Amhráin agus ceol

Bhí ceolchoirm iontach ann aréir le Seoirse Ó Dochartaigh agus daoine eile, agus bhí ceol, amhráin, dánta agus scéalta ann. I ndiaidh sin chuaigh mé go dtí an teach tabhairne agus rinne mé comhrá le bean as ó Phoblacht na Seice agus le daoine eile.

Inniu bhí muid ag plé faoi cursaí gramadaí sa rang Gaeilge, agus i ndiaidh lón, d’foghlaim mé dha amhrán nua sa rang sean-nós – An Saighdiúir Tréighte agus Túirne Mháire.

Tá píosa drama ann anocht le Ray Yeates agus a chairde darb ainm “Dara an Choctaw agus Hip Nos”.

There was a good concert last night with Seoirse Ó Dochartaigh and others, and there was music, songs, poems and stories. After that I went to the pub and chatted with a woman from the Czech Republic and various others.

Tonight there’s a bit of drama called “Dara an Choctaw agus Hip Nos” with Ray Yeates and friends.

Parthas ilteangach

Silim gur saghas parthas ilteangach é Gleann Cholm Cille – bionn daoine as a lán tíortha ag teacht anseo chun páirt a ghlacadh sa scoil samhraidh, agus go leor teangacha acu. Inné bhuail mé le daoine ón mBrasaíl, ón Eilvéis, ón nGearmáin, ón Fhrainc, ón Ungáir agus ó Shasana, agus bhí deiseanna agam beagan Portaingéilis, Gearmáinis, Fraincais agus Gaeilge na hAlban a labhairt, agus labhair mé a lán Gaeilge chomh maith.

Bhí sé scamallach go leor inniu, agus bhí gaoth ann chomh maith. Da bhrí sin, ní raibh sé chomh te agus a raibh sé inné, ach ní raibh sé fuar ach oiread.

I think the Glencolmcille is a kind of polyglot paradise – people from many countries with many languages come here to take part in the summer school. Yesterday I had opportunities to speak a little Portuguese, German, French and Scottish Gaelic, and I spoke quite a bit of Irish as well.

It was quite cloudy today, and quite windy as well. So it wasn’t as hot as yesterday, but it wasn’t cold either.

Gleann Cholm Cille

Tá mé ar ais arís i nGleann Cholm Cille. Tá sé iontach te agus beidh sé mar seo le feadh seachtain eile, b’fhéidir. D’fhág mé Bangor maidin inniu ar a hocht a chlog, agus chuaigh mé go Holyhead ar an traein. Ansin chuaigh mé ar an an mbád go Baile Átha Cliatha, agus ar an mbus go Gleann Cholm Cille. Turas fada go leor atá ann, ach bhuail mé le cairde ar an mbus. Tá mé ag fanacht san áit cheanna agus mé ag fanacht anuraidh agus arú anuraidh.

I am back again in Glencolmcille. It’s very hot and will be like this for another week, maybe. I left Bangor at 8am this morning and took the train to Holyhead. Then I took the boat to Dublin and the bus to Glencolmcille. It was quite a long journey, but I met friends on the bus. I’m staying in the same place that I stayed in last year and the year before.

Les mots de la semaine

français English Cymraeg Brezhoneg
le grand-bi (vélo) penny-farthing (bicycle) beic peni-ffardding; ceffyl haearn
rebondir to bounce rhybedio; trybowndio; sboncio adlammat
le gros titre headline pennawd
la course race (competition) ras redadeg
l’interprète performer (musician) perfformiwr; chwaraewr kaner; c’hoarier
performe(u)r performer (athlete) perfformiwr
originaire/natif (d’un pays) native (of a country) brodor genidik
indigène native (original inhabitant) brodor henvroat
le pays natal native country mamwlad; gwlad enedigol mammvro
la langue natale native language mamiaith; iaith frodorol yezh vamm; yezh e gavell
locateur natif native speaker siaradwr brodorol komzer orin
c’est un français de souche he’s a native Frenchman brodor Ffrainc ydy o
endémique native (plant) brodorol brosezat
la (voiture) décapotable convertible (car) car codi; car to clwt karr to-disto
terrifié terrified dychrynedig; mewn ofn
l’épouvantail (m) scarecrow bwgan brain spontailh
la forêt tropicale humide; la forêt pluviale rain forest fforest law forest lav
le defaut d’élocution speech impediment nam ar leferydd
le jour de congé; la journée libre day off diwrnod rhydd; diwrnod i’r brenin
le briquet (cigarette) lighter taniwr (sigaréts) direnn
le short shorts siorts bragoù berr

Le Grand-Bi

Penny-farthing bicycle / Le Grand-Bi

I discovered today the French term for a penny-farthing bicycle (pictured right) is le grand-bi. It is also known as a bicycle, and that was what they were usually called in English when they were popular in the 1880s. The name penny-farthing only came to be used in around 1891.

