Blair Collection > Collection of Gaelic proverbs and familiar phrases

253
Is fhusa tearnadh na direadh.
Ifs easier to go down than to climb.
Haws dringo na disgyn — Easier to dimh than to descend. — IVelsli.
The Gaelic saying is true both literally and metaphorically.
The Welsh saying is true only of climbing in very steep or rocky
places.
Is fiach air duine na gheallas e.
A mail's promise is a debt.
Dyled ar pob ei addaw. — Welsh,
See 'Am fear a gheallas'.
Is fiamhach an t-snil a lotar,
TJie hurt eye is timorous.
Is follaiseach fuil air cù ban.
Blood is notieeable on a ivhite dog.
Is fuar an coimpir' an fhòid,
TJie turf is a cold companion.
There is some pathos in this ; and yet the saying may have
been invented by a bereaved person, on the look out for a new
companion.
Is fuar an innis an earn.
The cairn is a cold shelter.
Is fuar an goile nach teòdh deoch.
It's a cold stomach that drink ivon't warm.
It's a cauld stamach that naething hets on. — Scot.
Is fuar comunn an ath-chleamhnais.
Cold is the society of a second affinity.
Macintosh's translation gives the meaning, which is not obvious
— ' Cold is the connection with a first alliance, when a second is
formed '.
Is fuar don'-chleamhnas.
Cold is ill-sorted afinity.
Is fuar gaoth nan coimheach.
Cold is the vjind that brings strangers.
Possibly applied first to the wind that brought Norsemen,
afterwards to the coming of Southrons.
Is fuar leaba gun choimh-leapach.
Cold is the bed loititotd bedfellow.
Is gann a' ghaoth nach seòladh tu.
Light would the breeze be that you coiddnt sail in.
Al. Is fann a ghaoth ris nach, &c.
Applied to trimmers and time-servers.