Matheson Collection > Collection of Gaelic proverbs and familiar phrases

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105
Cha mhisde sgèul math 'aithris dà uair.
A good tale is none the worse for being twice told. — Eng.
Cha mho air e [s_air sean each 'athair. (^iRcictJ^^J
He cares no more for him than an old horse for his
sire.
Cha mhol duine 'shèud 's e aige.
A man doesn't praise his jewel while he has it.
Probably not till he loses it.
Cha mhortar an luchag fo 'n chniaich-f heòir.
The mouse is not crushed under the hay-stack.
A wee mouse will creep under a nmckle corn-stack. — Scot.
Cha 'n abair mi mo bhràthair, ach ris a' mhac a rug
mo mhàthair. / <^ n-^^^oM^ o -u-' vu^^A^tù^ . dhi^u^ tfti. J
/ will not say brother hut to my mother's son. -^
At. Cha phiuthar 'us cha bhràthair ach neach a bheireas a'
mhàthair.
None is sister or brother whom the mother bore not.
This looks like a relic of a time when birthrights and blood-ties
were calculated from the maternal rather than the paternal side,
of which Mr. Skene has found traces in the early history of our
country. — Celtic Scotland, Vol. I., p. 252. See also M'Lennan's
Primitive Marriage, 2d Ed., p. 129.
Cha 'n aithne dhut dol air d' each gun dol thairis air. ^■***'- t
You cannot mount your horse without going over. plA^i^nSi^ ■
Cha'n aithnich am fuachd tighead na lùirich.
N. The thickest coat of mail wont keep out the cold.
'"'^ Cha'n aithnicheadh e 'bhròg seach an t-osan.
He coiddn't tell his shoe from his stocking.
Very incapable, even beyond pronunciation of ' Bri'sh const-t'-
sh'n '.
Cha'n am cadail an cogadh.
War is no time for sleep.
Cha 'n ann a' h-uile latha bhios mod aig Mac-an-
Tòisich.
It is not every day that Macintosh holds a court.
"Toschach or Macintosh of Monyvaird, chamberlain to the
Earl of Perth, held a regality court at Monyvaird : it is com-
monly reported that he caused one to be hanged each court day,
in order to make himself famous, and to strike terror into the
thieves, which severity occasioned the above saying." — Note by
Macintosh on this proverb, 1st Ed., p. 13.
The word mod, the same as the Saxon and Scottish mote, sig-