MO GLEANNAN TAOBH LOCH LIOBHAINN

MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS ESCAPING LOCH LEVEN CASTLE

MO GHLEANNAN TAOBH LOCH LI\OBHAINN

(I KNOW THIS SONG BY DAVID SOLLEY; it is one of my favorite Gaelic songs)

O 's truagh nach robh mis' ann an gleannan mo ghaoil
Oir tha beannachadh Dhe\ agus sith ann
Tha na h-aibhnean 's na coilltean as bo\idhch' air an t-saoghal
Ann an gleannan mo ghaoil taobh Loch Li\obhainn.

Fa\ile cu\bhraidh an fhraoich tigh'nn thar mullach nam beann
Agus chi\ thu'n damh ruadh air an fhri\th ann
'S ged shiu\bhladh tu Alba chan fhaic thu aon ghleann
Tha cho boidheach rim' ghleann taobh Loch Li\obhainn.

Air an achadh bheag uain' chaidh lomadh le fa\l
Bidh na gillean le'n camain a' stri\ ann
'S chan 'eil buidheann an siorramachd mho/r EarraGha\idheal
Tha cho clis ris na suinn taobh Loch Li\obhainn.

Tha daoine cho coibhneil 's cho ca\irdeil 'sa ghleann
'S chan eil aobhar bhith dubhach no sgi\th ann,
Ach cho fhad's a bhios Ga\idhlig 'ga sgri\obhadh le peann
Bidh mi moladh mo ghleann taobh Loch Li\ohainn.

(Here's another little song with vocabulary list and translation.
There is one interesting point of writing style here: the
relative pronoun is omitted everywhere it would occur in more
formal writing - that's a reasonable omission to make, as it
would be elided away in speech in every case.) CC

TRANSLATION

My little valley by Loch Leven

It's a pity I'm not in the little valley I love,
for God's blessings and peace are there.
The rivers and woods are the most beautiful in the world
in the little glen I love by Loch Leven.

The fragrant scent of the heather coming over the tops of the hills,
and you'll see the red deer in the forest there
and even should you travel throughout Scotland you wouldn't see a single valley
that is as beautiful as my valley be Loch Leven.

On the little green field that was mown with a scythe
the lads will be competing there with their shinty sticks
and there isn't a team in the great county of Argyll
that is as agile as the men by Loch Leven.

The people are so kind and so friendly in the valley
that there's no reason to be sad or weary there;
and as long as Gaelic is being written with pens
I shall praise my valley by Loch Leven.


Vocabulary
----------

ach [ax] but. (but in the 3rd line of the last verse
here it just means "and")
achadh [axu%] field
agus [a%us] and
aibhnean [ain'un] rivers, streams. Nominative plural of abhuinn
air [er'] on
Alba [alapu] Scotland
ann [a:N],[auN] in it (prepositional pronoun)
in the second line of the third verse, the "it" in "in it"
is the valley, so "in it" will be rendered "there" in
english.
aobhar [u:var] reason, cause
aon [u:n] one
beag [buk],[bek] small
beann [bjauN] hill; of hills (nom sing & gen plural)
beannachadh [bjaNuxu%] blessing
bidh [pi:j] will be (future independent of bi)
bhios [vis] will be, is; future relative of bi
bhith [vi] being, to be. (verbal noun of bi)
bo\idhch' [bo:(j)x'] more beautiful, most beautiful
(comparative form of bo\idheach)
bo\idheach [bo:jox] beautiful
buidheann [bujeN] class, team, group
chaidh [xai%'] went (past independent of rach)
ca\irdeil [kar's't'el] friendly
camain [camaN'] shinty sticks (plural of caman)
(I think "shinty" is the english for camanachd;
it's a bit like hockey, but more fun)
chan [xan] not
clis [klis'] agile, nimble
coibhneil [kui(v)N'el'] kind, friendly. usually pronounced without a
v sound. dialect spelling of caoimhneil, but
this spelling is quite common.
coilltean [ku:L't'@n] woods (nom plural of coille)
cu\bhraidh [ku:ri] fragrant, pleasantly scented
damh [da:v] deer
daoine [duN'e] people, men; nom. plural of duine
dubhach [du:ox] unhappy, clouded
EarraGha\idheal [jaRa%a:jul] Argyll
'eil [el] be; dependent present of bi (short for bheil)
eil - - modern spelling of 'eil
fad' [at] far, long (short for fada)
fhaic [ax'k'], [ex'k'] see; future dependent of faic
fa\ile [fa:L'u] scent, perfume. (also written faileadh,
and the f is optional in both spelling and
pronunciation)
fa\l [fa:l] scythe
fhraoich [rujx'] of heather (gen sing of fraoch)
fhri\th [ri:] forest (not trees! deer-forest)
(dative case of fri\th)
gaoil [gu:il] of love (gen of gaol)
ged [g'et] although
gillean [kiL'un] boys [plural of gille]
gleann [gl'aun] valley
gleannan [gl'aNan] small valley (diminutive of gleann)
lomadh [Loumu%] shearing, shaving, making bare, mowing, husking
moladh [molu%] praising, commending (verbal noun from mol, praise)
mo/r [mo:ur] big
mullach [mu:ox] top, summit
nach [nax] that not
nam [num] of the (genetive plural definite article)
oir [o(i)r'] for, because
peann [pjauN] pen. Note that
rim' [rim] to my, as my (prepositional possessive
pronoun, ri + mo)
ris [ris'] to, as (form of ri used with definitive
article)
robh [ro] was (past dependent active tense of bi)
ruadh [rua%] red, russet
'sa [su] in the (anns a')
saoghal [su:ul], [su%ul] world. (if you go far enough south, you
may even here a glottal stop separating the
syllables rather than hiatus or a spirant)
sgi\th [sk'i:] weary, tired
sgri\obhadh [sgR'ivu%] writing (verbal noun from sgri\obh)
siorramachd [s'uRumaxk] county, shire (siorram = sherif)
sith [s'i] peace
shiu\bhladh [hjulu%] should travel (incomplete independent active
tense of siubhal)
stri\ [stri:] contest, strife, rivalry, contention
suinn [sujN'] heroes, champions, stout fellows (plural of sonn)
taobh [tu:v] beside
thar [har] across, over
tigh'nn [ti:N'] coming (for tighinn [t'i:iN'] (verbal noun)
truagh [trua%] sad, a pity; pronounced [truai] in some dialects
uain' [uaN'] green (uaine, [uaN'@])
(pronounced uaN' rather than uan' because scots
gaelic has dropped lenited palatalised n from its
set of phonemes, in most - maybe all - dialects;
there several more examples of this delenition
in the above list; some dialects depalatalise
instead of deliniting, eg duine is [dun@] in some,
[duN'@] in others, but the general rule at the end of
word is to delenite - even dialects which have [dun@]
will often have [duN'] for the form with the final
vowel elided (duin')).