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Topic: what is/what does ommadawn mean?< Next Oldest | Next Newest >
bonkers Offline




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Posted: April 06 2005, 03:27

anyone know or is it just a made up word?
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familyjules Offline




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Posted: April 06 2005, 04:47

Quote (bonkers @ April 06 2005, 03:27)
anyone know or is it just a made up word?

It's a made up word that bears a striking similarity to an Irish (Gaellic) word 'amadan' meaning idiot.

Accidentally on purpose maybe?

Jules


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hiawatha Offline




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Posted: April 06 2005, 09:02

I learned first that Amadan was a Celtic deity. An idiot trickster god, like Loki.

I've also run across a variant spelling which is "Omadhaun": this spelling is a lot closer to "Ommadawn".


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Where the Falls of Minnehaha
Flash and gleam among the oak-trees,
Laugh and leap into the valley."
- Song of Hiawatha
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EeToN Offline




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Posted: April 06 2005, 10:34

"I first saw it written down," he said, "on a bit of paper, the words that Clodagh Simonds made up. About a week after that I looked at the words that she'd written down and I saw it there, and I thought, 'That's a nice word.'"

Did he know what it meant, then?

"It doesn't mean anything," he said.

It's Gaelic, I maintained. Amadan (pronounced ommadawn) means "the fool."

"No," he replied, "there is a word which sounds vaguely like it, which is Gaelic, which means fool, but Ommadawn doesn't mean anything."


This is what Mike said in 1975.


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If I were music, I would be Enigmatism.
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familyjules Offline




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Posted: April 06 2005, 11:52

Quote (EeToN @ April 06 2005, 10:34)
"No," he replied, "there is a word which sounds vaguely like it, which is Gaelic, which means fool, but Ommadawn doesn't mean anything."[/i]

This is what Mike said in 1975.

He could have been <whispers> lieing!

:O

Jules


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jonnyw Offline




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Posted: Nov. 30 2005, 10:07

I think he was, because in the lyrics at the beginnig, (so it says in the insert of my cd) they are translated as

"fool, fool, fool, to the music"

Hardly coincedental if the layrcs make sense that way!


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Grand piano.
Reed and pipe organ.
Glockenspeil.
Bass guitar.
Vocal chords.
Two slightly sampled electric guitars.
The venitian effect.
Digital sound processor.
And Tubular bells.

Solo music - http://-terrapin-.bebo.com

Band music - http://www.rsimusic.com
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0+1(I1) Offline




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Posted: Mar. 27 2011, 01:10

I have always wondered if it is really just as it sounds;
-OM being the call sound used to conger up or call on the one eternal truth (see dictionary)- MA a child's (first cry) word for mother - DAWN first day in a new life.

Anyone agree? it could be??.


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L◎ST ◎MMADAWN VERSI◎N RIDDLE ANSWER
 mIChaeI GOrDOn OIDfIeId.
=  I C   1  G◎D   OO ID I I
or replace the L's that were turned in to I's & 1 gets
ID◎L G◎LD ID◎L (4 ANSWER IN FULL + EXPLANATION, C ALBUM SECTION/☮MMADAWN/i-say-i-say-i-say-i-say-in-answer4XXX4Acr⊕ss
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nightspore Offline




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Posted: Mar. 27 2011, 01:27

Quote (0 @ 1(I1)+Mar. 27 2011, 01:10)
I have always wondered if it is really just as it sounds;
-OM being the call sound used to conger up or call on the one eternal truth (see dictionary)- MA a child's (first cry) word for mother - DAWN first day in a new life.

Anyone agree? it could be??.

I hadn't seen the "ma", but I agree the OM and the DAWN stick out like sore thumbs (particularly the OM, as it is M.O. backwards.) "Ma" is also "am" backwards, the semantics being "Mike Oldfield (am) is reborn".

