DAGBOK

1. Introduction


This is an English translation of a diary in Norwegian kept by Carl J. S. Marstrander (1883-1965), Professor of Celtic Studies at the University of Oslo, of his visit to the Isle of Man for the purpose of collecting samples of native Manx Gaelic speech, from June to September 1929, with short entries of visits there in August and September 1930, and January and February 1933. The original text is also provided for reference. The text was transcribed at my request by Anne Fevang, Sandefjord, and Lars Anders Ruden, Roa, Norway, in May 1998. Also at my request, it was translated by Knut Janson, a Norwegian national living in Dublin, in 1983, with minor revisions by Bo Almqvist, Professor of Irish Folklore at University College Dublin, and Mícheál Ó Siadhail, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. Additional notes were supplied for this edition by Robert L. Thomson, Isle of Man, and Máirtín Ó Murchú, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.
Housed in the Manx Museum Archive under the archive reference MM.MS.5358B, the diary text is found in an exercise book measuring some 21 x 16.5 cms. and extends to 87 pages of manuscript, with 23 pages left blank at the end. Inside the back cover are some names and addresses of informants. The front cover bears the pencilled title Man Dagbok with the subtitle Dagbok av en reise til Man juni 1929. C. Marstrander. The text itself bears no title.

The Translation

//[1] June 1929
4th June: left on the Bergen train at 11-00; I was accompanied by Audh. and Sverdrup to the station.
5th June: left Bergen on the ‘Leda’; nice boat, good cuisine.
6th June: arrived Newcastle where I just about managed to catch the train to London; left at 14.54. Arrived London at approx. 8-00pm; had to book into a small B & B place in Liverpool Street [no.] 26 (near King’s Cross Station).
7th June: got a room at Euston Hotel. Went to see [Robin] Flower in the British Museum and spent the afternoon and evening with him partly in London, partly in Croydon. Flower is an excellent man. He is attempting to sketch the main strata in the development of Irish literature, something that no one has done before. His studies of Irish mss. and the centres of Irish writing seem to have given him a new perspective on Irish literature and the origins and dissemination of the saga-cycles.
//[2] He was very interested in [Reidar Th.] Christiansen’s work on Fenian literature which hopefully will be published this year.¹¹ It appears that Flower is not persona grata in Dublin (an impression I also got from [J. G.] O’Keeffe). I should think that he would do better work than any of the Irish scholars in Dublin.
Spent the evening in Croydon, approx. 20 min. by train from London, where Flower has rented a little house, and he lives there with his wife, his mother, and 3 children - 2 girls and a boy. My god-daughter Barbara turned out to be a sweet little girl. She is, according to Flower, quite gifted at languages, and Flower wants her to become a scholar. She has the devil of a temper, he says, and will not be suitable for marriage.
Mrs. Flower is a pleasant lady, but //[3] gives the impression of being very tired and worn out.
Flower told me that he had been offered a job as professor in Irish at Oxford, which Frazer, however, got, but he was unable to take it because the salary (£600)^2* was not enough. He seems now to regret his decision, for his work in the British Museum will not give him much time for Irish studies, when the catalogue he is working on is ready next year. He was rather irritated over a review - a typical [Osborn] Bergin review - where Flower was criticised for putting more into a catalogue than Bergin thought necessary. I think I must review the catalogue in detail (together with Christiansen) in vol. V of the Tidsskrift [i.e. NTS, founded by M. in 1928].
8th June: moved to the Gower Hotel, a short distance from Euston; cheap and clean.
9th June: a pleasant trip up the Thames (alone) to Richmond. Returned by bus.
10th June: met Flower in the Museum and looked at the Celtic coin collection. It wasn’t very //[4] impressive. The best place for Celtic coins is probably Paris. One coin was interesting which in Latin letters read BIRACO..: cf. the Lepontic coins.
Had lunch together with Flower and O’Keeffe whom I was pleased to see again after all these years. He was the same nice outspoken man I’ve always known. He has a son who is 21, the same son that was born during my first stay in Dublin, and whom I was so unfortunate as to refer to as Ailill.² Poor Medb is dead, which I didn’t know.
O’Keeffe was very sharp in his criticism of the people in Dublin, and very bitter that the School of Irish Learning [founded 1911] was discontinued and Ériu taken over by the Academy and that Anecdota ³ had folded up. The criticism of Bergin was particularly strong. He completely lacks initiative, cannot //[5] form a school, cannot educate new students. He is slack and inactive in a situation in which a man with initiative could work wonders. In his defence one has to say that he is overworked with university work. His Irish courses are attended by 300 students who all will have to take their exams at the end, and he has to correct all their papers. [T. F.] O’Rahilly, who for some time was in Trinity College where, however, he didn’t seem to get on well with the others, has gone to Cork; and when [Douglas] Hyde retires in a short while, one fears that Mrs. [Agnes] O’Farrel[l]y will get the job as professor in Modern Irish in the National University. Good expectations seem to be had of [Séamas Ó] Duilearga. But I have strong doubts whether Irish linguistics and philology will ever grow strong on Irish soil without outside [M’s italics] organisation. [Kuno] Meyer kept things together from Liverpool, and he thinks that [Alf] Sommerfelt and I could do a lot //[5A] from Oslo. But our interests are not like Meyer’s limited to Irish or Celtic alone. Energetic work in creating a scholarly atmosphere in Dublin would mean that for many years - perhaps for ever - we would have to put all other work aside. Maybe we would serve scholarship best if we did this and carried Celtic studies over the slump which it now seems to be going down into with threatening speed. When [Rudolf] Thurneysen dies - and I don’t think we can expect to keep him for many years³⁴ - Germany will not have a Celtic scholar any more; I don’t think we can take J[ulius] P[okorny] seriously.⁴⁵ And when [J.] Loth retires next year (if I’m not mistaken) from the Sorbonne, there is no one to step forward to take his place. And [J.] Vendryes is also advanced in years and Mlle. [M. L.] Sjoestedt [later Sjoestedt-Jonval] //[6] is supposed to be very ill. The prospects everywhere are dark. Best, perhaps, in Norway where Celtic studies are done by relatively young people and where we will make sure that it is not given up.
11th June: left for Liverpool. Booked into the Adelphi Hotel which has been completely rebuilt since I was last there (in 1914).
12th June: to Man! The sea flat-calm. Arrived Douglas approx. 2-30pm. Booked into British Hotel near the old Market Place. A Danish ship was, so to say, anchored outside the windows; it had brought timber from Riga and was now taking on ballast.
13th June: paid a visit to the [Manx] Museum ( a red-brick building originally built as a hospital). Met [P. M. C.] Kermode,⁵⁶ a pleasant and talkative old gentleman who introduced me to //[6A] the librarian Mr. [William] Cubbon and to J[ohn] J[oseph] Kneen, the author of the excellent work on Manx placenames; both were particularly nice people.
Cubbon offered the [Oslo] University Library a copy of the Manx Bible (1st edition [1771-75]) as a gift, and he also offered to sell 1 copy of the 1819 edition. I had found two copies of the 1819 edition in Simpson’s antique shop in Douglas. I took one of the copies for myself and reserved the other one for Sommerfelt.
P. A. Munch’s work⁶⁷ is not forgotten here. A framed picture of him hangs in the library.
That afternoon Kneen and myself had a pleasant trip on Braddan Church where several runic crosses are placed. Kneen’s information about the condition under which scholarly work is carried out here was particularly sad to hear. The English [?Manx] //[7] government couldn’t care less. Kneen’s own work is on a part-time basis. His book has given me a strong impression of the strength of the Norse settlement here. In some places all the names of the larger farms seem to be Norse, e.g. in Garf; furthermore, one meets Norse names along the whole coastline. Kneen’s collection is hardly complete; he admits himself that it is only on the south-west coast that his collection of coast-names, place-names, and names on small islands is more or less complete. I have a feeling that there is a rich field here for a place-names scholar with a knowledge of history. The Norse names are so numerous here on Man that one could read from them whole chapters of the history of Norse settlement [there]. Kneen’s work is so important from a Norwegian point of view that it would be reasonable if the Nansen Fund acknowledged his work with a grant of £100 towards //[8] further collection of material.⁷⁸
That evening tea at Cubbon’s place together with Kneen. Mrs. Cubbon, whom we didn’t see much of, appeared to be a pleasant lady. We sat talking till after 11-00pm and talked about different things. Of particular interest was Kneen’s interpretation of Smeale as smi¶a ból,^8* an interpretation of particular interest because of the finding of a ship-burial there which contained among other things a blacksmith’s tongs. From the same place there is named in later sources a Patrick Crowe and one... Teare (an t-Saoir). In this instance, consequently, archaeology and linguistics together draw a continuous line from the 10th to the 15th centuries.
The Museum also contains several ogham stones and runic crosses (originals and plastercasts), but cannot be said to be especially rich.
//[9] 15th June: a short visit to the Museum and exchanged part 3 of my copy of Kneen’s [place-names] book where a gathering was missing. I happened to land in on a board meeting and was presented to “Mr. Chairman” and to the Norwegian consul in Douglas, Mr. Oates, who both seemed to be pleasant gentlemen.
Started that afternoon on my Cuairt Manan[n] (‘tour of Man’) with Castletown as the first point.
(1) My first victim was a 60 year old man from the farm Kewaige [Kewaigue], 1-2 km. from Douglas. The old people in those parts didn’t speak Manx any longer, he said. His old parents spoke a little Manx, but they preferred English, and refused to have their children speak Manx. His grandparents, however, spoke mainly Manx and spoke English with an accent.
(2) A man in Baconsfield (not on the map, but not too far from Kewaigue) ca. 55 yrs. old. Said //[10] one did not hear Manx any longer. His own father and mother spoke only English. Apart from that he was rather vague and not very precise in his statements.
Rather a lot of rain on the east side, and I was rather wet when I arrived in Castletown where I booked a room in the Union Hotel. Later on that evening I had a pleasant conversation with the older and younger people from Castletown and the surrounding area. However, none of them spoke Manx. There was one exception, however, in a relatively young man whom I estimated to be in his forties; he had learned a little Manx, typically enough, from his grandfather.When I took a random sample and asked him what was “it is a cold day” in Manx, his reply was quite correct. I amused myself by throwing ‘darts’ with a very young man from the place. He won at last after approximately sixty throws //[11] and afterwards I had to buy him a glass of beer. A cheap and reasonable hotel.
16th June: left Castletown around 11-00am for Grenaby. Good weather, even though rather windy.
(3) Just outside Castletown I had a chat with a 70 yr. old man. He was from Derbyhaven (born there) and did not [M’s italics] speak Manx; neither did his father, but his mother who was significantly from Ballabeg near Grenaby^9† did speak it, however. Someone who spoke good Manx, according to him, was “[k^ue:l] [Quayle] the Gardener”. He is a man of over 80 yrs. born in Arbory^10†† and he lives just north of Castletown. Turned off to Derbyhaven. Met here 2 younger and 1 older Manxman. They gave me as good Manx speakers Thomas Taggart, the tailor in Grenaby, 80-85 yrs. old, born, according to //[12] them, in [kæriki:l] [Kerrookeil] (near Castletown). Further they mentioned Tom Harrison in Ballasalla; he was well over 80 yrs. old. Then they mentioned Archdeacon [kju:li] [Kewley] who in turn mentioned Thomas Taggart. He [Kewley] was a man in his 70s, born of poor parents in Castletown parish. My rambling led me to Ballasalla where I paid a short visit to Rushen Abbey which is situated quite near. Several ‘Norse’ kings are supposed to be buried here, according to what the boards say. One of them was Magnus, one Reginald, and another Olaf.¹¹⁹ A lid from one of these coffins had been found, according to the guidebook, during excavations in recent years and is now housed in the museum which was closed when I was there; (it only opens on Sundays from 3 o’clock on).
//[13] (4) 1/2 km west of Ballasalla at “Cross Four Ways” (I’ve marked this in the Manx guide, but is not on the Ordnance Survey [map]). A woman of 40 declared that no one in the neighbourhood could speak Manx, but further on in the direction of Grenaby one could find “lots of them”. This was an exaggeration, however.
(5) A little north from here and before the side-road turns off for Grenaby from the main road (to Peel) I had a chat with a man in his 50s. He was born in Ballasalla. The father understood Manx, but ordinarily spoke English. His grandfather, however, preferred to speak Manx, but understood English nevertheless. As good speakers he mentioned two old women Mrs Wade and Mrs Johnson, both ca. 90 yrs. and living quite near. In addition, he mentioned the tailor Taggart in Grenaby and a shoemaker in the same place William Preston who was over 80; he thought it was useless to go to him, as he would //[14] probably “slam the door in my face if I called on him”.

From this man I also heard the first bit of Manx. He was familiar with some ordinary greetings and some other phrases and had often heard about [d‚Ok ´n ·dOr´s} [jough yn dorrys ‘drink at the door’], he said, the last drink before one leaves (Ir. deoch an doruis). ‘How do you do’ he repeated to me something that sounded to me at the time like [kœn´s ·tA5 Su} [kynys ta shiu]. ‘How are you today’ as [kœn´s tA5g´ lœ:} [kynys t’ou gy (sic) laa].¹²¹⁰ The answer is [tA brou, tA brou, kœn´s ta (or kœ·nes tA) hi:n} [ta braew, ta braew, kynys ta hene] ‘how’s yourself’. ‘Time enough yet’ (no hurry) he translated as [trei d´ ·luA}[traa dy liooar] and ‘goodbye’ with [i: ·vA:i} [oie vie] (apparently [in fact is] ‘good night’. His knowledge doesn’t go any further).

