| Manx | English | |
|---|---|---|
| BING CHOONREE EDDYR CHELTIAGH | INTERCELTIC EXCHANGE COMMITTEE[1] | |
|
[1] InterCeltic International Exchange Committee] This is evidently a body with an official title, perhaps ‘The International Celtic Congress’ for which the official Manx title is ‘Yn Cohaglym Celtiagh’.
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| Hig daa chiaulleyder Yernagh dys yn Ellan cuirraghyn kiaull y chur marish Yn Tradishoon Celtiagh. | Two Irish musicians will come to the Island to give two music concerts together with Yn Tradishoon Celtiagh (The Cetlic Tradition). | |
| Bee Sean O h-Iarnain as e vraar Markys cheet voish Carna ayns Coondae ny Gailloo.[2] | Seán Ó hIarnain and his brother Marcus Ó hIarnain will be coming from Carna in County Galway. | |
|
[2] Coondae ny Gailloo] a Manxification of the Irish
[Contae na Gaillimhe] ‘County Galway’.
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| Ta Sean cloie yn bocs-kiaull as y feddan as Markys feddan millish as y feddan as t’ad ardghooagh son y chiaull oc. | Seán plays the music-box and the whistle and Marcus the flute and the whistle and they are famous for their music. | |
| Ta’n claare-kiaull myr shoh:— | The programme of music is thus:— | |
| 1. Jeheiney yn 19 Mee Houney, ayns Thie Oast Ny Jeelt ayns Rhumsaa, ec 8.30 l.m. | 1. Monday the 19th of November, in the Saddle Hotel in Ramsey, at 8:30 p.m. | |
| 2. Jesarn yn 20 Mee Houney ayns Thie Liauyr ny Loghlinee ayns Purt ny h-Inshey ec 8:30 l.m. | 2. Saturday the 20th of November in the Viking Longhouse in Peel at 8:30 p.m. | |
| Bee Yn Tradishoon Celtiagh cloie oie as foddee Mick y Craayl, fiddleyr tradishoonagh, Oie Jelune myrgeddin. | Yn Tradishoon Celtiagh (The Celtic Tradition) will be playing a night and maybe Mick Kneale, a traditional fiddler, on Monday night too. | |
| Tiggadyn 50 ping, dagh oie, ry gheddyn voish Illiam y Kelly, Yn Lhag, Purt Chiarn; Bernard Moffit, 5 Straid ny Traie, Purt ny h-Inshey, ny oltey erbee Bing Twoaie Sheshaghtagh ny Sheshaght Gailckagh. | Tickets 50 pence, each night, available from William Kelly, The Lhag, Port Erin; Bernard Moffit, 5 Beach Street, Peel, or any member, Northern Social Committee of the Manx Society. | |
| Yn Shiaghtin shoh ta mee feer wooiagh dy chur magh diu skeeal elley liorish nyn garrey voish Purt ny h-Inshey Colin Y Jerree, mychione ny tree muckyn beggey. | This week I am very please to publish for you another story by our friend from Peel, Colin Jerry, about the three little pigs. | |
| Tra lhaihys oo y skeeal shoh hee shiu dy vel ny smoo ayn na[3] smooinee shiu. | When you read this story you will see that there is more in it than you thought. | |
|
[3] na] text gives
[ny]
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| Fy-yerrey hoal ayns ny laghyn shen haink ny tree muckyn beggey dy ve skee erskyn towse jeh jannooyn yn ’illiu. | At long last in those days the three little pigs came to be extremely tired of the wolf’s activities. | |
| V’eh jeeaghyn daue mannagh row red ennagh jeant[4] dy chur lhiettrymys er[5] dy beagh y clane ellan[6] currit mow. | It seemed to them that unless something was done to obstruct him that the whole island would be destroyed. | |
|
[4] mannagh row] use of the past tense to form the conditional (as happens in English, eg; ‘were it not’) does not occur in Manx before the late twentieth century,
[mannagh beagh] would be expected here. Although the difference between a)
[er ny yannoo] ‘done’ and b)
[jeant] ‘done’ is slim, corpus material shows that a) tends to be used for describing actions, and b) tends to be used for describing nouns.
[mannagh beagh red ennagh er ny yannoo] ‘unless something were done’.
[5] cur lhiettrymys er] at some point in the late twentieth century writers began to use
[lhiettrymys] ‘difference’, where the expected word would be
[lhiettalys] ‘prevention’, ‘obstacle’, etc. So, although the more obvious translation of
[cur lhiettrymys er] would be something like ‘putting a difference on’, the intended meaning is ‘hindering’, ‘delaying’, ‘holding up’, etc. NB.
