Irisleabhar na Gaedhilge/Imleabhar 5/Uimhir 4/An Spailpín Fánach

[ 53 ]

AN SPAILPÍN FÁNAĊ.

	[ 54 ]TRANSLATION.
[ 53 ] I. Go deo deo ’rís ní raċad go Caiseal Ag díol ná reic mo ṡláinte, Ná ar ṁargaḋ na saoire im’ ṡuiḋe cois balla Im’ sgaoinse ar leaṫ-taoiḃ sráide. Bodairiḋe na tíre ag tiġeaċt ar a g-capallaiḃ, Dá ḟiarfaiġe an ḃfuilim hírálta. Teannam ċum siuḃail, tá’n cúrsa fada; Seo an siuḃal an spailpín fánaċ.	[ 54 ]I. I shall never, never again go to Cashel to sell or barter my health, nor sit by the wall at holiday hiring, a lorn creature on the street side. The farmers from the whole country coming on their horses asking if I were hired. Let us up and go, the course is long; here's off with the Spailpín Fánach.
[ 53 ] II. Im’ spáilpin fánaċ fágḃaḋ mise Ag seasaṁ ar mo ṡláinte, Ag siuḃal an drúċta go moċ ar maidin A’s ag bailiuġaḋ galair ráiṫe. Ní ḟeicfear corrán im’ láiṁ ċum buainte Súist ná feac ḃeag ráinne Aċt colours na ḃfranncaċ os cionn mo leapṫan Agus pike agam ċum sáiḋte.	[ 54 ]II. I was left a wandering slave, dependent on my health—walking the dew at early morn collecting a quarter’s sickness—a hook shall not be seen in my hand for reaping, a flail or a little bit of a spade, hut I shall have the colours of the French above my bed and a pike for sticking——
[ 53 ] III. Go Callainn ’nuair ṫéiḋim ’s mo hook im’ ġlaic ’S mé ann súd i d-tosaċ geárrṫa, ’S ’nuair ṫeiġim go Dúiḃlinn ’sé clú ḃiḋeann acu “Seo ċuġaiḃ an spailpín fánaċ.” Cruinneóċaiḋ me ciall a’s triall fad a ḃaile {{insular|’S claoiḋfead seal lem’ ṁáiṫrín, ’Sgo bráṫ arís ní ġlaoḋfar m’ainm ’San tír so an spailpín fánaċ.	[ 54 ]III. When I go to Callan with hook in fist (being there at the beginning of reaping time), or when I go to Dublin, their cry is always “there's the S. F. for ye.” I shall collect sense and travel home and assist my poor mother for a time, but never again shall my name be called the S. F. in this country——
[ 53 ] IV. Mo ċúig céad slán ċum dúṫaiġ m’aṫar, Agus ċum an Oileáin ġráḋṁair, Aṡ ċum buaċaillide na Cúlaċ, ós díoḃ nár ṁisde I n-aimsir ċasda na gárdan. [ 54 ] Anois ó táim-se i m’ ċaḋan ḃoċt ḋealḃ I measg na n-dúṫaiġe fiaḋán seo, Is é mo ċuṁa ċroiḋe mar fuair me an ġairm Ḃeiṫ riaṁ im’ spailpín fánaċ.	[ 54 ]IV. My five hundred good wishes to the home of my father, and to kindly Castle Island, and to the boys of Cool; they used not to be slack at the time for turning up the gardens—But now as I am a poor stricken outcast in these strange lands, ’twas a sorry day I ever got the title of a S. F.
[ 54 ] V. I g-Ciarraiġe an ġrinn do ġéaḃṫaoi an aindear Go m’ḟonn le fear suiḋe láiṁ léi, ’Na mbéiḋ lasaḋ trí lítis ’na gnaoi mar eala, ’Sa cúl fionn fada fáinneaċ. A cruinn[e] ċíoċa, riaṁ nár sgaipeaḋ Sa mala ċaol mar ṡnáiṫid; Is mór go mb’ ḟearr í ná sraoil ó Ċallainn ’Na m-beiḋ na ceudta púnt le faġḃáil léi.	[ 54 ]V. A girl would be found in jolly Kerry beside whom a man would wish to sit. On whose face red would be mixed with the lily-white of a swan, and her poll of hair so fair, long and ringletted. Her shapely breasts were never defiled; her eyebrows were slender as a needle. Far better she than a drab from Callan, with hundreds of pounds of a fortune——
[ 54 ] VI. Is ró-ḃreaġ is cuiṁin liom mo ḋaoine ḃeiṫ sealad Ṡiar ag[e] Droiċead ġáile, Fá ḃuaiḃ, fá ċaoiriḃ, fá laoġaiḃ beag geala Agus capaill ann le h-áireaṁ. B’é toil Ċríost gur cuireaḋ sinn asta, Aṡ go ndeaċamar i leaṫ’ ár sláinte; ’S gur ḃ’é ḃris mo ċroiḋe in gaċ tír dá raċaim “Call here you spailpín fánaċ.”	[ 54 ]VI. ’Tis well I remember my people were once, over to the west there at Gale Bridge, full of cattle, sheep, and little white calves, and horses to be counted. ’Twas Christ’s will that we lost them as well as that our health declined—But what broke my heart wherever I went was that “call here you S. F.”
[ 54 ] VII. Dá d-tigeaḋ an Frannaċ a nall tar calaḋ ’S a ċampa daingean láidir, Agus Bóic O’Gráda ċuġainn a ḃaile, ’S Taḋg boċt fial o’Dálaiġ, Do ḃeiḋ barracks an riġ go léir dá leagaḋ, Agus yeomen aguinn dá g-cárnaḋ. Clanna Gaeḋil gaċ am dá d-treasgairt Sin caḃair ag an spailpín fánaċ.	[ 54 ]VII. If the Frenchman only came over the sea with his camp so brave and strong, and if dashing O’Grady came home to us, and poor generous Theig O’Daly, the king’s barracks would be all a tumbling, and we should have the yeomen to slaughter—the Irish destroying them every day—There’s help for the Spailpín Fánach.

