J. F. Campbell Collection > Collection of Gaelic proverbs and familiar phrases

183
Fear gu aois, 'us bean gu bàs.
A man to full age, a ivoman till death.
A son must be maintained till of age, a daughter, if unmarried,
for life.
My son is my son, till he's got him a wife,
My daughter's my daughter all the days of her life. — Eng., Scot.
Fear na bà fhein 's a' pholl 'an toiseach.
Let the cow's oivner go first into the mire.
He that ows the coo gaes nearest her tail. — Scot.
Fear na foill' 'an iochdar !
Let the knave be kept under !
Fear nach cuir cùl ri 'charaid no ri 'namliaid.
A man that won't turn his back on friend or foe.
Fear nach reic 's nach ceannaich a' choir.
A mxin ivho will neither sell nor buy the right.
Fear nach treig a chaileag, no 'chompanach.
A man tJmt ivon't forsake his lass nor his comrade.
Fear sa bith a dh'òlas bainne capaill le spàin chrioth-
uinn, cha' ghabh e 'n triuthach ach aotrom.
He that drinks viares milk with an aspen spoon ivill
take hooping-cough lightly.
The first part of this prescription is rational ; the virtue of the
spoon was supposed to be derived from the sacred character of the
aspen tree.
Fear sa bith a loisgeas a mhàs, 's e fliein a dh'flieumas
suidhe air.
Whoever burns his bottoin must himself sit on it.
Fear uiread fuighill rium, ag iarraidh fuighill orm,
A man with leavings as big as mine asking leavings
of me.
Fèath Faoillich 'us gaoth luchair, cha mhair iad fada.
February calm and Dog-days' wind woiit last long.
Al. F. F. 'us trod chàirdean, cha 'n fhad a mhaireas — F. calm
and friends' quarrels.
Al. F. F. 'us gaol seòladair — F. calm and sailor's love.
Al. F. F.'us gaol guanaig, da ni air bheagan buanais — F. calm
and flirt's love, two things of short endurance.
Feith ri 'dheireadh. Aivait the end.
Respice finem. — Lat.
This is the Kennedy motto : Avisez la fin — Consider the end.