The O’Donohue collection of Saints’ Lives, preserved in a fourteenth-century manuscript, was dated by Richard Sharpe to the eighth or ninth century, but his conclusions have not been universally accepted. This paper first reviews the evidence of the Irish names in the Lives, which show Old Irish linguistic and orthographic features. It then discusses a hitherto overlooked feature of the Irish names in the manuscript: the retention of the gentilic maccu . Together, this evidence points to a date for the O’Donohue collection in the first half of the ninth century.
Abstract: The Cíarraige Brotherhood Pact is a late eighth- or early ninth-century text (probably written between 786 and 834) found in Laud Misc. 610. It describes the formation of a pact of alliance between the Cíarraige and other peoples of Íarmumu (West Munster), which was guaranteed by the oaths of important Munster saints taken on behalf of the peoples within the alliance. The main goal of the alliance was to provide these peoples with mutual defense against the Éoganacht of Loch Léin who held the overkingship of Íarmumu and to support the claims of the king of Cashel to sovereignty over Íarmumu.
Abstract: The O'Donohue collection of Saints' Lives, preserved in a fourteenth-century manuscript, was dated by Richard Sharpe to the eighth or ninth century, but his conclusions have not been universally accepted. This paper first reviews the evidence of the Irish names in the Lives, which show Old Irish linguistic and orthographic features. It then discusses a hitherto overlooked feature of the Irish names in the manuscript: the retention of the gentilic maccu . Together, this evidence points to a date for the O'Donohue collection in the first half of the ninth century.
Abstract: This article re-examines the reference to three lubai gall , specifically sraif, lungait , and airgetlam , in paragraph 9 of the seventh-century medico-legal text Bretha Déin Chécht 'The judgments of Dían Cécht'. It offers an alternative translation of the phrase lubai gall as 'remedies used by foreign physicians' or 'mineral remedies' and two suggestions for the mysterious substance lungait . Finally, it examines a phrase from Uraicecht Becc that is quite similar to the phrase in Bretha Déin Chécht .
Abstract: This paper uses an analysis of 28 poems classified in my electronic catalogue of Bardic poems (https://bardic.celt.dias.ie/) as probable inauguration odes, and the most frequently occurring themes or motifs in such texts, or elsewhere in the Bardic corpus, in order to understand better the functional relation of king and poet in medieval Irish society, and the evolving public image of the role of kingship itself.
Abstract: Following on from an edition of Athraigh gléas, a Ghiolla Íosa in Ériu 73, this article provides an edition (with translation and notes) of A fhir iomtha an aosa téad , a short satire on a reacaire whose recital of poetry and harp accompaniment leave much to be desired. It is one of a handful of short occasional satires on members of the entertaining classes composed at the end of the classical period.
Abstract: It has long been recognised that the Gaulish feminine genitive singular uidluias in the Larzac inscription belongs to the semantic sphere of magical knowledge. We propose a derivational history for * uidlu ( i ) a that is consistent with Indo-European noun formation, and we identify a close comparandum in an Old Irish poem that contrasts magic and war.
Abstract: This article addresses a self-contained episode in the Third Recension of Togail Troí ( c . 1150–1250?), concerned with the story of the man-slaying Women of Lemnos. It is shown that the author of that recension began with a passage of Togail na Tebe , the Middle Irish version of Statius's Thebaid , consisting of a long, autobiographical speech by Hypsipyle, foremost of the Women. He rewrote this speech as a third-person narrative and inserted it at the appropriate point in Togail Troí' s account of the preliminaries to the Trojan Wars. The episode has hitherto remained unpublished and little studied. A critical edition is presented here, based chiefly on the two well-known manuscripts of the Third Recension of Togail Troí (D, K), but also examining a variant version found in a little-known fragment of the fifteenth or sixteenth century (N). The Edition and Translation are followed by a Discussion of the adaptation of the Togail na Tebe material for its new narrative context, and a commentary tracing the process of rewriting and adaptation that underlies the text. It is argued that the opening section of the source passage from Togail na Tebe was at first imperfectly adapted for its new context, producing the text witnessed by N, and that this was then revised to produce the more smoothly flowing version seen in D and K. In the Commentary, changes, improvements and occasional errors in transmission and rewriting are examined, and the Togail Troí versions are compared with that in Togail na Tebe and its ultimate source in Statius. Additionally, it is shown that at certain points Togail Troí manuscripts contain readings that preserve the original Irish translation of Statius more accurately than do the surviving manuscripts of Togail na Tebe itself.
