Lessoon Jeih as Tree Feed: Cre'n Sorch dy Heer?
Lesson Seventy: What Sort of Country?
jeih as tree feed (JY-azz-TREE-feed) seventy ('ten and three twenties')
cre'n sorch? (krinn-SURCH) what sort
dy heer (the-HEER) of country
'dy', meaning 'of', causes the mutation (letter change) called lenition or aspiration
in following letters. In this case, 'cheer' becomes 'heer'.
Another example is:
tey (tay) tea
cappan dy hey (KAVV-an-the-HAY) a cup of tea
Coloayrtys
Peddyr: Cre'n sorch dy heer share lhiat?
Ean: Cruink, sleityn, glionteeyn, awinyn, creggyn.....
Peddyr: Cre mysh ny baljyn?
Ean: Jarrood ad shen! S'mie lhiam thalloo sheeoil.
.. share lhiat? (SHARE-l'yatt) .. do you prefer? (..is best with you?)
cronk (kronk) a hill
cruink (krink) hills
glion (gl'yonn) a glen
glionteeyn (GL'YONN-tee-un) glens
awin (OW-in) a river
awinyn (OW-in-un) rivers
creg (kregg) a rock
creggyn (KREGG-un) rocks
cre mysh ..? (kra-MUSH) what about ..?
yn balley (in-BAL-ya) the town
ny baljyn (na-BAL-jun) the towns
In English, we generally make plurals by adding '-s' to the singular:
river - rivers.
In Manx, the commonest way to form the plural is by adding '-yn':
awin - awinyn.
Manx forms plurals in a variety of ways, as can be seen above.
jarrood! (jarr-OOD) forget!
ad shen (add-SHEN) those
s'mie lhiam (SMY-l'yamm) I like
thalloo (TOL-oo) land
sheeoil (shee-OLE) peaceful
Note that 'th' in 'thalloo' is not pronounced as in English, but as 't'. Also, stress
is on the first syllable in this word, not on 'oo'.