Pinocchio
Caibidil 1 | Ceannaigh ar Dorú | Teanga
Cúlra
Before we begin, a little information about the Irish language may be of interest, and you can read chapter one of Pinocchio online. As the language is so rich, we have included a glossary of terms and phrases from the text. This will shortly be expanded to cover the whole book.
Le Avventure di Pinocchio was written by Carlo Lorenzini under the pen name Carlo Collodi in 1883. Pádraig Ó Buachalla's translation, Eachtra Phinocchio, is an example of Irish language literature that may justifiably be called a work of genius, and is highly recommended to anyone with an interest in Irish (or Gaelic, as the Americans and English are inclined to call it). Ó Buachalla spoke several languages with great fluency, Italian amongst them, and translated Lorenzini's work directly from the original into the Irish of Músgraí Uí Fhloinn (sometimes spelled Múscraí Uí Fhloinn), of which he was a native speaker of enviable accuracy and apparently inexhaustable vocabulary.
Ó Buachalla was from Cúil a' Mhothair, a townland of Baile Mhúirne, which is in the west of Músgraí Uí Fhloinn, and roughly 20 miles east of Cíll Áirne (Killarney). When his father died he emigrated to San Fransisco, were he learned Italian, French and Spanish, and made a living teaching these languages. In about 1930 he returned to Baile Mhúirne and began work on Eachtra Phinocchio. This was first published in 1933, and an amended edition followed in 1936. The 70th anniversiry edition incorporates, for the first time ever, a number of Ó Buachalla's own improvements to that of 1933.
Eachtra Phinocchio is, without doubt, a masterpiece of Irish literature, being a work of incredible linguistic and idiomatic richness. In preparing this edition, the historical spelling of the original has been modernised, but in a manner that respects Músgraí pronunciation and word-forms, so that whilst the story is still told in rich, beautiful and traditional Mid-Cork Gaeluinn, it is entirely accessible to any reasonably competent Irish-speaker. It is complemented by Roberto Inoccenti's magnificent and stunning illustrations, which also invite the use of the word genius.