Abstract: This is the ninth and final instalment in a series of editions of poems attributed to Gofraidh Óg (son of Gofraidh son of Brian) Mac an Bhaird, who flourished in the 1640s and 1650s. Authorship in this case is not certain. The poem was composed in 1649 in the false belief that Eóin Ó Cuileannáin, Bishop of Raphoe, had died. It was previously edited from the same manuscript (Stonyhurst A II 20) by Fr John MacErlean S.J. over a century ago.
Following recent work that has begun to reassess previously held views about the recensions of Dinds.enchas Érenn, this article examines the authorship and transmission history of the dinds.enchas of Loch Garman, which exists in two prose versions and one verse composition. We first argue that the verse dind‑ s.hencas of Loch Garman is the product of a single author, Eochaid Éolach úa Céirín, refuting Tomás Ó Concheanainn’s assertion that Eochaid composed only the second half of the poem. We then examine the individual versions of the dinds.enchas of Loch Garman to posit a new relative chronology, with potential ramifications for an understanding of the recensions of the Dinds.enchas.
This paper presents an edition of a mid-seventeenth century poem composed by Pádraig Óg Mac an Bhaird in praise of Maol Muire Mac Suibhne (son of Donnchadh, son of Maol Muire), of the Mac Suibhne na dTuath family of North Donegal. Maol Muire was an active participant in the war that started in 1641 in Ireland. The poet describes the hardship caused by the conflict and praises Maol Muire’s military efforts. An apologue compares him to Cú Chulainn fighting alone to protect Ulster. This is the only extant poem composed for Maol Muire. The poem is edited here from Stonyhurst College MS A II 20, with readings from Trinity College Dublin MS H 6. 7 (1411) and British Library MS Egerton 112. A diplomatic edition of the text from the Trinity College Dublin manuscript has previously been published in ABM (133).
Abstract: Scribes of Irish manuscripts used a variety of symbols to assist their readers by clarifying the layout of text on the page or by drawing attention to significant textual or codicological matters. While many of these take the form of standard technical signs, some scribes used ornamental symbols which are worthy of further examination as they may be of diagnostic significance for the identification of hands, schools or scribal networks. Reader's aids such as manicules can also provide evidence of Ireland's engagement with a wider European scribal culture.
Abstract: This paper shows that the finite verbal form beith is unique for a variety of different reasons in Early and Early Modern Irish. It also argues that the history of the conjunction cía 'although' from Old to Modern Irish has been misunderstood, and that a correct understanding of it is at the core of statements in the grammatical and syntactical tracts.
I have three main aims in this article. The first is to offer a normalised text accompanied by an English translation of Deacair innreamh na hóige , a poem of moral and political advice by Eochaidh Ó hEódhasa which has not previously been translated nor been the subject of critical appraisal. My second aim is to offer a close reading of the poem in order to illuminate the main ideas, arguments and attitudes that it embodies. My third concern, and that which informs the title of the article, is to argue that the values and preoccupations of the poem are characteristic of European mirrors-for-princes as a whole and reveal the extent to which this bardic poet was influenced by European moral and political thinking in general.
Ériu LXXI (2021) 1–5 Royal Irish Academy VARIUM Éanainmneacha agus éanseanchas i bhfilíocht na scol* Tá thart ar 40 éanainm tugtha faoi deara agam i bhfilíocht na scol, ó ainn eal go ulchobhchán. Ardaíonn an uimhir sin go thart ar 55 má chuirtear dánta fiannaíochta agus dánta siollacha eile i meadarachtaí níos scaoilte san áireamh. Roinnt torthaí luatha ó thionscnamh níos cuimsithí a gheofar anseo, ag díriú ar shamplaí ón dán díreach amháin. Ainneal: Mar áis le teachtaireacht éigin a chur in iúl is ea a úsáideann na filí tagairtí don éanlaith de ghnáth—mar analach nó mar mheafar. Cuir i gcás, samhail de neamhbhuaine an tsaoil is ea luas na fáinleoige in: Bhar mbeith go hoirchilleach air is córaide, a chlann Ádhaimh, an bioth go dtairrnge tharaibh; rioth na hainnle a ionnshamhail (DiD 53.13). The world passes swift as swallow; the