Blair Collection > Collection of Gaelic proverbs and familiar phrases

283
Is odhar gach sean, 's is geal gach nobha, gu ruig
snodhach an fhearna.
Every old thing is dim, every nciu thing ichite, even to
the sap of the alder.
The alder when stripped of its bark is very white, but very
soon the colour changes to reddish brown and dun.
Is òg an NoUaig a' chiad oidhche.
Christmas is young the first night.
Is olc a blii slaodadh cait air 'earball.
It's ill to drag a cat hy the tail.
Is olc a' bho-laoigh a' chreag, oidhch' air mhor, 'us
oidhch' air bheag.
The rock is a had milch-cotv, one night fertile, another
night barren.
Al. Is corrach gob an dubhain,
Is mairg do 'm bo-laoigh a' chreag,
Oidhch' air bheagan, 's oidhch' air mhoran,
'S oidhche gun a' mhor no 'bheag.
Uncertain is the lioint of the hook ;
III for him whose milch-coiv is the rock ;
One night little, another plenty ;
Borne nights neither much nor little.
Is olc a' chliath fhearna nach toir bliadhna's an ursainn.
It's a poor cdder hurdle that wont hang for a year to
the post.
Al. Is olc an cabar fearna nach dean ràidhl' air tigh — Ws a had
stick of alder that won't make a rafter.
Alder is one of the poorest kinds of timber.
Is olc a' chreag a threigeas a h-eòin fhèin.
It's a had rock which its own hirds forsake.
Is olc a fhreagradh tu 'n iochdar Thròtairnis.
You wouldn't suit well in the lower end of Troternish.
Troternish (Trodda-ness) is a general name applied to the
northern part of Skye. The climate and soil there are somewhat
colder than in the rest of the Island, so that a lazy or deUcate
person would not do well there.
Is olc a' ghaoth leis nach seòl cuid-eigiu.
It's an ill vnncl with ivhich 7io one can sail.
Al. nach seid ann an seòl fir-eigin — that doesn't blow in some
man's sail.
It is an ill wind that blows no man to good. — Eng.
It's an ill wuud that blaws naebody guid. — Scot.