Hello friends! I am a new member here. I'm a long time language and history enthusiast and I recently found the text "Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib" and thought reading some excerpts would be a fun way to finally teach myself a Celtic language. However I've been having more issues with Irish than I have with other languages. I was hoping you all could help me out. To clarify, I have a rough translation of the text, I'm more interested in the literal meanings and the grammar. Anyways, I'm starting out with a quote from Brian Boru:

Ocus ro fheittarsa féin nach pach as so beó.

Can someone explain to me what is going on with ro fheittarsa and nach pach?

Thanks!

It looks like Middle Irish and it's very different from Modern Irish...
And the problem is that the spelling of one word can change a lot, even within the same text, ie. you may not find it in a dictionary.
For instance, I searched for "fheittar" and "pach" in eDIL (the most comprehensive early Irish dictionary : http://edil.qub.ac.uk/ ) and these words weren't found.
I think "ro fheittar" means "I knew" (you can find it spelt "f(h)etar" in eDIL). For "pach" I don't know...
And I don't think there are many people who know old or Middle Irish here. I know only a little bit...

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Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne

Ah, good find on f(h)etar! Now I'm just trying to work out pach. Based on the translation I expect "place" but the words for place that I find in online dictionaries doesn't seem to match.

I found Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib here: https://archive.org/stream/cogadhgaedhe ... 3/mode/2up

can you tell me on what page your sentence is?

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Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne

Yes thats the same translation I have access too. The translation it gives is "and I myself know that I shall not leave this place alive." I didn't write down the page number but its fairly close to the end during the main battle.

I don't have time to read the whole text till I find the sentence, but I'm almost sure it's not "nach pach" but "nach rach" (maybe with an abbreviated ending). "Pach" doesn't look like an Irish verb, which "rach" is well known (modern Irish: rachaidh mé = I will go).
I think I can help you more if you find the page and tell me what it is

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Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne

Ah, the p and r look similar in this script so its probably a transcription error on my part. Thanks for the help Lughaidh

I'm going to work on the battle scene now, I will be sure to write down the page number for tricky parts.

Okay, I got stuck on a tricky part. From page 182:

Daig ro cenglait, ocus ro cuibrigit a ngae os a cennaib da foltaib faidb ro thafaind in goeth cugaind.

The English that edition gives is: "Because our spears over our heads had become clogged and bound with long locks of hair, which the wind forced upon us."

I couldn't find a fitting translation for daig. I found fire/burning but I assume thats wrong. I am confused why it uses "a" rather than "ar." It looks like a 3rd pl possessive where I expect a 1st. For "faidb ro thafaind in goeth cugaind" I assume its saying something about wind but I couldn't find most of these words.

What you are trying to read there is probably Middle Irish.

for daig = because see "1 daig":
http://edil.qub.ac.uk/search?search_in= ... =d%C3%A1ig

identical to Modern Irish dóigh, see "dóigh3":
http://www.teanglann.ie/en/fgb/dóigh

"a" here is not "their" but the neuter article: "the spears over the heads"

tafaind -> tafainn
goeth -> gaoth
faidb -> fadhb
foltaib -> foltaibh dative plural of folt; da foltaib faidb = to knotty locks
cugaind -> chugainn

You might like to have a look at this -

www.vanhamel.nl/codecs/Middle_Irish