And  yet with descending melodies in this work it should really have been called Ommadusk... particularly as shortly afterwards he was reborn via exegesis.
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0+1(I1) Offline




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Posted: Mar. 29 2011, 11:04

Sorry folk it is really a bit more than that which I suggested in earlier post, I had hoped for more interest/replies on my above post, as people here seem to have given the name of this album over to having a meaning based upon Mike`s experience of childbirth.  I hoped to hint at it's real or what I believe is it's real meaning, but as I should hate for people new to this thread to miss out and leave the question unanswered to their satisfaction I must elaborate on my last post.

I BELIEVE THE TRUE MEANING OF OMMADAWN IS;
OMM-A-DAWN broken down into OM (see dictionary) but with the extra M to denote the sound made when one thinks out loud as the m sound is continued as in the buddhist chant.

SLIGHT DETOUR but while you have the dictionary out and the page open take note of possible word associations.  (Om is also given over to form the beginning of many of the highly significant names & words associated with gods, when given ni on it's end we get omni as in the omnipresent, omnipotent and so forth.  If you go to the dictionary you will see the birth of words, from their simple humble roots they grow in front of you, a gripping manic task awaits you, it's a daunting experience to read A2Z so don't do it, it's only for the masochistic out there).  Sorry to go a bit of course there but interesting don't you ththththink NOT?  OM YES OR DERRR NO, if you are a derrr you probably will not be interested in the rest.  So BYE BYE and I will continue with the best of you, rest of you (ramned jeyboard the R&B are so close to one another).  Well I hope! there are more of you, or I might as well rest, hopefully that's over, what do you think? have we got rid of the cloth eared? what do you think? should I risk it? well the idiots out there will still be trying to look up what the word dictionary means so I think we are safe to go on alone now.
 
BACK to the true meaning, so we have the Omm covered, the A is simple isn't it (you never know one of them could have learnt what a dic looks like & how to open and use a dictionary, couldn't they! granted it will be a long time before they get to Om but if they do they deserve an answer, or we in the UK will have to suffer with them winning Countdown) IT IS AN A 4 apple if at this point you say "ayyy what" I must insist you stop reading and see a brain surgeon immediately!!  On we go, the end is nigh, Dawn is the  beginning of a new period of time. SO THERE IT IS
                     Omm-a-dawn.
put another way, beginning a truth, time of thought.

PS Sorry to have made this so hard, but I am sure you will understand the intention behind the mystery in the way I have written the above and appreciate that nothing in life that is easy, is as fulfilling, as that which you have to strive for.

I hope you are satisfied.


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L◎ST ◎MMADAWN VERSI◎N RIDDLE ANSWER
 mIChaeI GOrDOn OIDfIeId.
=  I C   1  G◎D   OO ID I I
or replace the L's that were turned in to I's & 1 gets
ID◎L G◎LD ID◎L (4 ANSWER IN FULL + EXPLANATION, C ALBUM SECTION/☮MMADAWN/i-say-i-say-i-say-i-say-in-answer4XXX4Acr⊕ss
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wiga Offline




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Posted: June 04 2011, 00:57

Quote (0 @ 1(I1)+Mar. 29 2011, 16:04)
BACK to the true meaning, so we have the Omm covered, the A is simple isn't it (you never know one of them could have learnt what a dic looks like & how to open and use a dictionary, couldn't they! granted it will be a long time before they get to Om but if they do they deserve an answer, or we in the UK will have to suffer with them winning Countdown) IT IS AN A 4 apple if at this point you say "ayyy what" I must insist you stop reading and see a brain surgeon immediately!!  On we go, the end is nigh, Dawn is the  beginning of a new period of time. SO THERE IT IS
                     Omm-a-dawn.
put another way, beginning a truth, time of thought.

:D

I break it down this way - O-mma-dawn!

In other words - Oh My God! [OMG!]

O - is an exclamation  :O
Mma - is 'my'
Dawn - means God (in the begining)

In the beginning (at dawn) God created the heaven and the earth - OMG!

OMG! = Ommadawn!


