• Iarla Ó Lionáird

    English translation

Share
Font Size
Proofreading requested
Gaelic (Irish Gaelic)
Original lyrics

Mo Ghile Mear

Seal dá rabhas i m’ mhaighdean shéimh
’S anois i’ m’ bhaintreach chaite thréith
Mo chéile ag treabhadh na dtonn go tréan
De bharr na gcnoc ’s i n-imígéin
 
[Curfá]
’Sé mo laoch, mo ghile mear
’Sé mo chaesar, gile mear
Suan ná séan ní bhfuaireas fhéin
Ó chuaigh i gcéin mo ghile mear
 
Bímse buan ar buairt gach ló
Ag caoi go cruaidh ’s ag tuar na ndeor
Mar scaoileadh uaim an buachaill beó
’S ná ríomhtar tuairisc uaidh, mo bhrón
 
[Curfá]
’Sé mo laoch, mo ghile mear
’Sé mo chaesar, gile mear
Suan ná séan ní bhfuaireas fhéin
Ó chuaigh i gcéin mo ghile mear
 
Ní labhrann cuach go suairc air neóin
Is níl guth gadhair i gcoillte cnó
Ná maidín shamhraidh i gleanntaibh ceoigh
Ó scaoileadh uaim an buachaill beo
 
[Curfá]
’Sé mo laoch, mo ghile mear
’Sé mo chaesar, gile mear
Suan ná séan ní bhfuaireas fhéin
Ó chuaigh i gcéin mo ghile mear
 
Marcach uasal uaibhreach óg
Gas gan gruaim is suairce snódh
Glac is luaimneach, luath i ngleo
Ag teascadh an tslua ’s ag tuargain treon
 
[Curfá]
’Sé mo laoch, mo ghile mear
’Sé mo chaesar, gile mear
Suan ná séan ní bhfuaireas fhéin
Ó chuaigh i gcéin mo ghile mear
 
Is cosúil é le hAonghus Óg
Le Lughaidh Mac Chéin na mbéimeann mór
Le Conchubhar cáidhmhac Náis na nós
Taoiseach aoibhinn Chraoibhe an cheoil
 
[Curfá]
’Sé mo laoch, mo ghile mear
’Sé mo chaesar, gile mear
Suan ná séan ní bhfuaireas fhéin
Ó chuaigh i gcéin mo ghile mear
 
Ach seinntear stair ar chlairsigh cheoil
Is líontair táinte cárt ar bord
Le hintinn ard gan chaim, gan cheo
Chun saoghal is sláinte d’ fháil dom leon
 
[Curfá]
’Sé mo laoch, mo ghile mear
’Sé mo chaesar, gile mear
Suan ná séan ní bhfuaireas fhéin
Ó chuaigh i gcéin mo ghile mear
 
Ó luadh i gcéin mo ghile mear
 
English
Translation

My Gallant Lad

Once I was a gentle maiden
And now I'm a weak and worn-out widow
My spouse powerfully ploughing the waves
Beyond the hills and far from here
 
[Chorus]
My gallant lad is my hero
He's my hero, gallant lad
I found neither sleep nor happiness
Since my gallant lad went far away
 
I am incessantly unhappy every day
Grieving sorely, showing signs of tears
As the lively lad was sent away from me
And, my sorrow, no news is told of him
 
[Chorus]
My gallant lad is my hero
He's my hero, gallant lad
I found neither sleep nor happiness
Since my gallant lad went far away
 
No cuckoo speaks sweetly in the evening
And there is no cry of beagles in the hazel forests
Nor summer mornings in misty valleys
Since the lively lad was sent away from me
 
[Chorus]
My gallant lad is my hero
He's my hero, gallant lad
I found neither sleep nor happiness
Since my gallant lad went far away
 
A noble proud young cavalryman
A cheerful young man with a most pleasant appearance
A most agile grasp, swift in battle
Cutting down hordes and crushing champions
 
[Chorus]
My gallant lad is my hero
He's my hero, gallant lad
I found neither sleep nor happiness
Since my gallant lad went far away
 
He is like Aonghus Óg1
Like Lughaidh Mac Chéin of the big blows2
Like Conor the venerable son of renowned Nás3
The delightful leader of music's embellishment
 
[Chorus]
My gallant lad is my hero
He's my hero, gallant lad
I found neither sleep nor happiness
Since my gallant lad went far away
 
Let a story be sung on tuneful harps
And let lots of quarts be filled on the table
With high spirits faultless and unclouded
To find life and good health for my lion
 
[Chorus]
My gallant lad is my hero
He's my hero, gallant lad
I found neither sleep nor happiness
Since my gallant lad went far away
 
Since my gallant lad was reported to be far away.
 