The penny-farthing, which is also known as a high wheel or high wheeler, was developed by James Starley in England and Eugene Meyer in France in about 1870. They were based on the French boneshaker or vélocipède, a term from Latin meaning “fast feet” and coined by Nicéphore Niépce in 1818. The large front wheel enabled higher speeds as with each turn of the pedals you could go further, however sudden stops would often send a rider flying over the handle bars, so penny-farthings lost out to safety bicycles, which were introduced in the 1890s, and were the ancestors of modern bicycles.

I think the French name is short for le grand bicycle, and the name penny-farthing comes from the fact that front wheel was a lot larger than the back one, like an old penny coin and a farthing (1/4 of a penny).

In Welsh such bicycles are known as beic peni-ffardding or ceffyl haearn (“iron horse”).

Do you have other names from them? Are or were such bikes used in your country? Have you ever ridden one?

I once rode a small, modern version of a penny-farthing at a bike show in Taipei. It was interesting, and I soon learnt that you have get off by stepping down to the rear as trying to dismount like on a normal bicycle doesn’t work and can leave you sprawling on the floor.

One of the guys at the circus on Wednesday night was riding a penny-farthing, which is why it came up in conversation.

Circus

Lass on trapeze in a snow storm

Last night I went to see the NoFitState circus, who are currently in Bangor. So I thought I’d look at the origins of a few circus related words.

  • circus comes from the Latin word circus (ring, circle) and was used by the Romans to for circular arenas and oval race courses (e.g. the Circus Maximus). The Latin word circus comes from the Greek word κίρκος (kirkos), “circle, ring”, from the Proto-Indo-European word *kirk-, from root *(s)ker- (to turn, bend)
  • trapeze comes from the French word trapèze, which comes from the Late Latin trapezium, from the Greek τραπέζιον (trapezion), “irregular quadrilateral”, a diminutive of τράπεζα (trapeza), “table”, from τρά- (tra-), “four”, and πέζα (peza), “foot, edge”.
  • juggle comes from juggler, which comes from the Old French word jangler/jogler, from the Latin iocor (“I jest, I make a joke”).
  • clown – of unknown origin (there weren’t any last night as it isn’t that kind of circus).

Etymologies from the Online Etymology Dictionary and Wiktionary

Sorcas (2)

Cailín ar mhaide luascáin

Bhí an sorcas go hiontach aréir. Bhí slua mór ann agus bhog muid timpeall an ollphuball chun na gníomhartha éagsúla a fheiceáil. Bhí gníomhartha le maide luascáin, le cordes lisse (rópaí réidh) agus le trampailín, agus rinne ceann de na haisteoirí lámhchleasaíocht le liathróidí preabadh. Mar go ndéanaimse lámhchleasaiocht le blianta fada, bhí ciall agam dó a chuid scileanna. Bhí ceol beo ann an t-am ar fad chomh maith. Ag deireadh an seó, thit sneachta saorga ó dhíon agus cailín ar mhaide luascáin ag casadh tríd.

The circus was great last night. There were many people there and we moved about in the big top to see the different acts. There were acts involving trapezes, cordes lisse and trampolines, and of the performers did some floor juggling. As I’ve been juggling for many year I could appreciate his skill. There was also live music the whole time. At the end of the show artificial snow fell from the roof while a lass on a trapeze span through it.

Sorcas

Maidin inniu tháinig daoine chun an scafall a thógáil anuas as an díon. Ba cheart dóibh ag teacht an tseachtain seo caite, ach bhí siad ro-ghnóthach. D’íoc mé an íocaíocht deireanach as na painéil gréine, agus a sheol mé na doiciméid go léir chun an chóras a chlárú. I ndiaidh cúpla mí beidh mé an chéad íocaíocht don leictreachas a fháil. Anocht tá mé ag dul chun an sorcas nofitstate, agus tá mé ag súil go mór leis.

This morning the guys came to take down the scaffolding from the roof. They should have come last week, but were too busy. I paid the final payment for the solar panels, and sent all the documents off to register the system. In a couple of months I’ll receive the first payment for the electricity. Tonight I’m going to the nofitstate circus, and am looking forward to it.

Cláirseach

Cláirseach / Harp

Chinn mé ar mo chláirseach a sheoladh ar ais inniu. Ní chláirseach ro mhaith atá ann agus bionn sí as tiúin go minic, agus i ndáiríre ní go leor ama agam uirlis nua a fhoghlaim ar faoi láthair. B’fhéidir beidh mé ag tríail an chláirseach a fhoghlaim sa todhchaí, ach i láthair na huire beidh mé ag dhíriú m’intinn ar na huirlisí atá agam cheana féin.

I decided to send my harp back today. It’s not a very good harp and is always going out of tune, I don’t really have enough time to learn a new instrument at the moment. Maybe I’ll try to learn the harp in the future, but for now I’ll concentrate on the instruments I already have.