Blair Collection > Collection of Gaelic proverbs and familiar phrases

159
Cuiridh e teine ris na tobraichean.
He will set the wells on fire.
This looks like setting the Thames on fire.
Cuiridh peirceall na caora 'n crann air an fharadh.
The sheep's jaw will put the plough on the hen-roost.
This prediction is attributed to a famous Highland seer of the
1 7th century, Coinneach Odliar, but it was made long before that
by no less a person than Thomas the Rhymer. His saying,
' The teeth of the sheep shall lay the plough on the shelf,'
is quoted by Dr. Chambers in his Popular Rhymes of Scotland,
with special reference to the changes of tenantry in the High-
lands, in some parts of which sheep-farming has entirely supplanted
agriculture. Rushes and heather may be seen now in fields that
once yielded fair crops, and sheep in place of the men that tilled
them.
Cuiridh mi clach 'ad chàrn.
I'll add a stone to your cairn.
See ' Am fear nach mèudaich ',
CÙ1 gaoith' 'us aghaidh greine.
Back of wind and face of sun,
A phrase in the old stories, descriptive of a pleasant retreat.
Cum an dò-dhuine air do thaobh; bidh an deagh-
dhuine agad daonnan.
Keep the ill man on your side; the good man you'll
always have.
Cum an fheill air a latha. Keep the fair on its day.
Keep the feast till the feast-day. — Scot.
Cum an t-eathar bho chladach an fhasgaidh, 's fanaidh
i fhein bho chladach an lliuaraidh.
Keep the hoat from the lee-shore, and she'll keep herself
from the wind-shore.
Cum do chù ri 'leigeadh.
Hold your dog till the starting-time.
Don't loose your hound where there is nothing to limit. — Arah.
Cum do theanga 'n ad chuimse.
Keep your tongue in hand.
The mouth is the tongue's prison. — Arah.
'Apyvpò TO fifXrifia, xp^f^ò to aiwna — Speech is silvern, silence
golden. — Mod. Gr.