Little by Little Beag air Bheag

’S i Mòrag - the second verse

How are you getting on? The second verse is coming up, let’s look at the vocabulary:

bean an taighe

housewife, good-wife

fear an taighe

master of the house, man of the house

mo sheanmhair

my grandmother

seanair

grandfather

banarach

milkmaid

buachaille

cowherd

searbhant

servant

sgalag

skivvy

The first two lines start pairing up the couples who were at the dance:

Bha fear an taigh aig bean an taigh,
'S an sgalag aig an t-searbhant'

The man of the house danced with the good-wife,
The skivvy with the servant

The second two lines continue that theme of pairing off the couples:

Bha 'm buachaill' aig a' bhanaraich,
'S mo sheanair aig mo sheanmhair

The cowherd danced with the milkmaid,
My grandfather and grandmother danced together

Now we’re comfortable, let’s put the four lines together:

Bha fear an taigh aig bean an taigh,
'S an sgalag aig an t-searbhant',
Bha ‘m buachaill' aig a' bhanaraich,
'S mo sheanair aig mo sheanmhair

The man of the house danced with the good-wife,
The skivvy with the servant,
The cowherd danced with the milkmaid,
My grandfather and grandmother danced together