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05/11/2012

Tha litir bheag na seachdain aig Ruaraidh MacIllEathain.
This week's short letter for learners is introduced by Ruaraidh MacLean.

3 minutes

Last on

Mon 5 Nov 2012 19:00

Clip

An Litir Bheag 391

Bha mi ag innse dhuibh mar a chunnaic mi èisg gu leòr ann an Èirinn. B’ iad na h-èisg sin garbhagan, rionnaich agus saoidheanan. Bha iad a’ lìonadh bàgh air cladach Árainn Mhór. ’S e sin eilean beag far costa an iar-thuath.

Bha sinn a’ glacadh gu leòr de na h-èisg. Bha a’ chlann agam air a dhol suas gu taigh bodaich. Bha iad a’ faighneachd dhen bhodach an robh e ag iarraidh ٲǾ𲹲Բ’ no ٲٳ’ no ‘cDzھ’. Ach cha do thuig e gin de na faclan sin. Thàinig e don chladach.

Mas math mo chuimhne, ’s e íDz no rudeigin coltach ri sin a bha aige fhèin air an t-saoidhean. Thug sinn na h-uidhir dha.

Nuair a thàinig an dorchadas, bha na h-èisg fhathast anns a’ bhàgh. An ath mhadainn, bha iad fhathast ann. Dè bha gan cumail ann? Leumadairean ’s dòcha? Chan eil fhios agam.

’S e na chuir an t-eilean sin nam chuimhne leabhar beag a thàinig a-mach o chionn ghoirid. ’S e Dùthchas na Mara ainm an leabhair. Tha e a’ toirt sùil air dà eilean Ghàidhealach – Árainn Mhór ann an Èirinn agus Barraigh ann an Alba.

’S iad Iain MacFhionghain agus Ruth Ní Bhraonáin na h-ùghdaran. Tha iad a’ sgrìobhadh seo mun dà eilean: ‘..tha iasgairean dhen bheachd gu bheil an teachd-an-tìr is an dòigh-beatha aca fo bhagairt aig buidhnean cumhdachdach nach eil a’ toirt cluas-ri-claisneachd dhaibh.’

’S iad na ‘buidhnean cumhachdach’ Dualchas Nàdair na h-Alba agus Riaghaltas na h-Èireann. Tha Dualchas Nàdair na h-Alba ag iarraidh dà àrainn gleidheadh-mara ainmeachadh ann an uisgeachan Bharraigh. Chuir Riaghaltas na h-Èireann dàil air iasgach le lìn-siabaidh far chosta Árainn Mhór. Tha an leabhar a’ toirt sùil air an ùٳ󳦳󲹲 co-cheangailte ri gach eilean. Tha na h-ùghdaran ag ràdh gu bheil sin a’ buntainn a cheart cho mòr ris a’ mhuir ’s a tha e ris an tìr.

Tha na h-eileanaich air a dhol gu làidir an aghaidh nam buidhnean cumhachdach. Tha na beachdan aca co-cheangailte gu mòr ri ùٳ󳦳󲹲. Chan eil e furasta ùٳ󳦳󲹲 eadar-theangachadh. Bheir sinn sùil air an fhacal ùٳ󳦳󲹲 an-ath-sheachdain.

The Little Letter 391

I was telling how I saw a lot of fish in Ireland. Those fish were sprats, mackerel and saithe. They were filling a bay on the shore of Aranmore. That’s a small island off the north-west coast.

We were catching a lot of the fish. My children had gone up to an old man’s house. They were asking the old man if he wanted ‘saoidh-eanan’ or ٲٳ’ or ‘cDzھ’. But he didn’t understand any of those words. He came to the shore.

If my memory serves me correctly, his own name for the saithe was ìDz or something like that. We gave him a lot [of them].

When darkness fell, the fish were still in the bay. Next morning, they were still there. What was keeping them there? Dolphins, perhaps? I don’t know.

What brought that island to mind was a small book that came out recently. The book is called Belonging to the Sea. It looks at two Gaelic islands – Aranmore in Ireland and Barra in Scotland.

Iain Mackinnon and Ruth Brennan are the authors. They write this about the two islands: ‘ ...the fisherman believe that their livelihood and way of living are being threatened by powerful institutions who are not listening to them.’

The ‘powerful institutions’ are Scottish Natural Heritage and the Irish Government. Scottish Natural Heritage wants to designate two marine conservation areas in the waters of Barra. The Irish Govern-ment has placed a moratorium on fishing with drift-nets off the coast of Aranmore. The book looks at the ùٳ󳦳󲹲 connected to each island. The authors say that [ùٳ󳦳󲹲] is connected as much to the sea as it is to the land.

The islanders have strongly opposed the powerful groups. Their opinions are strongly connected to ùٳ󳦳󲹲. It’s not easy to translate ùٳ󳦳󲹲. We’ll look at the word ùٳ󳦳󲹲 next week.

Broadcast

  • Mon 5 Nov 2012 19:00

All the letters

Tha gach Litir Bheag an seo / All the Little Letters are here.

Podcast: An Litir Bheag

The Little Letter for Gaelic Learners

An Litir Bheag air LearnGaelic

An Litir Bheag is also on LearnGaelic (with PDFs)

Podcast