Er Genney Hombagey

⇦ Er Genney Hombagey

Manx	English
ER GENNEY HOMBAGEY[1].	ON THE SCARCITY OF TOBACCO.
[1] genney hombagey] ‘a tobacco famine’ / ‘a shortage of tabacco’/ ‘a dearth of tobacco’— ‘genney thombagey’ might have been expected here as genney is marked as masculine by Cregeen, and is masculine throughout the Manx Bible except for genney vooar—‘a great famine’.
O sleih my chree cre nee mayd nish!	O my dear people what will we do now!
Er-son Thombagey ta shin brisht;[2]	As for tobacco, we are broke,
[2] In Manx Ballads A. W. Moore dates the song from the scarcity of tobacco resulting from the War of 1812 (the US enacted several attempts at embargoing trade with Britian between 1807 and 1815). In Mona’s Herald, Wednesday, June 12, 1872; Page: 14; the Rev. J. T. Clarke, writes; “‘Genney Hombagey’ is capital, and from the uniform steady knowledge of the mutations of the Manx dialect which the author exhibits, I conclude at once that my old friend Mr Sayle, of Woodside Terrace, is the writer ... No other could have written the piece except the above; I know his mind so well that he is just the man for it.” William Sayle also wrote ‘Illiam as Ysbel” published circa 1866. If Clarke is correct this strongly suggests that the song dates from the scarcity of tobaccoo caused by the Union blockade of Confederacy ports during the US Civil War (1861-1865). However, ‘Illiam as Ysbel’ is a temperance piece seemingly out of character with the suggestion in this piece that the lack of tobacco be ameliorated by turning to the ale cask.
Son lhiaght y chen[3] ta goaill ny geayee,	For the den of the fire that takes the wind,
[3] chen] ÇHENN, or TIEN, the same as ÇHENNEY.— ÇHENNEY, or TIENNEY, s. pl ÇHENTYN. fire, ether, pure elementary fire, not that culinary fire which we call AILE, or that which appears in ignited bodies.
Cha row shin rieau ayns stayd cha treih.	We were never in such a miserable state.
Pouch y Thombagey ta goit son sporran,	The tobacco pouch is taken for a purse,
As pingyn ruy ta caignit marran ;	And red pennies are chewed by mistake;
Cha vel un spolg ’sy chraccan raun :	There isn’t one nip in the seal skin:
Cha der yn eairk un soar dy yoan.	The horn won’t give one whiff of the dust.
Eairkyn vees yeealt dys vees ad brisht,	Horns will be bashed until they’re bust,
As boxyn tin screebit as scrist;	And tin boxes scraped and scoured;
Ny-yeih voue shoh cha vow mayd couyr,	Yet from these we’ll get no relief,
Veih voal ny maidjey, skynn ny sthowyr. [4]	From a strike of a stick, knife or stave.
[4] Rev. J. T. Clarke writes (Mona’s Herald, Wednesday, June 12, 1872; Page: 14) that he could not understand this line. A. W. Moore, in Manx Ballads, gives “From place of the stick, knife, or staff” with a footnote saying “The meaning here is rather obscure.”. The difficulty is the sequence voal ny maidjey. Moore takes voal to be boayl—‘place’. An alternative reading would be to see voal ny as a misprint for woailley — the lenited form of bwoailley / builley—‘a blow’, ‘a strike’. The article ny cannot be correct before the masculine singular noun maidjey in standard Manx, so might be a misprint for ey — (the missing syllable of woialley), although the sense of this explanation seems to make more sense, there is no grammatical reason for lenition of bwoailley here.
Yn stroin ta gaccan son e cair,	The nose is grumbling for its share,
As y bine jeeigin[5] er e baare;	And the ditch-drop on its tip
[5] bine jeeigin] ‘a ditch drop’ — perhaps equivalent to the idiomatic use in English of ‘dew drop’ for a drop of snot?
Sthill geearree son un soar dy yoan,	Still desiring for one whiff of dust,
Va cha gerjoilagh gys y chione.	That was so comforting to the head.
Yn pipe va roie goll gys my ghob,	The pipe that was rushing going to my mouth,
Te nish fo sooiee heear cooyl y hob;	It’s now under soot back there behind the hob;
Cre’n viljid as yn eunys v’ayn,	What sweetness, and the delight there was,
Tra va’n jaagh cassey mysh my chione.	When the smoke swirled around my head.
Puff dy yaagh ragh shiar fud-thie,	A puff of smoke would go forth through the house,
Cha nuirragh un charchuillag sthie ;	Not one fly would stay inside ;
Ny doo-oallee çhea er-son nyn mioys,	The spiders fleeing for their lives,
Goaill dooyt lesh jaagh dy beagh ad roast.	Suspecting that they would be roasted by the smoke.
Mygeayrt my chione ve[6] coodagh rea,	Around my head it was an even covering,
[6] ve] v’eh
Myr slieau combaasit runt lesh kay :	Like a mountain encompassed with mist :
Va’n pipe myr lilee ayns e blaa.	The pipe was like a lily its bloom.
As gaih gyn-loght cur shaghey’n traa.	And a harmles toy for passing time.
Cre nee mayd nish er-son y duillag,	What shall we do now concerning the leaf,
Agh cloyn[7] fondagh ’chur da’n vullag,	But put a sure inclination to the ale cask,
[7] cloyn] cleoyn—‘bent, propensity, inclination’ (Cregeen).
Dy yannoo shen, as ceau yn traa,	Doing that, and spending the time,
Dy yarrood luss garg Virginia.	To forget the acrid plant of Virginia.