It was this man, however, who //[15] told me about William Kneen as a good spea-ker. This Kneen is over 70 yrs, born in Croit-e-Caley^13* (somewhat south-west of Col-by) where he now lives.
Another speaker is [BænDken Regg] [?Ben Kinrade] (so written according to its pronunciation), ca. 76 yrs. probably born in Arbory. But I cannot remember from whom I got this information.
(6) William Kenne [i.e. Kennah] from [BAl´ Dug´n} [Balladuggan] just south of Grenaby, 62 yrs. old; he says he can express himself using ordinary sentences in Manx. A random sample ‘I am going to Castletown’ he translated correctly. His father and mother both spoke Manx, but also a bit of English. When they spoke to each other they used Manx in preference, and especially when there was something they did not wish the children to understand (this trait I have heard emphasised from many other quarters).
As a good speaker he mentioned [TomAs Li:s] [Thomas Leece] (so written according to its pronunciation) from [Kær´ ·Mu:^´r} [Kerroomooar], Grenaby, ca. 70 yrs. old.
//[16] (7) Thomas Taggart turned out to be a jolly old man with a great apostolic beard, and quite a talkative man with a brilliant sense of humour. His pronunciation appears to me to be inarticulate, not only in Manx but also in English (which, however, doesn’t say much, because my knowledge of Manx is practically nil). He lisps a little bit; certainly he doesn’t have all his teeth, and some of the words appear to stick in his beard. But as far as I can see his Manx is impeccable. He told me that he also knew several Manx songs of the sort you couldn’t repeat in public [e.g. HLSM/I: 390-91]. I’m quite sure I can use the man; I have to keep him in mind, but at the moment I have to carry on my round.
//[17] Was offered a splendid tea and afterwards cycled down to Port Erin where I booked in at the Falcon’s Nest, where I have written this (15 [i.e. 16] /6/29).
@ conger (eel) is in Manx [Ast´n} [astan] or something like ([G.] eascon) according to him [see also below].
17th June: Glorious weather. Started walking to the south to get a glimpse of the Calf of Man.
(8) In the village of [KrEd‚ne:ⁱS} (Cregneish) I had a chat with a 69 yr. old man [kær´n} [Karran]. He was from [HOu} [Howe]^14* (on the map Howe) just north of Creg-neish, but his father was born in Cregneish. He was able to express himself in Manx, as long as the sentence wasn’t too complicated. A sentence like ‘I would not have beaten him if he were not a bad man’ neither he nor another older man could translate. But a sentence like ‘I shall go to the fair tomorrow’, ‘I went to the fair yesterday, but bought nothing’ they both managed without any difficulty. Calf of Man is in //[18] Manx [kA:lu} [Colloo], they said (orig. Kalfr). Also met [Kær´ns] [Karran’s] somewhat younger brother (55 yrs.), a sailor. His father spoke good Manx; he even preferred it to English and was well able to read it. Both recommended as a good Manx speaker
(9) Harry Kelly, 77 yrs. old, who lives at the bottom of the village on the right hand (south) side of the road. A nice old man with a clear pronunciation. The few sentences I gave him to translate - they were quite simple - he managed without any difficulty. His father spoke practically only Manx. Kelly has a Manx Bible which also [Kær´n] has (he’s the oldest of them), but none of them wanted to part with it. Taggart in Grenaby also has a Bible from 1819, the ‘Manx Soc.’ [Vol. 8] dictionary and the quarto edition of the Prayer-Book.
//[19] Kelly knows the names of all the small islands and skerries outside here. A skerry is known as [krEg ´ l‚Em´n} [Creg y Lhieman] ([l‚Em} ‘a jump’, he said; Ir. léim), the exact form I couldn’t be quite sure of. ‘How many horses have you?’ is [kwOd kœv´l tœd} [c’woad cabbyl t’ayd?] or something like it. (Correct! Aug. 1930).
Kelly can be used without doubt.
Excellent oysters in a little shop close by the hotel (down at the beach). They are served at the place; cider is also available there. They go really well together.
Peel 17th June:
Before I left Port Erin I went to see Joseph Woodworth, an old fisherman whose name was mentioned to me in Douglas as one who was a good Manx speaker. He was out fishing and his daughter said that that he was not expected back //[20] before 3 o’clock, so I spent the time walking all over the peninsula south of Port Erin.
(10) An old man in the village of [FeSt´r{d}} [Fistard] who was about 70 told me that his father spoke only Manx; his mother, however, spoke both. He was himself only able to manage a simple sentence in Manx. As a good Manx speaker he mentioned (11) Waterson [Watterson] in Glen ['tºas] [Glenchass] near Howe, ca. 65 yrs. I called on this man; he didn’t live more than a few hundred metres away (he told me he had seen me from the window speaking to the other man). Watterson said that the place where he lived was known as [Fis5t´r{d}}, but that many called it Glen ['tºas].
Watterson gave me the impression that he was able to hold a conversation in Manx, although his knowledge of the language probably wasn’t //[21] perfect judging from several examples. He gave me several forms of numerals which I noted in a hurry:

