michealt
Robyn Carrigan
Mon, 13/12/2021 - 15:12
Tapadh leibh sin. A think it needs a wee proof for spelling: Cridhe or Chridhe doesn't use an accent over the i for heart in Scottish Gaelic. (Irish is Croí though). Bhoidhche is missing one; bhòidhche for example. Oh those tricky accents. All the best.
Written by Iain Kaid Maclean in 1914 in France. The lyrics above are slightly different from the lyrics given in wikipedia ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eilean_Mo_Chridhe ), but they are what Art Cormack sings in the video (except that I've included the 4th stanza, although he doesn't sing it). I suspect that Cormack's version (except for omitting the 4th stanza) may be closer to the original than the wikipedia verson, as for example "traghad" is a much more likely geneitive singular of "tràigh" than "traigh" in gaelic poetry dating from the time of first World War (without the grave accent "traigh" it isn't even a gaelic word, and the genitive forms of tràigh in use during the last 150 years and more are tràgha, tràghad, and tràighe, so both spelling and inflection appear to be wrong in the wikipedia version). As the author was writing about how he missed Skye I would expect he will have known that Blath-Bheinn has more than one shoulder, so would probably write one of the plural forms ghuaillean (which is what Cormack, also a Skyeman, sings) or ghuailnean or gualaibh rather than the ghualainn, which is singular (although wikipedia translates it, incorrectly, as plural, it's actually dative singular), and the line "Gu'n éisd bhith..." looks like a crazy misunderstanding.
Unfortunately I can't lay my hands on the original text. And can't say much about the author, as there were several Iain Kaid Macleans in France in 1914 - at least one who died before the end of the war, and at least one who survived until 1935, both Skyemen, and I don't know which of these (if either rather than yet another) was the author. I'll maybe hunt for a relevant book.