Quotations: Exclamations
 

A cenna dona druídib ocus dona filedaib!

(their * heads * from the * druids * and * from the * poets)

Off with the heads of the druids and the poets!

This is what Scoriath threatens in "Orgain Denna Ríg", if his men of wisdom do not find out who has taken his daughter's virginity.

Am trú-sa trá!

(I am * a doomed man - emphatic * indeed)

I'm doomed for sure!

So says Cú Chulainn in "Serglige Con Culainn" when he misses his second shot with a sling stone at a pair of magical birds who are flying in tandem, linked by a chain of gold. His failure to hit them shocks him because, as he goes on to explain, "Ó gabus-sa gaisced níro lá iomroll mo urchur cuss indíu." ("Since I took up arms my aim has never failed until today.")

Amrae n-amrae!

(wonder * of wonders)

Wonder of wonders!

This is the sentiment of the crowd when Conaire, a beardless lad, fulfils a prophecy and wins the kingship of Ireland, in the tale "Togail Bruidne Da Derga". In today's Irish they would say "Iontas na n-iontas!"

Colla dem inchaib!
(go away * from my * face)

Get out of my sight!

In the tale "Aided Guill", Cú Chulainn's charioteer, Lóeg, berates the hero for failing miserably in his first encounter with Goll, flinging a string of tauting comparisons at him (see Rot·naisc...), ending with those words.

In the tale "Goire Conaill i Cruachain ocus Aided Ailella ocus Conaill Chernaig", edited and translated by Meyer in ZCP i, Ailill uses a similar expression when he tells Conall Cernach:

"Not·beir éim as dem inchaib, resiu ba marb-sa." = Take yourself out of my presence, before I die." Conall had just mortally wounded Ailill, and the king's command is actually a kindness, intended to allow Conall a chance to escape. In the end, Conall dies, too, as the title of the tale makes clear.

Dar fír ar cubais!

(by * truth * of our * conscience)

Upon our conscience! By what we deem right!

The first thing that Fergus exclaims upon hearing Medb's plan to wipe out a company of her own allies at the beginning of the Táin, before going on to tell her "Over my dead body!" ("Ní dingnea bás dóib-siút acht intí dogéna bás dam-sa!") Keating uses the expression "Dar mo chubhas" in an Early Modern Irish poem, and the modern version of the same is "Dar mo chúis!" For another example of the Early Irish use of the potent word "fír" (truth), see "For fír th'ainich ocus t'anama!"

Fé amae!
(alas * indeed)

Woe is me!

A formulaic expression, spoken by Cú Chulainn in "Serglige Con Culainn", and by others elsewhere. The druid Ollgáeth in "Tochmarc Ferbe" exclaims "All amae" when he sees a bad omen.

Fir gontair, mná bertair, baí aegtair!

(men * are slain * women * are abducted * cattle * are driven)

Men are killed, women are carried off, cattle are driven away!

This is the dire warning that Súaltaim repeated again and again to the Ulstermen at the behest of his son, Cú Chulainn, when he was unable to resist the invading army, in the LL version of "Táin Bó Cúailnge".

In comram beus!

(the * contest * still)

On with the contest!

Spoken by Cet in "Scéla Muicce Meic Da Thó", as the gathered warriors compete for the "curadmír" or "champion's portion" (the best cut of meat at the feast) by boasting of their deeds of prowess.

Is mór in bét!

(great * the * calamity)

What a pity!

This exclamation, used as a cheville in a short poem found in "Sanas Cormaic", is still alive virtually unchanged 1,100 years later in Scottish Gaelic as "Is mór am beud". See also the quatrain that begins "Mór in bét!" in this collection.

Mairg dam-sa ría cách, mairg íar cách!

(woe * to me - emphatic * before * everyone * woe * after * everyone)

Woe to me before everyone, woe after everyone!

The anguished exclamation of Lomnae Drúth in "Togail Bruidne Da Derga".