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Apgitir chrábaid ‘The alphabet of piety / devotion’

  • Old Irish, Early Middle Irish
  • prose
  • Medieval Irish wisdom literature
Title
Apgitir chrábaid
‘The alphabet of piety / devotion’

Variously spelled Apgitir/Aipgitir crábaid/chrábaid/crabuid. The word apgitir or aipgitir, often translated literally as ‘alphabet’, denotes the fundamentals of religious or monastic devotion.(1)n. 1 Thomas Owen Clancy • Gilbert Márkus, Iona: the earliest poetry of a Celtic monastery (1995): 196–197.

Author
Ascribed to: Colmán mac BéognaeColmán mac Béognae
Entry reserved for but not yet available from the subject index.
See more
Colmán mac Béognae (d. 611, founder of Lann Elo, now Lynally, Co. Offaly)(2)n. 2 Vernam Hull, ‘Apgitir chrábaid’, Celtica 8 (1968): 49–50.
Manuscripts

The overview below is based on Westley Follett, Céli Dé in Ireland (2006): 226 and Vernam Hull, ‘Apgitir chrábaid’, Celtica 8 (1968): 44–47

The four main manuscript copies are:
A =
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson B 512 III, (a) ff. 75B-100, (b) ff. 37-44 [s. xv?]
ff. 37r (col. a, 1)–39r (col. a1
B =
Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS 3 B 23 (1227) = Tallaght manuscript [s. xv2]
pp. 47a (line 22)–51
C =
London, British Library, MS Harley 5280 [s. xvi1]
ff. 39v–41r
D =
Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS 23 N 10 (967) = Book of Ballycummin [s. xvi]
pp. 44 (line 1)–48
No title heading. Some glosses.
Incomplete copies:
E =
Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1318 15, cols. 500-572 = YBL section [1408]
pp. 252–253 (facsimile) cols 570–572
Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1318 5, cols 217-280 = YBL section [1407]
p. 410 cols 228–229
Fragment.
Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1363 (H 4. 22) [various]
p. 60
Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS 23 P 3 A, ff. 1-19 [c.1467]
f. 15v
Fragment 'A'
Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS 23 P 3 A, ff. 1-19 [c.1467]
f. 18v
Fragment 'A'
Dublin, National Library of Ireland, MS G 10 2, pp. 19-50 [s. xvi]
pp. 46, 48
Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1337 3, pp. 15-58 [s. xv/xvi?]
p. 40.
Fragment.
Cork, University College, Book of Lismore = Book of Lismore (Leabhar Leasa Móir) [s. xv]
f. 81v
Brussels, Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique, MS 5100-5104 (507) [1630]
f. 6r p. 1
Fragment.
Brussels, Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique, MS 2324-2340 (3410) [1629]
f. 65r
Copy.
London, British Library, MS Egerton 1782 [1516-1518]
f. 45r
Language
  • Old Irish Early Middle Irish

  • a mixture of Old Irish and early Middle Irish forms (Hull)(3)n. 3 Vernam Hull, ‘Apgitir chrábaid’, Celtica 8 (1968): 51.

Form
prose (primary)
Textual relationships

Draws on the works of John Cassian (see Ó Néill).

Classification

Medieval Irish wisdom literatureMedieval Irish wisdom literature
...

Introduction (§§ 1–8)

» prose beg. ‘Ires co gním (...)’

De his quae debet homo discere (§§ 9–12)

De peritia ueritatis (§§ 13–16)

De uirtutibus animae incipit (§§ 17–34)

De tribus mandatis principalibus (§ 35)

De prudentissime homine (§§ 36–38)

Sources

Notes

1.
Thomas Owen Clancy • Gilbert Márkus, Iona: the earliest poetry of a Celtic monastery (1995): 196–197.
2.
Vernam Hull, ‘Apgitir chrábaid’, Celtica 8 (1968): 49–50.
3.
Vernam Hull, ‘Apgitir chrábaid’, Celtica 8 (1968): 51.

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.] [tr.] Hull, Vernam [ed. and tr.], “Apgitir chrábaid: the alphabet of piety”, Celtica 8 (1968): 44–89.  
Critical edition from all manuscripts.
Critical edition from all manuscripts.
[ed.] Meyer, Kuno [ed.], “Mitteilungen aus irischen Handschriften: IV. Aus Harleian 5280. Das Apgitir Crábaid des Colmán maccu Béognae”, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 3 (1901): 447–455.
CELT – edition: <link> Celtic Digital Initiative – all Mitteilungen in ZCP 3: <link> Internet Archive: <link>
Edition based on Harleian 5280.
[tr.] Clancy, Thomas Owen, and Gilbert Márkus, Iona: the earliest poetry of a Celtic monastery, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1995.
195–207 (translation, with introduction).
[tr.] Carey, John, King of Mysteries: early Irish religious writings, 2nd ed., Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2000.
231–245 (translation).

Secondary sources (select)

Follett, Westley, Céli Dé in Ireland: monastic writing and identity in the early Middle Ages, Studies in Celtic History, 23, Woodbridge, 2006.
Hull, Vernam, “The date of Aipgitir Crábaid”, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 25 (1956): 88–90.
Ó Néill, Pádraig, “The date and authorship of Apgitir Chrábaid: some internal evidence”, in: Próinséas Ní Chatháin, and Michael Richter (eds), Irland und die Christenheit: Bibelstudien und Mission. Ireland and Christendom: the Bible and the missions, Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1987. 203–215.
Kenney, James F., “Chapter V: The monastic churches: II. The churches of the sixth to ninth centuries; general treatises”, in: James F. Kenney, The sources for the early history of Ireland: an introduction and guide. Volume 1: ecclesiastical, Revised ed., 11, New York: Octagon, 1966. 372–485.
472 [id. 265.]
web page identifiers
Contributors
C. A., Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
November 2010, last updated: January 2024
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