Irish Proverb 219 - Seanfhocail Ghaeilge 219

Huh?

I know there's supposed to be something profound in that, but it's not making the crossing with the translation.  It might be that the translation is insufficient to carry the meaning.  I would think that someone who lost his reputation would be ashamed, therefore his shame would increase rather than being lost, so the logic of this doesn't follow for me.  Again, it may be because what's being conveyed in Irish isn't quite present in the English.

Any help  appreciated....

Dale D.

Hi Dale, I see what you mean. There is a certain ambiguity to the word shame. However, it makes more sense if you use "sense of shame" for náire rather than just "shame". The person who loses his good name loses all sense of shame. In other words, it's using shame in the way that it's used in words like "shameless" - someone who has no shame will do anything. Hope this makes it a bit clearer!

Yes, seano, thank you for that!  It does make more sense that way.  It's another one of those things where you need a sense of what's implied in the language, which seems to be a little more fluid in Irish....

Dale D.

It may well be that the implied meanings are more fluid in Irish, or it could be that English speakers tend to take the complex range of meanings in their words for granted. In another language, we are conscious of how the words can mean lots of different (and sometimes even contradictory) things - like fast, for instance, which can mean quick or fixed and immobile!