Texts
Adelphus adelpha mater
Incoming data
The catalogue entry for this text has not been published as yet. Until then, a selection of data is made available below.
A devotional hymn written in a learned kind of Latin, interspersed with Greek and Hebrew words. It consists of 22 rhyming triplets with lines of seven or eight syllables. The first letter of each triplet follows the order of the alphabet. It has been suggested that the poem was composed by an Irish cleric active in the 10th century.
Manuscript witnesses
Sources
Primary sources Text editions and/or modern translations – in whole or in part – along with publications containing additions and corrections, if known. Diplomatic editions, facsimiles and digital image reproductions of the manuscripts are not always listed here but may be found in entries for the relevant manuscripts. For historical purposes, early editions, transcriptions and translations are not excluded, even if their reliability does not meet modern standards.
[ed.] Howlett, David, “Five experiments in textual reconstruction and analysis”, Peritia 9 (1995): 1–50.
abstract:
This is an edition and detailed analysis of six complex early Celtic-Latin texts—a note on the Irish reception of the computus, a part of Cummian’s Paschal letter, the incipit of the Egloga and the whole text of the Lorica of Laidcenn mac Baíth, Cú Chuimne’s hymn Cantemus in omni die, and the learned poem Adelphus adelpha mater. The analysis draws attention to their elaborate and intricate structure and the metrical and linguistic skills of their authors. It further demonstrates that their Latin represents correct Classical and Late Latin usage.
