Ownership. Buying and Selling. Proper Names.
by Myles Dillon
ALESSOLESSON XXIII Ownership is expressed by the verb is and the preposition le: is le Sean an leabhar son "that book belongs to John"; an leat-sa an chasog so? "does this coat belong to you?"; ni liom "no (it does not)". There is thus a contrast between possession and ownership, the verb td and the preposition ag being used for possession (p. 41): ba le Peadar an capall a bhi ag Mdirtin "the horse that Martin had belonged to Peter." To ask "whose is (are)?" you put ce "who" before the prepositional pronoun and the copula is omitted: ce leis an talamh san? "whose is (who owns) that land?". The word for "I buy" is ceannaim (vn. ceannach), and you buy from (6) a person for (or) a sum of money: (do) cheannaios an bho uaidh or daicheadpunt "I bought the cow from him for forty pounds"; ceannoidh se an tigh ud ar dhd chead deag punt "he will buy that house for £1,200". "To sell" is diol, and you sell to (le) a person: an ndiolfair liom e? "will you sell it to me?" But diol also means "to pay", and you pay for (as) a thing: ar dhioladar as an dtalamhfos? "have they paid for the land yet?"; do dhiolfainn leis e da ndiolfadh se as "I would sell it to him, if he would pay for it". The notion of "owing" is expressed by the verb td with the preposition ag of the creditor and the preposition ar of the debtor: td scilling agat orm "I owe you a shilling"; td scilling agam ort "you owe me a shilling". Most Irish surnames begin with Mac "son" or 6 "grand- son, descendant", and the second element is a personal name in the genitive case, rather as in English "Johnson", "Thomson", "Williamson". The 6 prefixes an h to vowels: 130 LESSON XXIII 131 6 hAodha "Hayes, O'Hea"; 6 hAirt "Hart"; 6 hOgdin "Hogan". Both prefixes are inflected for gender and in the gen. sg. masc. The feminine of Mac is Ni (indecl., asp.), 1 and the gen. sg. masc. is, of course, Mic which will always be aspirated (p. 13) and causes aspiration of a following consonant. The feminine of 6 is likewise Ni and the gsm. is Ui (asp.). Seamas Mac Diarmada "James MacDermot", Bean Sheamais Mhic Dhiarmada "Mrs. James MacDermot"; Siobhdn Ni Dhiarmada "Joan MacDermot"; Sean 6 Briain "John O'Brien"; Bean Shedin Ui Bhriain "Mrs. John O'Brien; Maighread Ni Bhriain "Margaret O'Brien"; Pddraig 6 hOgdin "Patrick Hogan"; Bean Phddraig Ui Ogdin "Mrs. Patrick Hogan"; Caitilin Ni Ogdin "Kathleen Hogan". A married woman does not take the surname of her hus- band. If Mary Kelly marries Peter O'Sullivan, she remains Mdire Ni Cheallaigh or may be called bean Pheadair Ui Shuilleabhdin, but not Mdire Ni Shuilleabhdin. Surnames of foreign origin have no prefix: Bdroid, Bairead "Barrett", Breathnach "Walsh", Brun "Brown" Cundun "Condon", Feiriteir "Ferriter", Paor "Power", Seoigheach "Joyce"; but some Norman names have the particle de: de Barra "Barry", de Burca "Burke", de Roiste "Roche". Breathnach "Walsh" and Caomhdnach "Kavanagh" are treated as adjectives: Mdire Bhreathnach "Mary Walsh", Sile Chaomhdnach "Julia Kavanagh". From other surnames adjectivals maybe formed: Brianach "an O'Brien", Ceallach "an O'Kelly", Roisteach "a Roche". When the surname begins with Mac, there is a tendency to form the feminine in this way: Mdire Charthach "Mary MacCarthy." When the surname begins with 6, Mac may take the place of a Christian name in formal use: Mac Ui Shuilleabhdin "Mr. O'Sullivan". When a family is referred to, muintir "people" is used, or the plural adjective: muintir Laoghaire "the O'Learys", muintir Shuilleabhdin "the 1 Nic (asp.) in northern dialects. 132 IRISH O'Sullivans", na Brianaigh "the O'Briens", na Ceallaigh "the O'Kellys". Remember that the initial of a proper name in the gen. is aspirated (p. 13): leabhar Shedin "John's book", tigh Thaidhg "Tim's house", rothar Shile "Julia's bicycle". 