Category: Travel

Yn Chruinnaght

By Simon

At the moment I’m in the Isle of Man for Yn Chruinnaght (‘the gathering’), the Manx National and Inter-Celtic Festival. Yesterday I heard some Scottish Gaelic and odd bits of Manx at a fantastic concert featuring Capercaille and a bunch of local musicians (David Kilgallon and Some Thoroughly Nice Folk), and expect to hear all the other Celtic languages while I’m here as performers and visitors from all the Celtic lands are here for the festival.

The word cruinnaght means ‘assembly, function, gathering, event’ and is used in such expressions as:

– cruinnaght skeerey – parish gathering
– Cruinnaght Vanninagh Ashoonagh – Manx National Assembly
– cruinnaght-vooar – mass meeting

In case you’re wondering, cruinnaght acquires an extra h after yn (the) because it’s feminine and the initial letters of feminine nouns usually mutate after the definite article, in the singular at least. This is a peculiarity shared by all the Celtic languages.

The verb form of cruinnaght is cruinnaghey, which means ‘to gather, huddle, troop, enclose, beseige, raise, round, head, screw up, sum up, focus’.

Source: Online Manx Dictionary

Gleann Cholm Cille

By Simon

I’m off to Gleann Cholm Cille in Dongal in the northwest of Ireland later today. I’m going there for the Scoill Shamhraidh i dTeanga agus Cultúr (Language & Culture Summer School) at Oideas Gael, a week of speaking and singing in Irish, seeing old friends and making new ones, listening to and playing music, and enjoying the wonderful scenery of Columba’s magical glen. The craic will be mighty and I’m really looking forward to it.

While I’m there I’ll probably have limited access to the web and email, so posts on this blog might become somewhat sporadic.

South Stack / Ynys Lawd

By Simon

Ynys Lawd / South Stack

Jelune hie mee dys South Stack (Ynys Lawd) faggys da Holyhead (Caergybi) rish caarjyn. Va laa breaw ayn as ta ny reayrtyn yindyssagh ayns shen. Erreish dooin shooyl as drappal mygeayrt y boayl, va barbecue ain.

De luan chuaigh mé go South Stack (Ynys Lawd) in aice le Holyhead (Caergybi) le chairde. Bhí lá breá ann agus tá na radhairc go hálainn ansin. I ndiaidh muid ag siúil agus ag dreapadh timpeall na háite, bhí beárbaiciú againn.

Ddydd Llun es i i Ynys Lawd ger Caergybi efo ffrindiau. Roedd y tywydd yn braf ac mae’r golygfeydd o fan ‘na yn ysblennydd. Ar ôl i ni cerdded a dringo o gwmpas y lle, mi wnaethon ni barbiciw.

Y Cooish

By Simon

I’m currently in the Isle of Man for the Cooish, a festival of Manx language and traditional music from the Isle of Man, Ireland and Scotland. Last night I went to an excellent concert in Peel which included the Arrane son Mannin (Song for Man) competition, and there’s a lecture in Manx (Leaght y Ghaaue) this evening.

Yesterday I met a Manx-speaking friend on the boat coming over and we talked Manx throughout the crossing. Well actually she did most of the talking and I contributed to the conversation whenever I could. It was the longest conversation I’ve ever had in Manx and I was pleased to find that I could understand almost everything, and even got the jokes.

My Manx tends to get mixed up with Irish and Scottish Gaelic, and even Welsh sometimes, but my friend is fluent in Irish, and speaks some Scottish Gaelic and Welsh, so this didn’t matter so much. We did try to stick to Manx most of the time though.

One of the things we were discussing was false friends between the Gaelic languages. For example, daoine means people in Irish, while in Manx dooiney means men, and the word for people is sleih, mooinjer or pobble. In Scottish Gaelic people is poball or sluagh, and men is daoine.

We also tried to translate Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody into Manx, though couldn’t remember all the words in English and weren’t sure of the Manx equivalents of some of the words we could remember.

Y Cooish

By Simon

Ta mee goll dys Mannin mairagh er son Y Cooish as ta mee jeeaghyn roym lesh.

Dw i’n mynd i Ynys Manaw yfory am Y Cooish, gŵyl yr iaith Fanaweg, a dw i’n edyrch ymlaen yn fawr ato.

Tá mé ag dhul go dtí an Oileán Mhanann amárach chun Y Cooish, féile an teanga Mhanannais, agus tá mé ag súil go mór lesh.

Jerrey shiaghtin

By Simon

Hie mee dys Lunnin yn jerrey shiaghtin shoh chaie dy ghoaill ayrn ayns cuirrey kiaull Sing for Water. Ta shin troggal argid da WaterAid, sheshaght yiastyllagh ta cooney sleih ayns çheeraghyn boght geddyn ushtey glen as slayntaghys. Hee mish ayns shen lesh yn sheshaght chiaullee pobble Bangor, as ghow shin arraneyn lesh 50 sheshaghtyn chiaullee elley voish Sostyn, Bretin, Nalbin as Nerin – mysh 700 jin yn clane. Hie yn cuirrey kiaull dy slane mie, as v’eh yindyssagh goaill arrane lesh whilleen sleih.

Honnick shin cosheeaght mooar, garey aile, çhentagyn as taghyryn elley Feailley yn Thaimish, as va traa yindyssagh ain.

