Is the word 'siùcar' in the Bible? (2)
I was telling you that the word
siùcar [sugar] doesn’t appear in the Gaelic Bible. Or, if it does, I don’t
know about it. But there are one or two accounts of a’ chuilc chùbhraid
, ‘the sweet-smelling cane’. That is translated as ‘sweet cane’,
however. Is that sugar cane? Cùbhraidh describes smell rather than
taste. Some scholars think that it was an Indian cane from which
ola ungaidh came. Anointing oil. Ola ungaidh.
If sugar wasn’t known at the time of the writing of the Bible, was
there a word for sweet? Well, yes, and here it is in the Book of Job, Chapter 20: Although
evil is sweet in his mouth, and he hides it under his tongue. That’s
the word for sweet – milis. It’s based on mil
‘honey’. People weren’t familiar with sugar in olden times, but they
were familiar with honey. And the taste of honey.
Although it is
mil that is in the Gaelic dictionaries for honey, it’s mel
that my late father would say. He spoke Applecross Gaelic and he would
say mel for ‘honey’ and meilis for ‘sweet’. It’s mel
in Latin. People think that it’s from Latin that the word came into
Gaelic.
And here it is in the Bible in Revelation, Chapter 10, Verse 10: And I
took the small book out of the angel’s hand and ate it; and in my mouth
it was as sweet as honey .... In English: I took the small book out of
the angel’s hand and ate it; and in my mouth it was as sweet as honey
...
The word mil– and the adjective milis
– often appear in the Gaelic Bible. And the same is true of Gaelic poetry.
In the poem by Alasdair MacMhaighstir Alasdair – Allt an t-Siùcair – the
word milis appears several times. ‘Sugary’ does not appear at all. ‘The taste of
honey’ is nicer than ‘the taste of sugar’, isn’t it?!
A bheil am facal ‘siùcar’ anns a’ Bhìoball? (2)
Bha mi ag innse dhuibh nach eil am facal siùcar a’ nochdadh anns
a’ Bhìoball Ghàidhlig. No ma thà, chan aithne dhomh e. Ach tha iomradh no
dhà ann air a’ chuilc chùbhraidh ‘the sweet-smelling cane’. Thathar ag eadar-theangachadh sin,
ge-tà, mar sweet cane. An e sin cuilc an t-siùcair? Tha cùbhraidh a’ dèanamh tuairisgeul air fàileadh seach blas. Tha cuid
de sgoilearan dhen bheachd gur e cuilc Innseanach a bha ann às an tàinig
ola ungaidh. Anointing oil. Ola ungaidh.
Mura robh siùcar aithnichte ri linn sgrìobhadh a’ Bhìobaill, an robh facal
ann airson sweet? Uill bha, agus seo e ann an Leabhar Iob,
Caibideil 20:
Ged a tha an t-olc milis na bheul, agus e ga fhalach fo a theangaidh
...
Sin agaibh am facal airson sweet – milis. Tha e stèidhichte air mil ‘honey’. Cha robh daoine eòlach air siùcar anns an
t-seann aimsir, ach bha iad eòlach air mil. Agus air blas na meala.
Ged as e mil a tha anns na faclairean Gàidhlig airson honey, ʼs e mel a chanadh m’ athair nach maireann. ʼS e
Gàidhlig na Comraich a bha aige agus chanadh esan mel airson‘honey’ agus meilis airson ‘sweet’. ʼS e mel a tha ann ann an Laideann. Tha daoine a’ smaoineachadh gur ann
bhon Laidinn a thàinig am facal a-steach don Ghàidhlig.
Agus seo e anns a’ Bhìoball ann an Taisbeanadh Eòin, Caibideil 10, Rann 10:
Agus ghlac mi an leabhran à làimh an aingil, agus dh’ith mi suas e;
agus bha e nam bheul milis mar mhil ...
Ann am Beurla:
And I took the small book out of the angel’s hand and ate it; and in my
mouth it was as sweet as honey ..
.
Tha am facal
mil
– agus am buadhair
milis
– a’ nochdadh gu tric anns a’ Bhìoball Ghàidhlig. Agus tha an aon rud fìor
mu bhàrdachd Ghàidhlig. Anns an dàn le Alasdair Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair –
Allt an t-Siùcair – tha am facal
milis
ann grunn tursan. Chan eil
siùcrach
no siùcaireach
a’ nochdadh idir. Tha ‘blas na meala’ nas snoige na ‘blas an t-siùcair’,
nach eil?!