{nE:n} [1] {·nEn dJEg} [11] {·nEn´s·fig‚} [21] {dA:g‚} “40”
{dJi:s} [2] [gAi Eg} [12] {·dJi:s´sfig‚} [22] {dJAi´sdA:g‚} “50”
{tri:} [3] {·tri:dJEg} [13] [dJAi´sfig‚} “30” {tri:fid‚} “60”
{kE:r} [4] [ke:rdJEg} [14] {·nindJEg´s·fig‚} “31” {tri:fid‚´sdJAi} “70”
{f^uEg} “5” (sic) {f^uegdJEg} {15] {gAiEg´sfig‚} {32] {ke:rfid‚} “80”
{Se:} [6] {·Se:dÆEg} [16] {tri:dJEg´sfig‚} [33] {ke:rfid‚´sdJAi} “90”
{Sœ:x} [7] {Sœ:xdJEg} [17] [kE:r ...... } [34] {ki:d} “100”
{hA:x} [8] {hA:xtJEg} [18] [f^uEg ..... } [35]
{ni:} [9] {ni:dJEg} [19] {Se: ...... } [36]
{dJAi} [10] {fig‚}, {fid‚} “20” {SaxtSEg´sfig‚} [37]
{hA:xt ...... } [38]
{ni:dJEg} .... } [39]
Watterson was, however, not quite certain when he exceeded 40. He mentioned 60 as //[22] [tri:·ki:d} [tree keead] which has to be 300, but he corrected himself later.
‘I was born at the Howe’ is {vA mi ·rOg´d Eg´n Ou} [va mee ruggit ec yn Howe], he said. From words he gave me I have noted:
{strEin} {stroin] ‘nose’
[mOn´l] [mwannal] ‘neck’
{bi:l} {beeal] ‘mouth’
[læu] [laue] ‘hand’
{kœ:b} [cab] ‘chin’
[ka:s] [cass] ‘foot’ (western [æ:])
{kli:S} [cleaysh] ‘ear’.
{su:l‚} [sooill] ‘eye’ (which he, however, couldn’t remember immediately, and it was only after I mentioned the Irish word for it that he did remember it).
[lur´g´} [lurgey] ‘leg’ (u-sound perhaps not quite correctly written down).
[ri:] [roih] ‘(fore)arm’.
[dri$:m} [dreeym] ‘back’.
Manx speakers one could find at [BAl´kil·fErik‚} [Ballakilpheric] and in [LEn Gig] [Linguage], both near Colby, says Watterson.
Howe must be Haugr. It suits excellently the farms that are situated //[23] on top of a “hill”.
(12) Joseph Woodworth is 75 yrs. old and appears really to know a good deal of Manx. He is a fisherman and his day much depends on the weather. ‘I would like to go to Douglas tomorrow’ he translates: {l‚ak l‚um D´ ·gOl go£s Du:liº me:rAx} [liack lhiam dy goll gys Doolish mairagh].¹⁵¹¹ ‘If he hadn’t been a bad man (I would not have beaten him) he translates: [mAnAx ·bExE ´ ·ve: drAx·go£n´‚´} [mannagh beagh eh er ve drogh ghooinney]. He was willing to talk Manx with me if I came back to Port Erin. As another good speaker he named
(13) [TomAs ·KrEb´n} [Thomas Crebbin] in Bradda Village just near Port Erin and he showed me his house from his window. This [KrE5b´n} whom I visited before I made my way to Peel made a very good impression. He is supposed to be over //[24] 80 yrs. The sentence ‘I would like to go...’ he immediately translated like Woodworth. The man seems to have a better grasp on the language than most others. Off his own bat he gave me all the expressions in Manx for wind and weather, the names of stars; (the stars he called [re:lt´n} [realtyn] or something like it, similar to Irish). He was quite willing to speak Irish [i.e. Manx] if I came back to Port Erin.
From Port Erin I followed the road to Douglas into Ballasalla where I took the opportunity of paying a visit to the museum in Rushen Abbey. In the last few years there have been quite a few stone coffins and skeletons dug up, and most of them are assumed to date from early Norman [i.e. Norse] times. The coffin lid appeared to //[25] belong to one of the Norse kings’ graves and was very well preserved. It shows two swords in relief and a lot of ornaments, but I am not competent to say whether the type of swords and ornaments date back to the 13th century. The man who is normally the “guide” was not present when I arrived, but another man in the “office” showed me around, and I had to promise him that I would let them know when I visited the place again, so I could meet the man in charge of the excavation. This had to stop because of the war [1914-18], but is soon to be started up again.
From Rushen Abbey back to Four Cross Ways [i.e. Cross Four Ways] where I took the main road northwards to Peel. The steep hill [i.e. Ballamodha Straight] was very difficult because of the heavy load on the back of the bike. On the top near [BA·ru:l} [Barrule] Farm (on the Peel road) I met a 53 yr. old man,
(14) William Keggan, who himself doesn’t speak Manx. //[26] No one spoke Manx in the district, he said. The only one, if any, had to be Taggart in Grenaby (which he mentioned without being prompted); but his father spoke Manx (and English). He informed me that he had a Bible in Manx from his father. I gave him 2 shillings for it without even having seen it (he would, however, have given it to me for nothing). It turned out to be in a bad state, but I took it all the same. He didn’t have (a copy of) the Prayer Book.
(15) A short distance from Peel - ca. 3 miles - I met two men in their 60s. Manx wasn’t spoken there, they said. The old ones who once spoke it were all gone. Their parents spoke Manx, they admitted, especially when the children were not to know what was talked about.
In the same direction, said the younger man who was in his 50s, and a short distance from Peel (ca. //[27] 2 miles from there). He mentioned as excellent speakers of Manx Advocate [Henry Percy] Kelly in Douglas and Archdeacon Kewley in Andreas.
Arrived at Peel around 9-00pm and booked into the Marine Hotel just by the beach.
18th June: Mitre Hotel, Kirk Michael (good but expensive; 7/6 bed and breakfast). Before I left Peel I called to see the chemist C[harles] H[enry] Cowley [1874-1944, a Heitmatarchaeologe], who had been recommended to me in Douglas. One cannot say he is a native speaker, although he has often heard Manx spoken in his childhood and has learned a great deal later on. He recommended Caesar Cashen and William Quane, the same as Cubbon and Kneen had mentioned In Douglas.
(16) Quane lives in St. German’s Place together with his sister. He is 79 yrs. old (born 1850) and gives the impression of being able to speak Manx quite well. He quite often speaks it with Caesar Cashen at the Market Place. But I notice //[28] he doesn’t get much practice, which is understandable. His pronunciation was quite clear. He has, if my memory serves me rightly, 2 copies of the 1819 Bible (Cashen too had at least one copy). Words and expressions which I noted in my conversation with Quane:
{fœ…st´r mA:i} [fastyr mie] ‘good evening’.
[· i: ·vA:i} [oie vie] ‘good night’.
[mA:ri (a deep [A}) mA:i} or [mA:xri mA:i} [moghree mie] ‘good morning’ (moch-éirghe? CM).
[´n ·fam´n} [yn famman] ‘the tail’.
[·ElAn nu: ·Pœrⁱk‚} [Ellan Noo Perick] ‘St. Patrick’s Island’.
[POrt n´ ·hi:nS´} [Purt ny Hinshey] ‘Peel’.
[hœ ·dJEn mi ·gOl go£s ´n ·ki:d´n ·mA:ri meⁱ vis i: ·stEr´mAx (·ster^´mAx)] [cha jean mee goll gys yn keayn moghree my vees ee sterrymagh ‘I will not be going to sea tomorrow if it is stormy’].
(I shan’t go, probably the verb deinim ‘do’ CM [yes, as auxiliary of the future - GB]).
[ki:d´n] [keayn] ‘sea’ (cuan ? CM [yes - GB])
‘sea’ also [´n Ø:rk´} [yn aarkey] (fairrge, Irish).
//[29] 12. Nov. to be held a [kru:nAx] [cruinnaght] ‘a gathering’ in Douglas.
Numerals:
{nE:n}, {dJi:s}, {tri:}, {ki:r}, {k^uEg}, {Se:}, {Sœ:x}, {hA:x} (deep [A:], {nei}, {dJei}, {·nendJig‚} ({hœ nel im As ...} ‘I have not but eleven’; vel = [Ir.] ní fhuil CM), {dEi8ig‚}, {tri:dJig‚}, {ki:r ... }, {fid‚} 20, {·ne:n´sfid‚} 21, {·dJei ´s ·fid‚} 30, {dAid‚}, {dAê‹d‚} 40, {·dJei´s·dAid‚} 50, {·tri:·fid‚} 60, {...... Es dJei} 70, {·ki:r fid‚} 80, {...... ´s dJei} 90, {kid} 100, {to‹u·zE:n} 1000 (open e@4).
Wind:
[tœ n ·gi:´ Eg ên njœ:r} [ta yn geay ec yn niar] ‘(the wind is) from the east’.
[ .................ni:r] [....................neear] ‘......................... west’.
[..................tu:i] [....................twoaie] ‘........................north’.
[..................dJœ:s} [..................jiass] ‘..........................south’.
[..................njæ:r hu:i] [........niar hwoaie] ‘.....................north-east’.
[..................ni:r hu:i] [..........neear hwoaie] ‘...................north-west’.
[..................ni:r Es] [.............neear ass] ‘........................south-west’.
[..................'njæ:r Es] [...........niar ass] ‘.........................south-east’.
//[30] [A nEl mi ·fa:xin Es O:n rO·lE:g} [cha nel mee fakin agh un rollage] ‘I do not see but one star’.
[A ·nEl Su5} [cha nel shiu] (close u) ‘you are not’.
[tœ mi ·fA:xin ·Eru rO·lEg´n} [ta mee fakin earroo rollageyn] ‘I see many stars’.¹⁶¹²
Fish:
[œ:st´n} [astan] ‘conger’, pl. [œ:st´n´n} [astanyn].
[·skAdAn} [scaddan] ( A-sound) ‘herring’.
[brEk} [breck] ‘mackerel’; [rEn mi ·kEnAx E5ru d´ brEk} [ren mee kiannagh earroo dy breck] ‘I bought a lot of mackerel’.
Birds:
[lOn} [lhon] ‘blackbird’.
[trEsl´n} [treshlan] ‘the big thrush’.
[·spêru} [spirroo, i.e. sparroo] ‘sparrow’ [sperriu is the pl. form - GB].
[·OJAg} [ushag] ‘bird’ (all kinds); [Eru d´ ·OJAg´n} [earroo dy ushagyn ‘many birds’].
[·OJag ·hœpAx} [ushag happagh] ‘lark’.
[´n ·ko:g, k â:g] [yn cooag] ‘cuckoo’.
Domestic animals:
[kœ…b´l} [cabbyl] ‘horse’; [tœ ·rEm kœ:b´l Egi} [ta ram cabbil echey] ‘he has many horses’. This word [rEm] [ram] which is used quite a lot is //[31] according to Quane not in any of the dictionaries [not in Kelly or Cregeen (qv) - GB].
[ta ·rEm ·A*lAx [A- ] e*gi} [ta ram ollagh echey] ‘he has a lot of cattle’.
[bu:´} [booa] ‘cow’
[mA:d´} (dark [A:}) [moddey] ‘dog’.
[muk] (Europ. u) [muck] ‘pig’.
[kœt} [kayt] ‘cat’.
[LOx} (a broad l clearly heard) [lugh] ‘mouse’.
[rA*dAn} ({A} - sound) [roddan] ‘rat’.
[´·nEsAg} [yn assag] ‘weasal’.
[tœ ·dJi:s bu:^r Eki} [ta jees booa echey] ‘he has (two cows)’.
[o:n bu: ·tœk´} [un booa t’echey] ‘he has got one cow’.
[tœ ·rEm ªErg´d Eka} [ta ram argid echey] ‘he has got lots of money’.
[................ Eg´n ·bEd´n SO (open)] [........ ec yn bedn shoh] ‘this woman has got lots of money.
[.................Ek} [...........eck] ‘she has got...’.
But Quane in fast speech doesn’t seem to distinguish between aige and aice, as in Irish. However, more examples would obviously make clearer the Manx forms.
Varia:
[mO·rœd´n} [mooarane] ‘much’ ([G.] mórán).¹⁷¹³
[·ê*m´di Slei} [ymmodee sleih] ‘a lot of people’.
[Se5:} = Irish ‘s eadh has clearly a close e@5, but [vE:} [va] ‘was’ clearly open.
//[32] [kis ·tEs5u} or [·kên´s ·tEs5u} [kynys ta shiu] ‘how are you?’ [kês] is enough, says Quane.
Together with Quane I walked down to the Market Place and here met Caesar Cashen (ca. 70 yrs.). He remembered Rhys quite well whom he had often spoken to when he came to consult his [Quane’s] older brother. Cashen seems to speak quite good Manx. The sentence ‘I would like to go to Douglas’ he repeated immediately like Woodworth, but Quane used a different expression ([tœ mi buS...} [ta mee bwooish...] ‘I am wishing...’) which doesn’t appear to be very idiomatic.¹⁸¹⁴ Both Quane and Cashen were extremely pleasant. It is very likely that with help from them it should be possible to outline the main features of the Peel dialect - phonetic and grammatical.
Without being asked Cashen mentioned as a good speaker ‘Quayle the Gardner’, the same as I’d heard mentioned in Castletown, and the //[33] same one as Mr Cubbon in a later letter from Castletown had brought to my attention (Quayle’s address is Shore Road; he is, writes Cubbon, the “most fluent speaker in this town”).
Both Cashen and Quane would like me to come to the annual ceremony at Tynwald on 5th July and to the Manx church service on 7th July at [mero$un} [Marown] Church. The Archdeacon in Andreas would no doubt get me a ticket.
Left Peel at 6-00pm in the afternoon and came to Kirk Michael on the western road (the coast road) at 8-00pm. Booked into the Mitre Hotel.
Saw Peel Castle on Patrick’s Island in the forenoon before I visited Quane. In the middle of the island (and inside the castle walls) there was a rectangularly built mound which reminds one a little bit of Tynwald. 4 workers were busy excavating it //[34] when I arrived.They had made a cut into the centre and dug all the way down to the bottom layer of sand, but no grave was found - to the disappointment of the archaeologist, who told me that they had got £100 from the English government for these excavations and who had hoped if there was a sensational find it would enable them to get a bigger grant. The workers, however, showed me a whole collection of flint-stones which had been found in the mound, and told me that there had been found two fragments of bronze. All signs are that the mound is prehistoric. Maybe Tynwald is too?¹⁹¹⁵
Mrs Corkill, Peel, who Cubbon told me was a good speaker, was not at home, neither was Mrs Taubman (c/o Mr Kennaugh, grocer), Port Erin (she is of course mentioned by [John] Rhys [cf. Rhys 1894]). But first of all it is important that I find an individual whose speech I can make daily notes //[35] of, who is patient and co-operative - and women are hardly suitable for that.
19th June: In Kirk Michael one can say that Manx is completely dead. No one was able to name even a single old man around here who spoke it. Vicar Cannan here is supposed to be quite knowledgable in the language, it is said. It is he who is to preach at St. John’s on 7th July. But Cashen said that his Manx and his pronunciation appeared to be somewhat strange, and that he didn’t understand what he said all the time [yes - GB]. Cannan’s father lives near Ballaugh (pr. [BA·lAf}), “Alpine House”.
Kirk Michael lies a few hundred metres from the sea. The old harbour must have lain at the opening of Glen Wyllin (i.e. Mölledalen [‘the mill dale’]), somewhat south-west from the built-up area. It is a place that can give shelter on this part of the coast.
As a joke I carved x x ‘I Karl erected this stone’ on a gatepost whose flat even surface was much too tempting. I hope that no one will find it and take it seriously.
[top p. 37 but indicated to be placed here] P.S. Kirk Michael: John [Kisik [Kissack] in [Bale Krink] [Ballachrink] on the Douglas road just on the outskirts of Kirk Michael; he is a man of over 70 yrs. He knows amongst others things the Our Father in Manx - but appears strangely enough not to be able to count to 10. As a good Manx speaker he mentioned Daniel Cain in Little London, 2-3 miles further south on the Douglas road (the place is marked on the map). But the place was too far off my route.
//[36] 20th June: Sulby Glen Hotel.
The carpenter William [Kå:let] [Corlett], ca. 80 yrs. old from what I’ve heard was from Kirk Michael. He was not at home when I enquired about him. I did not visit Mrs [KOl´ster] [Collister], the Dolly, near the station at Kirk Michael.
Route 19th June: Kirk Michael-Ballaugh-Jurby-Sulby. At Bishop’s Court between Kirk Michael and Ballaugh I met a (17) man around 50. He was born in Ballaugh parish and could count from 1-20 (12: [deidJEg]). But apart from that he hadn’t a lot more knowledge of Manx.
A good speaker is:
(18) Mr. Gawne, W. Nappin just south of Jurby Church. He is about 70 yrs. old and has quite a good pronunciation. The man gives you the impression of being somewhat older. I bought a nice copy of the Bible (of 1819) from him for 10 shillings. I think Gawne is fairly usable and given some time would be able to squeeze the complete Manx system out of him.
He is extremely //[37] willing to co-operate. Here are a couple of words and expressions which I noted (in insufficient phonetic script):
[hA rou ´ mi hA bul´ e: na bi e drox dun‚´} [cha row mee er bwoailley eh [man]nagh bee eh drogh dooinney] ‘I w[oul]d not have beaten him if he were not a bad man’. [k´n ·aStOu fri:l} [cren aght t’ou freayl] (dark k, ‘how are you keeping’. This is Gawne’s own) [cf. §4.6.3.- GB] [tA mi ·mA:ï guro5 ·mA:ï O5:t} [ta mee mie gura mie ayd] ‘I am well thank you’. [mO5:ri mA:i, ·fAst´(sic) mA:ï, ·i: ·vA:ï] [moghree mie, fastyr mie, oie vie ‘good morning, good evening, good night’]. [tou gOl d´·kirAx ´·nA:ïl As kO ·gi:l e:} [t’ou goll dy kerragh yn aile as cur geayl er] ‘[you] go to mend (i.e. make up) the fire and put coal ([gil] = [G.] gual) on’. [kid´n] [keayn] ‘the sea’, [n´·fA:k´} [ny faarkey] ‘the waves’ ? CM (seem to remember that the quality of a- vowel is rather doubtful). [tœ ´n d‚ig‚ig‚ Em maru as O$Nlik‚ As tA n moir //[38] Em bl‚O5: fO5:s [O5: Norsk [å:])] [ta yn jishig aym marroo as oanluckit, agh ta yn moir aym bio foast] ‘my father is dead and buried, but my mother is still alive’. [hAi mi dosn´ ·mo‹r‚g‚´ lES ra:m (soft [a:]) ·n‚Alax} [hie mee dys ny margey lesh ram nollagh] ‘I went to the market with lots of cattle’.²⁰¹⁶ [bu:´} [booa ‘cow’], [muc] (Europ. u) [muck ‘pig’], [g´u:ï] [gioee] ‘geese’, [tœ ra:m g‚u:i* E Es tœ n´ ·smu: d´ ka:k´n Em As ra:m ·tOnAg} (ducks) [ta ram gioee er as ta ny smoo dy kiarkyn aym as ram thunnag] ‘he has lots of geese, but I have more ([G.] ní as mó) hens and ducks’. ([G.] cearc!!). [ka:v´l] [cabbyl] ‘horse’. [mOd´}, plur. [mOdi]: [tœ n´ ·mOdi Em kal‚t‚} [ta ny moddee aym caillt] ‘my dogs are lost’, [tœ ´n mOd´ Em kal‚t‚} [ta yn moddey aym caillt] ‘my dog is lost’. But there was a little bit of uncertainty here, and I did not have time to entice the forms out of him during ordinary conversation. [lO‹i} [lheiy] ‘calf’, [·kOlbax} [colbagh] ‘heifer’, [taru] [tarroo] ‘bull’, [tœ ra:m taru Em} [ta ram tarroo aym] ‘I have a lot of bulls’, [vEl ra:m ·taru OuiS} [vel ram tarroo euish?] ‘have you got, etc’.
From there I called on //[39] carpenter Wilfred Waid [Wade], Sandygate, Jurby, who is hardly much of a number. His pronunciation seems quite clear. He can read quite a lot of the Manx Bible (which he has at least one copy of), which one notices in all his conversation. Provided I can manage to work with Gawne, Wade might be useful.
[klOx ·o£ndin} [clagh undin] ‘foundation stone’. [finn´ ´n gOlœ$:n} [finney yn giaullane] ‘ringing the bells’ [cf. kiaullane ‘bell’ (C.109), Ir. ceolán ‘little bell’ (Di.186)] (but [finn´} is apparently very incomplete. Wade was extremely dissatisfied with my pronunciation).
[dJi:r‚ax} [jeeragh] ‘straight’, opp. [kœm] [cam] ‘crooked’.
As a good speaker he mentioned to me
(20) John Cain, Ballamoar [a small sketch map is drawn].
//[40] He gave me Cain’s age as 80-odd yrs, but he didn’t give me the impression of being more than 70-odd. He unfortunately had visitors when I came (one was in a colourful waistcoat who was irritating as he was always asking questions), but I got the impression that he knew a bit of Manx. Nevertheless, he recited stante pede a good deal of Manx poems.²¹¹⁷ His pronunciation seemed to be clear and correct. He would probably be of some help if I settled down here to work with Gawne.
As a good speaker he mentioned a young man at the Railway Hotel in Ballaugh, a John [KEl´p} [Killip], Sulby Glen. The same man was also recommended by Fayle. He lives about 200 metres from the railway station.
(21) Mr. Fayle (pr. [FEl}, Stauard (my hostess pronounced [Stou´rd}, a farm-name?) is 76 yrs. old. He lives a few hundred metres from the hotel on a line which goes from it and across to the chapel or a little bit to the right //[41] of it. His father spoke only Manx and spoke in a thick accent when speaking English. His mother spoke both Manx and English. He gives the impression of being quite knowledgable in Manx, but lacks practice. The sentence ‘I would not have beaten him, if he hadn’t been a bad man’ he hesitated for a while; for ‘beat’ he used [betAl} [beatal] or something like it, which has to be the English word [yes - GB]. He did not know of any Manx for Sulby.²²¹⁸ Glen is here not pronounced with dn.²³¹⁹ Without doubt he would be quite useful, but I think rather difficult to work with.
Up Sulby Glen.
(22) A man of 64 (his name was [Far´k´l (sic)] [?Faragher]) born “at the bottom of the glen” said that his father spoke Manx and his grandfather only Manx. But his own knowledge of the language was rather fragmentary. He recommended as a good speaker Mrs. Craine, ca. 55 yrs. old (whose grandfather spoke only Manx); she lives on the road to Ballaugh (Cool Ben [i.e. Cooilbane] Cottage).
[A ·nEl ·tEgAl ·g^uEl‚ⁱk‚} [cha nel [mee] toiggal Gailck] ‘[I] can’t understand Manx’, he says; ‘naked’ is called [ru:º] according to him.
Numerals:
[nE:n} (open), {dJi:s}, {tri:}, {k^uEg}, {Se:}, {Sax}, {hOx} (sic), [nEi], {dJEi}, {ar´ndJEg} (sic) [annan jeig, 11].
[up left side of page] 1933. Mr. Killip, Sulby, has forgottem everything. His parents spoke Manx. 1933: 2/2 took two cylinders with me to Fayle; almost impossible.
//[42] But the man was very careful and told me that his pronunciation was not quite idiomatic.
Lunch in Tholt y Will. From there up a steep road to the south; ca. 1 mile up there is a side-road to the left. It leads to ['KrEg´n] [Creggan] (pl. of [KrEg]) ‘rocks’ where (23) Cowley (Mac Ólaibh) lives. He is now 85 yrs. old, almost blind and rather rheumatic, but his pronunciation is quite clear. His memory seems somewhat weakened. Even when he speaks English he hesitates and seems to be rooting for the words. It was impossible for him to remember what ‘head’ was in Manx. It wasn’t until I mentioned the southern Manx [k‚O5:n} [kione] that he gave his pronunciation of it as [k‚O5un}. He also had problems differentiating between ‘with him’ and ‘with her’, but things like that will hopefully diminish fairly naturally in more connected speech.
Numerals:
[nE:n}, {dJi:s}, {tri:} (not esp. palatal), {kE5:r}, {k^uEg}, {Se:}, {Sax} (clearly [a]), {hAx} (dark {A}), [nei], [dJei},
//[43] {ar´ndJEg}, {·dEii8Eg}, {·tri:i8Eg}, {·kE5:rdJEg}, {k^uEgdJEg}, {Se5:dJEg}, {SaxdJEg}, {hAxdJEg}, {neidJEg}, {fid‚}, {nEn´fid‚}, {dJei´sfid‚}, {da-i*d‚}, {dJei´s·dA-i*d}, {ke5:d} (sic, clearly, but a very closed /e/).
[dei ke:d bu´ Em} [[ta] daa keead booa aym] ‘I have 200 cows’.
[ta/tœ ´n tAi Em mu:^´ / ´n tAi Emis mu:^´} [ta yn thie aym/aym’s mooar] ‘my house is big’.
[ka:b´l Em} [yn cabbyl aym] ‘my horse’.
{ " Em´s} {.......... aym’s]
[´n ka:b´l Os} [yn cabbyl euish] ‘your horse’.
[tœ ´n ka:b´l Ek´ ·ma:ru} [ta yn cabbyl echey marroo] ‘his horse is dead’.
[ta ´n .......... Ek maru} [ta yn ......... eck marroo] ‘her ................’ ?CM cp.p. c [45], line 2 below! (.m
[tœ-i* ·fOrAxt´n Eg´n ·tai Em / Em´s} [ta ee fuirraghtyn ec yn thie aym / aym’s] ‘she is staying in my house’, [...Eg´n tAi Ein} [...ec yn thie ain] ‘...in our house’.
[tœ-i* ·be^5´x´...} [ta ee baghey...] ‘she is living...’
But Cowley cannot really make the difference between ‘with him’ and ‘with her’ ([G.] aige : aice).
[nim ·bul‚´xu -?? 2. per. pn. ? CM - mE ·dJin Su ·Sen} [neeym bwoailley hoo my jean shiu shen] ‘I shall strike you if you do that’.²⁴²⁰
//[44] [pên] [pian] ‘pain’, [tœ ·pên (open [i]) ´ns m´ k‚O5un} [ta pian ayns my kione ‘I have a pain in my head’].
[tœ ·rœm ·AlAx (very deep [A}) EkE} [ta ram ollagh echey] ‘he has got a lot of cattle’.
['KrEg´n} [Creggan] ‘rocks’ [rectius ‘rocky place’, cf. ScG. creagan], name of farm.
[Sn‚e:l} [Sniaul] ‘Snaefell’, said in Sulby Glen, but on the south side of the mountain they say [Sn‚o5:l}, {SnjO5:l},
{Baru:l} [Barrule (mtn)],
[KO5uli} [Cowley] pers. n.
[krœm´g} [Crammag] ‘snail’
[mA:d´} [moddey ‘dog’],
[gei] pl. [g‚O5:i*}, {gjO5:i*} [guiy, gioee] ‘goose, geese’
[fam´n ka:b´l} [famman cabbyl] ‘horse’s tail’
[ka:Q} ‘foot’ (sic) (Cowley spells it c + a +th!!) [?back formation from cassyn ‘feet’, cassan ‘footpath’ - RLT].
As a good speaker Cowley mentioned Christian in [Lörgi·rEn´n} (on the map Lhergyrhenny south-east of Creggan). But he is almost deaf. He also has a brother.
(24) John Christian, carpenter, 84 yrs. old (several years older than the brother). He lives a short distance from the chapel near the Sulby Glen road. [Far´k´l} [?Faragher] also //[45] recommended him and he seems really to be one of the best.