[lhiettal] ‘hindering’, ‘preventing’ etc. is a verb in itself.
[6] y clane] ‘the total’, ‘the entirety’. In late twentieth century Manx
[y clane] seems to be understood as simply
[y] +
[slane] ‘the whole’.
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| Eer ec y traa shen va thieyn goll y hroggal[7] buill nagh row ad ry-akin roie, as v’ad milley yn clyst.[8] | Even at that time houses were being built in places they weren’t to be seen before, and they were spoiling the coast. | |
|
[7] goll y hroggal]
[goll er troggal]
[8] yn clyst]
[yn slyst] — in Classical Manx
[yn clyst] only follows a preposition, eg;
[er y clyst] ‘on the coast’.
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| Va bunnys dy-chooilley pheiagh shirrey er[9] cosney argid cha bieau as oddagh ad as by gummey lhieu[10] yn jeeill va jeant oc. | Almost everyone was looking to earn money as quick as they could and it didn’t matter to them what harm was done by them. | |
|
[9] shirrey er] the more usual understanding of this would be ‘asking (him) for (something)’. (Writers in the late twentieth century struggled to find an accepted term for ‘trying’, more common alternatives are
[prowal],
[geabbey] and
[tryal].
[10] by gummey lhieu] ‘they cared not / they wouldn’t care’ (contrived from
[s’cummey lhieu]).
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| Va tooilley baatyn g’eeastagh as va’n eeast cheet dy ve feer goan as feer veg. | There were more boats fishing and the fish were coming to be very scarce and very small. | |
| Va palchey dy ’leih cheet dy ve berchagh as va paart jeu lane berchagh agh cha row ad cho ghennal as v’ad er ve ayns ny laghyn v’er n’gholl shaghey. | Plenty of people were coming to be rich and some of them were very rich but they weren’t as cheerful and as they had been in bygone days. | |
| Laa dy row lhaih ny three muckyn ’sy phabyr naight dy row yn filliu er chionnaghey shenn thie faggys da’n ard-valley.[11] | One day the three pigs read in the newspaper that the wolf had bought an old house near to the city. | |
|
[11] ard-valley] ‘city’, (also used in the twentieth century to translate ‘capital’).
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| Va’n thie shoh fer jeh ny troggalyn share er’n ellan as va palchey dy halloo mygeayrt y mysh, va magheryn ayn liorish yn awin boayl va’n braddan snaue, va biljin aalin mygeayrt yn thie as garey lhean as yindyssagh ayn myrgeddin. | This house was one of the best buildings on the island and there was plenty of land around about it, there were fields beside the river where the salmon were swimming, there were beautiful trees around the house and a broad and wonderful garden too. | |
| Aghterbee, tra lhaih ny three muckyn beggey shoh v’ad jiarg chorree. | Anyway, when the three little pigs read this they were extremely cross. | |
| “Shegin dooin jannoo red ennagh,” dooyrt ad, as hie ad chelleeragh kionefenish y Ree. | “We must do something,” they said, and they went right away before the King. | |
| “Failt erriu!” dooyrt y Ree. “Er-lhiams dy vel fys aym cre’n oyr ta shiu er jeet.” | “Welcome!” said the King. “I think I know why you have come.” | |
| Yeeagh ny muckyn er-y-cheilley as dooyrt ad, “C’red ayns Niurin fodmayd jannoo? | The pigs looked at eachother and they said, “What in Hell can we do? | |
| Ta’n drogh-yantagh shen son milley dy-chooilley nhee. Nyn shiaght[12] mynney mollaght er!” | That evildoer can spoil everything. Our seven little curses on him!” | |
|
[12] Nyn shiaght] text gives
[Nyn hiaght].
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| “Ta mee er ve smooinaghtyn er y chooish,” dooyrt y Ree. | “I have been thinking about the matter,” said the King. | |
| “As ta mee er feddyn magh dy row quaiyl er-lheh ayn foddey er-dy-henney enmyssit Yn Chiare a Feed. | “And I have discovered that there was a special court long ago called The House of Keys. | |
| Va ooilley ny leighaghyn noa jeant oc as ta ooilley ny shenn leighyn[13] ayns nyn gleeaunyn[14] neesht. Er-lhiams dy lhisagh shin aavioghey yn shenn whaiyl reesht.” | All the new laws were made by them and all the old laws are in their chests too. I think we ought to revive that old court again.” | |
|
[13] leighyn] text gives
[leighaghyn]
[14] ayns nyn gleeau] ‘in their chests’, text gives
[ayns nyn gleeaunyn].