Penwythnos

Mi es i i Lundain y penwythnos diwetha cymryd rhan mewn cyngerdd Sing for Water. Maen nhw’n codi arian am WaterAid, elusen sy’n helpu pobl mewn gwledydd tlawd cael dŵr glân ac iechydaeth. Mi es i efo rhan o’r Côr Cymuned Bangor, ac mi ganon ni efo 50 corau eraill o Loegr, Cymru, yr Alban ac yr Iwerddon – tua 700 o bobl. Roedd y cyngerdd yn dda iawn, ac roedd hi’n ardderchog canu efo cymaint o bobl.

Mi welon ni parêd mawr, gardd tân, tân gwyllt a digwyddiadau eraill Gŵyl y Tafwys, ac mi fwynheuon ni yn fawr iawn.

Shoh recortysyn ny arraneyn / Dyma recordiadau y caneuon:

Sing for Water Anthem

Awaken

Tsmindao Gmerto (წმინდაო ღმერთო)
(Arrane voish yn Çhorshey ayns Shorshish / Cân o Georgia yn Eorgeg)

Limpopo River Song
(Arrane voish yn Çhimbabwe ayns Ndebele / Cân o Zimbabwe yn Ndebele)

Nga iwi e
(Arrane voish Noa Heelan ayns Maori / Cân o Seland Newydd yn Maori)

Ta çhellooishagh ayns YouTube chammah.

Mae fideo ar YouTube hefyd.

Cernyw

By Simon

Cychod hwylio yn Aberfal

Mi orffenes i ddrafft cyntaf fy nhraethawd hir Ddydd Llun yr wythnos hon, ac ar Ddydd Mawrth mi es i i Aberfal yng Nghernyw i weld fy mrawd a fy rheini. Mae fy mrawd newydd orffen ei daith o gwmpas y byd yn ei gwch hwylio Kika, ac ro’n ni’n yn Aberfal i’w groesawu o yn ôl. Mae’r lle yn hyfryd ac mi fwynheuon ni yn fawr.

Cornwall

I finished the first draft of my dissertation on Monday of this week, and on Tuesday I went down to Falmouth in Cornwall to see my brother and my parents. My brother has just finished his circumnavigation of the world in his yacht Kika, and we were in Falmouth to welcome him back. It’s a really nice place and we had a good time there.

Falmouth / Aberfal

By Simon

A view of Falmouth harbour early in the morning

I just got back to Bangor after spending a few days with my family down in Falmouth (Aberfal) in Cornwall (Kernow). My brother has just finished a circumnavigation of the globe in Falmouth four years after setting sail, and we went to welcome him back. His adventures are recounted on his blog.

While in Cornwall I was on the look out for any bits Cornish I could spot. There were plenty of Cornish flags and bumper stickers, some with Kernow on them, some of the leaflets about local attractions have place names in English and Cornish, and the Cornish motto, “One and all / Onan hag oll” appears in both languages on the Cornwall Council logo. One bookshop I visited had a few Cornish language courses and dictionaries, but apart from that, there was very little Cornish to be seen, and none whatsoever to be heard. There may be more Cornish around in other places, but the superficial impression I got was that Cornish is not as visible in Cornwall as Manx is in the Isle of Man.

Eisteddfod y Bala

By Simon

Mi ddes i yn ôl o Iwerddon Nos Sadwrn. Mi fwynheues fy hunan yn fawr iawn yn siarad a chanu yn y Wyddeleg trwy’r wythnos efo hen ffrindiau a ffrindiau newydd. Ac mae fy Ngwyddeleg wedi gwella tipyn bach hefyd. Yfory dw i’n mynd i’r Eisteddfod yn y Bala efo Criw Bangor (côr y dysgwyr) ac byddan ni’n cystadlu efo 11 corau eraill.

Tháinig mé ar ais ó Éirinn oíche Sathairn. Bhain mé an-sult as a bheith ag caint agus ag ceol Gaeilge i rith na seachtaine leis séan cairde agus cairde nua. Agus tá mo chuid Gaeilge ag feabhsú freisin. Amárach tá mé ag dhul go dtí an Eisteddfod i mBala leis Criw Bangor (cór na foghlaimeoirí) agus rachaidh muid in iomaíocht leis 11 coir eile.

I got back from Ireland on Saturday night. I had a wonderful time there speaking and singing Irish all week with old friends and new friends, and my Irish has improved somewhat. Tomorrow I’m off to the Eisteddfod in Bala with Criw Bangor (the Welsh learners choir), and we’ll be competing with 11 other choirs.

Oideas Gael

By Simon

Amárach tá mé ag dul chuig an scoil shamhraidh in Oideas Gael i nGleann Cholm Cile. Seo an tríú uair atá mé ansin ar an scoil shamraidh, agus an cúigiú uair atá i nGleann Cholm Cille. Beidh mé ansin ar feadh seachtaine, agus tá mé súil go mór leis.

Yfory dw i’n mynd i’r ysgol haf mewn Gwyddeleg a diwylliant yn Oideas Gael yn Glencolmcille. Dyma y trydedd tro imi bod yna am yr ysgol haf, ac y pumed tro imi bod yn Glencolmcille. Bydda i’n yna am wythnos, ac dw i’n edrych ymlaen yn fawr ato.

Tomorrow I’m off to Ireland for the summer school in language and culture at Oideas Gael in Donegal. This is the third time I’ve been to the summer school, and my fifth visit to Glencolmcille. I’ll be there for a week and am really looking forward to it.