.’ | ||
| 13. ‘ry-cheilley,’ = one to the other. ‘fud-y-cheilley’ = through the other, confused. | ||
| 14. ‘kied,’ =leave, permission, liberty. | ||
| 17. ‘eie,’ = idea, notion, and in another idiom, “Cren eie t’ayd er shoh?” = What have you to do with this, what business is this of yours? ‘eie,’ as a verb = call, shout. ‘D’eie ad magh,’ = they called out. | ||
| 17. ‘soie, soiaghey’ = to place, set, sit, fix, etc. ‘soiaghey mooar jeh’ = to set a great deal by, to esteem, to think a lot of. ‘soiaghey beg jeh’ = set at nought, despise, think little of. | ||
| 18. ‘feeu’ = worth, worthy. When combined with the verb ‘she,’ the ’f is dropped, so we get “Sh’eeu eh,” = ’tis worth, “Cha n’eeu eh,’ = ‘tis not worth’. Notice the idiom for ‘dying,’ (finding, or getting death). | ||
| 20. ‘blein’ = a year, plural ‘bleeantyn,’ but ‘bleeaney’ is often used, although it is actually the genitive singular. | ||
| Lesson 17 | ||
| 1. Va Shirveish Ghailckagh ’sy Cheeill Jydoonee shoh chaie. | 1. There was a Manx Service in the Church this last Sunday. | |
| 2. Va dy chooilley nhee jeant ayns chengey ny mayrey, dyn fockle dy Vaarle. | 2. Everything was done in the mother-tongue without a word of English, | |
| 3. She ooilley Gailck va rychlashtyn ayns ny kialteenyn ’sy chenn earish. | 3 ’Tis all Manx that was heard in the churches in the old times. | |
| 4. Shimmey keayrt ayns m’aegid cheayll mee Phil Tim goaill padjer ’sy chabbal ain. | 4. Many’s the time in my youth I heard Phil Tim praying in our Chapel. | |
| 5. Yinnagh eh goaill toshiaght ’sy Vaarle agh lurg tammylt b’egin da scuirr. | 5. He would begin in English, but after a while he would have to stop. | |
| 6. Eisht yinnagh eh goll er e hoshiaght ’sy Ghailck. | 6. Then he would continue inManx. | |
| 7. Va’n Ghailck e ghlare ghooie hene, agh va’n Vaarle ny ghlare yoarree da. | 7. The Manx was his own native language, but the English was strange to him. | |
| 8. Jean oo fockley-magh Padjer y Chiarn er my hon? | 8. Wilt thou recite the Lord’s Prayer for me? | |
| 9. Neem, mannagh vel ee jarroodit aym. | 9. I will, if I haven’t forgotten it. | |
| 10. “Ayr ain t’ayns Niau, casherick dy row Dt’ennym, | 10. Fathr at us who is in Heaven, holy be Thy name, | |
| 11. “Dy jig Dty reeriaght, | 11. May Thy kingdom come, | |
| 12. “Dt’aigney dy row jeant er y thalloo myr te ayns Niau, | 12. Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. | |
| 13. “Cur dooin nyn arran jiu as gagh laa, | 13. Give us our bread today and each day. | |
| 14. “As leih dooin nyn loghtyn myr ta shin leih dauesyn ta jannoo loghtyn nyn’oi. | 14. And forgive to us our sins as we are forgiving to those who do wrongs against us. | |
| 15. “As ny leeid shin ayns miolagh, | 15. And lead not us into temptation | |
| 16. “Agh livrey shin veih olk; | 16. But deliver us from evil, | |
| 17. “Son Lhiats y reeriaght, as y Phooar as y Ghloyr; | 17. For with Thee (is) the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, | |
| [NE: For thine (yours) is the kingdom, the power, and the glory,] | ||
| 18. “Son dy bragh as dy bragh. Amen. | 18. For ever and ever. Amen. | |
| 19. Gur eh mie eu, va shen yindyssagh. | 19. Thank you, that was wonderful. | |