This referrs to ‘Breast Law’, the name given to the historical Manx lex non scripta (unwritten law) system before statute books, when deemsters (judges) memorised the law and created new laws themselves.
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| “Cre’n aght fodmayd shen y yannoo?” vrie ny three muckyn jeh. “Ta ourys orrin[15] nagh vel kiare deiney as feed er’n ellan fodmayd treishteil[16] ec y laa t’ayn jiu. | “How can we do that?” the three pigs asked him. “We suspect that there aren’t twenty-four men on the island we can trust today. | |
|
[15] ta ourys orrym] ‘there is suspicion upon me’ — evidently the intended meaning is ‘I suspect’, or ‘I doubt’, or ‘I have a suspicion’ although the more obvious meaning might be ‘I am suspected’ or ‘I am doubted’. Expected phrases might be
[ta mee dy ouyrs] ‘I doubt’,
[ta mee dooteil] ‘I doubt’,
[ta mee ouryssagh] ‘I suspect’.
[ta ourys aym] ‘I have a suspicion’ or
[ta mee ayns ouyrys] I am doubting’. NB. In older texts
[aurys] is a variant spelling of
[ourys].
[16] fodmayd treishteil] this usually means ‘hope’, or ‘hoping’.
[treishteil ayn] is used for ‘trusting’, so
[ayns dy nodmayd treishteil] ‘in whom we can trust’ / ‘who we can trust’ would be the expected phrase here.
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| “T’eh erriu-hene ny deiney shoh y reih,” dreggyr y Ree. “Bee reihys ain mastey’n sleih as bee dy-chooilley ghooinney share reihit myr oltey jeh’n whaiyl!”[17] | “You yourselves have to choose these men,” answered the King, “We will have an election amongst the people and every best man will be chosen as a member of the court. | |
|
[17] as bee dy-chooilley ghooinney share] ‘every best man will be chosen as a member of the court’ The intended meaning is obscure here, although it seems that the intention is to refer to the English phrase ‘May the best man win!’
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| Aghterbee ren ad shen y reaghey as haink shirreydeyryn dy liooar er nyn doshiaght, va eer fer-vooinjer da ny three muckyn ayn, eshyn va enmyssit Percy,[18] agh hooar ad magh dooilleeid beg lurg tammylt. | Anyway they arranged that and enough candidates came forward, there was even a relative of the three pigs, he who was called Percy, but they discovered a little problem after a while. | |
|
[18] eshyn va enmyssit Percy] ‘he who was called Percy’.
[va enmyssit Percy] ‘who was called Percy’ would be expected here.
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| Cha row agh ny fir verchagh va cheet rish[19] er’n laa enmys. | It was only the rich men who were appearing on the nomination day. | |
|
[19] cheet rish] text gives
[cheet roish]
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| Cha voddagh agh adsyn[20] ceau y traa voish nyn obbyr dy ve nyn n’olteynyn jeh’n Chiare as Feed. | Only those could spend the time from their work to be members of the House of Keys. | |
|
[20] adsyn] text gives
[adsyn shen]
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| Haink ourys er ny three muckyn beggey[21] dy jinnagh ad cooney lesh yn illiu. | The three little pigs began to suspect that they would help the wolf. | |
|
[21] Haink ouyrys er ny tree muccyn beggey] Although the prima facie meaning is
[Suspicion came upon the three little pigs], evidently the intended meaning is ‘The three little pigs began to suspect’, for which perhaps
[Ghow ny tree muccyn beggey toshiaght dy ve ouryssagh] would be expected.
