Spotsolas Seachtain na Gaeilge: Ken Ó Donnchú

Le ceiliúradh a dhéanamh ar Seachtain na Gaeilge 2023, ba mhaith leis An Chomhairle um Thaighde in Éirinn spotsholas a chur ar roinnt dár dtaighdeoirí Gaeilge.

To celebrate Seachtain na Gaeilge 2023 the Irish Research Council highlights a selection of our funded Irish language researchers.

An tAistriúchán agus an Ghaeilge

Téann an t-aistriúchán sa Ghaeilge chomh fada siar leis na foinsí scríofa is ársa dá bhfuil againn. I nGluaiseanna Würzburg, Milan agus St Gall, faightear aistriúcháin Ghaeilge ar fhocail aonair agus ar shleachta fada araon as téacsanna Laidine. Níor nós leis na Gaeil cloí go ró-dhlúth i gcónaí lena raibh sna buntéacsanna rompu, áfach. Thug téacsanna Laidine, Fraincise, Spáinnise, Iodáilise agus Béarla ábhar bunaidh do literati na Gaeilge, a bhféadfaidís a gcuid féin a dhéanamh de as a aithle sin. Sa tslí seo, chuaigh traidisiúin iasachta i bhfeidhm ar sheanchas na nGael. Bhí idir throm agus éadrom i gceist leis seo. Samhlaítear laochra Uladh, Cú Chulainn agus Conall Cearnach, le laochra na Traí, Troilus agus Hector, mar shampla. Ligeann duine de scríobhaithe Lorgaireacht an tSoidhigh Naomhtha (an leagan Gaeilge den scéal clúiteach Artúrach Quest for the Holy Grail) air gur ridire é féin: ‘Sair Seon Mailéadanan’ a thugann sé air féin (‘Seán Mac Aedhagáin’ a bhí air le ceart!)

A bhuí le maoiniú ón gComhairle Um Thaighde in Éirinn, bhíothas ábalta ar chomhdháil ar aistriúchán na Gaeilge a eagrú i gColáiste na hOllscoile, Corcaigh, i 2021, agus imeachtaí na comhdhála a fhoilsiú ó shin. Is mór a chabhraigh an taithí seo liomsa sa tionscadal taighde reatha atá ar bun agam. Faoi láthair, tá leabhar á scríobh agam faoi aistriúcháin an Athar Maghnas Ó Domhnaill. Sagart Ultach ba ea é seo, a d’aistrigh novelas Spáinnise go Gaeilge sa bhliain 1706. I measc rudaí eile sa leabhar féin, beidh na téacsanna Gaeilge le léamh ag an bpobal trí chéile, don chéad uair riamh, seans, ón uair nach raibh léamh na Gaeilge ag mórán daoine in Éirinn nuair a d’aistrigh Ó Domhnaill na scéalta seo. Is mór i gceist an t-aistriúchán i gcónaí. Ag comhdháil Ghréasán Staidéar an Aistriúcháin a bheidh ar siúl in UCC i mí Aibreáin, cíorfar cuid de scéal an aistriúcháin in Éirinn, i dteangacha uile an oileáin san aonú haois fichead. Gan amhras, beidh an Ghaeilge, nach raibh beag beann riamh ar an aistriúchán, ina measc sin.

Irish and Translation

Translation in Irish is as old as the earliest-surviving written sources of the language. Continental libraries preserve these sources; in the famous ‘glosses’ found in Würzburg, Milan and St Gall, Old Irish is used to translate both single words as well as longer sections of Latin texts. Irish translators were not always overly concerned to keep within the confines of their sources. Texts in Latin, French, Spanish, Italian and English gave the cultivators of Irish literature a wealth of raw material which they could shape to their own purposes. This approach, by no means untypical in medieval literatures, influenced Irish literature in fascinating ways. Renowned Ulster heroes like Cú Chulainn and Conall Cearnach were thus likened to Trojan heroes such as Troilus and Hector. On a more mundane level, Seán Mac Aedhagáin, one of the scribes of the Irish translation of the famous Arthurian tale, Quest for the Holy Grail, presents himself as a knight (‘Sir Seon Mailéadanan’) in the text he copied!

Irish Research Council funding supported my organisation of a conference on Irish literary translation at University College Cork in 2021. The proceedings of this conference have since been published. This experience has benefitted me hugely in my current research project, which examines the Spanish-Irish translations of Fr. Maghnas Ó Domhnaill in 1706. Included in the forthcoming monograph are editions of Irish translations, available for public reading for the first time ever, perhaps, since literacy in Ó Domhnaill’s day was far less prevalent than is now the case. Translation remains a key area of research for many disciplines in the Humanities. At the Translation Studies Network of Ireland conference which will take place at UCC this April, the role of translation in the multitude of languages used on a daily basis in today’s Ireland will be examined. Naturally enough, with well over a millennium of such experience, Irish will figure among those languages.