Shelta and Irish, interlinear help needed

[Andrew Carnie]

------- Forwarded Message
From: P.Bakker at nias.knaw.nl

Dear list manager,

Could you forward the following message to the members of the Celtic
linguistics list? Thanks in advance.
Peter BakkerCould a speaker of Irish Gaelic help me with the
translation of
a number of sentences? I need them for the study of Shelta, the
language of Irish Travellers. The lexicon of Shelta is partly
distorted Irish, partly of unknown origin. The grammatical
framework is often that of the local language (Irish, Scottish
Gaelic, English).
     The following sentences have mostly been written down around
teh turn of the century. I would be very happy if anybody could
give me interlinear equivalents in Irish Gaelic.  Some sentences
already have tentative translations. Please correct if needed!
I am not on this list. Please reply to me directly.

Thank you very much in advance!

Peter Bakker (p.bakker at nias.knaw.nl) (p.bakker at let.uva.nl)


Irish Gaelic
E = schwa
O = as vowel in English "jot"
U = vowel, IPA open triangle, as in English "but"
sh = as in English "ship"
capital C = as English "ch" in church.
double vowel = long vowel (written with bar in source)

Unfortunately it does not become very readable this way, and the
texts will be already quite puzzling. I am sorry for that.

(1)  kampE-n klUgen e mUkjE
     camp-?? head  of? pig
                                                      (Gaelic)
     "camp of the pig's head"
     (Gaelic ceann 'head', muc 'pig')


(2)  ....... su:ni: ni: ni'dhe menthrox
     ...... to see ?? ?? ??
                                                      (Gaelic)
     ".... to see my friend"

(3)  tshi'mi l shUwUl
     stick nice
                                                      (Gaelic)

(4)  tshi'mi muni
     stick good
                                                      (Gaelic)
     (Shelta muni "good" d'ima "stick")

(5)  l+br-O:-me dhi:e:l
     hit-??-I  you
                                                      (Gaelic)
     "I'll hit you"
     (Shelta lEber "hit", Gaelic me "I, me")

(6)  l+:be dhi:l `re pi:
     hit you on mouth
                                                      (Gaelic)
     "hit him on the mouth!"
     (l+:be ??, dhi:l Shelta "you", Gaelic ar "on", b,al "mouth")

(7)  nO:dhrum, kerO: thu: mi gO:thera
               c -r-a tu mo                           (Gaelic)
     mother    where-PST-?? you my father
     mother, where-did-?? you my father
     "mother, where did you leave my father?"

(8)  tha kr+lushk ami'lth                                (Shelta)
     t  cras orm                                         (Gaelic)
     is hunger on-me
     "I am hungry"
          [ami'lth could be an inflected preposition+pronoun, one
          the model of Gaelic] [inflected preposition??]

(9)  lush thu: di:Cer                                    (Shelta)
     eat you dinner
     ar-ith tstlg dineir                                    (Gaelic)
     Q-at you dinner
     "did you dine?"
     (Shelta lush, Irish thu)

(10) grastlgmaC hri hu                                      (Shelta)
     gra mo chro! thu                                    (Gaelic)
     love my heart you
     "I'm very fond of you in my heart"
     (Shelta gr^2 "love",
     (cf. Gaelic mo ghr  thu "I love you, litt. "my love you")

(11) Ax! Gison, bEg-a dhuu guredh gyee Sibbi gu-veeux grostar
     Oh! John, give-FUT you money with Sibbi till you-are
     satisfied
                                                      (Gaelic)
     "Ah! John, I will give you money with Sibbi until you are
     pleased."
     (Irish gabh "to give", airgead "money", le "with", saasta
     "satisfied")
     [CHK: future suffix -a from Irish?? -fa?]

(12) thanyEk ag-am, maro thanyEk eile, bEg-a mo chal-slEnya
     halfpenny at-me  if-there-were halfpenny another, give-FUT
                                                      (Gaelic)
     my half-glass

     "I have a halfpenny; if I had another, I would give myself
     half a glass"

(13) in stchuemera huu
     Q piper you
                                                      (Gaelic)
     "Are you a piper?"

(14) nox mTaudher mTauilsha
     Q devil I
                                                      (Gaelic)
     "Am I not a devil?"

(15) Stayish an buri gleoch
     is the? good man
                                                      (Gaelic)
     "How are you?"

(16) curlim a n isim
     sleep ?? ??
                                                      (Gaelic)
     "I'll sleep here"

(17) an inoc li
     ART thing another
                                                      (Gaelic)
     "another one"
     li Irish eile 'another'

(18) be+ir meder!n
     woman pregnant
                                                      (Gaelic)
     "a pregnant woman"


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