Derevaun Seraun! Derevaun Seraun!

James Joyce is my kind of guy. He made puzzles that I like to think are just for me. He was a great lover of languages, and he is sometimes called the father of a literary technique called polyglotism. This is when you insert other languages in there. Just 'cuz.

So, in James Joyce's wonderful story, "Eveline" there is a phrase that nobody knows what it is. Even to this day. "Derevaun Seraun! Derevaun Seraun!" Many people believe it to be corrupted Irish Gaelic. Needing a break from homework, I have approached this by taking the words and then transliterating them into Irish Gaelic, trying to create Irish Gaelic that would be spoken by someone of this status in this time in Ireland. Nationalist, but not educated enough to actually understand all the ins and outs of the language. I came up with two possible phrases that I find very probable. And I'm not pretending to solve the mystery. If Joyce experts over the years have not discovered the meaning, why should I think I can. But anyways, one: "deireadh saothair." With bad pronunciation, it would wind up a bit like the phrase. It means, with very bad grammar, "the end of pain." The other I've come up with is "deireadh saor." That means "the end of freedom." Both fit very nicely.

Some of the theories, I don't even know where they're coming from. Like "the end is worms." Where is that coming from? It wouldn't even make sense how it's corrupt Irish. Anyways, must return to the homework.

Comments

george & clarine review said…
My goodness! How scholarly of you. Grandpa.
December 13, 2007 at 8:16 PM
Unknown said…
Even as an English Major, I have no use for Joyce.
December 15, 2007 at 10:09 AM
Unknown said…
thanks alot
I'm a Vietnemese and I'm doing my homework, it's translate this story, and I spent a lot of time finding this phrase in many kinds of dictionaries.
Now I can understand it thanks to your help!
October 20, 2010 at 6:53 PM
Leah Schenck-Crowne said…
No use for Joyce? Pshaw.... He's like the only writer of that era I can stand. No use for Joyce... Well with out him American literature would be quite different - not sure about Irish literature ... And thanks for this post - I was wondering if that was an actual phrase :-)
June 19, 2011 at 5:40 AM
Houseelf said…
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/25473617?sid=21105350719141&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3738032

you might find these interpretations in the James Joyce Quarterly interesting.
February 14, 2015 at 9:48 AM
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