Here are notes on Ros Muc Irish, based on Mise by Colm Ó Gaora, An Gúm, B.Á.C. 2008.
* aithinne ‘spark’: aithinne na Saoirse a choigilt. Note that coigil!/coigilt means, in addition to ‘to spare, save (money)’, also ‘to keep a fire burning by raking embers together’
* banlámh means ‘cubit’; ó rinne banlámh cóta dom means, notionally, ‘since the time one cubit was enough to make a coat for me’. (p. vii)
* cipe a group of people in military formation, a patrol, a group of guards escorting someone (p. 3): Is minic a deireadh sé linn gur fear dá chipe a thit ar an mbealach, i.e. a man that was part of his own group or patrol fell
* cliútúil is another form of clúiteach ‘famous’: Tá roinnt mhaith leabhar againn faoi na daoine móra cliútúla sa tír seo a raibh baint acu le Cogadh na Saoirse (p. vii).
* croitheadh an tsacáin means the youngest child of the family. Synonymes include dríodar an chrúiscín and deireadh an áil. (p. 1)
* dámhscoil bardic school (p. 3)
* drífísc (Ó Dónaill: drifisc with two short i’s) dregs (p. 5): drifísc agus dríodar an chine dhaonna (i.e. the dregs of mankind – here there are two allitterating words for the dregs, as is typical of Irish)
* ging is the same as ding, i.e. wedge, but ging d’fhear, “a wedge of a man”, is a thickset or solid man (p. 1)
* greim an mharaí ina chosa (p.1) means that he had sea-legs, was able to walk aboard a ship
* ídigh!/ídiú can mean ‘to eat, to consume’ (p.1): …a raibh d’fheoil ídithe ag an méid sin fear ‘all the meat that had been consumed by all those/so many men’
* lúthláidir ‘having a strong (láidir) power of movement (lúth). Lúfar is related and means something similar. Bean lúthláidir dheabhóideach dhiaganta a bhí i mo mháthair (p. 3) ‘my mother was a strong and agile, religious and God-fearing woman’
* Rinn na hAdhairce Cape Horn (p. 1) – but note that Rinn an Choirn is the official recommendation
* smearchuimhne hazy memories of something (the same as mearchuimhne) (p. 5): Bhí daoine beo le linn óige mo mháthar a raibh smearchuimhne acu ar bhliain na bhFrancach
* spreacúil energetic, spirited (p. 1)
* stolpán means (according to Ó Dónaill) ‘stodgy food, stift or caked thing’, but in this fragment (p. 4) it is a descriptive word for a piece of land: Stolpán de thalamh sléibhe nach raibh lán ná láí saothraithe de a bhí ann.
* tabhairt amach display, demonstration (p.3): is aige a bhí tabhairt amach ar fhiannaíocht ‘he was indeed able to demonstrate [a knowledge of] Fianna stories’
* tothlú desire (p. 2). Bhí an tothlú sin aige léi go bhfuair sé bás.
* urrúnta physically strong, robust (p. 1)
