Hi Horo 's Na Horo Eile
Hi horo 's na horo eile,
Hi horo 's na horo eile,
Hi horo 's na horo eile,
Gur tu mo luaidh ri m' bheo\ cha cheil me.
Nuair a bha mi 'm chaileig gho\raich
thug mi gaol is gra\dh do'n o\igfhear
aig am bheil a' phearsa bho\idheach,
's cha ghradhaich mi ri m' bheo\ fear eile.
Chaidh mi choill nan crann 's nan gallan,
chuir mi uigh am fiu\ran maiseach;
b' ann an Glasachu nam bu\ithnean
a thug mi ru\n do 'n diu\lnach fearail.
Miar as grinn' air peann a sgri\obhas
's a chuir gleus air teudan fi\dhle,
's e do cheo\l a thogadh m' inntinn
nuair a bhithinn sgi\th fo smalan.
Do chu\l dualach, cuachach, bo\idheach,
falt do chinn mar it' an lo\n-duibh,
do dha ghruaidh air dhreach nan ro\san
's iad fo dhealta ceo\ na maidne.
Tha do chalpa cuimir, direach,
mar bhradan aibhne ruith gu fi\or-ghlan,
's gura fi\or gu 'n tug mi luaidh dhuit
measg na bheil de shluagh air thalamh.
Ach tha mis' an du\il 's an do\chas
gu 'n tig an la\ 'sam bi sinn co\mhladh;
's ma bhios tu-sa di\leas dhomh-sa
cha ghradhaich mi ri m' bheo\ fear eile.
TRANSLATION
[number] refer to notes below on grammar etc.
chorus:
hi horo and some more horos (3 times)
You are my love and I'll never [0] deny it
When I was a green young girl [1]
I fell in love with the young man
who had [2] the handsome appearance;
and I will never love another [3].
I went into [4] the forest of trees and branches
and took an interest in a lovely sapling [5];
it is in Glasgow of the shops
that I fell in love with the manly handsome lad.
The most capable fingers that could write with a pen
or tune the strings of a violin;
it is your music that would lift [7] my spirits
when I was [7] weary and melancholy [6]
Your beautiful splendid curly locks,
the hair of your head is like the black-bird's feather;
your two cheeks are [8] the colour of roses
when the dew of the moring's mist is on them [9].
Your legs are strong and shapely [10]
like a salmon in a crystal clear stream [11];
and it's absolutely true that I've given my love to you
amongst all [12] the people that are in [13] the world.
But [14] I hope and expect [15]
that the day will come when [16] we will be together;
and if you are faithful to me
I shall love no other while I live.
[0] ri'm bheo\ = during my life
[1] 'm is a contraction of 'nam ( ann an mo : in my).
Gaelic has "x is in its y" for english "x is a y"
[2] no verb "have" in gaelic. "x has y" is "x is at y"
so here we have "at whom is ..."
[3] fear eile = another one; it's just coincidence that
you could make sense by translating fear as "man" here,
it's not being used that way.
[4] the preposition "do" contracts to "a", and them "mi a"
suffers elision; the only remaining sign of the
preposition is the elision of coill' to choill'.
[5] these trees are all an extended metaphor; all three
words can mean a man as well as a tree. Coille (forest)
means the crowds of people in the city (like crowds of
trees in a forest).
[6] fo under has a sense something like "suffering from" in
many phrases; gaelic often uses fo + a noun where English
would use an adjective; as here, smalan = gloom hence
fo smalan = gloomy.
[7] the incomplete tense is used here as habitual past.
[8] "are" is inserted to conform to English grammar - Gaelic
descriptive clauses are quite happy without a verb.
[9] agus or 's with a noun and a qualifying phrase means the
same as an English subordinate clause; whether the English
clause would be introduced by "when" or "because" or ... has
to be inferred from context; the diale
in Ireland, Scotland, and N. England use this same
construction, but it isn't used in standard english.
[10] Where men wear kilts, women take an interest in their legs;
if people from trousered cultures find the simile in these
two lines strange, they should just think about the things
women's legs get compared to in English poetry.
[11] literally: a river that runs purely clean.
[12] "what there are of people" - this construction is quite
common where english would use "all"
[13] "on the world". apart from the fairies (and perhaps the
miners) there aren't any people "in" the world in gaelic.
[14] "Ach" doesn't really mean "but" here, it's just noise.
[15] "I am in hope and in expectation"
the two occurenes of "an" here are both contractions
of "ann an" (it would be more correct in terms of the
history of the language to say that "ann an" is a doubling
of "an", but we're interested in the modern language not in
early common gaelic [aka old irish]).
[16] literally "in which". the day in which = th
Vocabulary
----------
'sam [sam] in which (relative prepositional pronoun: anns + am)
ach [ax] but
aibhne [ain'e] of a river (genetive singular of abhainn, river)
aig [eg'] at
air [er'] on
ann [auN] in it (prepositional pronoun).