[´n ·œ:r ein tOns ·n‚Ou ·kAS´rik‚ d´rOu d´·Enim d´ dJEg d´ r´·ri´x ´n a:rdn‚O5u d´ rOu dJEnt ´r‚´ ·tAlu mO5:r ´s dJEnt O5s ·n‚Ou ·kO5r dO5i*n narAn dJu as dAx (sic) Lœ: (broad l) As lei dO5i*n ·lO5xt´n mO5r tA ·Sên‚‚lei ·do´sen d´ dJEnu ·lOxt´n´ nei as n´ ·lêdJ Sin Os mi O5:l´s lê·ve5: Sin wAi ´n ·Olk sOn Se5: ·lAts ´n r´·ri:^Ax ´n fu:´r As ´n ·lO5:r (sic) sOn d´·brEx as d´ ·brEx ·E:·me5:n}.

{pE5:n n´s m´ x‚Oun} [pian ayns my chione] ‘a pain in my head’.
[ma: d‚E5g´·sO: (short for dJE5g´ ?), tSo‹tßesO5:} in here) [manna jig oo aynshoh, cheet aynshoh] ‘if you don’t come here’ [i.e. mannagh jig oo aynshoh or (w. aux.) mannagh jean oo cheet aynshoh (cf. HLSM/I: 103-04) - GB].
[tœ dœ: ka:b´l Eg´ ·SO5:} [ta daa cabbyl echey shoh] ‘he has two horses’.
[ta ·ram ·kab´l‚ (sic) Em} [ta ram cabbil aym] ‘I have lots of horses’.
[´n ·vE:n SO5:} [yn ven shoh] ‘this woman’.
[ta ra:m o‹:^rg´d Ek} [ta ram argid eck] ‘she has got lots of money’. He uses [Ek] quite naturally here.
//[46] [´n E5:r v^ui:} [yn airh vwee] ‘the yellow gold’ (Chr. pronounces ‘yellow’ [jalOu}).²⁵²¹
21st June: Ramsey, Saddle Hotel. I called on Mr. Killip before I left Sulby. He lives on the Ballaugh road a couple of hundred metres from Sulby railway station. He turned out to be identical with a man I had stopped the previous night and asked directions to the Sulby Glen Hotel. The man was quite sure of himself and spoke a little about his knowledge of Manx, which in fact was deficient. He couldn’t even recite the Our Father and naturally got stuck rather quickly when I gave him the ordinary test sentences. He had an 1819 Bible, a Manx Soc. dictionary together with an old edition of the Old Testament in the same volume (of the same thickness as the 1819 Bible). He wouldn’t give away the dictionary.
[·bE:n ·vAn^An^Ax} [ben Vanninagh] ‘a Manx woman’.
[·mAn^An^Ax} [Manninagh] ‘a Manxman’.
//[47] Left Sulby in the afternoon to go to Andreas, which appeared to be an excellent starting point for my excursion to the flat northerly part of the island. I met a young man a couple of miles from Andreas. He didn’t know of any Manx speakers in the district. He had heard Manx in his childhood, he told me, and the old ones spoke it when it was something they didn’t want the younger ones to understand. The hotel in Andreas (Grosvenor) was fully booked, therefore I continued to Ramsey, Saddle Hotel, Market Place. The cafe was full of a jolly party of solely young people from Douglas; 7-8 young girls were standing and kissing a young man of 17 summers on the mouth, eyes, neck. He received all these passionate advances with an aloof expression and downcast eyes.
(26) Thomas Christian whom I visited today lives in College Street quite near the hotel. He is an excellent old man, a Nordic type through and through. Here I seem finally to have found the man to work with. His pronunciation is clear; //[48] the man is intelligent, patient, and understands that he can be of great service to scholarship by making himself available. He answers small test examples quickly and idiomatically. He has an 1819 Bible and an old Hymnbook^26* probably from the 18th century. I cycled to Maughold and took a taxi to Douglas and returned here later. I can investigate the northern part of the country from Ramsey.
22nd June: Ramsey, Saddle Hotel. Left Ramsey yesterday around 2-00pm. Made for Douglas which I reached just before 8-00pm just in time to get my letters and papers at the post office.
Stopped at Maughold Church to have a look at the Celtic cross and the runic crosses which are collected under a half-roof in the churchyard. This collection is extremely interesting. The interpretation of no. 144 which is given on the plaque is hardly correct. All the runes //[49] appear to be quite clear:

