| Manx | English | |
|---|---|---|
| My Charrey Deyr.— | My Dear Friend.— | |
| Ta mee laccal dy insh dhyt mychione laa eeastagh va aym sourey s’jerree ec Baaltin. | I want to tell you about a day’s fishing I had last summer at Baldwin. | |
| Hie mee voish y thie moghey, as shaghey Ballanerd as Ballacreetch, as eisht shaghey y caardee as y cabbal as harrish y vagher gys Ballergey, as sheese y greeishyn[1] gys y droghad fo yn schoill. Wooinney veen cre’n moghrey aalin ve, yn ushagyn kiaulleeagh ayns y biljin as va’n lhondhoo jannoo arrane millish er mullagh y thammag, as yn ushtey jannoo feiyr roie harrish y claghyn[2]. Ta palchey breckyn[3] ayns yn awin. | I went from home early, and past Ballanard and Ballacreetch, and then past the smithy and the chapel, and across the field to Ballergey, and down the steps to the bridge below the school. Dear man, what a beautiful morning it was, the birds singing in the trees, and there was a blackbird making a sweet song on the top of a bush, and the water making a noise running over the stones. There are plenty of trout in the river. | |
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[1] sheese y greeishyn] sheese ny greeishyn
[2] harrish y claghyn] harrish ny claghyn
[3] breckyn] ‘trouts’. Elswhere in the corpus the plural of breck ‘ trout’ is brick.
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| Ren mee fakin boayl mie raad va’n ushtey roie shaghey clagh mooar; ceau mee yn rimlagh ayns shen, as ayns y vinnid va breck mooar er, as va lheim as spretal as strepey lesh oilley[4] e niart, as ve mee ghoaill aggle dy rin yn rimlagh brishey agh çhelleragh va aym er y thalloo chirrym. | I saw a good place where the water was running past a big stone. I threw the fishing line there, and in a minute there was a large trout on, and he was jumping and struggling and striving with all his might, and I was afraid that the line would break, but soon I had him on dry land. | |
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[4] oilley] ooilley
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| Ny sodjey seose hie mie strimmey ny bastag gethin. Kin[5] smeir dhoo v’uss[6] y Faasagh (Traa elley neem insh dy oo jeh laa va aym fud oc). | The higher up I went, the heavier my basket got. What blackberries there were in the wilderness (another time I will tell you of a day I had among them). | |
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[5] kin] cre’n
[6] v’uss] v’ayns
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| Eisht haink mee gys mwyllin y Kelly raad t’eh jannoo eaddagh Manninagh mie; as woinney veen kin[7] stoo ta dy cheau. Traa rin mee roshtyn y keyll fo Eireyween[8] va mee feer accryssagh. Va beaghey aym uss my voggaid as hoie mee sheese as rin mee ee eh dy millish lesh bine dy ushtey ass yn awin. | Then I came to Kelly’s mill, where he makes good Manx cloth, and, dear man, what stuff it is to wear. When I reached the wood under Eireyween I was very hungry. I had food in my pocket, and sat down and ate it sweet with a drop of water from the river. | |
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[7] kin] cre’n
[8] Eireyween] usual spelling; Earyween.
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| Ta’n strooan beg cheet sheese veih Creg-y-Cowin lane dy bracken[9] mooar as rin mee hayrtyn daa fer mie ayns shen. Hie mee çheuchooylloo[10] gys vn awin reesht, as çhelleragh va mee fo Penny-Phot. | There is a little stream coming down from Creg-y-Cowin full of big trout, and I caught two good ones there. I went back to the river again, and soon I was under Penny-Phot. | |
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[9] lane dy vracken mooar] ‘lane breckyn mooarey’, or ‘lane brick vooar’ would be expected here.
[10] Hie mee çheuchooylloo] ‘I went backwards’. ‘Hie mee reesht’, ‘Hie mee back’, or ‘Ren mee çhyndaa’ would be expected for ‘I went back’.
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| Ta’n awin feer veg ayns shen as ta’ed brooinyn feer ard er y derrey heu[11]; as cheayl mee yn cauig e feeagh. As nish hoie mee sheese dy choontey ny bracken[12] as va shiaght-jeig as feed aym, as quieg jeh fee wooir[13]. | The river is very little there, and there are very high brows on each side, and I heard the croak of the raven. And then I sat down to count the trout, and I had thirty-seven, and five of them very large. | |
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[11] er y derrey heu] ‘on one side’ (er dagh çheu ;‘on each side’).
[12] bracken] breckyn / brick
[13] fee wooir] feer vooar
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| Va’n grian goll sheese as haink mee roym thie, meeteil carjin[14] er y raad as phleadeil ayns ny shenn çhengey. Rosh mee thie mysh hoght er y clag. Skee dy liooar. | The sun was setting as I came back home, meeting friends on the road and talking in the old tongue. I reached home about eight o’ clock, tired enough. | |
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[14] carjin] caarjyn
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| MAC-Y-SAGGYRT .[15] | SON OF THE PARSON . | |
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[15] Mac y Saggyrt] Mac y Taggyrt would be expected here.
The writer may be E. U. Savage, (1879-1939). His obituary in ‘British Birds’ notes; ‘he was an authority on Manx Gaelic which he had spoken from childhood, and in earlier years a keen fisherman’.
Savage was not a native speaker of Manx, but was a keen student of the language
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