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3Wheeler Offline




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Posted: June 04 2011, 03:06

I always think of it as a play on Words  

OMINOUS - DAWN  is my take on it...  Its just down to interpretation I guess...   I  :cool:


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Dunebasher Offline




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Posted: July 26 2011, 09:52

Quote (jonnyw @ Nov. 30 2005, 10:07)
I think he was, because in the lyrics at the beginnig, (so it says in the insert of my cd) they are translated as

"fool, fool, fool, to the music"

Hardly coincedental if the layrcs make sense that way!

Ommadawn is an Anglicisation of the Irish Gaelic word "amadan", which means "fool" or "idiot". It has been confirmed by Irish Gaelic speakers that the line in the chant near the end of part 1 that sounds like "Taw may-on o-ma-dawn egg kyowl" is actually "Ta me an amadan a ceoil", which means "I am the fool with music" (or "I am the fool singing").

The chant was written by Clodagh Simonds, who was/is a native speaker of Irish Gaelic.
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Ugo Offline




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Posted: July 26 2011, 17:42

An Irish friend of mine once told me that the word amadan doesn't simply mean "fool" or "idiot", but it rather refers to a particular character - an "idiot savant", a guy who is likely to display apparent idiocy or lunacy in his everyday behaviour, but who is actually wiser and more intelligent than people who proclaim themselves as being highly intelligent and wise. My friend said that the amadan is a typical character of old Irish folklore. :)

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nightspore Offline




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Posted: July 28 2011, 01:49

Quote (Ugo @ July 26 2011, 17:42)
An Irish friend of mine once told me that the word amadan doesn't simply mean "fool" or "idiot", but it rather refers to a particular character - an "idiot savant", a guy who is likely to display apparent idiocy or lunacy in his everyday behaviour, but who is actually wiser and more intelligent than people who proclaim themselves as being highly intelligent and wise. My friend said that the amadan is a typical character of old Irish folklore. :)

Interesting. Most academics exhibit the reverse characteristic  :laugh:

The word also reminds me of "amadeus"
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0+1(I1) Offline




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Posted: July 28 2011, 10:45

Quote (Ugo @ July 27 2011, 00:42)
An Irish friend of mine once told me that the word amadan doesn't simply mean "fool" or "idiot", but it rather refers to a particular character - an "idiot savant", a guy who is likely to display apparent idiocy or lunacy in his everyday behaviour, but who is actually wiser and more intelligent than people who proclaim themselves as being highly intelligent and wise. My friend said that the amadan is a typical character of old Irish folklore. :)

OM it seems the truth is dawning on we IDIOTS? SAVANT?.

savant a definition = http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/savant

idiot savant = http://www.merriam-webster.com/diction....1863902


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L◎ST ◎MMADAWN VERSI◎N RIDDLE ANSWER
 mIChaeI GOrDOn OIDfIeId.
=  I C   1  G◎D   OO ID I I
or replace the L's that were turned in to I's & 1 gets
ID◎L G◎LD ID◎L (4 ANSWER IN FULL + EXPLANATION, C ALBUM SECTION/☮MMADAWN/i-say-i-say-i-say-i-say-in-answer4XXX4Acr⊕ss
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nightspore Offline




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Posted: Jan. 21 2018, 23:41

Seven years later, another take on the title: if you have a double "D" instead of a double "M", you get O MAD DAWN. Something strange at the birth of our universe, perhaps?
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nightspore Offline




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Posted: Jan. 23 2018, 06:51

Quote (Dunebasher @ July 26 2011, 09:52)
"Taw may-on o-ma-dawn egg kyowl"

And to add to the many layers of possible meaning: "taw" sounds like "tor", "tor" meaning "hill". And "tour" means "tower" - cf The Watcher and the Tower.
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Mr. Shadow Offline




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Posted: July 02 2019, 09:11

Ommadawn is a phrase, an idea. It is in Sanskrit, not Gaelic.
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joshfreeman Offline




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Posted: Dec. 07 2021, 09:24

Thanks for solving this riddle.
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