  • 1. probably the mythical son of Boann and the Dagda
  • 2. Irish myth and historical tradition are full of people called Lugaid, but the only Mac Céin I know of is Tadc, not Lugaid. But all the Lugaids and Tadg Mac Céin are fierce warriors who can hit hard (Lugaid Mac Con Rí could kill 9 men with one stroke of his club, or was that his father?) so "big blows" fits any of them
  • 3. there are a lot of Conchobars in Irish historical tradition too, but if I've interpreted "cáidhmhac" correctly (which is possible, but not terribly likely) this one is real not mythical: Conchobar Ó Maol Ruanaidh aka Conchobar mac Diarmata resigned the kingship of Magh Luirg to take holy orders
The author of translation requested proofreading.
It means that he/she will be happy to receive corrections, suggestions etc about the translation.
If you are proficient in both languages of the language pair, you are welcome to leave your comments.

Translations of "Mo Ghile Mear"

English
Comments
Ontano MagicoOntano Magico    Mon, 04/03/2019 - 09:54

Mo chéile ag treabhadh na dtonn go tréan: could it be: "My darling has crossed the wild waves" ?

michealtmichealt
   Mon, 04/03/2019 - 21:21

"treabhadh na dtonn" is a pretty ancient idiom that is the Irish form (and "treaghadh nan tonn" works in Scottish Gaelic too) of the equally ancient English idiom "plowing the waves". "go tréan" is an adverb ("placing "go" in front of an adjective is equivalent to adding "-ly" to an adjective in English), and as an adjective tréan means strong or powerful or intense or violent, so we have strongly, powerfully, intensely or violently.

I wonder if I should have made the line after that one "over the hills and far away".

Ontano MagicoOntano Magico    Tue, 05/03/2019 - 12:31

so he adverb strongly is about him not the waves; I translate in italian: il mio sposo con forza fende l'onda
grazie

michealtmichealt
   Mon, 16/03/2020 - 00:19

That (con forza) looks right to me.

I sorry that that's a very late reply, but I've been tied up in sorting out my wife's estate in two distinct legal jurisdictions (she had a will in neither) and not doing much at all with LyricsTranslate or indeed with anything else other than lawyers, with things made yet more difficult by Microsoft's inabilty to avoid installing incorrect video drivers when it updates windows 10 (because it hasn't a clue which driver works well with which hardware) and with related problems caused by my allowing an incompetent twit (who sadly had a reputation as a competent software engineer; maybe I will correct that, as he must be costing people a lot of troubles) to try to fix the incorrect video driver problem on my laptop - he spent three days trying to fix something that is usually fixed in less than half an hour, swore that he had permanently eliminated the possibility of incorrect video drivers being installed in subsequent updates, and he'd managed to lose a large chunk of data that I had specifically asked him not to touch, he destroyed nearly all applications and all users on the machine (leaving only the windows 10 default admin user, which I normally refuse to allow on my equipment), and enough of my data was missing that I'm having difficulty working out a way of restoring a usable system. The "permanent elimination" lasted until the next windows update, no longer. Naturally, I got it fixed (in about 10 minutes) by someone I knew to be reliable instead of using the incompetent twit again. If I still had my working equipment, I could do it in less than 10 minutes myself, but I retired about 14 years ago and no longer have access to lots of interesting hardware and software tools.

michealtmichealt
   Mon, 04/03/2019 - 22:00

Bí = Be (2nd singular imperative); i = in ; do = your (French "ton", not "votre"); thost = silence (the word is tost, but the preceding "do" softens the first consonant from "t" to "th" (pronounced "h")). French "Tais-toi", "Ne dis rien", "Ferme-la".

However, looking at the English it's clear that they intend the plural, so the actually meant "bígí i bhur tost" - "Be (plural) silent", Taisez-vous

Bí i do thost = "Be silent" or "Shut up" or "Say nothing" (Tais-toi, not Taisez-vous)

Bí i do thost air = "Say nothing about it" or "Keep quiet about it"

Bí i do thost liom orthu = "Don't mention them to me" or "Say nothing to me about them"

Padraig O'BrienPadraig O'Brien    Sat, 30/05/2020 - 22:04

The Conchubhar here is more likely to be Conchubhar Mac Neassa. Nas, his mother, tricked Fergus Mac Roeach into relinquishing the kingship of Ulster to him. His subsequent rejection by Madhbh and his rape of her sparked a long and bloody retaliation by Madhbh and her allies. He was also a renowned musician.

Iain MacIainIain MacIain    Fri, 22/01/2021 - 16:10

Mòran taing 'son seo - glè inntinneach. 'S e tobar an dulchais anns an t-òran seo fhèin gu dearbh - cha robh fios agam.

julietarabjulietarab
   Mon, 28/10/2024 - 00:06

The source lyrics have been updated. Please review your translation.