| 20. Shegin dou gynsagh as cooinaght er shen. | 20. I must learn and remember that. | |
| Notes on Lesson 17 | ||
| 1. “chaie” This word appears to be identical with “hie,” the past tense of “goll,” and in Scots gaelic it is “chaidh,” for both, with the meaning ‘that which has gone.’ | ||
| 2. “mayrey” is the genitive case of moir = mother. dyn or gyn = without, and also can mean not to, ‘Ve inshit dou dyn dy yannoo eh, (I was told not to do it.). | ||
| 3. Notice the irregular plural of keeill. | ||
| 4. “Shimmey,” = she + immey, which Dr. Kelly gives as the comparative of “ymmodee.” | ||
| 5. 6. ‘toshiaght,’ = beginning, commencement, the bow of a ship, etc., ‘toshiagh’ =a leader. chieftain, as in Eire the Prime Minister is known as “an Toiseach.” goaill toshiaght = take a begmmng, commence, goll er e hoshiaght = going forward, prospering. cur er e hoshiaght = put forward, promote. | ||
| 7. ‘dooie’ = kind. good-natured, friendly, courteous, patriotic. It can also mean natural, true-born [NE; native]. (Manninagh dooie.) | ||
| 8. “fockley magh,” = proclaim, promulgate, utter, express, declare, speak. etc. The Speaker of the Keys is known as ‘Fockleyder ny Kiare as Feed.’ (the twenty four.). | ||
| 17. Idiomatically ‘lesh’ is used to denote possession: Quoi s’lesh yn lioar? Ta’n lioar ec Tom, agh she lhiams ee. (Whose is the book? Tom has the book, but it is mine.) | ||
| 20. ‘ynsagh’ = learning and teaching. ‘cooinaght-yn.’ The termination -yn is often omitted in spoken Manx. Notice the preposition er with ‘cooinaght.’ There is a more idiomatic way of saying ‘I remember.’ —S'cooin lhiam, · (’tis a memory with me). | ||
| Lesson 18 | ||
| 1. Vel eh-hene sthie, Venainster Kodeyre? | 1. Is ‘'himself’ at home, Mrs. Watterson? | |
| 2. Cha nel, agh cha bee eh foddey. | 2. No, but he won't be long. | |
| 3. Trooid stiagh as soie sheese, Illiam. . | 3. Come in and sit down, William. | |
| 4. Vel shiu lesh tey, ghooinney veen? | 4. Have you had tea, dear fellow (man)? | |
| 5. Ta, gur eh mie eu, hooar mee greim dy vee ayns Laksaa. | 5. Yes, thank you, I got a bite of food in Laxey. | |
| 6. Nagh yiow shiu cappan elley? | 6. Will you not take another cup? | |
| 7. Mie dy liooar, ta paays agglagh orrym. | 7. Very well, I have an awful thirst. | |
| 8. Vel shiu goaill shugyr? Nane ny jees? | 8. Do you take sugar? One or two? | |
| . | ||
| 9. Jees, my sailliu, ta feeackle villish aym. | 9. Two if you please, I have a sweet tooth | |
| 10. Va mee jannoo n’egooish rish bleeantyn. | 10. I was doing without it for years. | |
| 11. Agh ta palchey ry-gheddyn nish, as ta mee goaill my haie. | 11. But there’s plenty to be got now, and· I am taking my fill. | |
| 12. S’leayr dou dy row shiu fuinney jiu! | 12. I see that you were baking today! | |
| 13. Ta shiu kiart. Vel shiu soaral eh? | 13. You’re right, do you smell it? | |
| 14. Ta soar mie millish ’sy thie. | 14. There’s a good sweet smell in the house. | |
| 15. Shegin dou jannoo arran, soddag as bonnag daa cheayrt ’sy chiaghtin. | 15. I have to make bread, sodacake and ‘bonnag’ twice in the week. | |