On cross no. 142 there are some inscribed runes which are smaller and which are not mentioned on the plaque. One of them quite clearly gives a man’s name - guDr ( ) another Lifilt, probably a woman’s name. The is followed by a missing piece. I wonder if Lifhild was written there originally? A third inscription is difficult to see. I seem to see (but it’s quite uncertain).
(27) A digger at the churchyard gave me Tom ['Lu:ni] [Looney] ca. 75 yrs. as one who spoke Manx. He lives quite close to the churchyard. He was not at home when I came, but his brother’s son said he had only heard “an odd word of Manx” from him. So he can probably be erased from my //[50] list of Manx speakers.
In Ballaskeig Beg [BAl´ske:g bEg} on the road from Maughold to Ballaglass I met a man of 74 yrs. with the well-known (28) name [MAl´kri:s} [Mylchreest]. His father and mother spoke only Manx. He appeared to have a good grasp of the language. “Good subject” my notes tell me. Words and expressions from him:
[·k‚O5:n} [kione] ’head’, [kæ:s] [cass] foot’.
[Er´ ·mÈl‚´n} [er y ?meeillyn] ‘upon your knees’ (your is of course wrong [as is ‘knees’; it is not certain what [mil‚´n} is -GB]),
[ta mi sma:^´xin d´ gOl d´ Du:liS me:r^Ax} [ta mee smooinaghtyn dy goll dy Doolish mairagh] ‘I’m thinking to..[i.e. of going to Douglas tomorrow]’.
[mAnAx hu dJEnu SEd´n i8ou vi ·gOt‚} [mannagh [jean] oo jannoo shen yiow ve goit ] ‘[if you do not do that] she will be talk’ (I think he says) [in fact ‘...you will be ‘took’, i.e. ‘taken’; this sentences as it stands is a nonsense, and probably a clear articulation was not forthcoming - GB].
[tœ dœ: bu:´ Eg´n d^uÈn´ SEd´n} [ta daa booa ec yn dooinney shen ‘that man has two cows’].
{ne5:n bu:´ Eg´n bEdn SEd´n} [nane booa ec yn ben shen ‘that woman [has] one cow’].
[tœ ne5:n bu:´ Ek} (feminine) [ta nane booa eck ‘she has one cow’].²⁷²²
[MAl´kri:s} [Mylchreest] lives alone; his wife has a bed and breakfast place in Douglas. He seems to be excellent and I think it would be useful to have a chat with him later on when I’ve got //[51] a better grasp of the language.
(29) As a Manx speaker he gave me a Robert ['DjOk´n} [Joughin], Dhoon Church, a man over 70; but I didn’t manage to get a hold of him.
My next victim was
(30) James Kewley ([k´u:li]), 79 yrs. old (b. 1850) the youngest and only surviving one of 10 brothers. Born in [Lize:r} [Lezayre], but brought up in Lonan parish (south of Laxey). He had also lived for some time in Maughold. Met him on the island somewhat south of Laxey and had a long chat with him. He certainly knows a lot of Manx.
[gOu} [gow [i.e. dow]] ‘bullock’ ([margin] damh CM. 1933).
[·kOlbAx} [colbagh] ‘heifer’,[
gei], [g‚OÈ*} [guiy, gioee] ‘goose, geese’
[mo£k} [muck ‘pig’], but [dœ; vo£k} [daa vuck] ‘two pigs’, [tri: mo£g´n} [tree muckyn ‘three pigs’] (sic. Also I seem to remember hearing a g where I expected a k. Was it a mistake?) [No. - GB].
[lei] [lheiy] ‘calf’, [tœ dœ: vu:^´ Eg´} [ta daa vooa echey] ‘he has two cows’ (my notes have correctly [vu:^´r}) [w. Eng. svarabhakti r in hiatus? - RLT]
[kEn´s tOu} [kynys t’ou] ‘how are you?’
[ei vA:i} [oie vie] ([ei] sic).
[in bottom right-hand corner] (I have often heard these forms later in different places, such as Kennah, Baile Cleary [Ballacleary], and also further south on the island. CM Aug. 1930). //[52] He recited some verses he had heard from an older brother:
[kEn sO‹rtS d´ rEk d´ hAi krOg JEk [cre’n sorch dy wreck dy hie chrog Jack
´n o‹r´x´ mEx On g‚Our´ yn orraghey magh un geurey
vi dJEnt m´ gœ:È* Os k‚u:n ´ vœ:È* v’eh jeant myr gaih erskyn y vaie
sOn fo:si ´ns´ tOur´} (in the summer) son phoosee ayns y tourey].
[margin] I do not understand this CM 1933.
[‘what sort of a wreck of a house did Jack build during one winter. It was built as a folly (lit. ‘toy’) above the bay for a wedding in the summer’]²⁸²³
There were several verses, but I only remember this one. A nice man and quite informative.
Booked into the British Hotel in Douglas. Today I bought a couple of old books amongst others, a Bible that was in bad condition and a Manx prayerbook, or something like it, but the beginning of the book was missing. I called on Kneen whom I met later on in the afternoon. He gave me his manuscript of his devotions in Manx which is not obtainable any longer from the bookshops. Kneen has a small sweetshop in Douglas. He sits in a small room at the back of the shop, which has to do as his dining room, and makes sugar-//[53] sticks (Manx rock). The man who ought to be a professor in Manx at a university. Life is very hard for some.
23rd June (Sunday): Went out to look for lodgings. I’ll probably book into the Bridge Inn, 30s. a week (bed and breakfast).
25th June: Had my first lesson with Christian today. Manx is going to be a complicated study when it comes to phonetics. It is not possible at this stage to make detailed phonetic notes. I’ll have to work my way into the language first and then check details later on when my ear is more attuned to it. The phonetic system is much different from Irish, and I will have to orientate myself from scratch.
31st [sic] June: Have now worked with Christian for appr. a week (from ca. 10-12 and from 2-4), and beginning //[54] to get the hang of the system. Chr. without doubt knows a lot of Manx. But it is quite clear that even he is a long time without practice at speaking the language. He often neglects the ordinary rules of mutation (aspiration [i.e. lenition], eclipsis), but maybe that is part of the development of the dialect he is speaking [yes, of the language as a whole - RLT/GB].
29th June: Saturday afternoon I went to see Christian^29* in order to meet the headmaster at one of the secondary schools in Ramsey, Mr. Killey, who is very interested in Manx. We practised by reading chapters of the Old and New Testaments and Killey also sang a couple of songs in Manx, which are very reminiscent of the Irish. His pronunciation is much affected by his English. Gave me the loan of Edmund Goodwin’s Lessoonyn ayns Chengey ny Mayrey Ellan Vannin, Douglas (S.K. Broadbent & Co. Ltd, Printers, Examiner Office, Victoria Street) 1901. It appears to be an excellent book, which I have //[55] to get. Killey is a good friend of Norway. He visited the western part of the country about 30 yrs. ago; an excellent photograph of one of the fjords hangs in his sitting room.
Sunday in Wesleyan Chapel with Christian. A farmer from the neighbourhood spoke simply and appealingly about the lesson of that day. Later in the afternoon I went to Jurby Church to have a look at some of the runic crosses. But the cross that interested me most (the one M[agnus] O[lsen] thinks has the name Fair Tur ^30** ) was not there. Inside the church wall lies what appears to be an old gravemound, and 1 km. or so north of the church a big tumulus is seen against the sky.
(31) On the Jurby Road some miles or so from Ramsey I had a chat with John Joseph Corrin (['KOr´n}), 71 yrs. old, born in Ballaugh parish in [BAl´ KrOS´} [Ballacroshey], now lives in Jurby in [BAl´·Ko£ri} [Ballacurry] (on Jurby Road). Fifty years ago when he //[56] came to Djurby [Jurby] Manx was in extensive use. He appears to have quite some proficiency in spoken Manx. The test sentence ‘if you don’t come at once, I shall beat you’ he managed quite well (with the exception of ‘at once’ which he did not translate); the weekdays he rattled off at a surprising rate (Christian got stuck on ‘Tuesday’, which can be attributed to his lack of memory in general. Even in English he seemed sometimes to hesitate). ‘sickle’ he translated as [·kOrAn} [corran]. I’ll have to call on him later. He is more than willing to receive me again. North of Jurby Church I got some more information from S[A:}tfield [Sartfield] farm from a man in his 50s. He gave me as a good Manx speaker
//[57] (32) John [Se:l] (i.e. Sayle) in [BAl´·to:n´} [Ballathona] about 3 miles north of Jurby, North Road (Shore-road), ca. 70-80 yrs. old. Furthermore
(33) Mr. Kneen, Lane [i.e. Lhen]³¹²⁴ (a short distance from S[A:}tfield and
(34) Mrs. Killip (also in Lhen judging from my notes). Her husband died more than 40 yrs. ago. She is different from the Mrs. Killip I met in Sulby whose husband is still alive. [The] World Manx Association are sending me an invitation to the 19th annual gathering at the Nunnery near Douglas on Tynwald Day, the Manx National Day. The committee wants me to make a speech, which I would like to do, if not... It is difficult for an obscure professor from Oslo to travel unnoticed. A newspaper in Ramsey had a note about my visit to the island. It is probably taken from a paper in Douglas.
//[58] Letter from Gwynne³²²⁵ who invites me to Ireland. If I go over there it is above all to see him again.
Knight of the Arslegion [Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur ] “for services rendered to French language and culture”. The beginning is not to my taste. Orders on the whole are an abomination. But I’m indifferent to the whole affair and my French colleagues would no doubt be offended if I declined to receive it. So let me in God’s name keep it - in silence.
8th July: Arrived too late at Tynwald on 5th July. The service had been held and the laws read when I arrived around 12-00. The national gathering at the Nunnery was in many ways very interesting. But we didn’t hear a word of Manx with the exception of a telegram from the London branch of the World Manx Association, which the author //[59] read out. But it is rather significant that of the work that is going on to save whatever can be saved of the old traditions here on the island, only one speaker, Archdeacon Kewley from Andreas, said in a spirited speech that Manx should be brought back at least as a subject for studies, and asked and exhorted them all to hand over to the Museum all old things of value. All the other speeches seemed more about telling jokes and suggestive stories. It is here about the same as in Dublin. There is a lack of organisation; everything seems to be going its own way. Had a chat with the archdeacon who seemed a nice and pleasant man. Met Cubbon (Kneen and Kermode were in Liverpool to receive an MA degree) and went to his place for tea. Long discussion about treen (Scandinavian or Celtic?). He suddenly appeared yesterday at Christian’s and we had decided Wednesday to see some fat sheep at Billown, near Ballabeg, on Mr. T. G. Moore’s estate.
//[60] Yesterday went on a long tour with Mr. Killey to Cronc Noo (or Now) [i.e. Cronk yn Howe], a burial mound a short distance from Ramsey, which had been excavated a short time ago³³²⁶ and where they had found a piece of amber which was declared by the British Museum to be Scandinavian. The grave lies on a hill, the ground below is known in Manx as ‘Lough’.³⁴²⁷ so it was probably under water years ago. In the grave they had found a stone with some figures on, which is now in the Museum in Douglas. Some of the other stones were probably later taken and used as gateposts. We examined several of them, but there was nothing on any of them.
11th July: With Cubbon to Billown, near Ballabeg. The owner T. G. Moore drove us himself to Skibrich [i.e. Skibrick] (the mound here has the shape of an upturned boat [small drawing given], so it is not //[61] impossible that the name at least contains the word skip as Kneen thinks. Investigated several “standing stones” and “white stones” on the side of a small pond. The stone circle near the houses is very interesting. It is very near a circle and its diameter is about 10 metres which almost without exception is formed of round white blocks of stone, which at least in one place seem to form a burial-chamber (without a roof). The two stones in the middle were without doubt in early times rolled down from a somewhat higher plateau where two round white stones are standing and seem to have formed a chamber together with these. The inside of the circle was completely free of obstruction. In this area they found a whole lot of roughly cut flint, and in addition to that a finely cut piece of flint in the shape I have drawn [thumbnail sketch given]. Furthermore, a few fragments of pottery had been found. Consequently we are dealing here //[62] with an old monument from the Neolithic period or the Bronze Age. Here we are without doubt dealing with a burial place or an old centre of culture - the white stones without doubt have their own meaning and are unconnected with the few isolated stones in the bottom layer.
Mrs. Moore was divinely beautiful, but we saw little of her.
An evening meal at Cubbon’s in Douglas. Kneen was asked, but couldn’t come. He [Cubbon] gave me a couple of Manx books. As a good Manx speaker he mentioned
(35) Mr. J. Kelly, Laxey, on the Ramsey side of the glen and at the mines. He is over 80 yrs. old. The information is Cubbon’s.
15th July: In Douglas yesterday to see the tailor Larsen (Danish and married here). //[63] Visited Kneen who was ill. Kneen has made the same observations as me, that the mutations are not adhered to and that there is a tendency to cut them out. Also the genitive forms are replaced by the nominative. As a good Manx speaker in Port Erin he mentioned
(36) Edmond Maddrell, a tailor, ca. 80 yrs. old, Athol Park. Invited to lunch at the Rotary Club, Douglas, Wednesday 17th July by T. R. Radcliffe, editor of the Examiner, Douglas.
8th Sept: Will travel tomorrow morning to Douglas and afterwards on the 4-30pm boat to Liverpool-Newcastle-Oslo (“Bessheim”).
I am quite satisfied with my stay here. The material I have collected will without doubt have significant value when Celtic speech has completely disappeared from the island in 5-10 yrs. time, even though the phonetic interpretations on several points are naturally only tentative.
//[64] I have really got the hang of Manx and I hope that when I return next year I can start on the southern dialect, which in my opinion differs to a significantly greater degree than is generally throught from that in the northern part of the island.
My plan for next summer is: to investigate the southern dialect and to excavate and old kol [i.e. keeill] in a very Norse district, and perhaps find a few new runic crosses. Hopefully I will be able to get a little bit of financial help for this purpose from some fund in Norway.
We ought to get Kneen a grant for two years so that he can continue recording the place-names. This work has to be done within the next few years, because it would not be possible to obtain the Celtic pronunciation in a few years’ time. For some of the places //[65] a phonetic notation is probably now already impossible.
Cubbon, Kneen, and Killey are excellent types and good friends. Had Killey to dinner last night in the Prince of Wales Hotel. Cubbon has got a whole pile of Manx literature for me, and has furthermore been a great help to me. He also found an old missing piece of a runic stone from Jurby (the Odin’s Stone) which completely refutes a certain fairthur and proves that the readings I suggested in Révue Celtique some 10-15 years ago are correct. I think I have a good grip on the writing on the cross slab found earlier from Bride.
Prof. [Alan] Maw[e]r³⁵²⁸ from Liverpool (from Jan. London) is a pleasant and affable man. Have visited him twice in Ballasalla where he has rented a small picturesque house //[66] for the summer. But he is tied to old ways of doing things. I suggested to him that he should try to get Kneen a scholarship, but I have some doubts that he would do anything in that direction. From the English Historical Musuem he is allocated £150 yearly.
A young student from Trinity College, [?Cosslett] Quin, has visited me several times at the Bridge Inn. He is intelligent, interesting, and has wide views. He is very interested in Irish, will spend some weeks next year in an Irish speaking area in Donegal - but will they ever get off the ground in Ireland? I gave him all the help I could.
My trip to Ireland will have to wait until next year.³⁶²⁹
//[67]

