{"id":9951,"date":"2017-12-17T18:47:54","date_gmt":"2017-12-17T18:47:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=9951"},"modified":"2017-12-28T22:12:23","modified_gmt":"2017-12-28T22:12:23","slug":"a-partial-glossary-for-silent-night-in-irish-oiche-chiuin-and-in-welsh-tawel-dawel-nos-plus-a-nod-toward-the-german-stille-nacht-heilige-nacht","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/a-partial-glossary-for-silent-night-in-irish-oiche-chiuin-and-in-welsh-tawel-dawel-nos-plus-a-nod-toward-the-german-stille-nacht-heilige-nacht\/","title":{"rendered":"A Partial Glossary for “Silent Night” in Irish (O\u00edche Chi\u00fain) and in Welsh (Tawel\/Dawel Nos), plus a nod toward the German (Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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n\u00e9al focal le R\u00f3isl\u00edn, Transparent Language, 2017<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn)<\/strong><\/p>\n

As you might guess from looking at the graphic above, today’s blogpost will deal with some vocabulary for the Christmas carol, “Silent Night.”\u00a0 We’ll mostly focus on the Irish text, of course, but I thought I’d include a few notes on the Welsh, particularly because almost every version of it that I’ve seen online has some irregularities which make it sort of difficult to figure out the exact meaning.\u00a0 And I’ve thrown in a few words from the original German, partly for good measure, and partly because I was intrigued by the word “Menschengestalt<\/em>.”\u00a0 I thought “Geschwindigkeitsbegrenzung<\/em>” (speed limit) which was taught on my first day of German class, was impressive, but “Menschengestalt<\/em>” gives language learning a good run for its money!<\/p>\n

I’m not including the texts of the songs here, because I’m not sure about their copyright status.\u00a0 The Welsh one is almost always published with the note “cyfieithydd anhysbys<\/em>” (translator unknown), so I assume it’s in the public domain, but one can’t be certain.\u00a0 For the Irish version, I don’t know who translated it, so I’d rather not take any chances.\u00a0 The German one is now public domain, AFAIK, \u00a0being about 200 years old but there’s really no need to reproduce it here, because it is so widely known. \u00a0However, I have provided some links to online versions below (naisc th\u00edos<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

1.. Irish version (naisc th\u00edos): O\u00edche Chi\u00fain, O\u00edche Mhic D\u00e9 (Silent Night, Night of the Son of God)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

For this song, I’ve divided up the words into a) the basic vocab, which is in the word cloud but is probably already familiar, and b) the less typical:<\/p>\n

a)) st\u00f3rfhocal bun\u00fasach<\/strong> (basic): c(h)odladh<\/strong>, sleeping: ci\u00fain<\/strong>, quiet (appears as “chi\u00fain<\/strong>” in the song, because it describes “o\u00edch<\/strong>e,” which is grammatically feminine; some versions use “chi\u00fan<\/strong>“); chuala<\/strong>, heard;\u00a0Cr\u00edost<\/strong>, Christ; d\u00edlse<\/strong>, faithful (plural of “d\u00edlis<\/strong>“); o\u00edche<\/strong>, night; s\u00e9imh<\/strong>, calm, peaceful<\/p>\n

b)) st\u00f3rfhocal r\u00e9as\u00fanta neamhchoitianta<\/strong> (vocabulary that’s not so common):<\/p>\n

aoire<\/strong>, pl: aoir\u00ed<\/strong>: shepherd<\/p>\n

araon<\/strong>, both<\/p>\n

ceananntas<\/strong>, countenance (appearance)<\/p>\n

d\u00eds<\/strong>, a pair of people (usually “beirt<\/strong>” is used, so why “d\u00eds<\/strong>” here — probably because it sounds good with “d\u00edlse<\/strong>,” which follows)<\/p>\n

gnaoigheal<\/strong>, basically “beautiful” (brightly beautiful?), although this exact word, which is a compound word, doesn’t show up much in dictionaries (I just double-checked six!). \u00a0It’s from “gnaoi<\/strong>” (beauty, affection) + “geal<\/strong>” (bright); cf. gna\u00ed\u00fail<\/strong>, beautiful.\u00a0 The most basic word for “beautiful,” though, I’d say is “\u00e1<\/strong>lainn<\/strong>.”\u00a0 Why use this word instead of “\u00e1lainn<\/strong>“?\u00a0 I think it’s because it sounds good following “na\u00ed<\/strong>” or na\u00edon<\/strong>” (both versions appear), and in songs and poetry, the way words sound can be as important as what they mean.<\/p>\n

i ngar is i gc\u00e9in<\/strong>, near and far, more literally “in near(ness) and in far(ness)” (which accounts for the “i” + eclipsis of “g” to “ng” and “c” to “gc”<\/p>\n

suan<\/strong>, sleep, a somewhat more literary word than “codladh<\/strong>,” also shows up in compound words like “suanlio<\/strong>s” (dormitory) and “suanch\u00f3gas<\/strong>” (a soporific, i.e. soporific medicine)<\/p>\n

2.. Welsh version (naisc th\u00edos): Tawel Nos or Dawel Nos, lit. quiet night, but interestingly, this is not the usual word order in Welsh, where adjectives usually come second, as in Irish (o\u00edche chi\u00fain) and many other languages.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

baban<\/em>, baby<\/p>\n

dirion<\/em>, from “tirion”: kind, tender, gentle, gracious, and less relevant here: bland, humane<\/p>\n

engyl<\/em>, from “angel<\/strong>,” which makes it a giveaway, meaning “angels;” an alternate plural is “angylion<\/em>.”<\/p>\n

gwylio<\/em>, to watch, watching.\u00a0 This was the word that sent me on a major Google quest that seemed to go round in circles for a while.\u00a0 Over and over again, online, this part of the text is shows up as “Gwylion dirion yr oedd addfwyn ddau<\/em> [sic].”\u00a0 The ending “-ion” is very widely used in Welsh (as in “cantorion<\/em>,” “enwogion<\/em>,” “lilis gwynion<\/em>,” “rhosys cochion<\/em>,” “cerrig gleision<\/em>,” a.y.y.b<\/em>.), so I kept trying to figure out what word with “gwyl<\/em>” as a root would have “-ion” as an ending.\u00a0 Concurrently, I kept trying to figure out why “tirion<\/em>” would change to “dirion<\/em>” if there was nothing to trigger the change.<\/p>\n