A Mhórag an dèan thu tighinn

An toil leat ceòl, bàrdachd no ealain sam bith eile? Am faca tu rudeigin inntinneach air an TBh? Innse dhuinn air / Do you like music, poetry or any other art form? Did you see anything interesting on the telly? Tell us about it
Espagnac
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Dec 24, 2018 1:45 pm
Language Level: Very poor
Corrections: I'm fine either way
Location: France

A Mhórag an dèan thu tighinn

Unread post by Espagnac »

Hi everybody,

I fell in love with the strathspey sung by Mary Ann Kennedy and James Graham on this vid (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkT-TtSTFs0), and tried to find the lyrics on the web, which wasn’t that easy. I eventually managed to reconstruct the following text from a musical score:

'Mhórag an dèan thu tighinn
'S neònach do bhruidhinn rium
'S neònach leam mur a tig thu
'S tu cho tric a' tighinn nam chuimhn’
Nighneagan cho bòidheach
'S iad cho deònach air mo mhealladh
'N dùil nach eil mi òg 's e
Sin an dòchas tha iad ann
Tha mise cho bòidheach
'S nach eil aon leam beò air thalamh
A chreideas gun tug mi gealladh
A chur anart air a ceann

With a dictionary and what remains in my memory of the little Gaelic I had learnt long ago, I can understand many words and phrases, but the general meaning is still obscure to me. I can’t understand who’s speaking to whom (first a guy to a girl but does she answer?) and why. What is meant by ‘S iad cho deònach air mo mhealladh ‘N dùil nach eil mi òg ‘s e is particularly difficult for me, as is the last line of the song. I suppose the text is satirical as often in puirt a beul, but I’m not sure.
Well, in a word, if someone could help me tr*nsl*t* the text, I would be really very grateful. I know tr*nsl*t**n requests are not favoured on the forum, but this is the only way for me to learn this song, and I feel I will soon wither away if I don't learn it :( .
As a sign of good will I can try and write what I think I understand, only to be corrected. (And please excuse my English too, I'm not a native.)

Morag do you come / are you coming
And your talking to me is strange
And it’s strange to me unless you come
And you come to my mind so often
Lassies are so pretty (or: O fair lassies!?)
And they are so keen on cheating me
I hope/think (?) I’m not young (…)
That’s the hope they have (???)
I’m so pretty (but who says that??)
And I do not have a single living(-place?) on earth
Thinking (who?) that I’ve given my agreement
… on the head

I'm still wide of the mark, as you can see. I'm sure I could have many questions about grammar too, but that'll be later.

Have a good day!


akerbeltz
Rianaire
Posts: 1781
Joined: Mon Nov 17, 2008 1:26 am
Language Level: Barail am broinn baraille
Corrections: Please don't analyse my Gaelic
Location: Glaschu
Contact:

A Mhórag an dèan thu tighinn

Unread post by akerbeltz »

Mórag will you come
Strange is what you spoke to me
Strange I would find it if you didn't come
With me remembering so you so often
Girls so pretty
And they so keen on deceiving me
[two lines]I wonder is they hope I am not young
I am so pretty
And there's not one alive on earth
who will believe I made a promise
to put *sheet over your head

*in the sense of put a veil on her i.e. marry her
Espagnac
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Dec 24, 2018 1:45 pm
Language Level: Very poor
Corrections: I'm fine either way
Location: France

A Mhórag an dèan thu tighinn

Unread post by Espagnac »

Oh, Akerbeltz, I'm so lucky! (I've spent two days reading your website on the Gaelic language - the kind of thing we would love to have even for wide-diffusion languages.)
Thanks a lot for the tr*nsl*t**n. I'm happy the text is a true love story and not just satirical, it fits better the beautiful melody.
I'm still a bit at a loss with the exact grammatical structure of 's e sin an dòchas tha iad ann (I only know the structure 's e dotair tha ann 'he's a doctor', but this one seems a bit more complicated), but I'll think about it.
Thanks again, a new song is a new beginning in life.
faoileag
Maor
Posts: 1505
Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2008 12:19 am

A Mhórag an dèan thu tighinn

Unread post by faoileag »

I read it as:
"That's the hope they are in"

Parallel construction to:
Sin an dòchas anns a bheil iad. - that's the hope in which they are.
GunChleoc
Rianaire
Posts: 4607
Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2007 11:26 am
Language Level: Mion-chùiseach
Corrections: Please correct my grammar
Location: Dùthaich mo chridhe
Contact:

A Mhórag an dèan thu tighinn

Unread post by GunChleoc »

Note that Gaelic doesn't use stress for emphasis, but word order and grammar bits - also, it fits the rhythm.
Oileanach chànan chuthachail
Na dealbhan agam
Espagnac
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Dec 24, 2018 1:45 pm
Language Level: Very poor
Corrections: I'm fine either way
Location: France

Re: A Mhórag an dèan thu tighinn

Unread post by Espagnac »

Many thanks to Faoileag and GunChleoc as well!
Post Reply