Help! - o cruidh mo cruit - meaning

Subject: Help! - o cruidh mo cruit - meaning
From: GUEST
Date: 14 Mar 06 - 06:07 AM

Can anyone tell me the meaning of the above words in the Eriskay Love Lilt? Thanks.

Subject: RE: Help! - o cruidh mo cruit - meaning
From: Declan
Date: 14 Mar 06 - 04:35 PM

Sounds like the literal translation is from the heart of my harp. But I speak Irish Gaelic. This is Scots.

Subject: RE: Help! - o cruidh mo cruit - meaning
From:
Date: 14 Mar 06 - 05:54 PM

But unfortunately, I've looked for a Scottish Gaelic text with those words in it and can't find it in any version that I've seen. Hmmm.

Subject: RE: Help! - o cruidh mo cruit - meaning
From:
Date: 14 Mar 06 - 06:42 PM

OK! Looking for it as Eriskay Love Lilt I find this verse:

Thou'rt the music of my heart,
Harp of joy, oh cruit mo chridh,
Moon of guidance by night,
Strength and light thou'rt to me.

This is found in the second version. It's in the ENGLISH side. They DO show a Gaelic verse with :

Fada siar air aghaidh cuain
'Se mo dhuansa "Cruit Mo Chridh,"
Guth mo luaidh anns gach stuaidh
'Ga mo nuallan gu tir.

Now, Cruit Mo Chridh' WOULD be translated as Harp of My Heart

Meanwhile, the Eriskay Love Lilt at the Contemplator's web-site, we find the source for one common mis-spelling.

Thou'rt the music of my heart,
Harp of joy, o cuit mo chridh,
Moon of guidance by night,
Strength and light thou'rt to me.

And at this site for Eriskay Love Lilt, we find this chorus:

Thou'rt the music of my heart
Harp of joy, o cruit mo chruidh
Moon of guidance by night
Strength and light thou'rt to me

I haven't seen this variant. Could you post your version of the song and tell us where you got the words from? I'm guessing it to be a misspelled line.

Going by what you have there. Cruidh mo cruit would not be correct Gaelic. I would think it MIGHT be a typo for Cruaidh which is the Gaelic word for HARD/DIFFICULT. The cruit to be correct after the Mo, should be CHRUIT, where it would read MY HARP for Mo Chruit.

Therefore, I suspect your line Cruidh Mo Cruit was typed in wrong and it originally was Cruit Mo Chridh'.

The actual word for heart in Gaelic is cridhe, and to keep the rhythm right in songs, many times they leave off the yuh sound which the dhe would give at the end of the word. eg:
Cridhe = Sounds like Kree-yuh (2 syllables)
and
Cridh' = Sounds like Kree (1 syllable) And in many of the modern methods for spelling Gaelic they leave off all apostrophes, which gives Cridh and with Mo in front, Mo Chridh which is painful to see.

Anyway that's the Gaelic lesson for the day.

Subject: RE: Help! - o cruidh mo cruit - meaning
From:
Date: 14 Mar 06 - 06:44 PM

Hope all of that made sense. I think you can see why I am speculating on a typo.

Subject: RE: Help! - o cruidh mo cruit - meaning
From: GUEST,Toenails John
Date: 15 Mar 06 - 02:04 PM

For a wider discussion on this, you could try posting on this site, I was recomended here from Mudcat on a previous query I had. very good you have to "sign up" to post, but it's easy and hassle free.
(Says I a guest here still! will rectify that oneday!)

The Irish Gaelic Translator ,com (forum)

Hope this helps

Subject: RE: Help! - o cruidh mo cruit - meaning
From: vivsings
Date: 17 Mar 06 - 03:11 PM

Ashamed to say the typo was mine!! The spelling was as you guessed "o cruit mo chridh" - thanks for all your help.

Subject: RE: Help! - o cruidh mo cruit - meaning
From: GUEST,Paolo
Date: 01 Jun 10 - 12:38 PM

Hi guys I found this lyric for this song whole in gaelic any help to translate it?

So sad am I without thee, dear harp of my heart.
When I am lonely, love's light will surely
find the old pathway to thee.
Chorus
Bheir mi òro bhan o, Bheir mi òro bhan i,
Bheir mi òru o ho, 'S mi tha bronach's tu'm dhith.
'S iomadh oidhche fliuch is fuar
Ghabh mi cuairt is mi leam fhin,
Gus an d'rainig mi'n t-àit
Far'n robh gradh geal mo chridh.
Chorus
'Na mo chlàrsaich cha robh ceòl
'Na mo mheoirean cha robh àgh,
Rinn do phògsa mo leon,
Fhuair mi Eolas an dàin.
Chorus

(source: http://www.burbler.com/blackburn-fiona-an-eriskay-love-lilt--gradh-geal-mo-chridh-lyrics.html)

Subject: RE: Help! - o cruidh mo cruit - meaning
From: GUEST,Phil
Date: 01 Jun 10 - 02:37 PM

see: /thread.cfm?threadid=41358#596640

Subject: RE: Help! - o cruidh mo cruit - meaning
From: GUEST,Barb
Date: 25 May 16 - 05:59 PM

I too am looking for translation of part of "An Eriskay Love Lilt". My copy of the music shows it was an "English adaptation and pianoforte accompaniment by Marjory Kennedy-Fraser."
It shows the pronunciation of the above subject phrase, to be "crotch mo chree" and means "Heart of my heart".

