1028: Armstrong's Dictionary (3) 1028: Faclair Armstrong (3)

B1 - Intermediate - The Little LetterB1 - Eadar-mheadhanach - An Litir Bheag

Litir shìmplidh sheachdaineach do luchd-ionnsachaidh le clàr-fuaime, tar-sgrìobhadh is eadar-theangachadh. A simple weekly letter to Gaelic learners with audio, transcription and translation.

Tha an litir bheag ag obrachadh leis an fhaclair. Tagh an taba ‘teacsa Gàidhlig’ agus tagh facal sam bith san teacsa agus fosglaidh am faclair ann an taba ùr agus bidh mìneachadh den fhacal ann. The little letter is integrated with the dictionary. Select the tab ‘Gaelic text’ and choose any word and the dictionary will open and you will see the English explanation of the Gaelic word.

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Gaelic & English Text Teacsa Gàidhlig & Beurla

Faclair Armstrong (3)

Gaelic Gàidhlig

Tha sinn a’ toirt sùil air faclan às an fhaclair aig Raibeart Armstrong. Tha sinn aig an litir ‘n’. Agus seo agaibh am facal a thagh mi – nigheachan. Tha e stèidhichte air nigh ‘wash, bathe, cleanse’. Tha nigheachan a’ ciallachadh ‘a washing of linen’. Tha Armstrong a’ toirt seo dhuinn: bean nigheachain ‘a laundress’ agus taigh nigheachain ‘a washing-house or laundry’.

ʼS e an ath fhacal osna ‘sigh, sob, groan, breeze, blast’. Leig i osna ‘she sighed’. Tha osnach agus osnachail a’ ciallachadh ‘sighing, sobbing’. Tha an gnìomhair osnaich ann. Bha mi ag osnaich leam fhèin ‘I was sighing in solitude’.

Tha sinn a-nise aig ‘p’. Thagh mi am facal pailleart ‘a slap given with the palm of the hand’. Tha am buadhair pailleartach ann – ‘ready to slap with the hand’ – agus an gnìomhair pailleartaich ‘slap with the hand’.

Fo ‘r’, tha am facal rèite againn. Saoilidh mi gu bheil am facal cudromach anns an latha sa bheil sinn beò. Tha e a’ ciallachadh ‘reconciliation, agreement, settlement’. Tha sinn feumach air tuilleadh rèiteachairean anns an t-saoghal.

Chan eil air fhàgail againn anns an aibidil Ghàidhlig a-nise ach trì litrichean. Fo ‘s’, bu mhath leam sùil a thoirt air an fhacal sìor. Tha e a’ ciallachadh ‘ever, forever, continually, eternally’. Tha Armstrong ag innse dhuinn [that] sìor ‘is often prefixed to a word to denote continuance or perpetuity’.

Seo eisimpleirean dheth on fhaclair: sìor atharrachadh ‘continual fluctuation or shifting’. Sìor-bhualadh – ‘a continued striking, constant thumping’. Chuala mi sìor-bhualadh nan drumaichean. Agus tha sìor-bhuan ann – ‘everlasting, eternal’. ʼS e tinneas sìor-bhuan a tha ann ‘it’s a chronic illness’.

Agus sìor-uisgeach. Saoil dè tha sin a’ ciallachadh? Sìor-uisgeach. Uill, bidh am facal feumail ann an Alba aig amannan. Sìor-uisgeach – ‘raining continually’!

Tha sinn a-nise aig ‘t’ agus am facal tearc. Tha e a’ ciallachadh ‘few, rare, scarce’. Mar eisimpleir, ʼs ann tearc a tha na h-èisg-mhara an-diugh.

Mu dheireadh am facal utag ‘a shove, a push, a jostle’. Cuideachd ‘strife, confusion, uproar’. Cha toigh le duine againn a bhith ann an àite utagach. ʼS fheàrr leam fhìn sìth agus sonas an fhaclair Ghàidhlig!

Armstrong's Dictionary (3)

English Beurla

We are taking a look at words from Robert Armstrong’s dictionary. We are at the letter ‘n’. And here is the word I chose – nigheachan. It’s based on nigh ‘wash, bathe, cleanse’. Nigheachan means ‘a washing of linen’. Armstrong gives us this: bean nigheachain ‘a laundress’ and taigh nigheachain ‘a washing-house or laundry’.

The next word is osna ‘sigh, sob, groan, breeze, blast’. Leig i osna ‘she sighed’. Osnach and osnachail mean ‘sighing, sobbing’. There is the verb osnaich. Bha mi ag osnaich leam fhèin ‘I was sighing in solitude’.

We are now at ‘p’. I chose the word pailleart ‘a slap given with the palm of the hand’. There is the adjective pailleartach – ‘ready to slap with the hand’ – and the verb pailleartaich ‘slap with the hand’.

Under ‘r’, we have the word rèite. I reckon that the word is important at the current time. It means ‘reconciliation, agreement, settlement’. We need more rèiteachairean ‘conciliators’ in the world.

We only have three letters left in the Gaelic alphabet now. Under ‘s’, I’d like to look at the word sìor. It means ‘ever, forever, continually, eternally’. Armstrong tells us [that] sìor ‘is often prefixed to a word to denote continuance or perpetuity’.

Here are examples of it from the dictionary: sìor atharrachadh ‘continual fluctuation or shifting’. Sìor-bhualadh – ‘a continued striking, constant thumping’. I heard the constant banging of the drums. And there is sìor-bhuan – ‘everlasting, eternal’. ʼS e tinneas sìor-bhuan a tha ann ‘it’s a chronic illness’.

And sìor-uisgeach. What does that mean? Sìor-uisgeach. Well, the word is useful in Scotland at times. Sìor-uisgeach – ‘raining continually’!

We are now at ‘t’ and the word tearc. It means ‘few, rare, scarce’. For example, ‘[the] marine fish are scarce today.’

Finally, the word utag ‘a shove, a push, a jostle’. Also ‘strife, confusion, uproar’. None of us like to be in a place that is full of uproar. I myself prefer the peace and happiness of the Gaelic dictionary!

Gaelic TextTeacsa Gàidhlig