| 16. Nagh gow shiu soddag as eeym oor? | 16. Won't you take a soda-cake and fresh butter? | |
| 17. Gowym lesh taitnys, s’mie lhiam eh. | 17. I will, with pleasure, I love it. | |
| 18. Ta mee mooarane kianglt booise diu. | 18. I am very much obliged to you. | |
| 19. Ta mee cra’al dy vel eh-hene cheet nish. | 19. I believe that ‘himself’ is coming now. | |
| 20. Fastyr mie, Illiam, ta mee fakin dy vel dty chassyn fo’n voayrd! S’mie shen! | 20. Good evening, Wiilie,I see you have your feet under the table! That’s good! | |
| 21. Myr yiarragh my yishag vooar | 21. As my grandfather would say, | |
| 22. “Cur meer da’n feeagh as hig eh reesht.” | 22. “Give a piece to the raven and he’ll come again.” | |
| 1. ‘himself,’ = the man of the house. | ||
| 4. Note the idiom, “Are you with tea?” | ||
| 7. ‘paays,’ ·the noun, ‘paagh,’ or colloquially ‘paa,’ the adjective, thirsty, parched. One might say ‘ta mee paa agglagh’ instead of saying ‘ta paays agglagh orrym’. | ||
| 9. ’my sailliu,’ There is an old Gaelic word ‘aill’ meaning, ‘will, desire, pleasure, etc.,’ hence ’saillym’ = she +aill + lhiam, (‘Tis a wish with me, ’tis my pleasure, etc). Similarly with all the personal pronouns. sailt, saillish, saill’ee, saillhien, sailliu, saillhieu. In the Manx Prayer Book, the questions in the marriage service are given as ‘Nailt?’ (Wilt thou have .... etc.) But the answer is wrongly given as ‘Neem,’ which ought to be ‘Saillym.’ | ||
| 12. ’s leayr, ‘leayr’ = clear, evident, obvious. Hence s’leayr dou = ’tis clear to me, I see, perceive, etc. | ||
| 15. ‘bonnag’ is the same as the Scots, ‘bannach’ or ‘bonnach.’ a flat cake. . | ||
| There are many expressions in Gaelic for ‘I like, I love,’ etc. S’mie lhiam, ’tis good with me; S’laik lhiam, ’tis a liking with me; S’taittin lhiam, ’tis a delight with me. Love = graih. ‘I love ... ‘ = ’ta graih aym er ... ‘ or ‘ta mee graihagh er.’ | ||
| 18. Literally, ‘I am much bound in thanks to you.’ the word ‘kianglt’ is pronounced with the ‘n’ strongly nasalised. | ||
| 19. ‘cra’al,’ a colloquialism. for 'credjal.' | ||
| 22. A Manx proverb. (The raven being a voracious bird, hence ravenous.' | ||
| Lesson 19 | ||
| 1. Quoi s’lesh yn moddey t’ayd, Phil? | 1. Whose is the dog you have, Phil? | |
| 2. S'lhiams eh; my voddey hene. | 2. He is mine, my own dog. | |
| 3. Ta’n chione echey g’aase lheeah. | 3. His head is growing grey. | |
| 4. Ta, gollrhym-pene, t’eh goll | 4. Yes, like myself, he’s going downhill. | |
| 5. Cha nel feeacklyn echey as t’eh bunnys doal. | 5. He has no teeth and he’s nearly blind. | |
| 6. Agh cha nel y chree aym dy chur ersooyl eh. | 6. But I haven’t the heart to put him away. | |
| 7. Foddym toiggal shen; ta moddey mie ny charrey firrinagh | 7. I can understand that, a good dog is a true friend. | |
| 8. Shymmey keayrt ta ‘Prince’ er chur lesh thie mish trooid sterrym as dorraghys. | 8. Many a time ‘Prince’ has brought me home through storm and darkness. | |
| 9. As ’sy sniaghtey neesht tra oddins er ve caillt. | 9. And in the snow too, when I might have been lost. | |
| 10. Ta mee fakin dy vel coo euish, Sam. | 10. I see that you have a hound, Sam. | |
