Is snáth-gherradh saeghail...

Is snáth-gherradh saeghail ocus is aitherrach aimsire dam-sa!

(is * thread-cutting * of lifetime * and * is * change * of time/weather * for me)

It is a cutting of life’s thread and a reversal of fortune for me!

Congal laments his fate, having been wounded by his foster-brother, Maelduin, in “Cath Muighe Rath” (FDG, p. 302). The metaphorical use of “aitherrach aimsire” to mean “reversal of fortune” is echoed in the Scottish Gaelic expression “Nach orm a thàinig an dà latha!” Literally this means “Is it not on me that the two days have come?!”

Topics: Woe