GO mBEANNAÍ DIA daoibh to dreamers and feet-on-the-grounders alike, you’re all welcome to the Bluffer’s Guide to Irish.
As all his loyal fans know, the Bluffer is a man of keen intellect.
Not for him na sobaldrámaí - the soap operas on repeat in Seomra Feithimh Dé - God’s waiting room; he has never watched a Narco in his life - unless he is brushing up on the use of the past perfect subjunctive in Mexican Spanish.
Call him ardnósach - snobby if you like but the Bluffer prefers something rud beag níos sofaisticiúla - a little bit more sophisticated so he was delighted to stumble across Art that Made Us, a series looking at “key historic art works which have shaped the history of the British Isles” (oops, the Beeb mustn’t have got the memo!)
In the first programme, thit sé faoi dhraíocht - he fell under the spell of Spong Man.
No, Spong Man is not a sárlaoch Marvel - a Marvel superhero but a claibín síothla déanta as cré - a clay urn lid that was found in Spong Hill in Norfolk, the site of one of England’s largest Anglo-Saxon graveyards.
The pagan Anglo-Saxons used créamadh - cremation as their burial of choice, the ashes placed in urns, a lid put on top to seal it and then buried.
Although he was created in the early 400s AD, you can’t but connect with Spong Man, perhaps now more than ever.
Tá an chuma air nach dtuigeann sé cad é tá ag dul ar aghaidh - he looks as if he doesn’t understand what is going on.
He was made by inimircigh - immigrants into what would become England – Angles, Saxons and Jutes, north Germanic tribes who fused to become Anglo-Saxons.
Before them, where the natives, the Britons, treibheanna Ceilteacha - Celtic tribes who spoke what today is modern Welsh but who in fact lived all over the island of Britain.
Art that Made Us then moves from the little dealbh - sculpture that is Spong Man to poetry, featuring Michael Sheen reading from Y Gogoddin, a poem in Old Welsh written by Aneirin and preserved in a 13th century lámhscríbhinn - a manuscript.
Aneirin was known in Wales but lived in what today is Edinburgh and wrote about a battle in northern England - in the Welsh language Welsh-speaking Wales is just a small iarsma - remnant of a far wider culture.
But bhí an lámh in uachtar á fháil ag na hAngla-Shacsanaigh - the Anglo-Saxons were getting the upper-hand, imposing their language on all before them.
But hark, few today would understand the language of Beowulf, the great Anglo-Saxon poem the same way that Irish of the same period would be unintelligible even to the Bluffer.
Art that Made Us does touch upon the Irish influence in Britain, mentioning that the wonderful Bible of Lindisfarne owes a lot to Irish visual culture before moving on to those pesky Anglo-Saxons being defeated by the even peskier Normans and new artforms created.
A fascinating series, you can watch Art that Made Us on the BBC iPlayer.
CÚPLA FOCAL
na sobaldrámaí(ne subble-draamee) - the soap operasSeomra Feithimh Dé(shawmra fehiv jay) - God’s waiting roomardnósach(ardnossakh) - snobbyrud beag níos sofaisticiúla(rud big nees sofistikyoola) - a little bit more sophisticatedthit sé faoi dhraíocht(hitch shay fwee greeakht) - he fell under the spellsárlaoch Marvel (saarlaykh) - a Marvel superhero claibín síothla déanta as cré(clabeen sheehla janta as cray) - a clay urn lidcréamadh(craymoo) - cremationTá an chuma air nach dtuigeann sé cad é tá ag dul ar aghaidh(taa un khuma er nakh digan shay cadge ay taa eg gul ar ay) - he looks as if he doesn’t understand what is going on.inimircigh(inimirkee) - immigrantstreibheanna Ceilteacha(chrevana keltchaha) - Celtic tribesdealbh(jaloo) - sculpture lámhscribhinn(laowshkriveen)- a manuscriptiarsma(eersma) - remnant bhí an lámh in uachtar á fháil ag na hAngla-Shacsanaigh (vee un laow in ooakhter a isle eg na hangla-haxanee) - the Anglo-Saxons were getting the upper-hand
