Dhá sheachtain ó shin bhí mo chara thuas fós lomnocht cé go raibh an t-aos óg thart timpeall air ag bachlú leis go h-anamúil. Ach anois tá an sean-dair urramach ag breith ar na crainn óga agus faoi cheann cúpla seachtain beidh sí faoi bhláth arís. Don 380ú huair nó mar sin, más fíor agus más cruinn an modh meastacháin aoise ar bhain mé úsáid as - tá an tamhan 1,50m ar trastomhas, ar a laghad.
Is cineál fhinné na n-aoiseanna iad crainn ársa, is dócha. An bhfaca an sean-dair seo Napoleon, mar shampla, ag dul thart agus é, b'fhéidir, i ngiorracht scread asail di?
Cuirtear Kaisereiche - dair (an) Chaesair - ar an seanbhuachaill thuas. Tráth dá raibh, chuirtí dair in omós do Chaesar nó i gcuimhne air agus táid, na Kaisereichen, scaipthe ar fud na gcríoch a bhíodh faoi réim Impireacht Naofa na Róimhe.
Níl sé faighte amach agam fós cérbh é an Caesar ar cuireadh an ceann seo in omós dó ach de réir an mheastacháin aoise thiocfadh an fear seo i gceist.
Táim cinnte de, áfach, nárbh in omós don Khaiser seo ar cuireadh an dair thuas.
Is dócha go bhfuil a fhios agat gur “bile” a thugtaí ar a leithéid sa Ghaeilge. Nó “crann os coill”. Ach is duine -- boc mór nó ceann feadhna -- a bhíodh i gceist go meafarach leis an dara ceann seo níos minice ná a chéile.
ReplyDeleteNí raibh a fhios agam! Is focal nua dom "bile". Ach is coincheap suimiúil é. Ábhar réamhchríostaíocht i gceist anseo?
ReplyDeleteTá dúil m'anama agam i seanchrainn. Tá crónghiúis (rothölzer) againn abhus anseo. Níor aimsigh mé Fangorn/Treebeard fós!
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coast_redwood
Seo sliocht duit as Early Christian Ireland le T. M. Charles-Edwards:
ReplyDelete“Cell Bile is the first of several churches said by Tírechán to have been taken from Patrick by other religious communities. The name, Cell Bile, means 'church of sacred trees', just as Mag mBili, further south-west, is 'plain of a sacred tree'. Whereas Boniface wasted no time in cutting down the sacred tree of the Saxons, the missionaries who converted Ireland took no such liberties. As late as the eleventh century, a particularly offensive tactic in warfare was to cut down the enemies' sacred tree. No one is recorded in the pre-Viking annals as having committed so outrageous an act. The continuing reverence for sacred trees is indicated by the names Mag mBili and Fir Bili: the kingdom and the people were identified by the tree which probably marked the place of their assembly. Cell Bile, 'church of sacred trees', exemplified, therefore, the strategem of converting places so as to convert people -- converting the sacred sites of a pagan people to Christian use in the process of converting them.”
@ Seán - Tá na giúiseanna bristlecone sa White Mountains níos sine fós... agus níos gaire duit. Ach níl siad mór ar chor ar bith.
ReplyDelete