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"Díseart" as Gaeilge

Bhí mé ionadh orm faoi an focal "díseart" as Gaeilge riamh ó shin nuair chuaigh mé soir go dtí Gleann na n-Iontas leis mo chlann. Is An Crann na Iósue é an-uaigneach. Is fairsinge í an-ciuin. Is maith linn an aít sin. D'imigh muid trí sheachtain go ham seo as an domhain níos folamh. Chríochnaigh ár cuairt. Bhain muid dínn ar ais teach againn siar ar an maidín Dé Domhnach Cásca de.

Déanann mé iontas freisin de tuiscint Cheilteach faoi an talun go mór agus ro-tirim. Níor chonaic manachaí go leor An Tír Bheannaithe. Mar sin féin, tháinig oilithreachaí go beag an turas go dtí Iarúsailéim ar feadh méanaosta. Fhill siad go Eirinn leis sceál na h-imrim go imirce agus go hiontach.

Chuala duine Eireannach eile faoi eachtraí orthusan. Bhí gaineamhlach mór an Phalaistín. D'inis siad faoi teas i mbrothall an mean-lae. D'fhoghlaim siad faoi na páganaigh. D'imir cluiche intinn inn leis samhailt faoi "camall" agus "pailm". B'fhéidir, thuigeann siad faoi "háram" agus "haisis".

Fuair mé ar foclóir agam focail "díseart" fúthu. Sílím go mbeadh smaoineamhái go beag faoi an idé seo. Is í go deacair ann. Tá an focal "fásach" ann. Tá ciall is cosiul le "fás," ach difrúil ann! Mar shampla, bhí Naomh Séan an Baisteach go raibh "guth san fhásach' ag an Biobla Naofa; tá "teach fásaigh" go mbeadh tí gan daoine ann.

Is "díseart" é an focal eile eagsula. Tá ciall Caithleach agus heirmeticeach(?) anseo, go ionduil. Tá sean-díthreabh "Dysert Ui Deághaidh" ar An Clár, in aice leis Cora Finna. Léamh mé faoi an ionad seo ina leabhar "Stripacheadh(?) i Coimidhigh" le Roísín-Máire Ní Mhurchú. Mheair sí ar an caislean aisteach faoin tuatha in aice an sráidbhaile ceann seo.

The word "Desert" in Irish

I wondered about the word "desert" in Irish ever since when I went eastwards to Wonder Valley with my family. Joshua Tree is very lonely. It's a very quiet expanse. We liked that place. We went away to there three weeks ago into the emptier world. We finished our visit. We took off back from there to our house westwards on the morning of Easter Sunday.

I wondered also about the Celtic understanding of the very large and too-dry land. Not many monks saw the Holy Land. Nevertheless, a few pilgrims went on a journey to Jerusalem during the Middle Ages. They returned to Ireland with a story about going forth faraway and wonderfully.

The other Irish people heard about adventures from they themselves. Palestine was a great expanse of sand. They told about heat, broiling in the middle of the day. They learned about the heathens. They played mind games with mental pictures about "camel" and "palm." Perhaps, they understood about "harem" and "hashish."

I found in my dictionary the words about "desert." I think that there'd be few concepts about this idea. It's a difficult one. There's the word "[wasteland/ brush/ lack of growth, but the root's "fás," the verb "to grow"!]"fásach". The meaning's similar "to grow", but different! For instance, St. John the Baptist was "a voice in {the} wilderness," in the Holy Bible; the "empty [fásaigh] house" would be a house without a person there.

"Díseart" is another, various, word. There's the Catholic eremetical sense here, usually. There's an old hermitage "Dysert O'Dea" in Clare, near Corrofin. I read about this place in the book "Whoredom in Kimmage" by Rosemary Murphy. She lived at a strange castle in the countryside near this same village.

Photo/ griangraf: "Ireland's desert, Connemara" as captioned/ go ceannteidealaithe