[GAELIC-L] A Manx proverb

[Marion Gunn]

In a search for something else this lunchtime, I came across the Manx
proverb below. I don't know of an Irish version of it, but would be
grateful if someone could point me to a version (not a translation)
close enough to the Manx any of the other five languages.

Ba mhór agam san.
mg

Traa ta'n derrey voght cooney leis y voght elley, ta Jee hene garaghtee.

[Tom Thomson]

Post by Marion Gunn
In a search for something else this lunchtime, I came across the Manx
proverb below. I don't know of an Irish version of it, but would be
grateful if someone could point me to a version (not a translation)
close enough to the Manx any of the other five languages.
Ba mhór agam san.
mg
Traa ta'n derrey voght cooney leis y voght elley, ta Jee hene garaghtee.

I haven't seen a proverb like that in gàidhlig. There's a slightly different Manx version in Kelly and Gill's dictionary:
Tra ta boght cooney lesh boght elley ta Jee hene garraghtee.

I'm not sure about Traa instead of Tra in your version. According to all the dictionaries I can find traa is only a noun, the adverb is "tra"; this surprised me, as in gàidhlig the noun tràth can be used as an adverb. The spelling "leis" is definitely an un-Manxism, one which of course I would be very likely to comit.

I worry about the meaning of boght - Kelly/Gill gives it the "fool" meaning as well as its pimary (poor/pauper) meaning, so does another dictionary that says its source for this word is Kelly, but the other dictionaries from Cregeen to very modern that have boght at all only have the primary meaning. So I hope the Kelly/Gill alternative meaning is right here, as otherwise this proverb is a rather unpleasant one.

[Marion Gunn]

I lifted that spelling straight out of /Manx Sayings/, published by the
British Heart Foundation (Isle of Man) in 1987 (a book I bought in Ellan
Vannin in 1992, which I turn to often enough for inspiration–it's a great
mix of the cynical and the uplifting, with lots of apt illustrations by one
Evelyn Moore). I wouldn't like to think this proverb an unpleasant one, but
I'm BCC:ing Stephen Miller here, to see if how he would read it. If I'm
wrong in this case, then that wouldn't be the first time for me to put the
wrong meaning on a proverb from another country, as some of our Scottish
friends can verify.:-)
mg

Post by Tom Thomson

Post by Marion Gunn
In a search for something else this lunchtime, I came across the Manx
proverb below. I don't know of an Irish version of it, but would be
grateful if someone could point me to a version (not a translation)
close enough to the Manx any of the other five languages.
Ba mhór agam san.
mg
Traa ta'n derrey voght cooney leis y voght elley, ta Jee hene garaghtee.

I haven't seen a proverb like that in gàidhlig. There's a slightly
Tra ta boght cooney lesh boght elley ta Jee hene garraghtee.
I'm not sure about Traa instead of Tra in your version. According to all

the dictionaries I can find traa is only a noun, the adverb is "tra"; this
surprised me, as in gàidhlig the noun tràth can be used as an adverb. The
spelling "leis" is definitely an un-Manxism, one which of course I would be
very likely to comit.

Post by Tom Thomson
I worry about the meaning of boght - Kelly/Gill gives it the "fool"

meaning as well as its pimary (poor/pauper) meaning, so does another
dictionary that says its source for this word is Kelly, but the other
dictionaries from Cregeen to very modern that have boght at all only have
the primary meaning. So I hope the Kelly/Gill alternative meaning is right
here, as otherwise this proverb is a rather unpleasant one.