| 11. Cha nel mee coontey money jeh moddee yn lheid shen. | 11. I don’t reckon much of dogs of that kind. (the like of that.) | |
| 12. Why then? He is exceptionally good for a rabbit. | 12. Cammah eisht? T’eh mie erbastal son conning. | |
| [NE: He is exceptionally good at catching rabbits.] | ||
| 13. Foddee dy vel; agh share lhiam moddey son ny kirree as yn ollagh. | 13. Maybe he is, but I prefer a dog for the sheep and the cattle. | |
| 14. Ta’ n moddey aym-pene tushtagh as mie-ynsit. | 14. My own dog is intelligent and well-trained. | |
| 15. Hooar mee eh voish n’Albin, as eshyn ny whallian. | 15. I got him from Scotland he was a pup. | |
| 16. He was working for a shepherd there. | 16. V’eh gobbragh da bochilley ayns shen. | |
| 17. The shepherd did not wish to 1et him go. | 17. Cha b’aillish y bochilley lhiggey yn raad da. | |
| 18. Ve jerkal cur stiagh eh son ny Prowallyn Ashoonagh. | 18. He was hoping to enter him for the ‘National Trials.’ | |
| 19. B’are dooin ve gleashagh, Sam, te tuittym dorraghey. | 19. We’d better be moving Sam, it’s getting dark. | |
| 20. And we’ll have a shower shortly, I’m thinking. | 20. As bee frass ain dy gerrid, erlhiam. | |
| Lesson 20 | ||
| 1. S’mie lhiam cheet dty whaiyl, y charrey. | 1. I’m glad to meet thee my friend. | |
| [NE: Glad to meet you, friend.] | ||
| 2. Cheayll mee dy row yn murrain ort. | 2. I heard that you had the ’flu. | |
| 3. O, va shen kuse dy laghyn er dy henney. | 3. That was a few days ago. | |
| 4. Ta mee couyral nish, as g’aase ny share as ny stroshey dagh laa. | 4. I’m getting over it, and getting better and stronger each day. | |
| 5. Nagh vel hiu gobbragh da Juan Robin? | 5. Aren’t you working for John Robin? | |
| 6. There’s no work to be found at present. | 6. Cha nel obbyr ry-gheddyn ec y traa t’ayn. | |
| 7. Ta mee er ve my haaue rish tree shiaghtin. | 7. I’ve been idle for three weeks | |
| 8. She scammyltagh eh — keeadyn dy gheiney gyn obbyr oc dy yannoo. | 8. It’s scandalous — Hundreds of men and no work at them to do. | |
| 9. She agh cha jeanyms shassoo eh ny sodjey. | 9. Yes, but I’ll not stand it any longer. | |
| 10. C’red t’ou kiarail dy yannoo eisht? | 10. What do you intend to do then? | |
| 11. Te foym goll harrish yn ushtey. | 11. I intend to go over the water.· | |
| 12. Dys Sostyn? Cha nee, dys Canada. | 12. To England? No, to Canada. | |
| 13. Shee bannee mee! S’foddey yn cheer shen. | God bless me! That’s a long way. | |
| 14. Foddee nagh vaikmayd arragh oo! | 14. Perhaps we shall not see thee any more! | |
| [NE: We might never see you again!] | ||
| 15. N’abbyr shen, higyms er-ash gys Ellan Vannin laa ennagh. | 15. Don’t say that, I’ll come back to the Isle of Man some day. | |
| 16. Cho leah as vees argid dy liooar aym. | 16. As soon as I shall have enough money. | |
| 17. Atreih, s’doogh lhiam nagh bee cooish ain ’sy traa ry-heet. | 17. Alas. I am grieved that we’ll have no ‘cooish’ in the days to come. | |
| 18. Agh ta my chree as my yeearreeyn mie goll mayrts, ghooinney veen. | 18. But my heart and my good wishes go with thee, dear fellow. | |
| 19. Aigh vie ort, as sonnys ort ’sy cheer noa! | 19. Good luck to thee and prosperity in the new country. | |