6 Braonain O Briain 6 Broin Cathain 6 Ceallachain Ceallaigh 6 Cinneide Conaill O Conchobhair O Dalaigh O Domhnaill O Donnchadha 6 Donnabhain O Dubhghaill O Dubhthaigh O Duibhir O Fearghail O Flaithbheartaigh O Floinn O Gallchobhair O Gradaigh hAodha O hAodhagain O hEadhra O hOgain O Laoghaire O Lochlainn 6 Loingsigh 6 Maille Common Surnames Brennan O'Brien Byrne, O'Byrne O'Kane O'Callaghan Kelly, O'Kelly Kennedy O'Connell O'Connor O'Daly O'Donnell O'Donoghue O'Donovan Doyle O'Duffy, Duffy O'Dwyer O'Farrell O'Flaherty O'Flynn O'Gallagher O'Grady Hayes, O'Hea O'Hagan, Egan O'Hara Hogan O'Leary O'Loughlin Lynch O'Malley 6 Mathghamhna 6 Meachair O Meadhra . 6 Murchadha O Neill O Raghallaigh O Ruairc O Seaghdha O Siothchain O Suilleabhain O Tuathail 6 Tuama Mac Caba Mac Canna Mac Carthaigh Mac Cionnaith Mac Conmara Mac Cormaic Mac Craith Mac Diarmada Mac Domhnaill Mac Dubhghaill Mac Lochlainn Mac Mathghamhna Mac Maolain Mac Neill Mac Suibhne MagAonghusa Mag Uidhir LESSON XXIII 133 O'Mahony O'Meagher, Maher, Meagher O'Mara Murphy O'Neill O'Reilly O'Rourke O'Shea Sheehan O'Sullivan O'Toole Twomey, Toomey McCabe McCann McCarthy McKenna Macnamara MacCormick McGrath MacDermot MacDonnell MacDowell McLoughlin MacMahon MacMullen MacNeill MacSweeny McGuinness, Magennis, Guinness McGuire, Maguire VOCABULARY afach (aafach) however an mor (an mooar)? how aghaidh (ayg) f. face; ar much! aghaidh in front of ar chuil (er chool) behind, c. aimsir (aymshir) f. weather gen. 134 IRISH banc (boungk) m. bank buaile (booali) f. paddock bullan (bu-laan) m. bullock gnathach (gnaahach) custo- mary inneall (ingal) buailte (booalhi) m. threshing- machine Ciarrai (keea-ree) Kerry cios (kees) m. rent da chuid fein of his own le fail (le faal) to be got cupla (koopala) m. a pair, a meid (med) m. amount, an l. Is leis na Brianaigh an da thigh sin thuas ar an gcnoc. 2. An leo an talamh ata ar aghaidh na dtithe? 3. Ni leo; is ar cios ata se 1 acu 6 fheirmeoir eile. 4. Is le Sean Mac Diarmada an capall a bhi agam inne. 5. Is ag Mairtin 6 Briain ata se inniu, mar nil aon chapall da chuid fein aige. 6. Ba ghnathach leis capall a bheith aige, afach. 7. Ce leis an bad seoil sin? 8. Is lem dhearthair i, agus nil si aige ach le bliain. 9. Is docha go ndiolfaidh se an bhliain seo chuinn i, ma fhaigheann se duine chun i a cheannach uaidh. 10. An mor an t-airgead a thug se uirthi? 11. Thug se deich bpuint fhichead 2 uirthi agus niorbh fhiu an meid sin i. 12. Ba liom- sa 1 blianta 6 shin, ach nil aon bhad agam anois. 13. Ar dhioladar as an moin fos? 14. Nior dhioladar, mar ta si fliuch agus nilid sasta lei. 15. Chonaiceamair Caitlin Ni Dhuibhir agus Brid Ni Dhiarmada ag dul isteach i dtigh mhuintir Shuilleabhain 6 chianaibh. 16. Ca bhfuil inneall buailte Thomais Ui Dhonnchadha ag obair? 17. Ni fhaca 6 mhaidin e. 18. Chonac-sa areir e ar fheirm Chonchubhair UiAodha. 1. The field in front of the house is ours, but the land behind the house belongs to another farmer. 2. It is not mine; I few feirm (ferim) f.farm flu (fyoo) worth meid sin that much seol (shol) m. sail; bad seoil sailing-boat a se sa chead six per cent Exercise 53 Exercise 54 1 For the emphatic use of the copula see p. 59. 2 See Lesson XXIV. LESSON XXIII 135 have rented it (have it upon rent) from him. 3. Whose are the cattle in the big field? 4. I do not know. 5. We have a few bullocks in the paddock, but those other cattle do not belong to us. 6. Has James O'Sullivan paid for the new house yet? 7. Yes, but he has not yet paid for the land. 8. How much money does he owe you? 9. Five hundred pounds. 10. He has not that much (of) money. 11. He will have to borrow it (get it on loan). 12. It is to be got in the bank at (ar) six per cent. 13. Where is Daniel O'Connell's house? 14. It is in County Kerry, westwards from Killamey. 15. They saw John MacCarthy coming out of the Kelly's house this morning. .