# Bought a t-shirt, wondering what it says **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 4, 2001, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bought-a-t-shirt-wondering-what-it-says/53094 "2001-02-04T10:05:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2001, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bought-a-t-shirt-wondering-what-it-says/53094/1 "2001-02-04T10:05:53Z")
I bought a t-shirt at The Celtic Store in Dallas, it had a cool woodcut of people playing and dancing around a campfire in the woods with some kind of demon or devil, and the text above and below the picture say this… “Bhi siad ag damhsa agus seinm ceoil chomh fiain gur dhamhsaigh an diabhal port”. Some of the Is and As have accent marks above them, but I don’t have Character Map installed on this box so I can’t duplicate them here. ---
**Author:** ![Tansu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@Tansu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tansu)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2001, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bought-a-t-shirt-wondering-what-it-says/53094/2 "2001-02-04T12:15:57Z")
“dhamhsaigh an diabhal port” seems to mean “dancing to the devil’s tune” “fiain” means “wild” I looked here: [http://www.ceantar.org/Dicts/Gram/index.html](http://www.ceantar.org/Dicts/Gram/index.html) I also tried to look at [http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/~smacsuib/bng/tobar/](http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/~smacsuib/bng/tobar/) which is a list of Irish phrases and translations, but the page wasn’t accessible. ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2001, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bought-a-t-shirt-wondering-what-it-says/53094/3 "2001-02-05T05:49:00Z")
What language is that? ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2001, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bought-a-t-shirt-wondering-what-it-says/53094/4 "2001-02-05T07:26:07Z")
It’s either Scottish Gaelic or Irish. I did do a lot of messing around with online dictionaries, but didn’t find them much use and couldn’t reply without a sensible answer to give. Now the question has come down to what language it is, I feel OK to put in my 2p worth.🙂 So that much is definite. What follows is not so definite, just stray words that I happen to know/remember. FWIW I’d agree with **Tamsu** ’s answer. And I’d say that the first word “bhi” is the future tense of “to be” and “siad” is likely to be “they”, so it starts with "they will be doing something or other. I’d be _very_ surprised if “dhamsaigh” and “dhamsa” were not the same word, just different parts of the verb, and “ceoil” I don’t know, but the Scottish Gaelic word “ceol” means music. Oh, and “agus” should simply mean “and”. And, “seinm” could possibly mean to play an instrument, because “sein” means that in Scottish Gaelic, tho’ this could even be Irish (ie similar but different). Of course, all this boils down to is people merrily dancing with music and instruments and a devil, which you knew from the picture anyway, so I suppose that’s a bit sad, really! Would it be silly to suggest that you simply ask the people at the shop from which you bought it? And if they tell you, would you post it here, please? Anyway, I hope you get it translated somehow. Good luck. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2001, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bought-a-t-shirt-wondering-what-it-says/53094/5 "2001-02-05T07:45:12Z")
As Tansu said, it’s Irish. I’m not 100% sure of this (of the second half anyway) but I’d read it as “they were dancing and playing music so wild that the devil danced a tune.” ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2001, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bought-a-t-shirt-wondering-what-it-says/53094/6 "2001-02-05T14:56:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Celyn \* > It’s either Scottish Gaelic or Irish. Couldn’t it also be Welsh, Manx, Brittany, or one of the other Celtic tongues? ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2001, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bought-a-t-shirt-wondering-what-it-says/53094/7 "2001-02-05T16:35:45Z")
No, it’s Irish. **Celyn** (I’m guessing) would be able to tell if it were Welsh. Irish and Scottish are very close, so that it isn’t so easy to tell the difference. One clue would be the diacritics: where Irish uses a long “acute” accent mark, Scottish uses a “grave”. Manx is linguistically the same too, but uses exotic letters “k” and “w”. As for the translation, **ruadh** is spot on: “they were dancing and playing so wild that the devil danced a jig”. ---
**Author:** ![ticker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@ticker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ticker)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2001, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bought-a-t-shirt-wondering-what-it-says/53094/8 "2001-02-05T17:13:27Z")
Monty: My experience of Welsh is limited to the bi-lingual road signs there, and my Gaelic is similarly limited to place names on Ordinance Survey maps of the Scottish Highlands - and understanding neither. That said, the OP text does look very different from Welsh and does look superficially like Gaelic. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2001, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bought-a-t-shirt-wondering-what-it-says/53094/9 "2001-02-05T17:33:44Z")
