Ailein Duinn - English translation

Karen Matheson feat. Donald Shaw

Ailein Duinn

12 translations

Also performed by:

Angela Haynie Annwn +2 more

Proofreading requested

Original lyrics

Translation

Ailein Duinn

Gura mise tha fo éislean

Moch sa mhaduinn is mi g'éirigh

seisd:

Ò hì shiùbhlainn leat

Hì ri bhò hò ru bhì

Hì ri bhò hò rinn o ho

Ailein Duinn, ò hì shiùbhlainn leat

Ma 's e 'n cluasag dhuit a ghaineamh

Ma 's e leabaidh dhut an gheamainn

seisd

Ma 's e 'n t-iasg do choinlean geala

Ma 's na ròin do luchd-faire

seisd

Dh’òlainn deoch ge b' oil le càch e,

De dh’fhuil do choim 's tu 'n déidh do bhathadh

seisd

Brown Alan

I am in great sorrow

early in the morning when I rise

Chorus:

O hi I would travel1with you.

Hi ri vo ho ru vi

Hi ri vo no rin yo

Brown2 Ailein3,o hi I would travel with you.

If the sand is your pillow

If the seaweed is your bed

Chorus

If the fish is your white candles

If seals are your vigil keepers

Chorus

I would drink, regardless of the opinion of others,

of your heart's blood after your drowning.

Chorus

1. possibly a metaphor for "die"
2. can brown hair-haired or with a complexion neither pale nor dark
3. This is the vocative form of the man's name, Ailean, which corresponds to English Alan

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Song details

Translation details

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michealt

submitted on 19 Dec 2014 - 21:21

Comments 1

Ontano Magico

3 May 2020, 15:14

Dh’òlainn deoch ge b' oil le càch e,
refers to an ancient Celtic ritual, consisting in drinking the blood of a friend as a sign of affection (the covenant of blood), a custom cited by Shakespeare (still practiced by all the friends of the heart who exchange blood with a shallow cut and joining the two cuts; it was also practiced for the handfasting in Scotland: once the handfasting was above all a pact of blood, in which the right wrist of the spouses was engraved with the tip of a dagger until the blood spurts, after which the two wrists were tied in close contact with each other with the “wedlock’s band”

all the story in my Terre Celtiche Blog https://terreceltiche.altervista.org/aileen-duinn-brown-haired-alan/