A keen by F. Scott Fitzgerald

[Tomaz Metelko]

Hello there,

My name is Tomaz and I'm translating F. Scott Fitzgerald's This Side of
Paradise (into Slovene).

Now, in the Interlude, the part between Book One and Book Two, there is an
Irish keen, wrote by Monsignor Darcy and included in his letter to Amory,
the protagonist. In it (or more precisely, in the first line of each verse)
there are phrases which somehow I can't really decode. They are the
following: Ochone; Awirra sthrue; Aveelia Vrone; Mavrone go Gudyo; A Vich
Deelish; Jia du Vaha Alanav; and, at the very end, Och Ochone.

I was told at sci.language.translation that they are Irish (Gaelic) phrases
written in English phonetics, and was also given the following answers:
1) "Ochone" is Irish: ochón, "alas"
2) "Awirra sthrue" is Irish: A Mhuire, is trua, "alas", literally, "O Mary,
it is pity"
3) "Aveelia Vrone" could be "A mhíle bhrón" - "a thousand sorrows" (??)
4) "Mavrone go Gudyo" - the first part is Irish: Mo bhrón, "my sorrow,
alas"; can't work out the second part.
5) "A Vich Deelish" is Irish: A mhic dílis, "O dear son"
6) "Jia du Vaha Alanav" is Irish: Dia do bheatha a leanbh, literally "God to
your life, o child", I think

I would be very grateful if someone approved or disproved the above
'translations', gave the right ones where necessary, and told me about "Och
Ochone".

Here is the whole keen:

A Lament for a Foster Son, and He going to the War Against the King of
Foreign.

"Ochone
He is gone from me the son of my mind
And he in his golden youth like Angus Oge
Angus of the bright birds
And his mind strong and subtle like the mind of Cuchulin on Muirtheme.

Awirra sthrue
His brow is as white as the milk of the cows of Maeve
And his cheeks like the cherries of the tree
And it bending down to Mary and she feeding the Son of God.

Aveelia Vrone
His hair is like the golden collar of the Kings at Tara
And his eyes like the four gray seas of Erin.
And they swept with the mists of rain.

Mavrone go Gudyo
He to be in the joyful and red battle
Amongst the chieftains and they doing great deeds of valor
His life to go from him
It is the chords of my own soul would be loosed.

A Vich Deelish
My heart is in the heart of my son
And my life is in his life surely
A man can be twice young
In the life of his sons only.

Jia du Vaha Alanav
May the Son of God be above him and beneath him, before him and behind him
May the King of the elements cast a mist over the eyes of the
King of Foreign,
May the Queen of the Graces lead him by the hand the way he can go
through the midst of his enemies and they not seeing him

May Patrick of the Gael and Collumb of the Churches and the
five thousand Saints of Erin be better than a shield to him
And he go into the fight.
Och Ochone."

Thank you very much in advance.
Bye all,

--

TM
____________

Tomaz Metelko
Gor. Brezovica 50
8310 Sentjernej
Slovenija
tome...@volja.net

[Liam Smith]

It seems right to my mind, as shakey as my Irish is.

In your 4), below, could go Gudyo be the Irish: go gadaíocht, "thieving" or
"robbing?" The stanza has to do with his life going from him, or being
robbed from him.

Also, the Och Ochone, at the end, would be the same word ochóne that is used
in the beginning, and och could be ach, but, as in, "might the saints have
preserved him, 'but alas' [they didn't]"

> 1) "Ochone" is Irish: ochón, "alas"
> 2) "Awirra sthrue" is Irish: A Mhuire, is trua, "alas", literally, "O
Mary,
> it is pity"
> 3) "Aveelia Vrone" could be "A mhíle bhrón" - "a thousand sorrows" (??)
> 4) "Mavrone go Gudyo" - the first part is Irish: Mo bhrón, "my sorrow,
> alas"; can't work out the second part.
> 5) "A Vich Deelish" is Irish: A mhic dílis, "O dear son"
> 6) "Jia du Vaha Alanav" is Irish: Dia do bheatha a leanbh, literally "God
to
> your life, o child", I think
>
> I would be very grateful if someone approved or disproved the above
> 'translations', gave the right ones where necessary, and told me about
"Och
> Ochone".
>

[O'Kiwi]

On Fri, 27 Feb 2004 05:55:39 GMT, Donn
<e.@.c.h.u.i.s.c.e.e.a.l.a.i.o.n.t.a> wrote:

>"Tomaz Metelko" <tome...@volja.net> said:
>>Hello there,
>>
>>My name is Tomaz and I'm translating F. Scott Fitzgerald's This Side of
>>Paradise (into Slovene).
>>
>>Now, in the Interlude, the part between Book One and Book Two, there is an
>>Irish keen, wrote by Monsignor Darcy and included in his letter to Amory,
>>the protagonist. In it (or more precisely, in the first line of each verse)
>>there are phrases which somehow I can't really decode. They are the
>>following: Ochone; Awirra sthrue; Aveelia Vrone; Mavrone go Gudyo; A Vich
>>Deelish; Jia du Vaha Alanav; and, at the very end, Och Ochone.
>>
>>I was told at sci.language.translation that they are Irish (Gaelic) phrases
>>written in English phonetics, and was also given the following answers:
>>1) "Ochone" is Irish: ochón, "alas"
>>2) "Awirra sthrue" is Irish: A Mhuire, is trua, "alas", literally, "O Mary,
>>it is pity"
>>3) "Aveelia Vrone" could be "A mhíle bhrón" - "a thousand sorrows" (??)
>>4) "Mavrone go Gudyo" - the first part is Irish: Mo bhrón, "my sorrow,
>>alas"; can't work out the second part.
>

>"Gudyo" could be "go deo" - "forever"; but "go go deo" would not make any sense.

Not unless you were going out dancing.

Nik