The Treasurer of the Isle of Man
Government Office
ISLE OF MAN
//[70] Port Erin 28/8/30. Moved from Old Abbey Hotel today. Gave the burnt Bible I found in the chimney in Grenaby to Mr. and Mrs. Witham (the owners of the hotel). The poor man has been confined to bed for two years, and seems to think that this Bible will bring him luck.
Taggart is a very difficult subject to put it mildly. First of all he’s deaf and a continuous conversation with him is almost impossible. His memory is also weakened to a considerable degree. All his information will have to be checked and used with the greatest care. False associations with synonyms or similar sounding English or Manx words would often lead him to produce completely mad forms, such as [œ:-k´l} ‘lime-kiln’ (under the influence of Eng. ‘kiln’ for [i:l] = [G.] aoil!!). I’ll have to arrange some phonetic system //[71] of what he has explained. Yesterday we were shouting for a full 41/2 hours, which I’m sure could be heard all over the parish - and we were both completely knackered when we were finished.
Woodw. sick today; for that reason I took a trip to Cregneish and met old Kelly. He makes a very good impression. He grew up in a home where the parents spoke Manx to each other. He has always understood Manx himself - even as a small boy he was able to speak a little. He only achieved complete mastery of the language when, as with Woodw, he went fishing with the older men when he was around 15 yrs. old. It was most interesting to observe that K. did not have a broad fronted l, as in laa ‘day’.³⁷³⁰ There is a question here whether we are up against a change in the old Manx dialect in the Port Erin district, or the loss of this feature could be that W. and K. grew up with English as their main language. The problem will have to be solved. It is of considerable general interest.
Station Hotel (proprietor Chadwick) seems //[72] OK. For the room and breakfast and 1 meal I pay 71/2 shillings, which is quite reasonable.
30/8. Took a trip to Cregneish yesterday evening and paid a visit to Harry Kelly. Arranged to meet him tomorrow morning at 9 o’clock and have just arrived back from my first session with him. He will be 79 next year. He appears to have an extraordinarily good knowledge of Manx. I’ve still not been able to get to know him well at all. but it would not surprise me that of all the speakers I have met he is the one who speaks best and most idiomatically. Made him tell me his “Life” in English; I’ll take it down in Manx tomorrow morning about 9 o’clock. Kelly is supposed to be very unapproachable - a fishmonger who passed by was surprised that I ever got Kelly to speak Manx.
//[73] The English dialect on Man is very interesting and will have to be investigated. For ‘Chasms’ Woodw. says [kœ:s´ms} (placename). The first part of a diphthong which is so common in Manx, also in Anglo-Manx, is longer. I heard from a passer-by in Ballasalla: [tA:im} ‘time’, [·lA:is´ns} ‘licence’.
1/9/30. My impression of Kelly is confirmed. He appears to be an excellent speaker considering the position of Manx. I noted down his vita yesterday, which contained many interesting pieces of information about manners and customs in the old days. But he is a difficult man to handle. When I called in this morning at 9 o’clock as we had agreed he had no time to spare. I’ll have to come to a permanent arrangement with him.
Called on Thomas Crebbin in Bradda Village today, and am going to meet him tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. He appears to have a clear pronunciation. A palatal n came very clearly from him. He was born in //[74] Port Erin (half way between P. Er. and Bradda Village). Like his father and grandfather he has spoken Manx from early childhood. He appears to pronounce laa ‘day’ with a broad fronted l. In other words Woodw. and Kelly’s pronunciation is flavoured by the dialect from which they learned Manx. Odd words: [tSEb} ‘offer’ (so and so much for an article), [n‚a:r} ‘east’, [n´´i:r] ‘west’ [i.e. from the E, W], [dJa:s} ‘south’ [k‚e5:^r} ‘four’, etc.
Koht’s article in Tid. Tegn of the 23rd Aug. on the Manx language came just in time and will most likely turn out to be excellent support for further work.³⁸³¹
20/9. Finished off my work in Grenaby and P[ort] E[rin]. Kelly is an excellent subject and I must come back another year and make further use of him. Woodw. is reliable, but his Manx does not seem to be as genuine (vernacular) as Kelly’s or //[75] Crebbin’s. The latter is the one I can probably do nothing much with, because he is quite ill. It is rather doubtful whether I will find him alive in another year. He has forgotten the most part of his Manx, but the little he has gives the same genuine impression as Kelly’s.
I will have to get hold of Maddrell before I leave and will have to throw some light on Crebbin’s [palatal] [l] (same as Kelly’s?). I’ll also have to arrange it that I get a few days in Peel, in other words tomorrow Sunday: Taggart; Monday: Woodw. (for the last time) and Maddrell; Tuesday and Wednesday: Peel; Thursday: farewell to Douglas; Friday to Liverpool.
Station Hotel good and reasonable.
30/9/30. Home again. Finished the work with Kelly and Woodworth. Visited Crebbin in Bradda Village and got all the 32 points of the compass from him. T. Maddrell in Glenchass was an //[76] uncongenial man between 70 and 80 and did not appear to be much worthwhile as a subject. He told me himself that he could not speak Manx before he was 18, when from that time he learned it from the old people. But he couldn’t keep up a conversation nor speak it fluently. The same evening paid a visit to Percy Kelly the Manx teacher, T. Crebbin at Four Roads near Port Erin. He is an old man of around 80. His knowledge of Manx is rather limited from several angles. I did not miss much by not visiting him earlier.
//[77] Worked in Peel with Quane Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning and managed to get some fairly good material during the short time. Characteristic of Peel Manx is amongst other things the a-sounds. I hope to get the opportunity to come back to Peel to spend a week or two another year.
Thursday afternoon in Douglas; Cubbon, Oates, Quilliam, Kneen, and a pupil of his, a rather young congenial man. Cubbon gave me his map of treen-names which turned out to be extremely useful. He deserves to get an award for his work from Norway.
Saturday 27th: from Newcastle on Bessheim; travelled with Dr. Christiansen whom I met on the station in Liverpool. Terrible weather on //[78] the coast of England, but calm sea on the Norwegian coast and up the Oslo Fjord.

Port Erin 29th Jan. 1933

From Oslo Saturday 12 o’clock 7th Jan. (Vippetangen) on “Blendheim”. Good crossing. Pibbe with us, a little seasick at the beginning, but managed better that I did later. One of the group was Hans Kittelsen;³⁹³² played bridge on board with two Norwegian ladies, Misses Glörsun and Kristiansen. The first one continued with us to London, but the other one remained with Kittelsen in Newcastle to get a later train south. Your man Hans turned out to be a bit of a womaniser.
//[79] London, Euston Station Hotel 1st night; 15s. for a room only, too expensive. Moved over to the Gower Hotel in Euston Road, 10s. for a double room and breakfast for the two of us.
Went to the zoo with Pibbe who was very interested. Got myself kitted up in Rim[m]el and Alsop’s - I really needed it. To Liverpool 14th Jan. Adelphi was looking for 18s. for room only. A policeman recommended a boarding house near the station, At-lantic Hotel (ca. 12s. B & B), a sleasy place, will probably never come here again.
Monday at 10-45am on the “Peel Castle” to Douglas, excellent weather. Kneen on the pier. Tea at Cubbon’s Wednesday, later on with Kneen. Tea with the Deputy Governor, Deemster La Mothe, a pleasant man. He lives //[80] a little way out of Douglas (Balla na Brooie [Ballabrooie]) on the road to Braddan if I remember correctly - with his daughter Mrs. McGay (?) [?McGee]. Asked me to bring Pibbe the next time I came back to Douglas.
Cubbon got ca. 10-11 copies of my book [viz. Marstrander 1932]. They were given (with a dedication) to:
Dep. Gov. La Mothe Canon Quine
Deemster Farrant Mr [P. G.] Ralfe
Att. Gen. [R. B.] Moore Rev. [E. H.] Stenning
Archdeacon Cowley [?Kewley]
Prideaux, postmaster in Port Erin, got one later on. The book has been well received here, and has been mentioned in the press. There was a long article yesterday in the Manx Examiner (?).⁴⁰³³
When in London I had a meeting with the general manager of the Gramophone Company. //[81] He was a helpful young man who gave me the impression of being very interested in the project. He promises to be available the moment I arrive in London with Harry Kelly.
Brought with me part 1 of the phonographic recordings which Selmer and Leip had used in America. Selmer pointed out that there was something wrong with the stylus, and that this was a great handicap here. It is a pity, because at least 1/5 of the wax cylinder cannot be used, and the whole thing could have been easily fixed by changing the stylus only. It has to be done as soon as I get back home. Apart from that the recording apparatus is functioning well. I cannot use it when the temperature is less than 20 degrees which is what Selmer prefers. It is cold here and practically impossible to get the temperature up in the rooms. I tried to get in contact with Kelly on 24th Jan; walked over the hill from Port Erin (Station Hotel as in 1930), and started the recordings here in the hotel on 25th. My impression is that the recordings are rather uneven. Kelly’s voice is somewhat hoarse, //[82] is a bit squeaky and not very sonorous, but the result improves when he speaks relatively softly and has his mouth well close to the horn. Have worked with him for four days now; will probably finish tomorrow morning the 30th Jan. (2) The second apparatus I brought with me is a graph by which I can determine the sonority, nasality, consonant and vowel sounds, pitch, and as far as I can see it is not functioning very satisfactorily and I cannot compare it with the French apparatus I used in Brittany. It is very difficult to get the oscillations to show on the paper here. Maybe it could be improved if I changed the nibs; it is probably there that the fault lies. Have not yet used the apparatus here, but will try it tomorrow morning with Kelly.
//[83] 29/1/33. Visited Quane yesterday. Recorded the Lord’s Prayer, some verses of a hymn (see Peel material) together with a couple of small sentences. Quane’s voice didn’t turn out to be very good either for the recordings, and his knowledge of Manx is probably rather limited. He is not like Kelly and Cashen born with Manx, but has leanred it, as he says himself, by listening to the old people when he was a boy. His pronunciation often varies for the same words, it seems to me.
30/1/33. Finished my work with Harry Kelly today, 29 cylinders for “metalisation”. I also tried the other apparatus on him. The oscillations were more visible when I used a short arm. The main result: faintly voiced media [x], [V} in dorcha are voiced; p, t, k considerably weaker aspiration than in Norwegian; [Aun‚} ‘river’, [dAun‚} ‘deep’ have a non-nasal vowel.
//[84] 5/2/33. Recorded several cylinders in Peel with Quane and Cashen. 12 long cylinders from Liverpool. Came in handy. I have to mention that the 18cm. cylinders which Sel-mer mentions in his letter as quite useful cannot be cut, as they are cone-shaped.
3/2. To Sulby where I used a couple of cylinders on Fayle. He was an impossible subject, hoarse and had a squeaky voice, and barked the words into the horn - and his memory of Manx was rather limited.
4/2. To Jurby. John Cain //[85] confirmed completely the good impression I got of him in 1929. Used the two last cylinders on him. It is a pity I hadn’t met him before. He would have been one of my main informants together with Christian, Woodworth, and Kelly.

[inside back cover]
Edmond Maddrell, tailor, P[ort] E[rin], no. 36 Athol Park. Mrs. Taubman, P. Erin. Mrs. Corkil[l], Peel. Gawne, no. 18 Jurby. Kane [Cain], no. 20 Sulby.

**********


The Transcription


Man Dagbok

Dette er en dagbok av Prof. Carl J. S. Marstrander. Han besøkte Isle of Man fra juni til sep-tember 1929, august til september 1930 og januar til februar 1933.
Under sitt opphold på øya forsøkte ham å kartlegge det gamle Manske språket og de forskjellige dialektene.
Dagboken ble renskrevet fra orginalversonen våren 1998.

Sogndal 24.05.1998
Anne Fevang Lars Anders Ruden




//[1] JUNI 1929

4. juni:
kl. 11 aften avreise med Bergenstoget. Audh. Og Sverdrup fulgte til stasjonen.

5. juni:
avr. Bergen med “Leda”. Bra båt, eksellent og rikelig kjøkken.

6. juni:
ankomst Newcastle, hvor jeg såvidt nådde Londontoget kl. 14⁵⁴. Ankomst London ved 8 tiden. Måtte ta inn i en liten pensjon i Liverpool Str. 26. (ved Kings Cross station).

7. juni:
fik værelse på Euston Hotel. Opsøkte Flower i British Museum og tilbrakte eftermiddagen og aftenen med ham, dels i London, dels i Croydon. Flower er en utmerket mann. Han søker å trekke linjer i irsk litteratur, hvad ingen før ham har gjort. Hans studier av irske håndskriftarter syns å ha ført ham til nye synsmåter ang. den irske litteratur og sagncyklers oprinnelse og //[2] utbredelse. Han var meget interessert i Christiansens arbeider om Finndiktningen, som forhåbentlig kommer iår. Det syns som Fl. Ikke er persona grata i Dublin (det forsto jeg også av O`Keeffe). Jeg skulde tro han vil gjøre bedre arbeide enn noen av irdagene i Dublin. Aftenen tilbraktes i Croydon, en 20 min. vei med toget fra Lond., hvor Fl. har leiet et litet hus og har med kone, mor og 3 barn, 2 piker og en gutt. Min guddatter Barbra viste sig å være en søt pike. Hun skal efter hvad Fl. sier være en sprogelig begavelse og Fl. vil gjerne hun skal bli a scholar, hun har the devil of a temper, sier han og vil ikke passe for ekteskapet.
Mrs Flower en elskverdig dame, men //[3] virker noe slitt og gammel. Flow. forteller at han var tilbudt professorat i Oxford i irsk, som Frazer fikk, men at han ikke kunde motta det, da salæret £600<sup>41*</sup> var for litet.
Han syns nu å angre på det, for hans arbeider i British Mus. vil ikke gi ham større tid til irske studier når katalogen blir ferdig til neste år. Han var temmelig irritert over en anmeldelse som Bergin hadde skrevet, en typisk Bergin anmeldelse, hvor Fl. bebreides for å si mer enn hvad en katalog efter B`s mening bør inneholde. Tenker jeg får anmelde katalogen utførlig (sammen med Chistiansen) i bind 5 av tidsskriftet.

