Texts
Amra Choluim Chille‘Poem for Colum Cille’verse beg. Dia Dia dorrogus ré tias inna gnuis
- Old Irish
- verse
- Early Irish poetry
Elegy on Saint Columba (Colum Cille).
Title
Amra Choluim Chille
‘Poem for Colum Cille’
alternatively written as Amrae Choluimb Chille, etc.
Initial words (verse)
- Dia Dia dorrogus ré tias inna gnuis
“God God, I should beseech Him before I go into His presence”
edition: ‘Dia Dia do<r>rogus ré tias in<n>a gnuis’
Author
Ascribed to: Dallán ForgaillDallán Forgaill
(fl. 597)
early Irish poet, known as the author of Amra Choluim Chille
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(fl. 597)
early Irish poet, known as the author of Amra Choluim Chille
See more
The 11th-century prose preface ascribes the poem to Dallán Forgaill.
Manuscripts
- Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1441 (E 4. 2) = Liber hymnorum [s. xiex-xiiin]ff. 33–34vb (prose preface), 26ra–28vFf. 33v-34vb contain the prose preface, ff. 26ra-28v the poem with interlinear gloss.
- Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson B 502 2, ff. 19–89 = Lebar Glinne Dá Locha (?) [1125 x 1150]ff. 54r–59v
- Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS 23 E 25 (1229) = Lebor na hUidre [s. xi/xii]ff. 5a–15aImperfect copy.
- Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1318 cols 573–958 = section of the Yellow Book of Lecan [s. xivex/xvin]p. 71ff (facsimile) col. 680ff
- Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS 23 P 16 (Hodges & Smith 224, 1230) = Leabhar Breac [s. xvin]ff. 238–248Imperfect copy.
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- Related:
Language
- Old Irish
- Old Irish (the poem proper).
Date
The poem was traditionally dated sometime after Columba's death (d. 597), probably in the early 7th century. “The poem itself ... can hardly be later than the early seventh century” (Charles-Edwards).(1)n. 1 T. M. Charles-Edwards, Early Christian Ireland (2000): 285. More recently, however, Jacopo Bisagni has undertaken a thorough linguistic analysis of the poem and on that basis, re-dated the work to the 9th century.
Form
verse (primary)
Textual relationships
Cf. Commentary on the Amra Choluim Chille, comprising the prose preface and interlinear gloss.
Sources
Notes
T. M. Charles-Edwards, Early Christian Ireland (2000): 285.
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.
[crit. ed.] [tr.] Bisagni, Jacopo, Amrae Coluimb Chille: a critical edition, Early Irish Text Series 1, Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 2019.
abstract:
Amrae Coluimb Chille is a complex and fascinating Old Irish text. A unique tour de force of linguistic inventiveness, the Amrae laments the death of Colum Cille and praises equally his monastic perfection and his intellectual achievements, his asceticism and his pastoral leadership, his rejection of the secular world and his descent from a noble lineage.
This book provides the first ever complete critical edition of Amrae Coluimb Chille. The introduction offers a full study of the text’s manuscript transmission, language and style, as well as a discussion of its historical context. The Old Irish text is accompanied by a new English translation and is followed by a detailed commentary, a glossary and several appendices.
[ed.] [tr.] Henry, P. L. [ed. and tr.], Brian Ferran [ill.], and Aonghas MacNeacail [coll.], Amra Choluim Chille: Dallán’s elegy for Columba, Belfast: Colmcille; Ultach Trust, 2006.
Edition and English translation of the poem, together with an introduction by Ciaran Carson, images of paintings by Brian Ferran, calligraphy by Donald Murray, a Scottish Gaelic version by Aonghas Dubh MacNeacail and an afterword by Aodán Mac Póilin.
[ed.] [tr.] Clancy, Thomas Owen, and Gilbert Márkus, Iona: the earliest poetry of a Celtic monastery, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1995.
96–128 Text and translation of the Old Irish poem, based on Stokes’ edition. It omits the later commentary.
[ed.] [tr.] Stokes, Whitley [ed. and tr.], “The Bodleian Amra Choluimb Chille”, Revue Celtique 20 (1899): 31–55, 132–183, 248–289, 400–437. Corrigenda in Revue Celtique 21 (1900): 133–136.
[ed.] Bernard, J. H., and Robert Atkinson (eds.), The Irish Liber hymnorum, 2 vols, vol. 1: Text and introduction, Henry Bradshaw Society 13, London: Henry Bradshaw Society, 1898.
comments: Volume 1: Text and introduction
Volume 2: Translation
Volume 2: Translation
[tr.] Bernard, J. H., and Robert Atkinson, The Irish Liber hymnorum, 2 vols, vol. 2: Translation and notes, Henry Bradshaw Society 14, London: Henry Bradshaw Society, 1898.
comments: Volume 1: Text and introduction
Volume 2: Translation
Volume 2: Translation
[ed.] Crowe, John O'Beirne [ed. and tr.], The Amra Choluim Chilli of Dallan Forgaill, vol. 1, Dublin: MacGlashan and Gill, 1871.
comments: Volume 1 contains an edition and translation of the text. Volume 2, which was to include "notes, a grammatical analysis of the text and copious indexes" (as the title announces), was never published.
Secondary sources (select)
Herbert, Máire, Iona, Kells, and Derry: the history and hagiography of the monastic familia of Columba, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988.
9–12
Herbert, Máire, “The preface to the Amra Coluim Cille”, in: Ó Corráin, Donnchadh, Liam Breatnach, and Kim R. McCone (eds), Sages, saints and storytellers: Celtic studies in honour of Professor James Carney, Maynooth Monographs 2, Maynooth: An Sagart, 1989. 67–75.
Charles-Edwards, T. M., Early Christian Ireland, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
285–290
Henry, P. L., Saoithiúlacht na Sean-Ghaeilge: bunú an traidisiúin, Dublin: Stationery Office, 1978. xvi + 243 pp + plates.
191–212
Kenney, James F., “Chapter V: The monastic churches: II. The churches of the sixth to ninth centuries; general treatises”, in: Kenney, James F., The sources for the early history of Ireland: an introduction and guide. Volume 1: ecclesiastical, Records of Civilization: Sources and Studies 11, Revised ed. (1929), New York: Octagon, 1966. 372–485.
426–427 (§ 212) [id. 212.]
Strachan, John, “The date of the Amra Choluimb Chille”, Revue Celtique 17 (1896): 41–44.
Journal volume: Gallica: <link>
Bernard, J. H., and Robert Atkinson, The Irish Liber hymnorum, 2 vols, vol. 2: Translation and notes, Henry Bradshaw Society 14, London: Henry Bradshaw Society, 1898.
comments: Volume 1: Text and introduction
Volume 2: Translation
Volume 2: Translation
page name: Amra Choluim Chille
page url: https://codecs.vanhamel.nl/Amra_Choluim_Chille
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Contributors
C. A.,Dennis Groenewegen,Patrick Brown