| 20. Ny gow er ’syn aght shen, cha nel mee er-chee geddyn baase! | 20. Don’t take on like that, I’m not about to die! | |
| [NE: Don’t fuss like that, I’m not about to die!] | ||
| 21. We’ll meet again before I go away. | 21. Higmayd nyn guaiyl reesht roish my hedyms roym | |
| Notes on Lesson 20 | ||
| 1. ‘coming in one’s meeting’. Note the possessive pronoun for each person; ‘... my whaiyl (meeting me) ‘ny whaiyl,’ (meeting him.) ‘... ny quaiy1, (meeting her.) and ‘... nyn guaiyl’ (meeting us you or them.) | ||
| 2. ‘murrain,’ or ‘murran,’ a plague or contagious illness of any kind. | ||
| 4. ‘couyral,’ convalescing, improving. Is this from the English ‘re-covering’? | ||
| 5. Note the preposition ‘da.’ | ||
| 7. ‘taaue,’ = idle, indolent, still, quiet, motionless, etc. | ||
| 9. ‘ny sodjey,’ the comparative degree of ‘foddey,’ = longer, further. | ||
| 11. ‘te fo,’ = ’tis under him, he has a mind to, intends. | ||
| 12. When a question is asked without giving a definite verb and tense ‘cha nee’ may be used for ‘No,’ and ‘She,’ for ‘Yes.’ | ||
| 13. ‘Shee’ = ‘Peace,’ but in this expression ‘shee’ is probably a corruption of Jee = God. The Manx people were reluctant to use the name of the Holy One. | ||
| 19. ‘sonnys,’ = abunctance, plenty, good fortune, etc.; as opposed to ‘donnys’, = malady, disease, sickness, ill fortune. | ||
| 20. ‘er-chee’ = about to, having the intention of, aiming to. | ||
| 21. Note the ‘my’ after ‘roish’. This appears to be peculiar to certain tenses when ‘before’ is used with a verb. Sometimes the ‘roish’ is omitted and only ‘my’ used to express ‘before.’ | ||
| APPENDIX 1 | ||
| Idiomatic phrases compounded with the assertive verb ‘she’ and the prepositional pronouns ‘lesh’ and ‘da’. | ||
| My sailliu. | If you please. | |
| Nailt? | Wilt thou? | |
| Cha naillym, | I do not wish. | |
| Baillien, | We were. or would, be pleased. | |
| S’beg lhiam, lhiat, lesh etc: . | T’is little with me, = I despise | |
| S'cair dou, dhyt, da, etc. | T’is right for me, I ought to. | |
| By chair dou, | T’was right for me, I ought to have. | |
| S'cooin lhlam, lhiat, etc. | T’is a memory with me, = I remember. | |
| Cha gooin lesh, | He does not remember. | |
| Nagh gooin lhiat? | Dost thou not remember? | |
| By chooinee lhien, | We remembered. | |
| S’cummey dou, dhyt, etc. | T’is indifferent to me, = It is no affair of mine. | |
| S’cummey lhiam, lhiat, lesh, etc. | T’is indifferent with me, = I don’t care. | |
| By gummey lesh, | He didn’t care. | |
| S’doogh lhiam, lesh, Ihlen. etc. | T’is melancholy with me, = I am sorry, grieved. sad. | |
| Share dou, dhyt. da, etc. | T’is better for me. I had better. | |
| Share lhiam, lhiat, etc. | Better with me, = I prefer. | |
| B’are lhiam. | I would prefer, I would rather | |
| Nhare lhiat? | Dost thou prefer? | |
| Sheeu lhiam, or S’feeu lhiam, | T'is worth with me, = I think it worth while. | |
| Cha neeu lhiam, | I don’t think it worth while. | |
| B’eeu dhyt y yannoo eh? | Would it be worth your while to do it? | |
| Shegin dou, dhyt. da, etc. | T’is compulsion to me. = I must. | |
| Cha nhegin dhyt ... . | Thou must not ... . | |
| [NE: You mustn’t ... .] | ||
| Nhegin dooin? | Must we? | |
