Litir do Luchd-ionnsachaidh 1332

Tha sinn a’ toirt sùil air faclan às an fhaclair aig Raibeart Armstrong, a chaidh fhoillseachadh dà cheud bliadhna air ais. Tha sinn aig an litir ‘n’. Agus seo agaibh am facal a thagh mi – nigheachan. Tha e stèidhichte air nigh ‘wash, bathe, cleanse’. Tha nigheachan a’ ciallachadh ‘a washing of linen’. Tha Armstrong a’ toirt seo dhuinn: bean nigheachain ‘a laundress’ agus taigh nigheachain ‘a washing-house or laundry’.

ʼS e an ath fhacal agam osna ‘sigh, sob, groan, breeze, blast’. Leig i osna ‘she sighed, let out a sigh’. Tha osnach agus osnachail a’ ciallachadh ‘sighing, sobbing’. Tha an gnìomhair osnaich ann. Bha mi ag osnaich leam fhèin ‘I was sighing in solitude’.

Tha sinn a-nise aig ‘p’. Thagh mi am facal pailleart ‘a slap given with the palm of the hand’. Pailleart. Tha MacBheathain ag ràdh gun tàinig e bho palm-bheart ‘palm-action’ bhon Laidinn palma ‘palm’. Tha am buadhair pailleartach ann – ‘ready to slap with the hand’ – agus an gnìomhair pailleartaich ‘slap with the hand’. 

Fo ‘r’, tha am facal rèite againn. Saoilidh mi gu bheil am facal cudromach anns an latha sa bheil sinn beò. Tha e a’ ciallachadh ‘reconciliation, agreement, settlement’. Seach a bhith an ugannan a chèile, bu chòir don dà thaobh thighinn gu rèite. Tha sinn feumach air tuilleadh rèiteachairean anns an t-saoghal. 

Chan eil air fhàgail againn anns an aibidil Ghàidhlig a-nise ach trì litrichean. Fo ‘s’, bu mhath leam sùil a thoirt air an fhacal sìor. Tha e a’ ciallachadh ‘ever, forever, continually, eternally’. Tha Armstrong a’ toirt seo dhuinn: Thuit mo ghrian gu sìor ‘my sun has set for ever’. Tha e cuideachd ag innse dhuinn [that] sìor ‘is often prefixed to a word to denote continuance or perpetuity’.

Seo eisimpleirean dheth on fhaclair: sìor atharrachadh ‘continual fluctuation or shifting’. Tha poileasaidh a’ phàrtaidh a’ sìor atharrachadh ‘the party’s policy is always changing’. Tha sìor-bhualadh ann – ‘a continued striking, constant thumping’. Chuala mi sìor-bhualadh nan drumaichean.

Tha sìor-chainnteach a’ ciallachadh ‘extremely garrulous, continually talking’. Sìor-chainnteach. Agus sìor-iarraidheach ‘troublesome by reason of frequent requests or petitions’. Sìor-iarraidheach. 

Agus sìor-uisgeach. Saoil dè tha sin a’ ciallachadh? Sìor-uisgeach. Uill, math dh’fhaodte gum bi am facal feumail ann an Alba aig amannan. Sìor-uisgeach – ‘raining continually’!

Tha sinn a-nise aig ‘t’ agus am facal tearc. Tha e a’ ciallachadh ‘few, rare, scarce’. Tha am facal tearcad ann cuideachd – ‘scarceness, rareness’. Bidh sinn ga chleachdadh anns an abairt a’ dol an tearcad ‘becoming scarcer’.

Mu dheireadh am facal utag ‘a shove, a push, a jostle’. Cuideachd ‘strife, confusion, uproar’. Cha toigh le duine againn a bhith ann an àite utagach. ʼS fheàrr leam fhìn sìth an fhaclair Ghàidhlig!

Faclan na Litreach: gnìomhair: verb; MacBheathain: [Alexander] MacBain; buadhair: adjective; rèiteachail: conciliatory; tearcad: scarceness, rareness; utag: a shove, push, jostle.

Abairtean na Litreach: Tha sinn a’ toirt sùil air faclan às an fhaclair aig Raibeart Armstrong: we are looking at words from Robert Armstrong’s dictionary; a chaidh fhoillseachadh dà cheud bliadhna air ais: that was published two hundred years ago; thagh mi am facal: I chose the word; saoilidh mi gu bheil am facal cudromach: I reckon the word is important; tha sinn feumach air tuilleadh rèiteachairean anns an t-saoghal: we need more conciliators in the world; chan eil air fhàgail againn anns an aibidil Ghàidhlig a-nise ach trì litrichean: we only have three letters left in the Gaelic alphabet; seo eisimpleirean dheth on fhaclair: here are examples of it from the dictionary; chuala mi sìor-bhualadh nan drumaichean: I heard the continuous banging of the drums; cha toigh le duine againn a bhith ann an àite utagach: none of us wishes to be in a place full of strife/uproar; ʼs fheàrr leam fhìn sìth an fhaclair Ghàidhlig: I myself prefer the peace of the Gaelic dictionary.

Puing-chànain na Litreach: Seach a bhith an ugannan a chèile, bu chòir don dà thaobh thighinn gu rèite: instead of being at each other’s throats, the two sides should come to an accommodation. Ugannan [plural] refers to the region of the upper chest to the throat. An idiomatic equivalent is an amhaichean a chèile, where amhaichean [plural] refers to the neck. An achlaisean a chèile is very different and refers to an extremely friendly relationship [literally ‘in each other’s armpits’]. Bha iad a’ coiseachd an achlaisean a chèile ‘they were walking arm-in-arm’.

Gnàthas-cainnt na Litreach: an latha sa bheil sinn beò: the current time [literally ‘the day in which we are alive’]