8. juni:
Flyttet over til Gower Hotel (billig og renslig), kort fra Euston.

9. juni:
en prektig tur op Themsen (alene) til Richmond. Tilbake med buss.

10. juni:
Møtte Fl. i museet og så på den keltiske myntsamling. Den var ikke særlig //[4] imponerende. Det rette sted for kelt. mynter er sikkert Paris. Interessant var en mynt som i latinske bokstaver leste BIRACO ..., trul. de “lepontiske” myntene. Lunchte sammen med Fl. og O`Keeffe som det var en glede å se igjen efter alle disse år. Han var samme hyggelige, frittalende menneske som før og har holt seg udmerket. Han har en søn på 21 år, den samme som blir ført under mit første ophol i Dublin og som jeg var så uheldig å [referere] til som Ailill ! Medb, stakkars, er død, det viste jeg ikke. O`K. var meget skarp i sin kritikk over Dublinfolket og meget bitter over at School of Irish Learning var nedlagt og Èriu overtats av Akademiet og at Anecdota var gått inn. Kritikken over Bergin [særlig] sterk. Han mangler komplett initiativ, kan ikke //[5] skape skole, ikke opdra nye elever, han står slapp og virkeløs i et miljø hvor en initiativrik mann kunde gjøre underverker. Til hans unskyldning tjener at han er overlesset med univ. arbeider. Hans irskkurser frekventeres av 300 tilhørere som alle skal ha sin eksamen og hvis skriftlige besvarelser han formod. må lese igjennom. O`Rahilly som en tid var i Trinity College, hvor han ikke syns å ha kunnet gjort ut av med herrene der, er gått til Cork og når Hyde går om kort tid frykter man for at Mrs. O`Farrely rykker op til prof. i nyirsk; Nat. Univ. Duilearga syns man å ha godt håb til. Men jeg har sterke tvil om irsk lingvistikk og filologi noensinne vil vokse seg sterk på irsk grunn uten organisasjon utenfra. Meyer holdt det hele sammen fra Liverpool av. Sommerfelt og jeg kunde gjøre adskillig //[5A] fra Oslo av; men våre interesser er ikke som Meyers begrenset til irsk eller keltisk alene. Et energisk arbeid på å skape et videnskapelig miljø i Dublin vilde si at vi for mange år - måske for alltid - måtte legge annet arbeid tilside. Kan hende vilde vi tjene videnskapen best om vi gjorde det og således bar keltologien over den bølgdal, som den nu med truende fart syns å gå ned i. Når Thurneysen dør - og mange år kan vi ikke vente å beholde ham - har Tyskland ingen keltolog mer; ti J.P. kan ikke tas alvorlig og når Loth til neste år (om jeg ikke tar feil) går av ved Sorbonne, står det formod. ingen ferdig til å ta hans plass. Også Vendryes er oppe i årene og Mlle Sjoestedt //[6] skal være meget syk. Utsiktene er overalt mørke. Best måske i Norge, hvor de keltiske studier drives av forholdsvis unge folk og hvor vi nok skal sørge for at det ikke blir gitt op.

11. juni:
Avreise til Liverpool. Tok inn på Adelphi hotel, som (i 1914) er blitt fullstendig ombygget siden jeg var der sist.

12. juni:
Til Man ! Sjøen blikkstille. Ankom Douglas ved 2^1/2 tiden. Tok inn på British Hotel ved den gamle Market Place. En dansk skute lå så å si utenfor vinduene; den hadde bragt tømmer fra Riga og tok nu inn ballast.

13. juni:
Avla visitt i museet (en rød mursteinsbyggning, oprinnelig bygget til hospital). Traf Kermode, en hyggelig og snaksom gammel herre, som presenterte meg for //[6A] bibliotekaren, Mr. Cubbon og for J.J Kneen, forfatteren av det udmerkede arbeide over manske stedsnavn, begge overordentlige hyggelige folk.
Cubbon tilbø seg å overlade Univ. biblioteket et eks. av den manske bibelovers. (1. utgaven) som gave og at selge det 1. eks. av utgaven av 1819. Jeg sel hadde i Simpsons Antikvariat i Douglas funnet 2 eks. av 1819 utgaven hvor jeg tok det ene sel og reserverte det annet for Sommerfelt. P.A. Munchs arbeider er ikke glemt her. I biblioteket henger hans billeder i ramme. Om eftermiddagen en prektig tur med Kneen til Braddan Church, hvor flere runekors er stillet op. Kneens oplysninger om de betingelser hvorunder det videnskabelige arbeidet her foregår, var i høieste grad mistrøstige. Den engelske regering //[7] gir det hele en god dag. Kneens eget arbeid er leilighetsarbeide. Hans bok har gitt meg et sterkt inntrykk av styrken av den norske bosettelse her. Enkelte steder syns navnene på alle større gårder norske, således i Garf; de norske navn møter en desuten langs hele kysten. Kneens samling er neppe fullstendig, han medgir sel at en noenlunde fullstendig saml. av kystnavn og skjer og holmenavn har han bare vært i stand til å samle for sydkysten. Jeg har en levende følelse at her er et rikt felt for en stedsnavnforsker med historisk skjøn. Så talrike som de norske navnene er her på Man, må man liketil kunne lese hele kapitler av den norske bosettelseshistorie ut av dem. Så viktig som Kneens arbeider er også fra et norsk synspunkt, vilde det bare være rimelig om Nansenfondet påskjønnet hans arbeid med en bevilning på £100 - til //[8] fortsatt innsamling av materiale. Om aftenen te hos Cubbon sammen med Kneen. Mrs. Cubbon, som ikke viste sig meget, syntes en sympatisk dame. Vi ble sittende til over 11 og prate om de forskjelligste temaer. Av særlig interesse var Kneens tyding av Smeal som smi¶a ból ^42*, en tyding som får en betydelig interesse ved det skipsgravfunn som er gjort der og som b.a. også rummet en smietang. Fra samme sted nevnes i senere kilder en Patrick Gowe (Crowe) og en ...Teare (an t-Saoir). Her trekker altså arkeologi og sprogvid. i forening en sammenhengende kulturhistorisk linje fra det 15. årh. Museet inneholder flere ogamstener og runekors (originaler og avstøpninger) men kan ikke ellers sies å være rikholdig.

//[9]
15. juni:
Kort besøk i museet for å bytte hefte 3 av mit eks. av Kneens bok, hvor et ark manglet. Råket midt oppe i et direksjonsmøte ble presentert for “Mr. Chairman” og for den norske konsul i Douglas Mr. Oates, som begge lot til å være gemyttelige menn. Startet så om eftermiddagen på min Cuairt Manan[n] (‘tour of Man’) med Castletown som første mål.
(1)
Mit 1. Offer var en ca. 60 år gammel mand fra gården Kewaige, 1- 2 km. fra Douglas. Det gamle folk der i egnen talte ikke lenger mansk, sa han. Hans egne foreldre talte riktignok mansk, men de foretrakk engelsk og forbø barna å snakke mansk. Hans besteforeldre talte fortrinnsvis mansk og “brøt” på engelsken.
(2)
En mann i Baconsfield (ikke på kartet, men ikke så langt fra Kewaige) ca. 55 år gl. sa //[10] mansk ikke lenger hørtes der i egnen. Hans egen far og mor talte bare engelsk. Han var forøvrig nokså vag i sine uttalelser.
Nokså meget regn på veien og nokså våt ved fremkomsten til Castletown, hvor jeg tok inn på Union Hotel. Her hadde jeg senere på aftenen en hyggelig prat med en del eldre og yngre folk fra Castletown og omegn, hvorav dog ingen talte mansk. En undtagelse dannet dog en forholdsvis ung mann, som jeg anslog til å være i 40 - årene; men hadde betegnende nok lært mansk av sin bestefar. Da jeg tok en stikkprøve og spurte han hvad “it`s a cold day” hette på mansk, svart han ganske riktig.
Moret mig forøvrig med å kaste “darts” med en meget ung mann på stedet. Han vant tilslutt efter noen og seksti kast //[11] hvad der hadde tilfølge at jeg måtte rive i et glass øl på ham.
Renslig og rimelig hotel.

16. juni:
drog fra Castletown ved 11 - tiden til Grenaby. Fint veir, skjønt ordentlig vind.
(3)
Like utenfor Castletown hadde jeg en prat med en ca. 70 år gammel mann. Han var fra Derby Haven (født der) og talte ikke mansk. Faren heller ikke, men moren, som betegnende nok var fra Ballabeg nær Grenaby^43**, gjorde det derimot. Godt mansk taler ifølge ham “[k^ue:l] the Gardener”. Han er en mann på over 80 år, født i Arbory ^44* og bor like nord for Castletown. Bøiet ned til Derby Haven. Traf her 2 unge og 1 eldre manskmann. De opgav som gode mansktalende Tomas Taggart, skredder i Grenaby, 80- 85 år gl., født efter hvad //[12] de sa i [kæriki:l] (nær Castletown). Videre Tom Harrison i Ballasalla godt og vel 80 år gammel. Endelig nevnte de også (som senere også Tomas Taggart) archdeacon [kju:li], en mann på godt og vel 70 år, født av fattige foreldre i Parish Castletown.
Min vei førte mig nù til Ballasalla hvor jeg avla et kort besøk i Rushen Abbey som ligger like ved. Her skal flere norske konger være begravet efter hvad de opstilte tavler forteller, således en Magnus, en Ragnald og en Olav. Låkket på en av disse kister skal være funnet sier guiden meden utgravinger i de senere år og opbevares nù i museet som var stengt da jeg var der. (Det åpnes om søndagen først kl. 3)
//[13]
(4)
1/2 - 1 km. vest for Ballasalla ved “Cross Four Wags” (avsatt merkelig nokk på kartet i Manks guiden, men ikke på Ordnance turveg) erklærte en kone på ca. 40 at ingen her i egnen talte mansk, men lenger oppe i retning av Grenaby kunde man finne “lots of them”. Dette var dog en overdrivelse.
(5)
Noe nord herfor og før sideveien tar av til Grenaby fra hovedveien (til Peel) hadde jeg en prat med en mann i 50 årene. Han var født i Ballasalla. Faren forstod mansk, men talte almindelig engelsk. Bestefaren derimot talte fortrinnsvis mansk, sjønt han nok forstod engelsk. Som gode speakers nevnte han 2 gamle koner Mrs. Wade og Mrs. Johnsen, begge ca.90 år og boende like i nærheten. Videre nevnte han også skredder Taggart i Grenaby og en skomaker sammstedtsWilliam Preston på over 80, som han forøvrig mente det var nytteløst å henvende seg til, da han formodentlig //[14] “vilde smelle døren igjen i nesen på en”.
Fra denne mann fikk jeg også høre de første brokker av mansk. Han var fortrolig med de almindelige hilsningsformularer og enkelte andre strålende vendinger jeg vilde ofte hørs tale om {d‚Ok ´n ·dOr´s} sa han, den siste drikk før man bryter op.(irsk deoch an doruis). ‘How do you do’ gjenga han med noe som for mig i farten hørtes ut som {kœn´s ·tA5 Su}. ‘How are you today’ med {kœn´s tA5g´ lœ:} svaret er {tA brou, tA brou, kœn´s ta (eller kœ·nes tA) hi:n] hvordan har du det selv). ‘Time enough yet’ (no hurry) gjenga han med {trei d´ ·luA} og ‘good by’ med {i: ·vA:i} ( å brukbart good night ! dypere stikker altså hans kunnskaper ikke).
Det var formodentlig denne mann, som //[15] også opgav mig William Kneen som en god speaker. Denne Kneen er over 70 år, født i Croitecaley^45* (noe sydvest for Colby), hvor han også bor.
En annen speaker er Bændken Regg (så skrevet efter uttalen), ca. 76 år, født i Arbory sansynligvis. Men jeg husker ikke nù fra hvem jeg har denne oplysning.
(6)
William Kenne fra [BAl´ Dug´n} like før Grenaby, 62 år gl., sier han kan uttrykke almindelige setninger i mansk. En stikprøve: ‘I am going to Casteltown’ oversatte han riktig. Faren og moren talte begge mansk, men også engelsk. Sig imellom talte de mansk fremfor alt når det var noe de ikke vilde barna skulde forstå (dette trekk har jeg hørt fremholdt fra mange andre hold). Som god speaker nevnte han Tomas Lis (så stavet efter uttalen) fra [Kœr´ ·Mu:^´r}, Grenaby, ca. 70 år gl. //[16]
(7)
Tomas Taggart viste sig å være en munter olding med et veldig apostolisk skjegg, en meget talende mann med et glimrende humør. Hans uttale forekom mig dog utydelig ikke bare av mansk (hvad der sier litet, da jeg ennu praktisk talt ingenting forstår derav) men også av engelsk. Han lesper litt, har sikkert ikke alle sine tenner og lyden ble lissom hengende igjen i skjegget hans. Men hans mansk er visst upåklagelig. Han betrodde mig også at han kjente flere manske sanger av den art, at de ikke godt kunne foredras offentlig. Jeg tror nok mannen kan brukes, jeg får ha ham i mente, men får iallefall foreløbig fortsette min rundtur. //[17] Ble budt på en splendid te og cyklet så ned til Port Erin, hvor jeg tok inn på Falcons Nest, hvor dette er skrevet (15/6.29)
# Congre (ål) het på manks {Ast´n} eller lign. (eascon) ifølge ham.
17. juni:
Strålende veir. La ivei til fots sydover for å få et glimt av The Calf of Man.
(8)
I landsbyen [KrEd‚ne:ⁱS} (Cregneish) hadde jeg en prat med en 69 år gl. mann [Kœr´n}. Han var fra [HOu}^46* (kartets Howe) straks nord for Creigneish, men faren født i Cregneish. Han var istand til å uttrykke sig på manks, bare komplikasjonene ikke var for innviklet. En setning som ‘I would`nt have beaten him if he were not a bad man’ klarte hverken han eller en noe eldre mann# på stedet mens vendinger som ‘I shall go to the fair to morrow’, ‘I went to the fair yesterday but bought nothing’ klarte de uten hovedbry. Calf of Man het på //[18] manks {kA:lu} sa de (orig. Kalfr). Traf også [Kœr´ns} noe yngre bror (55 år), en sjømann. Faren talte godt manks, foretrakk det enn også for engelsk og var også i stand til å lese det. Begge anbefalte som en god manks speaker
(9)
Harry Kelly skrevet Kelly, Aug. (1930], 77 år gl., som bor nederst i landsbyen på høire (syd) side av veien. En hyggelig gammel mand med tydelig uttale. De få setninger jeg gav ham å oversette - de var ganske enkle - klarte han uten vanskelighet. Hans far talte praktisk talt bare manks. Kelly har en manks bibel, det samme har [Kœr´n} (den eldste av dem), men ingen av dem vil skille sig ved den. Også Taggart i Grenaby har bibelversjonen av 1819 (og Manx Soc. ordboken og kvarto- utgaven av boken).
//[19]
Kelly kjenner navnene på alle holmer og skjer her utenfor. Et skjer heter således {krEg ´ l‚Em´n} ({l‚Em} ‘a jump’, sa han irsk léim), den nøiaktige form innestår jeg ikke for. ‘How many horses have you’ heter {kwOd kœv´l tœd} eller lignende. (Riktig ! aug. 1930)
Kelly kan uten tvil brukes.
Glimrende østers i en liten shop rett ved hotellet (ned mot stranden). De serveres på stedet, cider er også å få der. Det går ganske bra sammen.

