That Greek word was phthoggos of course. Computers.


--- In clairseach@..., "Alasdair Codona"
<calumcille@...> wrote:
>
> Simon, a charaid,
>
> I'm sorry I missed everything this week, including St Andrew's.
No,
> I haven't read Sally Harper yet, I'm still trying to finish the
last
> book! Maybe after the transcriptions go up on the site.
>
> Here's another hypothesis I've been working on. Basically I've
> decided that Bunting's 'fuíoll' terminology is based on the
> word 'fuáil' which is bogusly translated. The full article starts
at
> page http://www.calumcille.com/modhan/gleusan/3C.html on my
website.
>
> Bearing in mind what appears to have led to the creation of the
terms
> based on the element 'chanas', a worst case scenario can be
> constructed to explain the possibly false origin of the three
terms.
>
> Assumptions: Irish antiquarians such as William Beauford are
looking
> for Irish terms for musical notes. Educated in Latin with a little
> Greek, they are most likely aware of the corresponding Greek and
> Latin words for a musical
note, '&#966;&#952;&#972;&#947;&#947;&#959;&#962;' (sound)
and 'sonus'
> (sound). They presume that the ancient Gael would have followed
suit
> in using the Gaelic word for 'sound' as the word for a musical
note.
> They are not adept at the grammatical use of lenition in Irish (eg
> when to add an H to a word). They know that the Gaelic word for
> sound is 'fúaim'. It probably developed in connection with the
> word 'úaim' which also means sound. They discover this latter
word.
> They don't know the meaning of the word 'fuaighel'.
>
> Step: A manuscript of O' Clery's glossary, which contains no
English,
> is consulted. The entry shows 'uaim .i. fuaighel'. 'Uaim' is
> misinterpreted as meaning 'sound' and consequently, 'fuaighel' is
> misinterpreted as meaning 'sound'. In fact, the word 'fuaighel'
here
> explains that the headword 'uaim' means 'a seam'; the word 'seam'
> would more properly be spelled 'úaimm'.
>
> Step: The entry 'uaim.i. fuaighel' is copied down at some stage
> without the sign '.i.' which denotes equivalence in meaning between
> the two words.Step: The entry 'uaim .i. fuaighel' is copied down at
> some stage so that 'uaim' is spelled 'uan'.
>
> Step: The entry is understood second hand as
meaning 'sound'. 'Uan'
> is interpreted as representing a badly written number one instead
of
> a badly written 'úaimm'. The term 'uan fuaighel' (one sound) is
> conceptualised.
>
> Step: The adjectives 'beg' (small) and 'mór' (big) are applied
> to 'fuaighel'. The terms 'fuaighel beg' (little sound)
and 'fuaighel
> mór' (big sound) are conceptualised.
>
> Step: 'Harmony' is posited as an alternative meaning to 'sound'.
>
> Step: William Beauford presents his three terms to Henry Walker,
> replete with lenition difficulties in relation to syntax, gender
and
> meaning.
>
> Step: Edward Bunting applies the three terms to three tunings of
the
> Gaelic harp.
>
> I just can't imagine why any dictionary that no longer exists would
> ever show the word 'fuaigheal' as
> meaning 'sound/harmony'. 'Fuígheall' is a different matter, but I
> strongly suspect that this spelling 'uan' is extremely significant
> and points us towards 'fuaigheal' as the key word in the origin of
> this mystery.
>
> Beannachdan,
>
>
>
> Alasdair
>
>
> --- In clairseach@..., simon@ wrote:
> >
> > Hi Alasdair I have just been looking at the part of Sally
harper's
> > book that discusses Welsh manuscripts of English music theory...
> some
> > wild translations and misuse of English and Latin terms going on
> > there too. Have you seen this? Simon
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On 26 Oct 2008, at 18:55, Alasdair Codona wrote:
> >
> > > A' chàirdean,
> > >
> > > If you think Bunting or his source made a big day out
of 'chanas',
> > > wait until you read about JFC Lacy who reinterprets and reworks
> the
> > > poor benighted verb form even further than Bunting. On 2 June
> 1890,
> > > F. St. John Lacy presented a paper to the Royal Musical
> Association
> > > called Notes on Irish Music which contains the following
> information:-
> > >
> > > "There was one grand scale in use which went by the name of
> > > Ardfideach, and this was divided into three parts, called
> Basascanus
> > > (or bass), Cionar (tenor), and Riunchanus (treble). When the
> harpers
> > > met at Belfast in 1792 this was the scale they used, and which
I
> here
> > > reproduce from Bunting, as it gives the compass of their
> harps ..."
> > >
> > > Nowhere does Bunting transmit the information that any scale of
> the
> > > Gaelic harp was named 'ardfideach', which is a misspelliing
> > > of 'airfideach', a old, poetic Gaelic word that Bunting simply
and
> > > rightly presents, in p30 of the General Vocabulary in his 1840
> > > volume, as meaning 'music, musician, harmony'.
> > >
> > > The last A in the element 'chanas' is spelled as a U, a
convention
> > > indicates that 'chanas' is understood here as a noun rather
than a
> > > part of a verb. This follows the precedent of the spelling and
> > > interpretation in Bunting's 1840 Introduction. Lacy's
> word 'cionar'
> > > seems to derive from 'ciontar/cionthar' (music/melody) on p31
of
> the
> > > Vocabulary and 'riunchanus' also seems to have derived
from 'rinn'
> > > (music/melody) on p35. According to Bain, the word 'cionthar'
is
> > > translated as 'music' in Shaw's dictionary of 1780. The
Highland
> > > Society's Dictionary of the Gaelic Language spells it -
cion'thar-
> and
> > > translates it as 'querulous music', using Alasdair mac
Mhaighstir
> > > Alasdair as a source.
> > >
> > > 'Rinn' may in fact derive from the ancient masculine word 'rind'
> > > (point). It is equivalent in meaning to the latin
word 'punctum'
> and
> > > was mainly used in relation to poetry. It may have been one of
> the
> > > Gaelic words for a musical note but there are no clear examples
of
> > > such usage. Bunting's term 'rim ceól' or 'rimm ceol' may derive
> > > from 'rím ceoil' which may have meant 'counting of music',
> referring
> > > perhaps to the counting of beats during the process of musical
> > > composition, in a fashion analogous to counting the syllables of
> > > rhyme.
> > >
> > > Beannachdan,
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Alasdair
> > >
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------
> > >
> > > Yahoo! Groups Links
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
>