What I would like to know is what the chorus means.
Here's the words as shown in my copy.
Vair me oro van o
Vair me oro van ee
Vair me oru o ho
Sad am I without thee.

Would appreciate any help.
Thanks
Barb

Subject: RE: Help! - o cruidh mo cruit - meaning
From: Helen
Date: 25 May 16 - 07:26 PM

Hi Barb,

This thread might help. There is a long discussion on translating the original Gaelic language into English, and this is the Gaelic chorus as posted by Áine:


Bheir mí óró, bhean ó
Bheir mí óró, ó bhean í
Bheir mí óró ó hó
Tá mé brónach 's tú i m'dhith

and an English translation:

Chorus:
I've gone away, oh dear one
I've gone away, oh dear one
I've gone away
I'm miserable and missing you

Helen

Subject: RE: Help! - o cruidh mo cruit - meaning
From: keberoxu
Date: 25 May 16 - 07:49 PM

Could the thread title be changed to "o cruit mo chridh"?

Subject: RE: Help! - o cruidh mo cruit - meaning
From: Helen
Date: 27 May 16 - 03:56 PM

Oops. Looks like I forgot to post the link for that thread I mentioned in answer to Barb's question.

Help: bheir me o - meaning

Helen

Subject: RE: Help! - o cruidh mo cruit - meaning
From: Felipa
Date: 14 Feb 17 - 08:05 AM

Helen,
Bheir mi ó is probably a meaningless vocable although there is a verb "beir" meaning to carry. "óró" is an expression used in many Irish and Scottish Gaelic songs and doesnt have any particular meaning.

Cruit mo chridhe does mean Harp of my heart but I havent come across that phrase in any of the Gaelic language versions of the song. Eriskay Love Lilt is based on a Gaelic song known as Gràdh Geal Mo Chridh' or Bheir Mí O, but I havent heard anyone sing the phrase cruit mo chridh' in Irish or Scots Gaelic renderings. I did find it in these lyrics however:
Fada siar air aghaidh cuain,
'S e mo dhuansa Cruit mo Chridhe;
Guth mo luaidh anns gach stuaidh,
Ga mo nuallan gu tìr.
http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/gaidhlig/alltandubh/orain/Gradh_Geal.html

Subject: RE: Help! - o cruidh mo cruit - meaning
From: Felipa
Date: 14 Feb 17 - 08:29 AM

the Gaelic verse including the phrase "Cruit mo chridh'" is one of the verses published by Kennedy-Fraser and MacLeod. I note that it appears that Kenneth MacLeod is credited with the Gaelic verses and M Kennedy-Fraser with the "English adaptation" in publication: http://www.itma.ie/digitallibrary/book/29215-sm

Subject: RE: Help! - o cruidh mo cruit - meaning
From: Thompson
Date: 15 Feb 17 - 03:17 AM

Handy English-Irish Irish-English
dictionary here, and further, if you enter a word plus "wiktionary" into a Google search, eg

cruit wiktionary

you'll usually get the word, its pronunciation, meaning, etymology and conjunction or declension.

Subject: RE: Help! - o cruidh mo cruit - meaning
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Mar 21 - 08:28 PM

Keep watch for me, golden lass
Oh, harp of my heart.

Subject: RE: Help! - o cruidh mo cruit - meaning
From: Felipa
Date: 06 Mar 21 - 07:09 AM

As others have said, the words should be reversed - "cruit mo chridhe", harp of my heart (my dear harp). It is Scottish Gaelic but not much different from Irish. And the song Bheir mi ó has a Rathlin Island variant quite well known in Ireland as well as in Scotland.

Beir mi can be translated "carry me" but this is an irregular verb and the past tense "I carried" is "rug mi" rather than "bheir mi". Basically the first three lines of the chorus are vocables, so there's no translation.

The last line of the chorus means "I am sad without you" The last line of the chorus is "'S mi fo bhròn 's tu 'gam dhìth." in Gaelic and "Tá mé brónach 's tú 'mo dhíth." in Irish

A useful Scottish Gaelic - English dictionary with sound files is www.learngaelic.scotland/dictionary