Quotations: Proverbial Sayings
 

Ad-cota brothchán bithnert.

(obtains * porridge * lasting-strength)

Porridge provides lasting strength.

A three-word maxim from "Bríathra Flainn Fína maicc Ossu".

Ard bot fiaich ocainn, íseal bot con.

(high * tail * of raven * at-us * low * tail * of hound)

The raven's tail is high for us and the hound's tail is low.

In other words, food is scarce for us. The expression is presumably based on a close observation of the appearance of animals at the beginning of spring, when the winter's stores of food were almost exhausted.

At·tá lá i ndegaid alaile.

(is * day * in * following * of another)

One day follows another.
Tomorrow is another day.

In the tale "Tochmarc Étaíne" Ailill feels remorse because he fell asleep and missed his tryst with Étaín. She reassures him, saying "Ní ba son, ata la i ndegaid aloile." (Never mind. There's always tomorrow.)

Ba cáera for gaimen.

(would be * berries * on * hide)

That would be like (a few) berries on the table.

The image here is of a meager offering, and by extension, of a pointless effort. A "gaimen" or "seiche" (skin or hide) was formerly used to serve food on, and berries didn't count as lavish hospitality! This proverb is found in "Aislinge Meic Con Glinne", in a long run of similar images of actions that are fruitless, bootless, or pointless. The even more meager "cáer ar geimiun" (a berry on a hide) is Congal's opinion of his enemies in "Cath Muighe Rath" (FCG, p. 124). A similar image, but more of a wasted rather than a meager effort, is "ba h-ass for sechid" (that would be like serving milk on a skin) is also found in the run in AMCG. Compare "Ba gat imm gainem" in this collection.

Ba cloch i n-inad uigi sin.

(was * stone * in * place * of egg * that)

That was a stone in place of an egg.

A proverbial expression for a bad exchange, found the Book of Fenagh, the Annals of Connacht, and elsewhere. DIL quotes, s.v. "sop", an extended version from "Cogadh Gaedhel re Gallaibh" where it refers to the quality of a person: "nir bo cloch in inad ugi sen 7 nir bo sop in inad largi" (that was not a stone instead of an egg or a whisp instead of a stout stick).

Ba deól mela a mecnaib ibair.

(was * sucking * of honey * out of * roots * of yew)

It would be like sucking honey from yew roots.

A proverbial expression for the impossible, found in "Aislinge Meic Con Glinne". A slightly different version found in the Book of Ballymote runs "Is do dechraib in domain buain mela ar mecnaib ibair" ("harvesting honey from yew roots is one of the difficult things of the world").

Ba gat imm gainem.

(was * a withe * around * sand)

It would be like tying sand with a willow shoot.

This is one of a surprisingly large repertory of images of the impossible, pointless or fruitless found in Early Irish literature. A fairly exhaustive list of them can be found in the satirical Middle Irish text "Aislinge Meic Con Glinne". Others in this collection include "Ba deól mela...", "Is cuinchid smera...", and "Ba robad do throich." A modern quatrain that O'Rahilly gives as #207 in "Dánfhocail" begins with this image:

Lán gaid do ghaineamh thrágha,
nó beart gaoithe ar ghualainn,
greann dá chur i gcoidreamh
idir bhoidrisg do dhaoine duairce.

Ba gleith ech nDedad.

(was * grazing * of horses * of Ded)

It was the grazing of Ded's horses.

That is, the place was picked clean, with nothing left behind. In the tale "Airec Menman Uraird Maic Coise" the leading character, a poet, uses three metaphorical images to express how completely the enemies of Máel Milscothach pillaged and despoiled his house and lands. He explains this one by telling us that when the horses of Ded grazed at Temair Luachra they ate not just the grass but the earth and gravel beneath it. I haven't been able to locate the tale in which that particular grazing took place, but that sort of voracious grazing is attributed also to Cú Chulainn's horses in the LU Táin, and to three destructive red deer in "Acallam na Senórach".

The second image that the poet Urard mac Coise deploys is similar in style: "Ba tenga bó Goibnenn" (It was the tongue of Gobniu's cow). This cow was apparently the same sort of voracious eater as the animals mentined above.

The third vivid image does not require a mythological explanation to be understood: "Ba diglaim dergtheined" (It was a gleaning of red fire).

Ba maith fer for a ferand fadessin.

(would be * good * a man * on * his * land * own)

A man were well in his own land.

Spoken by Conall Corc in "Conall Corc & the Corcu Luigde", published in Anecdota, iii.59. Conall is in Scotland but wants to return to Ireland. The heavy alliteration on 'f' in the original lends this statement the feel of a maxim.

Ba moch canait a séire.

(was * early * (that) they chant * their * meal)

They have praised their meal before it was served. (They have counted their chickens before they were hatched.)

A proverbial saying found in the Book of Leinster.