For context, a youtube comment on the mistranslation of this line:
"@Kitchen_Sessions
3 years ago
I just want to correct this daft notion that the chorus means "Oro you're welcome home." It means
nothing of the sort. In spite of what Google translate may tell you. This version of the song is a call to
action. A call to arms, to insurrection and to take back the land stolen by foreigners. Let me explain why.
The full line of the chorus is: Óró. Is sé do bheatha abhaile (If you are speaking English you could say it
as: "o ro iss shay do va-ha awal-ya" but a little bit quickly.
Irish is a very contextual language. It depends what you say and when you say it. If you read "aimsire
lahreach" in a grammar book, it's probably saying "present tense". If you see exactly the same thing on
TV is probably means "weather report". See how different they are. It's the same with this song.
"Óró" is grabbing your attention. My granny would often call "Oro a Dáithí".
It means everything from "come here" "pay attention" "heads-up" "mind what you are doing" "look
here" and so on. So she was saying: "Pay attention David".... So pay attention you... or just "heads-up"...
Óró a thú ...
The next word in the written version is the verb/copula: "Is" and it's missing from the song. That's
common enough in Irish, because "everyone" knows it should be there. So the phrase should be "Is sé
do".... It is your... beatha, (do bheatha). There is no English word for this. The nearest would be
"livelihood" or "sustenance", even "heritage" - and all of them together. In this case I think it's OK to say
it means "birth right". Now: bhaile is really: abhaile... Meaning "back home".So the whole phrase gets
pronounced: o ro iss shay do va-ha awal-ya. But it's too long to fit the metre of the song so we get.: o ro
shay do va awal-ya. And all that is quite ok in Irish.
SO, THE LINE REALLY MEANS: Pay attention It's your birth-right back home.
The last line of the chorus is especially important: To read it as "now that summer is coming" would be
to misunderstand it. In agricultural Ireland, the summer is useless - unless you've already prepared "in
the coming of the summer" in March and April. Which is exactly what the line says: Anois (now)... ar
theacht (in the coming of)... an tsamhraidh (the summer).
The song goes on to say something like "I was in a bar in some foreign lad when this woman began
bemoaning me... Don't you know what's going on back home.... Your birth right is being stolen and sold
to foreigners. Because although this is an old song, a little over 100years ago Patrick Pearse re-wrote it
to support the planned rising (April 1916). There's nothing about "welcome home" in these lyrics (except
for a bit about being more welcome than a hundred cows who were milking (and so especially valuable
at a time when a man was considered rich if he had two cows). So to repeat myself, this version of the
song is a call to action. A call to arms, insurrection and to take back the land stolen by foreigners."
For context, a youtube comment on the mistranslation of this line:
"@Kitchen_Sessions 3 years ago I just want to correct this daft notion that the chorus means "Oro you're welcome home." It means nothing of the sort. In spite of what Google translate may tell you. This version of the song is a call to action. A call to arms, to insurrection and to take back the land stolen by foreigners. Let me explain why. The full line of the chorus is: Óró. Is sé do bheatha abhaile (If you are speaking English you could say it as: "o ro iss shay do va-ha awal-ya" but a little bit quickly. Irish is a very contextual language. It depends what you say and when you say it. If you read "aimsire lahreach" in a grammar book, it's probably saying "present tense". If you see exactly the same thing on TV is probably means "weather report". See how different they are. It's the same with this song. "Óró" is grabbing your attention. My granny would often call "Oro a Dáithí". It means everything from "come here" "pay attention" "heads-up" "mind what you are doing" "look here" and so on. So she was saying: "Pay attention David".... So pay attention you... or just "heads-up"... Óró a thú ... The next word in the written version is the verb/copula: "Is" and it's missing from the song. That's common enough in Irish, because "everyone" knows it should be there. So the phrase should be "Is sé do".... It is your... beatha, (do bheatha). There is no English word for this. The nearest would be "livelihood" or "sustenance", even "heritage" - and all of them together. In this case I think it's OK to say it means "birth right". Now: bhaile is really: abhaile... Meaning "back home".So the whole phrase gets pronounced: o ro iss shay do va-ha awal-ya. But it's too long to fit the metre of the song so we get.: o ro shay do va awal-ya. And all that is quite ok in Irish. SO, THE LINE REALLY MEANS: Pay attention It's your birth-right back home. The last line of the chorus is especially important: To read it as "now that summer is coming" would be to misunderstand it. In agricultural Ireland, the summer is useless - unless you've already prepared "in the coming of the summer" in March and April. Which is exactly what the line says: Anois (now)... ar theacht (in the coming of)... an tsamhraidh (the summer). The song goes on to say something like "I was in a bar in some foreign lad when this woman began bemoaning me... Don't you know what's going on back home.... Your birth right is being stolen and sold to foreigners. Because although this is an old song, a little over 100years ago Patrick Pearse re-wrote it to support the planned rising (April 1916). There's nothing about "welcome home" in these lyrics (except for a bit about being more welcome than a hundred cows who were milking (and so especially valuable at a time when a man was considered rich if he had two cows). So to repeat myself, this version of the song is a call to action. A call to arms, insurrection and to take back the land stolen by foreigners."