's ann: it is; the copula (is) is used with ann to
allow an adverb to be brought forwards in the
sentence for emphasis.
bheil [vel'] am, is, are; present dependent of bi (to be)
bheo\ [v'o:] or [veo:] lenited form of beo\, life
bhios [vis] will be (future relative of bi)
bhithinn [vi:jinn] I would be (incomplete independent of bi)
(note: I use [j] for a consonantal i-glide)
bho\idheach [vo:jach] beautiful; feminine of bo\idheach
bo\idheach [bo:jach] beautiful
bhradan [vrat@n] salmon (lenited bradan)
bu\ithnean [bu:n'@n] shops. plural of bu\th (also bu\ithean, bu\than)
chaidh [xai] went (past independent of rach)
chaileig [xalag'] young girl (dative of caileag)
chalpa [xalpa] calf (leg below knee, not young cow). (lenited calpa)
cheil [xel'] hide, conceal (future dependent of ceil)
ceo\ [k'o:] mist
cheo\l [x'eo:l] music (ceo\l lenited)
chinn [xiN'] of a head (gen sing of ceann, head)
choill [x@L'] wood, grove, forest. (dative sing.) (usually choille)
co\mhladh [ko: la], [ko:la%] together. [%] at end only if followed by
a word beginning with a vowel, r, or l.
sometimes written co\mhla.
you will see co\ladh but that's definitely wrong.
crann [krauN] mast, tree, beam; plough
cuachach [ku@xax] curly, wavey. also plaited, folded, kilted
cuimir [kem@r'] well-proportioned; neat
chuir [xuir'] put (past independent of cuir)
chu\l [xu:l] back; hair of head. (cu\l lenited)
dhealta [jelt@] of dew (genetive singular of dealt)
di\leas [d'i:l'es] faithful
direach [d'ir'ox] straight
diu\lnach [d'u:lnax] handsome man (usually diu\lannach [d'uluNax])
do\chas [do:x@s] hope, expectation
dhomh-sa [%o: s@] to me ("emphatic" form) (do + mi-se)
do'n [don] to the
dhreach [%rax] colour; beauty; form, figure, shape.
dualach [du@lax] bushy, luxuriant
du\il [du:l'] desire, hope, expectation
dhuit [%uxt'] to you (do + tu)
eile [eil@] other, another
falt [falt] locks, hair
fear [fer], [far] man; one (masculine)
fearail [fer@l'] manly
fi\dhle [fi:l'e] of a violin, fiddle (gen sing of fidheall)
fi\or [fi:r] pure, true. used as intensifying prefix
fi\or-ghlan [fi:r %lan] truly clean, pure (fi\or + glan)
fiu\ran [f'u:ran] handsome young man; sapling
gallan [gaLan] branch, stalk
gaol [g@:l] love
gleus [gle:s] order, readiness, trim, preparedness
gho\raich [%o:rix'] foolish, inexperienced
gra\dh [gra:%] love (noun)
ghradhaich [%ra:%ix'] love (verb) (future dependent of gra\dhaich)
grinn' [griN'] comparative of grinn. as grinne: most fine
ghruaidh [%ruaj] cheek
gur [gur] is, am, are (gu'n + present dependent of is)
gura [gura] emphatic sort of gur
horo trala
iad [at] they
inntinn [i:Nt'iN'] thoughts, spirits
lo\n-duibh [lo:n tajv], [lo:n duj] of a black bird (g.s. of lo\n-dubh)
luaidh [luaj] love (person)
maidne [mat'n'e] of morning (g.s. of maduinn)
maiseach [mas'ox] fair, beautiful, graceful
mar as
measg [misk] among (contraction of am measg)
miar [mi:ar] finger (written meur usually)
nuair [nuer'] when
o\igfhear [o:g'er] young man
peann [p'auN] pen
phearsa [f'ars@] figure, person
ro\san [ro:s@n] roses
ruith [Ri:], [R@i:] run
ru\n [Ru:n] affection, love
sgi\th [ski:] tired
sgri\obhas [skri:v@s] will write (future relative of sgriobh)
sinn [s'iN'] we
shluagh [lua%] people (sluagh)
smalan [smalan] gloom, melancholy
thalamh [halu] land
teudan [t'et@n] strings, harps, musical instruments
tig [t'ik] come
thogadh [hok@%] would raise (incomplete independent of tog)
thug [huk] gave, took. past independent of thoir
tug [tuk] gave, took. past dependent of thoir
uigh [uj] interest, attention
This song is by John McLean of Balemartin (Iain Mac Neaill) and
was written about 1880. That's the same John MacLean who wrote
Oran Manitoba and and Breacan Mairi Uisdean (the Skye version
by Mary MacPherson was published as "a new setting" of MacLean's
song, something most Skyemen seem to have forgotten) which you
can find somewhere in the Gaelic-L log files. But not to be
confused with the other John MacLean from Tiree (Iain Mac Laine,
bard thighearna Colla) who wrote about Canada, or the later Tiree
John MacLean (Iain Mac Lachainn) who wrote "fo smuarean air moch
di Luaine". It's quite surprising that a tiny place like Tiree
managed to produce three good poets with the same name in the
space of 80 years. (The rumour that every male inhabitant of
Tiree is called John MacLean is unfounded.)CC
CC
Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!