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| Laa ny jees erreish da ny Kiare as Feed (er) ve nyn soie lhaih ny three muckyn beggey ’sy phabyr naight dy row ad er n’ghoaill toshiaght er kionnaghey yn shenn thie er ash voish yn illiu as v’ad gennal reesht. | A day or two after the House of Keys had been sitting the three little pigs read in the newspapaer that they had started to buy the old house back from the wolf and they were cheery again. | |
| Pic: Vel eh shoh yn thie stoamey raad ta’n braddan snaue ’syn awin? | Pic: Is this the grand house (The Nunnery) where the salmon swim in the river? | |
| “Jeeagh er shoh!” dooyrt ad. “T’ad son cur lhiettrymys[22] er fy-yerrey hoal. Yn Kiare as Feed aboo! | “Look at this!” they said. “They can finally prevent it. Hurray for the House of Keys! | |
|
[22] lhiettalys] text gives
[lhiettrymys]
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| T’ad eer chebbal[23] da yn leagh cheddin d’eeck eh er y hon. OUWATTA!” | They are even offering him the same price he paid for it. GET IN! | |
|
[23] T’ad eer chebbal] text gives
[Eer t’ad chebbal]
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| Cha row fys ec ny three muckyn nagh row dy chooilley red er ve er ny chionnaghey liorish y whaiyl. | The three pigs didn’t know that not everything had been bought by the court. | |
| Va’n thie oc dy jarroo, as yn garey yindyssagh neesht. Agh cre mysh y thalloo? | They had the house indeed, and the wonderful garden too. But how about the land? | |
| Va shen foast ayns laueyn yn illiu as e chaarjyn. | That was still in the hands of the wolf and his friends. | |
| Va’n Kiare as Feed ayns boirey agglagh myrgeddin. | The House of Keys were in awful trouble too. | |
| Va’n thie oc, as yn garey yindyssagh, agh cre’n aght oddagh ad jannoo ymmyd jeu? | They had the house, and the wonderful garden too, but how would they be able to make use of them? | |
| “Cha nod fer erbee j’in baghey ayn,” dooyrt fer jeu. “T’eh ro vooar.” | “None of us can live in it,” said one of them. “It’s too big.” | |
| “Fodmayd fosley eh da’n theihll, as jannoo eh myr taishbynys cultooragh,” dooyrt fer elley. | “We can open it to the world, and make it a cultural exhibition,” said another one. | |
| “S’cummey lhiam c’red ta shin jannoo, agh shegin da cosney argid.” dooyrt fer elley, “Cre mysh olloo schoill noa?” vrie fer elley, “Cre mysh thie lheeys?” | “I don’t care what we do, but it must earn money.” said another one, “What about a new university?” asked another one, “What about a hospital?” | |
| “Fuirree erriu rish tammylt!” dooyrt ard-coraa ennagh. “Cha nel yn thie na’n garey feeu son veg mannagh vel eh cosney argid. | “Wait a while!” said a loud voice. “Neither the house nor the garden are worth anything unless it earns money. | |
| Ta shin er n’eeck rouyr hannah. | We have paid too much already. | |
| Cha nel agh un red fodmayd jannoo, as shegin da shen ve jeant dy-follit.” | There is only one thing we can do, and that must be done secretly.” | |
| “C’red ta shen?” dooyrt ad lesh un choraa. | “What is that?” they said with one voice. | |
| Hie ad er roie dys yn illiu as ren ad reaghey shen y yannoo. | They ran to the wolf and they arranged to do that. | |
| Dooyrt eh roosyn nagh row eh son jannoo jeeill erbee as bare daue[24] cheet ny whaiyl as eshyn gymmyrkey yn argid ec mean oie dys mullagh y chronk[25] as veagh ny pabyryn leighoil oc. | He said to them that it couldn’t do any harm and it was better for them to come to meet him while he was carrying the money at midnight to the top of the hill and they would have the legal papers. | |
|
[24] bare dou] ‘would be better for them’ used here to mean ‘they’d better’, for which
[lhisagh ad] ‘they ought to’ would be expected.
[25] mullagh y chronk] text gives ‘mullagh y cruink’.
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| Fod dy chooilley nhee ve jeant dy follit, yiall eh roo. | Everything can be done secrectly, he promised them. | |
|
[25] mullagh y chronk] text gives ‘mullagh y cruink’.
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| Hie ad ooilley er’n oie va reihit oc, oie feer dorraghey ec jerrey’n Ouyir. | They all went on the night that was arranged by them, a very dark night at the end of the Autumn. | |
| Va shenn chliaghtey ayn dy lhisagh sleih creck thalloo, buill hallooin, thieyn as y lheid er shenn Oie Houney. | There was an old custom that people should sell land, farms, houses and such on the Eve of Halloween. | |
| Tra haink ad dys mullagh y chronk[26] va’n filliu fuirraghtyn orroo as va thammagyn aittin ooilley mygeayrt-y-moo. | When they came to the top of the hill the wolf was waiting for them and there were gorse bushes all around them. | |
|
[26] mullagh y chronk] text gives ‘mullagh y cruink’.
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| “Roish my ghowysmayd toshiaght,” dooyrt yn filliu, “Cur jiu nyn eaddeeyn.” | “Before we begin,” said the wolf, “Take off your clothes.” | |
| Yeeagh ad as honnick ad dy row gun ayns e laue. Duirree eh orroo derrey[27] va dy chooilley fer jeu rooisht dy bollagh. | They looked and they saw that there was a gun in his hand. He waited for them until every one of them was completely naked. | |
|
[27] derrey] ‘until’ — text gives
[derrey’n traa] ‘until the time’.