| [NE: Do we have to?] | ||
| B’egin dou, / Beign dou. | I had to, I was compelled to. | |
| Shione dou. dhyt, da, etc. | T'is knowledge, acquaintance, recognition to me. I know, (for certain), | |
| Nagh nhione dhyt? | Don’t you know? | |
| Cha b’ione dou, | I didn’t know. | |
| Shimmey ... Cha nhimmey | Many a ... Not many | |
| Shynney lhiam, lhiat, lesh, etc. | I like very much, I dearly love | |
| Cha nhynney lesh, | He does not love. | |
| Bynney Ihiat? | Wouldst thou like very much? | |
| S’laik. lhiam. lhiat, etc. | T’is a liking with me, I like. | |
| B’laik lhiat? | Wouldst thou like? | |
| S’leayr dou, dhyt, da, etc. | T’is obvious to me, I see. I perceive. | |
| Cha b’leayr da. | He did not see. | |
| [NE: It wasn’t obvious to him.] | ||
| S’loys dou, (dhyt, da, etc.) | I dare, | |
| Cha loys da. | He dare not. | |
| Cha b’loys dooin | We dare[d] not. | |
| [NE: We didn’t dare. / We wouldn’t dare.] | ||
| S’mian, lhiam, lhiat. lesh, etc. | T’is a desire / craving, with me. I wish. | |
| Cha by vian lesh. | He did not desire. | |
| S’mie lhiam, | T'is good with me. = I like, | |
| By vie lesh, etc. | He didn’t like, etc. | |
| S’mooar lhiam eh. | T’is great with me, = I begrudge it. | |
| [NE: It really matters to me.] | ||
| S’olk lhiam, lhiat, lesh, etc. | T’is ill with me, = I am sorry, grieved; I regret. | |
| S’taittin lhiam, etc. | T’is delightful with me, = I like, love, etc. | |
| S’treih lhiam, etc, | T’is sad, miserable, with me. = I am sorry, distressed. | |
| APPENDIX 2 | ||
| Comparative and superlative Degrees of Adjectives | ||
| Many adjectives end in ....agh, and the comparative and superlative degrees are formed as follows :- | ||
| Atchimagh, terrible, ny s’atchimee, more terrible, s’atchimee, most terrible. (ny smoo – more, and s’moo = most.) | ||
| ADJECTIVES IRREGULARLY COMPARED. | ||
| aalin, | beautiful, | |
| s’aaley, | most beautiful, easiest, | |
| aashag, | easy | |
| sassey, | easiest | |
| aeg, | young | |
| s’aa, | youngest | |
| ard, | high, | |
| s’yrjey, | highest, | |
| small, | beg, | |
| smallest, | sloo, | |
| bog, | soft, moist | |
| s’buiggey, | softest | |
| bwaagh, | pretty | |
| s’bwaaie, | prettiest | |
| cheh, | hot, warm | |
| s’choe | hottest | |
| chionn | tight, fast | |
| s’chenney, | tightest | |
| chiu, | thick | |
| s’chee, | thickest | |
| faggys, | near, | |
| sniessey, | nearest | |
| foddey, | far, long | |
| sodjey, | farthest, longest | |
| garroo, | rough, | |
| s’girroo, | roughest, | |
| gial, | bright, white | |
| s’gilley, | brightest | |
| giare, | short | |
| s’girrey, | shortest | |
| lajer, | strong | |
| s’troshey, | strongest | |
| leah | soon | |
| s’leaie | soonest | |
| lhean, | wide, | |
| shlea | widest | |
| liauyr, | long, tall | |
| s’lhuirey, | longest | |
| mie, | good, | |
| share, | best, | |
| moal, | poor, slow | |
| smelley, | poorest | |
| mooar, | large, big, | |
| smoo, | largest, | |
| olk, | bad, evil, | |
| smessey, | worst, | |
| reagh, | merry, lively, | |
| s’reaie, | merriest, | |
| roauyr, | fat, broad, | |
| s’riurey, | fattest | |
| shenn, | old, | |
| shinney, | oldest | |
| thanney, | thin, | |
