Blair Collection > Collection of Gaelic proverbs and familiar phrases

267
Is mairg a dheanadh subhachas ri dnbhaclias fir eile.
Woe to him that would rejoice at aaotJier's grief.
Is mairg a dh' earbadh an oidhche fhad' Fhogbair ris.
Pity him that would trust the long Autumn night
to him.
This was said, no doubt, of a notorious reaver or thief.
Is mairg a ghuidlieadh làrach 16m.
Woe to him ivho would wish a ruined home to any one.
Is mairg a loisgeadh a thigh roimh 'n chreich.
Pity him who vjould hum his house lefore the sack.
Is mairg a loisgeadh a thiompan dut !
Pity him who tvould hum his harp for you !
This alludes to the story of a Hebridean harper, who having
nothing else to make a fire with to warm his wife, broke his harp
in pieces and burned it. His wife's heart, it seems, was colder
than her body, as she ran away with another man before morning!
This story forms the subject of one of Hector McNeill's poems.
The word 'tiompan,' tympanum, is used in the Scottish and
Irish Gaelic Bible as the translation of timljrel, but the Dictionaries
give it as a term for 'any musical instrument'.
Is mairg a ni de 'n olc na dh' fhaodas e.
JVoe to him that docs as much ill as he can.
Is mairg a ni droch chleachdadh.
Woe to him who makes a had halit.
Is mairg a ni tarciiis air a bhiadh.
Pity him that desinses his food.
Is mairg a rachadh air a bhannaig, 'us a tlieann-shath
aige fhein.
'Twcre pitiful to go hegging hannocks, with 'plenty of
ones own.
The bannock here referred to is the * Bannag-Challuinn ' or
New- Year cake, called in Brittany 'Calanna,' or 'Calannat,' in
"Wales ' Calenig,' given as a New-Year gift to those who came on
New-Year's night, chanting certain rhymes. The Highland and
Breton customs in this matter are very similar.
Is mairg a's màthair do mhicein maoth, an uair a's e
Dirdaoin a' Bhealltainn.
Alns for tender infant's mother, when Beltane f cells on
Tliursday.
This is one of the superstitious fancies of which no explanation
can be given.