Peel 17. juni:
Før jeg forlot Port Erin gik jeg for å hilse på Joseph Woodworth, en gammel fisker, som man i Douglas hadde nevnt for mig som en god manks speaker. Han var ute på fiske og datteren sa han var ikke ventendes tilbake //[20] før kl. 3, så jeg benyttet tiden til en tur på halvøen syd for Port Erin.
(10)
En gammel mann i landsbyen [FeSt´r{d}} på vel 70 sier at hans far talte bare manks, hans mor derimot begge deler. Sel var han nok istand til å klare enkle setninger i manks. Som en god manks speaker nevnte han
(11)
Waterson i Glen Càs nær Howe ca. 65 år. Denne mann opsøkte jeg, han bodde ikke mange hundre meterne borte (han hadde som han fortalte mig fra vinduet set mig samtale med den andre !). Waterson sa at stedet han bodde i hette [Fist´r{d}}, men at mange kalte det Glen Càs.
Waterson gjorde inntrykk av å kunne føre en konversasjon på manks, skjønt hans kjenskap til sproget sikkert ikke er //[21] fullkommen efter flere merker å dømme. Han gav mig flj. former av taleordene, som jeg nedskrev i al hast.

{nE:n} [1] {·nEn dJEg} [11] {·nEn´s·fig‚} [21] {dA:g‚} “40”
{dJi:s} [2] [gAi Eg} [12] {·dJi:s´sfig‚} [22] {dJAi´sdA:g‚} “50”
{tri:} [3] {·tri:dJEg} [13] [dJAi´sfig‚} “30” {tri:fid‚} “60”
{kE:r} [4] [ke:rdJEg} [14] {·nindJEg´s·fig‚} “31” {tri:fid‚´sdJAi} “70”
{f^uEg} “5” (sic) {f^uegdJEg} {15] {gAiEg´sfig‚} {32] {ke:rfid‚} “80”
{Se:} [6] {·Se:dÆEg} [16] {tri:dJEg´sfig‚} [33] {ke:rfid‚´sdJAi} “90”
{Sœ:x} [7] {Sœ:xdJEg} [17] [kE:r ...... } [34] {ki:d} “100”
{hA:x} [8](mørkt à){hA:xtJEg} [18] [f^uEg ..... } [35]
{ni:} [9] {ni:dJEg} [19] {Se: ...... } [36]
{dJAi} [10] {fig‚}, {fid‚} “20” {SaxtSEg´sfig‚} [37]
{hA:xt ...... } [38]
{ni:dJEg} .... } [39]

Dog var W. usikker straks han kom over 40. Han sa således at 60 hette //[22] [tri: 'ki:d]^47*, som dog må bety 300, men rettet det dog sel senere.
‘I was born at the Howe’ het {vA mi ·rOg´d Eg´n Ou}, sa han.
Av ord han opgav noterte jeg.
{strEin} nese
[mOn´l] hals
{bi:l} mund
[læu] hånd
{kœ:b} hake
[ka:s] fot (nesten [æ:])
{kli:S} øre
{su:l‚} øie (som han forøvrig måtte betenke sig på og først gav da jeg nevnte det irske ekvivalent)
[lur´g´} legg (u -lyden kanskje ikke riktig notert).
[ri:] arm
[dri$:m} rygg

Manks speakers vil man finne i [BAl´kil·fErik‚} og i [LEn Gig], begge nær Colby, sier Waterson.
Howe må være Haugr. Det passer udmerket til gårdens beliggenhet //[23] på toppen av en ‘hill’.
(12)
Joseph Woodworth er 75 år gammel og synes virkelig å kunne adskillig manks. Han er fisker og hans dag avhenger ganske mye av veiret. ‘I wd like to go to Douglas tomorrow’ oversatte han: {l‚ak l‚um D´ ·gOl go3s Du:liS me:rAx}. ‘If he had`nt been a bad man (I wd not have beaten him) oversatte han: {mAnAx ·bExE ´·ve: drAx·go3n´}. Han var villig til å prate manks med mig, om jeg kom tilbake til Port Erin.
Som god speaker nevnte han
(13)
[TomAs 'Kreb´n} i Bradda Village like ved Port Erin og hvis hus han viste mig fra vinduet sit. Denne [Kreb´n} som jeg opsøkte før jeg gav mig i vei til Peel, gjorde et meget godt inntrykk. Han skal være over //[24] 80 år. Setningen ‘I would like to go’ oversatte han straks som Woodworth. Mannen syntes å ha et ganske annet overblikk enn de fleste andre. Således kjente han til sa han helt av sig sel alle mankske uttrykk for vind og veir, navnene på stjernene osv. (stjerne kalte han [re:lt´n} eller noe lignende, sml. irsk).
Han var fult villig til å prate irsk med mig om jeg kom tilbake til Port Erin.
Fra Port Erin fulgte jeg nù veien til Douglas inntil Ballasalla, hvor jeg benyttet anledningen til å avlegge et besøk i museet i Rushen Abbey. Her er det i de siste år gravet op en hel del stenkister med skeletter, hvorav de fleste antogs å stamme fra tidlig normannisk tid. Kistelåket, som antogs å ha //[25] hørt til en av de norske kongegraven, var meget smukt. Det viser to sverd i relieff og endel ornamenter - men om sverdtypen og ornamentene kan tilsies det 13. årh. savner jeg forutsetninger til å kunne avgjøre. Den egentlige “omviser” var fraværende da jeg kom, men en annen mann i “office” viste mig elskverdig omkring og jeg måtte love ham å la dem vite når jeg atter kom på de kanter for å møte den, som hadde med utgavningene å gjøre. Dette ble avbrutt med krigen, men skal nù tas op igjen.
Fra Rushen Abbey tilbake til Four Cross Ways, hvor jeg tok den regulære vei til Peel nordover. Den sterke stigning var meget besværlig med den tunge oppakning bak på cyklen. På toppen, ved [BA·ru:l} Farm (på Peel veien) traf jeg en mann på 53 år.
(14)
William Keggen, som ikke sel taler mansk. //[26] Ingen talte manksk sa han der i distriktet, den eneste måtte væreTaggàrt i Grenaby (som han nevnte helt av sig sel). Men faren hans talte manks (og engelsk). Han oplyste at han hadde en manks bibel efter faren. Jeg gav 2 skilling for den uten å ha sett den (han vilde forøvrig ha gitt mig den for ingenting). Den viste sig å være i en horibel forfatning, men jeg tok den nå med likevel. Book of Prayer hadde han ikke.
(15)
Kort fra Peel - en ca. 3 miles- traf jeg 2 menn i 60 årsalderen. Manks var ikke talt der i egnen sa de. De gamle, som kunde tale det, var borte. Foreldrene deres talte manks, medga de, særlig når ikke barna skulde vite hva de snakket om.
I samme setning uttalte også en mann i 50 årene - sig kort fra Peel ( ca. //[27] 2 miles derfra). Han nevnte som fremragende kjender av manks advok. Kelly i Douglas og archdeacon Kewley i Andreas.
Kom til Peel først ved 9- tiden. Tok inn på Hotel Marine like ved stranden.

18. juni:
Mitre Hotel, Kirk Michael (godt, men dyrt 7/6 bed & breakf.) Opsøkte apoteker C. H. Cowley, som man hadde anbefalet mig i Douglas, før jeg forlot Peel. Han kan ikke kaldes a native speaker, skjønt han ofte hørte manks i sin barndom og senere har lagt sig adskillig efter det. Han anbefalte Caesar Cashin og William Quane, det samme som Cubbon og Kneen hadde nevnt i Douglas.
(16)
Quane bor i St. Germans Place sammen med sin søster. Han er 79 år gl. (født 1850) og gjør inntrykk av å tale manks ganske bra. Han taler det ofte sammen med Caesar Cashin på Market Place. Men jeg syntes å //[28] merke at han manglet øvelse, som rimelig kan være. Uttalen hans var tydelig. Han har om jeg husker rett 2 eks. av bibelen av 1819 (også Cashin har iallefall 1 eks.). Ord og vendinger som jeg tok med i samtale med Quane:
{fœst´r mA:i} ‘good evening’
{·i: ·vA:i} ‘good night’
{mA:ri (dypt a) eller {mA:xri mA:i} ‘good morning’ (moch éirghe? C.M.)
{´n ·fam´n} ‘Tail’ (hale)
{ElAn nu: ·Pœrⁱk‚} = St. Patricks Island
[POrt n´ ·hi:nS´} = Peel.
{hœ “ikke” 'dJEn mi ·gOl go3s ´n ·ki:d´n ·mA:ri meⁱ vis i: ·stEr´mAx [·ster^´mAx]} (‘I shan`t go’, vel verbet deinim ‘gjøre’ CM)
{ki:d´n} ‘sea’ [cuan? C.M.] “sea” også {´n ·Ø:rk´} sier han (fairgge irsk).
//[29]
12 nov. holdes en {kru:nAx} ‘a gathering’ i Douglas.

Talord:
{nE:n}, {dJi:s}, {tri:}, {ki:r}, {k^uEg}, {Se:}, {Sœ:x}, {hA:x} (dypt a), {nei}, {dJei}, {·nendJig‚} ({hœ nel im As ...} ‘I have not but eleven’; vel = ní fhuil CM), {dEi8ig‚}, {tri:dJig‚}, {ki:r ... }, {fid‚} 20, {·ne:n´sfid‚} 21, {·dJei ´s ·fid‚} 30, {dAid‚}, {dAê‹d‚} 40, {·dJei´s·dAid‚} 50, {·tri:·fid‚} 60, {...... Es dJei} 70, {·ki:r fid‚} 80, {...... ´s dJei} 90, {kid} 100, {to‹u·zE:n} 1000 (open è).

VIND:
[tœ n ·gi:´ Eg ên njœ:r} ‘[the wind is] fra øst’.
[ .................ni:r] ‘vest’.
[..................tu:i] ‘nord’.
[..................dJœ:s} ‘syd’.
[..................njæ:r hu:i] ‘nordøst’.
[..................ni:r hu:i] ‘nordvest’.
[..................ni:r Es] ‘sydvest’.
[..................'njæ:r Es] ‘sydøst’.

//[30]
{A nEl mi ·fa:xin Es O:n rO·lE:g} ‘I do not see but one star’
{A ·nEl Su5} (lukket ù ) ‘you do not’
{tœ mi ·fA:xin ·Eru rO·lEg´n} ‘I see many stars’

FISK:
[œ:st´n} ‘congre’, pl. [œ:st´n´n}.
[·skAdAn} ( a-slyd) ‘sild’.
[brEk} ‘makrel’
[rEn mi ·kEnAx E5ru d´ brEk} ‘eg kjøp