more cautious, therefore, shouldst thou be of it till thou hast put it past thee (?) (McKenna 1922, 296). Ar an gcaoi chéanna, níl sa trácht ar ubh na fáinleoige sa leathrann seo thíos ach bealach le hinsint don lucht éisteachta go bhfuil an saol iompaithe bun os cionn ag bás ghéag Luighne: Do-bhir guin ghéige Luighne féige bruidhne ag uigh ainnle (IGT ii, sampla 1380). The roof of a house is occupied by a swallow’s egg because of the [fatal] wounding of Luighne’s scion. Is minic freisin a bhaintear leas as comparáid le dathanna éan, mar a dhéantar anseo: A-tá t’abhra is t’aghaidh mhiodhchuir, a mhac Taidhg, a thaobh mar chuip, ar néimh na hainnle is na heala; méin Saidhbhe fa deara dhuit. *Is é atá anseo leagan de pháipéar a tugadh ag comhdháil lae a reáchtáladh ar 21 Bealtaine 2021 in onóir do dhuine d’eagarthóirí Ériu, Damian McManus, agus é ag éirí as a phost mar Ollamh na Luath-Ghaeilge i gColáiste na Tríonóide, Baile Átha Cliath. Is dósan a thiomnaím é seo freisin, le cion agus le meas. 2 EOIN MAC CÁRTHAIGH O son of Tadhg, O hero of foam-white skin, thy eyelash, and gentle face are of the colour of the swallow and the swan; Sadhbh’s nature has made them so (AiD 26.32). Tá tagairt fhíorspéisiúil do dhearca a bhaintear as fáinleoga i ndán eile: Fios a mbuadha do bhí ag Sioghmall seóid uaisli ararbh oirches dóigh benaidh derca a henaibh áinleadh feagadh ferta failgeadh n-óir (ABM 436.18). Sioghmhall knew what these trustworthy noble jewels could do; he extracts stones (lit. berries) from swallows, he tests (fēag[h]a[i]dh) the properties of gold rings. Chreidtí i gcultúir éagsúla go raibh buanna ar leith ag an gcloch seo a bhainfí as bolg nó as eagán fáinleoige, go háirithe le daoine a leigh eas (féach Duffin 2013, passim). Luaitear buanna den chineál sin léi in dhá théacs Gaeilge a chuir Greene in eagar (1952, 73–4 agus 81), ach ní heol dom aon tagairt eile in aon teanga d’úsáid na cloiche seo chun ór a thástáil. Corr (ghrian): Bua is ea é sin a shamhlaítí le cloch na coirre, barúil a théann i bhfad siar agus a luann Arastatal féin, cé nár ghlac sé féin léi: Now among the birds the cranes … migrate from the farthest points to the farthest. They fly into the wind. The report about the stone is false: the report is that they contain a stone as ballast, which when it falls out becomes useful for testing gold (Balme 1991, 135). Is dócha gurb í seo an chloch atá i gceist in IGT i §82: Coisgidh sealbhadh réim, mur so: Nā[s] sir, clach na cuirre grían; nī bhíadh uirre acht an rath ríogh cōir (ABP línte 794–6). Seo an t-aistriúch...
Abstract: This elegy on Maghnas (son of Niall Garbh son of Conn) Ó Domhnaill, who died in the Battle of Benburb in 1646, is the eighth in a series of editions of poems attributed to Gofraidh Óg (son of Gofraidh son of Brian) Mac an Bhaird. Though ascribed indirectly to Gofraidh Óg in the only independent manuscript witness, Stonyhurst College MS A II 20, it was probably not composed by him.
This paper consists of an edition, with translation and notes, of a previously unpublished poem on an incompetent harper. The poem, which is in séadnadh, dán díreach , was added in a later hand to the copy of Féilire Óengusa preserved in the fifteenth-century vellum manuscript UCD A 7 (formerly held at the Franciscan library in Killiney, Co. Dublin). Although its date of composition is uncertain, it is suggested here that the poem is one of a handful of satires on harpers which were composed towards the end of the Classical Irish period and which bear witness to the marginalisation and decline of the harping profession. The poem contains some poorly attested vocabulary and, although many difficulties with the text remain unresolved, it is of particular value for enhancing our understanding of some music terms.
This fragmentary poem was composed in 1641 to Donnchadh, son of Cormac Mac Carthaigh (1st Earl of Clancarty and 2nd Viscount Muskerry, †1665), to welcome him back to Muskerry after a successful political mission in London, and to commemorate him succeeding his father, Cormac son of Cormac Mac Carthaigh (1st Viscount Muskerry), who had died in London in February 1641. An edition of the surviving quatrains of the poem based on the copy in RIA MS 23 O 78 (3) is provided here. A lightly edited transcription of this text from the same manuscript was published in ABM (168). The edition is accompanied by an introduction, notes on language and metre, and an English translation.