The Goidelic languages (Irish, Scots Gaelic and Manx) - are _very_ different to the Brythonic languages (Welsh, Breton and Cornish), despite all six being part of the Celtic family. I’ve heard it said, though I can’t remember where/have no source/etc etc, that these two surviving branches of Celtic are as different as any two branches of _any_ language family in the world. Welsh and Irish (for example) share some gramatical features, but their vocabularies are nothing at all alike. In other words you couldn’t possibly confuse the two, if you know even the basics of either one of them. Scots Gaelic is easier to confuse with Irish, but there are enough differences in their spelling to tell them apart fairly easily. For example the “ag damhsa” in the OP would be “a’ dannsadh” in Scots Gaelic. My Scots Gaelic is absolute rubbish and my Irish isn’t all that either, but I can tell which of the two languages I’m looking at instantly. Don’t ask me to explain Manx … ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2001, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bought-a-t-shirt-wondering-what-it-says/53094/10 "2001-02-05T18:12:30Z")
**ruadh** is quite right. You could mix up Irish and Scottish Gaelic with each other, not knowing them (as I don’t) but not with any of the others. Tho’ I’d suggest there are similarities in vocabulary. Random examples =my SDMB name “Celyn” (meaning “holly”) (Welsh) would be “Cuileann” (Scottish Gaelic), and “lake” would be “llyn” in Welsh and “linn” in Gaelic. BTW, for the fun of it, I just took a quick look at an online Manx dictionary/language lesson, and I can report one major similarity, namely that even Lesson One involves learning how to announce that it’s a cold day! ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2001, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bought-a-t-shirt-wondering-what-it-says/53094/11 "2001-02-05T22:01:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ruadh \* > **that these two surviving branches of Celtic are as different as any two branches of _any_ language family in the world.** Well, that’s a bit like “this is the highest hill in the state” (any higher and it would be a mountain). But it’s true that they are very different; the divergence between British and Irish dates to around 500 BC, I think. > [@](#): > > \*\*Don’t ask me to explain Manx … \*\* It shouldn’t take long to explain that it’s exactly the same as Irish! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2001, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bought-a-t-shirt-wondering-what-it-says/53094/12 "2001-02-05T22:10:36Z")
I looked all these words up in my Irish dictionary (which has been sitting on my desk since an abortive attempt to learn Irish a few months ago) and came up with the following: Bhi = past tense of ‘to be’ siad = they ag = at damhsa = dance, dancing agus = and seinm = playing ceoil = music chomh = as, so fiain = wild, primitive, savage, riotous gur = until dhamhsaigh = dance an = the diabhal = devil port = tune Sounds like ruadh is pretty close to right. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2001, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bought-a-t-shirt-wondering-what-it-says/53094/13 "2001-02-05T22:26:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by hibernicus \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*\*Don’t ask me to explain Manx … \*\* > > It shouldn’t take long to explain that it’s exactly the same as Irish! 🙂 \*\* C’red t’ou cheet er? ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2001, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bought-a-t-shirt-wondering-what-it-says/53094/14 "2001-02-06T00:07:03Z")
I just came up with a great T-shirt idea. How do you say “I’m with stupid” in gaelic? ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2001, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bought-a-t-shirt-wondering-what-it-says/53094/15 "2001-02-06T00:52:36Z")
I was SO tempted to find you a phrase that meant " I’m with that stupid Swiss guy" but I’m sure no-one would ever do a thing like that. ---
**Author:** ![inor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f475e1/32.png) [@inor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inor)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2001, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bought-a-t-shirt-wondering-what-it-says/53094/16 "2001-02-06T05:57:27Z")
as a person with largely irish heritage who is, in small fits and starts, trying to learn the gwelguh (i know, i don’t remember how to spell it, see below…) I can positively assert that you are all full of poop. the phrase clearly means ‘oh, we can’t spell for shit, no one else can follow our spelling non-rules, tra la la la, we jsut like to dance, and a devil’ (i’ts a rule in the irish, that every statement has a mention of some diety or other…or the word ‘bless’…as in “ah, god and the devil bless yer shoes, lass, and it’s been so long since ye’ve blessed us with yer blessed presence, ah, god…” Which, in irish, goes someting like ‘shaaeen saign san, shayne, saahgin sagbin saigbhin sahin, wuh…’) Thank you very much ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2001, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bought-a-t-shirt-wondering-what-it-says/53094/17 "2001-02-06T12:37:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Arnold Winkelried \* > \*\*I just came up with a great T-shirt idea. How do you say “I’m with stupid” in gaelic? \*\* You could say it as “Tá mé leis an t-amadán”. I think it loses something in the translation though 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2001, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bought-a-t-shirt-wondering-what-it-says/53094/18 "2001-02-06T12:52:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ruadh \* > \*\*C’red t’ou cheet er? \*\* Creidim - chonaic me clar telefise ina raibh daoine ag labhairt “Gaelg” agus bi me in ann iad a thuiscint go maith. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2001, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bought-a-t-shirt-wondering-what-it-says/53094/19 "2001-02-06T13:06:37Z")
Don’t you find that you can understand Scots Gaelic fairly well too, though? All three of the Gaelics are to some degree mutually comprehensible. When I said “don’t ask me to explain Manx”, though, I meant its spelling peculiarities. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2001, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bought-a-t-shirt-wondering-what-it-says/53094/20 "2001-02-06T13:13:21Z")
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