[ 54 ]

NOTES.

As we learn language by phrases and not by words, and as words vary so much in meaning according to their setting in context, it was judged better to render this song as the author himself would have done it, had he been able, by giving a fairly good equivalent for every clause, avoiding purposely the conventional crudities of the nursery-English style of translation. That system pins every Irish word rigidly to a certain English word, and writes in the Irish order of context.

Verse i., 2, reic = selling, bartering. Line 3, On Sunday afternoon, at potatoe-digging time, the men lined the streets, leaning on their spades, awaiting an employer. The custom still holds in Carrick. Im’ sgaoinse is an appellative fem. in Waterford, where it would be translated “a slip of a gerril.” As regards this and all other difficulties in this song we ask the annotations of some friend in Ciarraiġe Luaċra. Im ṡuiḋe = in my sitting state. Also = arisen from bed. leaṫ taoiḃ, one side. Familiar twin articles were regarded as forming a unity, hence one of the two was called a half. leaṫ-láṁ=one hand, dí láim, hands, cf. Taḋg Gaoḋlaċ:

Is leat-sa atáid ag tnúṫ
M’anam, mo ċroiḋe, a’s mo ḋá ṡúil = my eyes.

Applied use: leaṫ ċeann = with crooked top. Said of hay-ricks, &c. Line 5, bodairiḋe, a contemptuous term for well-fed farmers, vid. O’Daly’s note, Munster Poets, 2nd series, p. 77, n. 2. Teannam, 1st per. plu. imperat.=let us press on. Spailpín, a strange labourer at harvest or potatoe-digging. From spalpaim, I obtrude (?), cf. O’Daly, ibid.

[ 55 ]Verse iii., Cloaiḋfead seal le. Mr. John Fleming explains this to mean, “I shall do odd jobs at home for my mother’s support.” Verse iv., ós díoḃ nár ṁisde:who were not wont to be slack (?) Caḋan, a wild-goose; O’Daly has caiḋin. Fiaḋán, wild, unfamiliar.

Verse v., Go mb’ḟonn, ’na mbeiḋ: a very frequent use. Go and na are compendia representing a redundant preposition which governs an oblique case of the rel., and require the enclitic form of compound verbs. Thus, fear ag a ḃfuil cleaċ ailpín, may be turned, fear a ḃfuil cleaċ ailpín aige. Verse vi., Faoi ḃuaiḃ, rich in cows, &c., an idiomatic use of fá. Also gann fá’n mbiaḋ=stingy about food; cur sméar fá sna brógaiḃ = grease the shoes; gad fá n-a ċom, a withe around his waist. beag, shortened for beaga by exigencies of metre. Gurḃ é, the go in gur is a conjunctive turn not found in modern written Irish, still spoken however. leaṫ, for leaṫaḋ, to wound, mutilate, slaughter (?) O’Don, Suppl. In Waterford, leaṫaḋ = famished. They say, “I’m spread wud the cowld,” meaning perished; a solecism arising from confusion with leaṫnaḋ. Go ndeaċamar, 1st pl. perf. enclitic. Pron.: gu nyeaow′-ă-mur, with accent on first syll.

Cárnaḋ, slaying. Lítis, a lily(?) Gaċ ní is geal (?)

Cloaiḋfead seal .i. go g-coṫóċaḋ sé a ṁáṫair agus go ndingneaḋ tiġeas di.

A cruinn[e]-ċioċa, Siar ag[e], for a cruinn-ċioċa, Siar ag, the e being an articulation to smooth the joining of non-coalescing elements.

This was one of the most popular of Munster songs. The incoherencies of expression, which are pointed by dashes in translation, is a noteworthy feature common to all those songs that deal with exalted phases of passion. For all that has been said to explain or amend this peculiarity, it is but a mark of the author’s vehement appreciation of his theme. Too articulate grief is open to suspicion of insincerity.

AN BUINNEAN AORAC.

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