verse beg. Can a mbunadus na nGáedel?
- Old Irish
- verse
- Early Irish poetry, Irish legendary history
First words (verse)
- Can a mbunadus na nGáedel?
“Whence the origin of the Gaels (Goídil)?”
Author
Ascribed to: Máel Muru Othna
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Máel Muru Othna
(d. 887)
Early Irish poet and historian, who was apparently attached to the monastery of Othain (now Fahan, Inishowen barony, Co. Donegal), as his epithet suggests
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Máel Muru of Othan (d. 887).
Manuscripts
ff. 133b–135a
Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1319 vol. 2, pp. 172-187, 192-194 = fragment of the Book of Lecan [xvin]
p. 177a line 8 ff
p. 28 ff
In the hand of Tadhg Ó Neachtain, possibly copied by him from the Book of Leinster, as Todd suggests.
(Unidentified)
A transcript made from this copy by Edward O'Reilly, now in the Royal Irish Academy (?)(1)n. 1 In Edward O'Reilly, A chronological account of nearly four hundred Irish writers with a descriptive catalogue of their works (1820), O'Reilly tells of “a very fine copy of this poem ... in the collection of the Assistant Secretary [i.e. in his possession]” (p. lvii). Todd suspects that O'Reilly was merely referring to "a transcript in his own hand-writing made from the copy in H. 1. 15", which by 1848 was present in the Royal Irish Academy. Todd does not seem to have been aware of further copies of the text in RIA B iv 2 and NLI G 131.
Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS B iv 2 (1080) [1627-1628]
pp. 116–119
Not mentioned by Todd.(2)n. 2 T. K. Abbott • E. J. Gwynn, Catalogue of Irish MSS in TCD (1921).
Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS B iv 2 (1080) [1627-1628]
p. 119(2)
Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS D i 3 (539) [s. xiv (?), s. xvii, xviii]
f. 7r m. ff
[14th, 17th and 18th century], 88 quatrains, with variants given from second copy.
ff. 149va52–150r
91 quatrains.
p. 181
11 quatrains. Scribe: Mícheál Ó Longáin.
Language
- Old Irish
Form
verse (primary)
Textual relationships
Related: Lebor gabála ÉrennLebor gabála Érenn
Sources
Notes
In Edward O'Reilly, A chronological account of nearly four hundred Irish writers with a descriptive catalogue of their works (1820), O'Reilly tells of “a very fine copy of this poem ... in the collection of the Assistant Secretary [i.e. in his possession]” (p. lvii). Todd suspects that O'Reilly was merely referring to "a transcript in his own hand-writing made from the copy in H. 1. 15", which by 1848 was present in the Royal Irish Academy. Todd does not seem to have been aware of further copies of the text in RIA B iv 2 and NLI G 131.
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.] Todd, James Henthorn, Leabhar Breathnach annso sis: the Irish version of the Historia Britonum of Nennius, Dublin: Irish Archaeological Society, 1848.
[dipl. ed.] Best, Richard Irvine, Osborn Bergin, M. A. OʼBrien, and Anne OʼSullivan [eds.], The Book of Leinster, formerly Lebar na Núachongbála, 6 vols, Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1954–1983.
CELT – 1-260: <link> CELT – 400-470 (excl. Táin bó Cúailnge): <link> CELT – 471-638 and 663 (excl. Dinnshenchas Érenn): <link> CELT – 761-781 and 785-841 (excl. Dinnshenchas Érenn and Togail Troí): <link> CELT – 1119-1192 and 1202-1325 (excl. Esnada tige Buchet and Fingal Rónáin ): <link>
Vol. 3: 516–524. Diplomatic edition.
The first lines of the poem are cited in Ruaidhrí Ó Flaithbheartaigh's Ogygia (1685): 349 (part III, ch. 72).
Secondary sources (select)
McLaughlin, Roisin, “Fénius Farsaid and the alphabets”, Ériu 59 (2009): 1–24.
abstract:
This paper examines evidence for the existence of an alternative tradition to that found in Auraicept na nÉces concerning the role played by Fénius Farsaid in the invention of the alphabet of Irish and those of the three sacred languages—Hebrew, Greek and Latin. The sources to be considered are Auraicept na nÉces, In Lebor Ollaman, a Middle Irish text in Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Laud 610, glosses on the copy of Auraicept na nÉces in TCD MS E 3.3 (1432) and the Etymologiae of Isidore of Seville.
Jaski, Bart, “Aeneas and Fénius: a classical case of mistaken identity”, in: Rob Meens, Richard Corradini, Christina Pössel, and Philip Shaw (eds), Texts and identities in the early Middle Ages, Vienna: Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2006. 17–33.
Jaski, Bart, “‘We are of the Greeks in our origin’: new perspectives on the Irish origin legend”, Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 46 (Winter, 2003): 1–53.
Carey, John, “The uses of tradition in Serglige Con Culainn”, in: James P. Mallory, and Gearóid Stockman (eds), Ulidia: proceedings of the First International Conference on the Ulster Cycle of Tales, Belfast and Emain Macha, 8–12 April 1994, Belfast: December, 1994. 77–84.
Carey, John, A new introduction to Lebor gabála Érenn: The book of the taking of Ireland, edited and translated by R. A. Stewart Macalister, D.Litt., Irish Texts Society, Subsidiary Series, 1, London: Irish Texts Society, 1993.
Carey, John, “The ancestry of Fénius Farsaid”, Celtica 21 (1990): 104–112.
Celtica – PDF: <link>
Scowcroft, R. Mark, “Leabhar Gabhála. Part II: the growth of the tradition”, Ériu 39 (1988): 1–66.
comments: This article continues Scowcroft, R. Mark, “Leabhar Gabhála. Part I”, Ériu 38 (1987).
web page identifiers
page name: Can a mbunadus na nGáedel
page url: https://codecs.vanhamel.nl/Can_a_mbunadus_na_nG%C3%A1edel
redirect: https://codecs.vanhamel.nl/Special:Redirect/page/4113
numerical alternative: https://codecs.vanhamel.nl/index.php?curid=4113
page ID: 4113
page ID tracker: https://codecs.vanhamel.nl/index.php?title=Show:ID&id=4113
Contributors
C. A., Dennis Groenewegen, Ranke de Vries
Page created
May 2011, last updated: January 2024
