in this video we're going to look at an irish language poem and i'm going to explain and
translate it word by word and line by line so you can get a flavor of the unique richness and beauty
of irish language poetry so let's get on with it
so this is the poem it's called an ghealach
which is the moon an ghealach & it was written by caitríona ní chléirchín i'm going to read it first then go down
and translate it word by word and line by line and then read it for a final time
so let's look at the first line there sí banríon na spéartha í that literally means she is the queen of
the night or the queen of the sky let's say more specifically so sí the first word there sí is
in relation to she female now banríon here that's like a queen banríon so ban is like
bean fear agus bean and then rí on its own is royal or it can be something like is
extremely or very and then banríon all together then is like a queen
so sí banríon that's like saying she is the queen and then na spéartha is the sky or of the sky
and then í at the end again is in relation to her as in its her sky or her we're talking about
the next line áilleacht na hoíche that just means the night's beauty or the beauty of the night so
áilleacht looks and sounds similar to álainn/go hálainn as you might remember from previous phrases just
means lovely or beautiful and then na hoíche of the night we know oíche is night and then na hoíche
is of the night or to do with the night réalta rúnda that just means secret star so réalta is a
star like a star in the sky & rúnda is a secret a ritheann romham so that means that runs before me
so a ritheann is something that runs as in sort of like present tense so rith is to run and a ritheann
is that runs that something runs romham then that's like a preposition it's one
of the few prepositions we have in this poem and i'm just going to show you the list of
prepositions now that that comes from so this is part of the prepositions roimh which means before
so if you go down through them there briefly we have
so they all literally mean before me before you before him etc as you go
down through it so when you see this sentence here we'll go back to the sentence a ritheann
romham that just means that runs before me so romham as you'll see there is the first of the list of
prepositions that i showed you romham literally just means before me moving on mo chara ar an bhóthar so that means
my friend on the road mo chara is my friend and then ar an is on the and bhóthar is road
mo chara ar an bhóthar
next line ar turas that means on a trip now that can be pronounced turas as well it just means
on a trip or on a journey as well sa dorchadas that just means in darkness so sa is in
and then dorchadas just means darkness a haghaidh anois so that means her face
now it's the first part of the sentence i suppose even though they're different lines
so aghaidh is like face and then a haghaidh refers to her face anois just means now as in presently
faoi cheilt that means concealed or hidden or camouflaged to be more specific
so faoi technically means under and cheilt is like camouflage so it's just like saying under
camouflage, i gceo that means in the fog so the reason it's camouflaged or hidden is because of the fog
as the moon would be concealed on on certain nights of the year so i gceo is in fog
so the g there is just an uru ceo on its own is fog ceo thar pháirc is chriann above or over parks and
trees so thar can mean above or over and then pháirc is chriann means parks and trees is there the third
word on that line it's just another word for agus sometimes in poetry it's a bit more
poetic let's say to use is instead of agus although it of course it depends
on the poet thar pháirc is chriann above parks and trees a eitlíonn sí - she flies so eitlíonn is
the present tense like flying or to fly and then sí is in relation to her
ag scaipeadh scáileanna
that means spreading shadows so ag scaipeadh there is spreading that's like a verbal noun and then
scáileanna is shadows because that's what the moon does it spreads shadows at night tá an tír ina baclainn
the country in her arms so tá an is a present tense for the verb bí and then an tír is
the country ina baclainn then that means like in her arms or in her embrace let's say it's a poetic
eloquent way of saying that you're hugging or embracing someone mo spéirbhean that means
my beauty now literally it means like sky woman so it's sometimes referred to as someone very
beautiful like a beauty queen or a beautiful person usually a lady or a beautiful woman
spéir means sky and bhean means woman so that's what it means literally mo spéirbhean my beauty
mo chroí rúnda my secret heart so chroí there is heart and rúnda is a secret then mo is my and
that's the last line there mm chroí rúnda my secret heart let's read it again then one more time
tá súil agam go bhfuil tú sásta leis an físeán seo, bhain mé an-taitneamh as ar aon nós
beidh mé ar ais go luath agus slán go fóill.