Cailean Mark - <[email protected]>
Tip 22

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Last modified: May 28, 2000
These are from the Gaidhlig-B Mailing List, courtesy of Cailean Mark

Date: Thu, 25 May 2000 19:31:47 From: Colin Mark <[email protected]> Subject: Tip of the Week 22 - remember (4)   Tip of the Week 22 This time we're dealing with the verb *cuimhnich*. The verbal noun is *cuimhneachadh*.   *Ciuimhnich* is more versatile than the other expressions in some areas of usage, and less versatile in others.     It is more versatile in that:   1. Commands (strictly speaking *reminders*!) may be given:   Ach cuimhnich, a bhalaich, chan eil e seo agad ach air iasad. But remember, lad, you have this only on loan.   Cuimhnich nach do rinn mi seo riamh roimhe.. Remember that I have never done this before.   Agus cuimhnicheamaid gun do rinn iad seo air ar son. And let us remember that they did this for us. (for our sake)   2. verbal noun constructions may be used: Bha mi a' cuimhneachadh gach droch bheart a rinn iad. I was recalling every evil deeed they had comitted.   Bu chòir dhuinn cuimhneachadh gun deach iomadach rud feumail a dhèanamh. We should remember that many useful things were done.   3. The whole range of tenses is possible (at least in theory):   Ach cuimhnichear gu do chuidich iad leinn. But it will be remembered that they helped us.   Nuair a chuimhnicheas sinn air ... When we remember it /him ... (i.e. will remember)   Chuimhnich i air rud a thuirt e. She remembered something he had said (a thing he had said)   It is less versatile in that:   Only clauses beginning with *gu* (in all its forms), *nach* and *mar* follow it (as far as I can ascertain, but I would welcome further information on this point)   Note also that *air* is always used before a noun or in a prepositional pronoun, except after the verbal noun where it appears to be optional (again, I would welcome further information on this point)   That completes the series on *remembering*.   Cailean Am Marcair Dubh Is i a' Ghàidhlig Cànan mo Dhùthcha.   Date: Sat, 27 May 2000 03:02:50 +0100 From: Tom Thomson <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Tip of the Week 22 - remember (4)   Sgriobh am Marcair dubh:- >Note also that *air* is always used before a noun or in a >prepositional pronoun, except after the verbal noun where it >appears to be optional (again, I would welcome further information >on this point)   I don't think "air" is always needed before a noun, I'm sure it's optional with the imperative as well as with the verbal noun, for example   Cuimhnich, a ghillean, ur duthaich 's ur righinn, 'S na meallaibh ur n-eideadh gu brath   (but that was written about 145 years ago, I think, so maybe it implies nothing about Gaelic today) and I think it's optional with other forms of the verb too.   Certainly with the noun cuimhne it can be omitted, for example   A ribhinn am bheil cuimhn' agad an oidhche mu's do sheol mi (Or Ribhinn og bheil cuimhn' agad an oidhche mu'n do sheol mi in the Lewis version - see Eilean Fraoich 2nd edition) and if you can stick a noun without "air" after the noun "cuimhne" you can surely do it after the verb "cuimhnich".   Micheal     Date: Sat, 27 May 2000 19:37:15 +0100 From: Colin Mark <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Tip of the Week 22 - remember (4)   A Mhìcheil,   My observations were based on quite a large number of samples taken from prose. This system of working isn't always foolproof. On doing a quick rescan of my resources, I did come across one example of *air* being omitted before a noun. However, this still leaves a significant difference between the usage with nouns directly following *cuimhnich* and that involving a verbal noun construction.   Perhaps I should rephrase (with reference to *cuimhnich*):   Note also that *air* is commonly used before a noun. The omission of *air* appears to be more common in constructions involving verbal nouns. (again, I would welcome further information on this point). When personal pronouns are involved, prepositional pronouns of *air* are used.   This last point seems to be a constant.   With regard to the *tha cuimhne aig* construction, the example you give i.e. > A ribhinn am bheil cuimhn' agad an oidhche mu's do sheol mi > (Or Ribhinn og bheil cuimhn' agad an oidhche mu'n do sheol mi   - is very interesting. My own examples, all taken from prose, are very consistent on this point, but, of course, I may simply not have enough samples to come to a firm conclusion.   Cailean Am Marcair Dubh Is i a' Ghàidhlig Cànan mo Dhùthcha.     Date: Sun, 28 May 2000 02:56:13 +0100 From: Tom Thomson <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Tip of the Week 22 - remember (4)   A Chailein   > A Mhìcheil, > My observations were based on quite a large number of samples taken > from prose. This system of working isn't always foolproof.     It's probably better than relying on examples from poetry, which mine was. I have read far more poetry than prose in Gaelic, mostly because there used to be very little prose in print, and I've never made a systematic study of usage so your conclusion is probably right for the verb in the absence of "poetic license".     > - is very interesting. My own examples, all taken from prose, > are very consistent on this point, but, of course, I may simply > not have enough samples to come to a firm conclusion.   Well, I can give you a prose example for "tha cuimhne aig":- Clyne gives "Am bheil cuimhne agad an diol ...." as one of his idioms under "remember", so I suspect it's common in prose as well as poetry as Clyne is pretty reliable.   But I'm pretty sure your point about using the prepositional pronouns based on air rather than the simple pronouns applies here too, it's only with nouns and not with pronouns that "air" is omitted.   Micheal

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