| Manx | English | |
|---|---|---|
| S’TAITTIN ta er ve lhiam [sic][1] er yn aght dy vel [sic] sleih er n’insh dou cre cho mooar yn symm ta er ve orroo [sic] tra lhaih ad yn shenn vardaght ren mee ayns y cholloo shoh y choyrt shiaghtin ny ghaa er dy henney. | How pleased I have been about how people have told me how great the interest that has been upon them when they read the old poetry I put in this column a week or two ago. | |
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[1] S’TAITTIN ta er ve lhiam] —
[S’taittin lhiam] ‘it pleases me’, with
[ta er ve] ‘has been’ inserted, either in error, or, with the intention of imparting the meaning ‘How pleased I have been’.
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| Dy ve shickyr, ta’n Ghaelg Bunneydagh[2] screeuit ayns aght nagh vod monney sleih lhaih ny toiggal. | To be sure, the Original Gaelic is written in a way not many people can read or understand. | |
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[2] Bunneydagh] ‘original’, ‘authoritative’, ‘basic’, ‘primitive’.
The meaning here is taken to be ‘original’. The intended meaning might be ‘primitive’, although the term ‘Primitive Irish’ is usually used for the earliest forms of Irish from the time prior to the emergence of Old Irish in the sixth century AD. The language in the poem ‘Margi za Gallir in Grawgh’ might be more accurately described as Early Modern Scottish Gaelic in an original orthography.
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| As ta’n grammar aynjee ny shenn ghrammar lesh ymmoddee focklyn nagh vel ayns nyn n’glare jiu. | And the grammar in it is an old grammar with many words that aren’t in our language today. | |
| Lhig dou eisht cur diu yn slane daane ayns y chummey bunneydagh. | Let me then give you the entire poem in the original form. | |
| Hee shiu dy vel yn chied fockle ny ghaa aascruit ec jerrey yn daan as ta shoh yn aase ren ny shenn vardyn ymmyd jeh dy chowraghey magh dy row ad er choyrt jerrey er y ghaan. | You will see that the first word or two are rewritten at the end of the poem and this is the device the old poets used to signify that they had ended the poem. | |
| MARGI ZA GALLIR IN GRAWGH | [See notes] | |
| Margi za gallir in grawgh, | ||
| Ga bee in nabbrin ee, | ||
| Degkir skarrolchtin raphart, | ||
| Troygh in chays in vellum feyn. | ||
| In grawgh sen twiggis gla nes, | ||
| On sal mi les gin a loygh, | ||
| Mir hwe mee furtacht tra, | ||
| Beeith mi winn gi tannadh troygh. | ||
| In fer sen za duggis graw, | ||
| Ys nagh feodis rawse os nard, | ||
| Da burtee mis a bayn gy-mi, | ||
| Do feyn is kayd marg. | ||
| Margi za gallir. | ||
| Cha nel fys aym my ren shiu goaill soylley jeh ny obbraghyn-chenney er yn quiggoo laa Mee Houney, ny dyn. | I don’t know if you enjoyed the fire-works on the fifth day of November, or not. | |
| Dy ve shickyr, ta mish dy kinjagh soylley y ghoaill jeu, agh ny keayrtyn ta mee scuirrey as smooinaghtyn er yn’ eailley shoh. | To be sure, I always enjoy them, but sometimes I stop and think about this festival. | |
| Dy bunneydagh v’eh ayrn jeh’n slane feailley Houney, agh cha noddym gra dy re mie lhiam jannoo feailley jeh baase dooinney, ersyn, er y fa dy re Creestee Raueagh v’eh, va tranlaase jeant liorish ny Prostanee fergagh as agglit derrey deabee eh e noidyn y varroo. | Originally it was part of the entire festival of Sauin, but I can’t say that I like making a fesitval of a man’s death, on it, because he was a Roman Christian, oppression was commited by the furious and frightened Protestants and until he attempted to kill his enemies. | |
| Foddee lhisagh shin ennym noa y choyrt urree, as ayns ynnyd jeh “Guy Fawkes Night” lhisagh shin gra “Jerrey feailley Houney,” ny red ennagh gollrish shen. | Maybe we should give it a new name, and instead of “Guy Fawkes Night” we should say “The End of the Festival of Sauin,” or something like that. | |
| Ansherbee, ga dy vel mee screeu mooarane mooar dy voghtinid ayns y cholloo shoh, s’mie lhiam dy vel fys aym dy vel yn colloo er ny lhaih! | Anyway, although I am writing a great big amount of nonesense in this column, I am glad that I know that the column is read! | |
| —BRANLAADAGH. | —BRANLAADAGH. | |