Proinn is Amhráin

During the live Q&A with Darach Ó Scolaí for the Bódléar Summer Reading Challenge, the author mentioned a particular book by Amhlaoibh Ó Súilleabháin (Amhlaoibh is the Irish for Humphrey).

Cérbh é Amhlaoibh Ó Suilleabháin? | Who was Amhlaoibh Ó Suilleabháin?

Amhlaoibh was born in 1780 and from the age of 9 onwards he lived in the town of Callainn (Callan) in County Kilkenny. 

Amhlaoibh, a school teacher, was a native speaker of both Irish and English.

You are unlikely to find many native Irish speakers in Callainn in this day and age, but at the time of writing the town was one of the strongest Irish speaking areas in Leinster.

Luckily for us, Amhlaoibh kept a diary throughout most of his life, written for the most part in Irish, called Cín Lae Amhlaoibh.

Cín Lae Amhlaoibh | Amhlaoibh's Diary

Cín lae is another word for dialann, or 'diary'; the word cín being another word for book and lae being the genitive case of the word lá, the Irish for 'day', so quite literally 'day book'.

In his day book Amhlaoibh jots down his thoughts and interests and the goings-on of daily life in 19th century Ireland. 

Here's an entry from 14 September 1828:

14ú Meán Fómhair .i. Dé Domhnaigh .i. Lá Pátrúin na Cuaillí .i. an Domhnach tar éis Lá Fhéile Muire. Lá breá tirim gréine néaltana. Gaoth bheoga fhionnuar aduaidh. Shábháil Tomás Ó Niúláin a chuid eornan. Is iomdha bean cheangail agus fear carnaidh is stáca a bhí ag cúnamh leis. 

Chaith ceathrar againn proinn leis an Athair Séamas Heineabaire. Bhí cois caoireolach bhruite le meacain agus tuirnéisí, bhí gé rósta le pis uaine agus putóg, bhí mias stríopaisí múchta i leamhnacht, bhí fíon pórt agus scailtín, bhí tae agus amhráin bhinne Ghaeilge againn agus chaitheamar an oíche agus an t-aon bhuille déag go súgach sólásach somheanmnach suairc séimh sultmhar. 

Béarla:

14th September i.e. Sunday i.e. Feast of the Holy Cross i.e. the Sunday after the feast of Mary. A fine dry day of sunshine with some clouds. A brisk cool north wind. Tomás Ó Niúláin saved his barley. Many a woman tying and a man heaping and staking were there to help him.

Four of us shared a meal with Father Séamas Heineabaire. There was a leg of mutton boiled with (meacan: this can mean a variety of root vegetables) and (tuirnéis: 'some kind of crop', according to Dinneen's Irish-English Dictionary), there was roast goose with green peas and putóg, there was a dish of strips steeped in new milk (strips of what we cannot say for definite), there was port wine and scailtín (an old alcoholic beverage, kind of like eggnog), we had tea and sweet Irish songs and we spent the night and the eleventh hour in a merry, joyous, cheerful, gay, gentle and enjoyable way.

That's some meal to have shared with the parish priest. Sound familiar to anyone?

If you've read Bódléar you'll notice that the priest also likes his fine dining!

Click here to find out more about the Bódléar Challenge.