Manx

English

ER GENNEY HOMBAGEY[1].

ON THE SCARCITY OF TOBACCO.

[1] genney hombagey] ‘a tobacco famine’ / ‘a shortage of tabacco’/ ‘a dearth of tobacco’— ‘genney thombagey’ might have been expected here as genney is marked as masculine by Cregeen, and is masculine throughout the Manx Bible except for genney vooar—‘a great famine’.

O sleih my chree cre nee mayd nish!

O my dear people what will we do now!

Er-son Thombagey ta shin brisht;[2]

As for tobacco, we are broke,

[2] In Manx Ballads A.

W. Moore dates the song from the scarcity of tobacco resulting from the War of 1812 (the US enacted several attempts at embargoing trade with Britian between 1807 and 1815). In Mona’s Herald, Wednesday, June 12, 1872; Page: 14; the Rev. J. T. Clarke, writes; “‘Genney Hombagey’ is capital, and from the uniform steady knowledge of the mutations of the Manx dialect which the author exhibits, I conclude at once that my old friend Mr Sayle, of Woodside Terrace, is the writer ... No other could have written the piece except the above; I know his mind so well that he is just the man for it.” William Sayle also wrote ‘Illiam as Ysbel” published circa 1866. If Clarke is correct this strongly suggests that the song dates from the scarcity of tobaccoo caused by the Union blockade of Confederacy ports during the US Civil War (1861-1865). However, ‘Illiam as Ysbel’ is a temperance piece seemingly out of character with the suggestion in this piece that the lack of tobacco be ameliorated by turning to the ale cask.

Son lhiaght y chen[3] ta goaill ny geayee,

For the den of the fire that takes the wind,

[3] chen] ÇHENN, or TIEN, the same as ÇHENNEY.— ÇHENNEY, or TIENNEY, s. pl ÇHENTYN. fire, ether, pure elementary fire, not that culinary fire which we call AILE, or that which appears in ignited bodies.

Cha row shin rieau ayns stayd cha treih.

We were never in such a miserable state.

Pouch y Thombagey ta goit son sporran,

The tobacco pouch is taken for a purse,

As pingyn ruy ta caignit marran ;

And red pennies are chewed by mistake;

Cha vel un spolg ’sy chraccan raun :

There isn’t one nip in the seal skin:

Cha der yn eairk un soar dy yoan.

The horn won’t give one whiff of the dust.

Eairkyn vees yeealt dys vees ad brisht,

Horns will be bashed until they’re bust,

As boxyn tin screebit as scrist;

And tin boxes scraped and scoured;

Ny-yeih voue shoh cha vow mayd couyr,

Yet from these we’ll get no relief,

Veih voal ny maidjey, skynn ny sthowyr. [4]

From a strike of a stick, knife or stave.

[4] Rev.

J. T. Clarke writes (Mona’s Herald, Wednesday, June 12, 1872; Page: 14) that he could not understand this line. A. W. Moore, in Manx Ballads, gives “From place of the stick, knife, or staff” with a footnote saying “The meaning here is rather obscure.”. The difficulty is the sequence voal ny maidjey. Moore takes voal to be boayl—‘place’. An alternative reading would be to see voal ny as a misprint for woailley — the lenited form of bwoailley / builley—‘a blow’, ‘a strike’. The article ny cannot be correct before the masculine singular noun maidjey in standard Manx, so might be a misprint for ey — (the missing syllable of woialley), although the sense of this explanation seems to make more sense, there is no grammatical reason for lenition of bwoailley here.

Yn stroin ta gaccan son e cair,

The nose is grumbling for its share,

As y bine jeeigin[5] er e baare;

And the ditch-drop on its tip

[5] bine jeeigin] ‘a ditch drop’ — perhaps equivalent to the idiomatic use in English of ‘dew drop’ for a drop of snot?

Sthill geearree son un soar dy yoan,

Still desiring for one whiff of dust,

Va cha gerjoilagh gys y chione.

That was so comforting to the head.

Yn pipe va roie goll gys my ghob,

The pipe that was rushing going to my mouth,

Te nish fo sooiee heear cooyl y hob;

It’s now under soot back there behind the hob;

Cre’n viljid as yn eunys v’ayn,

What sweetness, and the delight there was,

Tra va’n jaagh cassey mysh my chione.

When the smoke swirled around my head.

Puff dy yaagh ragh shiar fud-thie,

A puff of smoke would go forth through the house,

Cha nuirragh un charchuillag sthie ;

Not one fly would stay inside ;

Ny doo-oallee çhea er-son nyn mioys,

The spiders fleeing for their lives,

Goaill dooyt lesh jaagh dy beagh ad roast.

Suspecting that they would be roasted by the smoke.

Mygeayrt my chione ve[6] coodagh rea,

Around my head it was an even covering,

[6] ve] v’eh

Myr slieau combaasit runt lesh kay :

Like a mountain encompassed with mist :

Va’n pipe myr lilee ayns e blaa.

The pipe was like a lily its bloom.

As gaih gyn-loght cur shaghey’n traa.

And a harmles toy for passing time.

Cre nee mayd nish er-son y duillag,

What shall we do now concerning the leaf,

Agh cloyn[7] fondagh ’chur da’n vullag,

But put a sure inclination to the ale cask,

[7] cloyn] cleoyn—‘bent, propensity, inclination’ (Cregeen).

Dy yannoo shen, as ceau yn traa,

Doing that, and spending the time,

Dy yarrood luss garg Virginia.

To forget the acrid plant of Virginia.