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| Er shen hug eh yn argid daue as hug ad ny pabyryn da. | Then he gave the money to them and they gave the papers to him. | |
| Hie eshyn ersooyl chelleeragh agh hug eh lesh nyn eaddeeyn. | He went away straight away but he brought their clothes with him. | |
| V’ad foast dy bollagh rooisht nyn hassoo er mullagh y chronk[28] as cha b’loys daue gleashaght rish tammylt er yn oyr dy row thammagyn aittin mygeayrt-y-moo. | They were still completely naked, standing on the top of the hill and they wouldn’t dare move for a while because there were gorse bushes around them. | |
|
[28] mullagh y chronk] text gives ‘mullagh y cruink’.
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| Ec y traa kiart shen cheayll ad sleih goaill arrane as honnick ad soilshaghyn cheet nyn aare. | At that very time they heard people singing and they saw lights approaching them. | |
| Reih ad dy hannaghtyn nyn hassoo ’sy voayl cheddin as b’hreisht lhieu[29] dy ragh yn sleih shaghey, agh v’eh jarroodit oc dy row shenn chliaghtey elley ayn. | They chose to stay standing in the same place and they hoped the people would go past, but they had forgotten that there was another old custom. | |
|
[29] b’hreisht lhieu] ‘they hoped’ —
[v’ad treishteil] would be expected. In the late twentieth century phrases composed with eccentric grammar (elswhere in the corpus neither
[s’] nor
[by] precedes a noun). The most commonly found examples are
[s’treisht lhiam] and
[s’bastagh lhiam].
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| Doaltattyn ren fer jeh’n sleih foaddey aile mooar faggys daue va jeant aarloo er mullagh y cruink as v’ad goit.[30] | Suddenly one of the people lit a big fire near to them that was made ready on the top of the hill, and they were caught. | |
|
[30] goit] ‘taken’ — also used for ‘arrested’, ‘abducted’, ‘siezed’ etc.
[feddynit] ‘found’, ‘discovered’ would be expected here, but the meaning of
[goit] in this context is clear enough.
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| Maghey shoh va’n ennym Ny Kiare Rooish as feed currit orroo as dooyrt yn sleih ny-mast-oc hene, | From this time on, they were given the name The Naked Four and Twenty[31] and the people said amongst themselves, | |
|
[31] The Naked Four and Twenty] A play on the Manx for ‘The House of Keys’
[Ny Kiare as Feed], and the folk etyology of the surname ‘Kerruish’
[kiare rooisht] ‘naked four’
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| “Lhig dooin jannoo reihys noa, b’vie lhien fakin sleih share[32] ayns nyn ynnyd.” | “Let’s make (have) a new election, we would like to see better people in their place.” | |
|
[32] sleih share] ‘better people’ — text gives
[sleih ny share].
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| Hie ad ooilley ersooyl dy-valley er lhimmey jeh’n Kiare Rooish as Feed, goaill arrane myr shoh:— | They all went away home, except for the Naked Twenty Four, singing like this:— | |
| “As rish dy darragh yn laa fy-yerrey hoal, | “And to would come the day at last, | |
| my veesmayd ooilley seyr, | If we will all be free, | |
| Bee nyn noidyn ooilley snapperal noon as noal, | Our enemies will all be stumbling to and fro, | |
| As cha b’loys daue cheet nyn ’aare. | And they wouldn’t dare approach us. | |
| Dy Bishee Jee ny Manninee. | My God prosper the Manx, | |
| B’vie lhieu baghey ayns shee. | They would like to live in Peace. | |
| As nyn shiaght[33] mynney mollaght er ny drogh-yantee, | And our seven little curses on the evil-doers, | |
|
[33] nyn shiaght] text gives
[nyn hiaght]
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| Ta milley dy-chooilley nhee!” | Who spoil everything!” | |
| Ren ad ymmyd jeh’n carr enmyssit “Mie moghrey dhyts as gerjagh,” ta ry-gheddyn ayns “Lioar Arraneyn Ashoonagh Vannin.” | They used the tune called “Good morning to you and happiness,” that can be found in “The Manx National Song Book.” | |
| Colin y Jerree | Colin Jerry | |
| Port ny h-Inshey | Peel | |
| Mee Houney, 1976. | November, 1976. | |