| s’theinney, | thinnest | |
| trome, | heavy, | |
| s’trimmey, | heaviest | |
| ymmodee, | many, | |
| shlee, | most, | |
| APPENDIX 3 | ||
| Idioms compounded with the Irregular Verbs. | ||
| Cur breag er, | (put the lie on.) | |
| [NE: call a liar] | ||
| Hug eh y breag orrym. | He called me a liar. | |
| Cur da, | (give to, thrash.) | |
| Veryms dhyts eh. | I’ll give it thee! | |
| [NE: I’ll thrash you!] | ||
| Cur er, | (put on, compel.) | |
| Hug eh orryms jannoo eh. | He made me do it. | |
| Cur er-ash, | (give back, restore.) | |
| Cur er-ash dou my skillin. | Give me back my shilling, | |
| Cur er bun, | (put on footing, establish) | |
| Va’n Cheshaght currit er bun sy vlein 1899. | The Society was founded in the year 1899. | |
| Cur er shaghryn. | (put astray,) | |
| [NE: mislead] | ||
| Va mee currit ershaghryn liorish e vrynneraght. | I was misled by his flattery. | |
| Cur er y hoshiaght, | (put forward, to promote.) | |
| Hug eh y chooish er y hoshiaght. | He put forward the case. | |
| Cur enn er. | (put recognition on.) | |
| Cha dug mee enn er. | I didn't know him. | |
| Cur fys huggey, | (put knowledge to, acquaint.) | |
| Cur fys hym, my saillt. | Please let me know. | |
| Cur geill da, | (give heed to.) | |
| Cha dug eh geill dou. | He paid no attention to me. | |
| Cur haayrt, | (vanquish, overthrow.) | |
| Va nyn noidyn currit haayrt. | Our enemies were beaten. | |
| Cur jeh, | (put off, to undress.) | |
| Cur jeed dty chooat. | Take off thy coat. | |
| Cur lesh, | (bring, carry.) | |
| Verym lhiam yn lioar mairagh. | I'll bring the book tomorrow. | |
| Cur magh, | (put out, publish.) | |
| Vermayd magh yn clane skeeal. | We shall publish the whole story. | |
| Cur mow, | (lay waste, destroy.) | |
| Va’n Ellan ain currit mow. | Our Island was laid waste. | |
| Cur mysh | (put about, put on one’s clothing.) | |
| Hug ee mo’ee e filleag, | She put on her shawl. | |
| Cur rish, | (practise, commit.) | |
| Hug eh rish myr turneyr dou. | He acted as my attorney. | |
| Cur roish, | (propose, intend, advise.) | |
| Ta mee cur roym dyn dy yannoo eh. | I propose not to do it. | |
| Cur shilley er, | (put a sight on, to pay a visit.) | |
| Nagh dug shiu shilley er my vraar? | Did you not visit my brother? | |
| Cur y lane fo, | (defy, challenge,) | |
| Hug eh y lane foym. | He defied me. | |
| CHEET | Coming | |
| Cheet er-ash | (come back, come to light, re-appear.) | |
| Hig ee er-ash Jesarn. | She will return on Saturday. | |
| cheet er y hoshiaght | (come forward, succeed, flourish.) | |
| Cha daink mee er my hoshiaght ayns n’Erin. | I did not prosper in Ireland. | |
| Cheet lesh | (come with, prosper, succeed) | |
| Te cheet lhiams nish. | It is coming with me now. (I am getting on nicely.) | |
| Cheet rish | (appear, show itself) | |
| Haink eh rish ayns ashlish. | He appeared in a vision. | |
| Cheet stiagh | (coming in, income, revenue) | |
| Ta cheet-stiagh ny h-Ellan er vishaghey. | The Island’s revenue has increased. | |
| Cheet ny whaiyl | (to meet, accost.) | |
| Higym dty whaiyl ec jees er y chlag. | I’ll meet thee at two o’clock. | |
| GOAILL | taking | |
| Goaill aaght | lodge, sojourn | |
| Gowyms aaght ’sy thie-oast. | I'll put up at the hotel. | |
| Goaill aggle roish | (to fear, be afraid.) | |
| Ny gow aggle roym. | Don't be afraid of me. | |
| Goaill arrane | (to sing) | |
| Ghow shin arrane dy creeoil | We sang heartily. | |
| Goaill ayns laue | (undertake, take in hand) | |
| Goweemayd ayns laue eh | We’ll attend to it. | |
| Goaill er | lament, make a fuss. | |
| Ny gow er my dty chione. | Don’t fret about yourself. | |
| Goaill fea | (take rest, quiet) | |
| Gow fea as soie sheese. | Take it easy and sit down. | |
| Goaill foddeeaght ny yei. | (to long for) | |
| V’ee goaill foddeeaght my yei. | She was longing for me. | |
| Goaill leshtal | to excuse | |
| Gow my leshtal my saillt. | Excuse me, please. | |
| Goaill padjer | to pray | |
| Lhig dooin padjer y ghoaill | Let us pray. | |
| Goaill rish | acknowledge, confess | |
| [NE: admit] | ||
| My ta shin goaill rish nyn beccaghyn ... | If we confess our sins .... | |
| Goaill soylley jeh | to enjoy | |
| ... na dy ghoaill soylley jeh eunys peccah son earish. | ... than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. | |
| Goaill toshiaght er | begin, make a start on | |
| Cha gowyms toshiaght er gys y voghrey | I shall not begin until the morning. | |
| Goaill yindys er | To wonder, be surprised. | |
| Ghow mee yindys mooar er. | I was greatly surprised at him. | |
| GOLL | going | |
| Goll dy lhie | (retire, go to bed.) | |
| Te traa goll dy lhie. | It’s bedtime. | |
| Goll er mullagh ching (*) | (going headlong.) | |
| (*) | ||
| * ‘ching,’ is the aspirate of ‘king,’ the genitive of ‘kione’ | ||
| top of the head | mullagh ching | |
| Hie eh er mullagh ching ’syn awin. | He went headlong into the river. | |
| Goll er shaghryn | (go astray) | |
| Ta shin er n’ghull er shaghryn ... casley rish kirree cailjey. | We have strayed ... like lost sheep. | |
| goll er y hoshiaght | (go forward.) | |
| Immee er dty hoshiaght! | Go forward. | |
| [NE: Go ahead! / Advance!] | ||
| Goll fo laue yn aspick. | (confirmation by the bishop.) | |
| Hemmayd fo laue yn aspick ec y Chaisht. | We shall be confirmed at Easter. | |
| Goll fo skynn y fer-lhee. | (undergo an operation.) | |
| Jed oo fo skynn y fer-lhee? | Will you have an operation? | |
| goll roish | (depart, go away.) | |
| Immee royd! | Away with thee! | |
| [NE: | ||
| JANNOO, | (doing, making.) | |
| jannoo ass y noa, | (doing anew, repeat, remake.) | |
| Va dy chooilley nhee jeant assy-noa. | Everything was re-made, repeated, done over again. | |
| jannoo er, | (ailing, trouble.) | |
| Cred ta jannoo ort? | What is doing on thee? (what ails thee?) | |
| jannoo magh, | (to satisfy.) | |
| Cha nel eh jeant magh foast. | He has not had enough yet. | |
| Jannoo mooar jeh | (esteem, cherish.) | |
| Ren eh mooar jeh’n moddey. | He thought a lot of the dog. | |
| Jannoo myghin er. | (to show mercy.) | |
| Hiarn, jean myghin orrin. | Lord, have mercy on us. | |
| Jannoo soiagh jeh | (esteem, value, accept.) | |
| Neem soiagh jeh lesh taitnys. | I will accept with pleasure. | |
| Jannoo soo dy vie jeh, | (make good use of.) | |
| Ren eh soo dy vie jeh’n lioar. | He made good use of the book. | |