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Do bunad imthechta Éoganachta ‘Concerning the origin of the wandering of the Éoganachta’

  • Middle Irish, Old Irish
  • prose
  • Cycles of the Kings, minor Irish prose tales
Origin legend of the Éoganachta and the Dál Cuinn.
Author
Byrne regards it "very likely that this story was compiled, if not composed, by Cormac mac Cuilennáin, when the Eóganachta were making a final effort to challenge the Uí Néill high-kingship"(2)n. 2 Francis J. Byrne, Irish kings and high-kings (2001): 200–201.
Summary
It first relates how Éogan (the eponymous ancestor of the Éoganachta) and/or his sons arrive and settle in Ireland, how Éogan (the father or one of his sons) save the population from starvation, and how Éogan's son is chosen to be king. Their peaceful ascendancy is then contrasted with an origin tale of the Dál Cuinn (called children of the "second Míl Espáine"), who rule Ireland by the sword. In the north of the island, they alternately share the kingship with the Cruthin until Conn Cétchathach defeats them in a series of battles. The situation is reversed when Fíachu Araide, progenitor of the Dál Araide, expels Conn's grandson Cormac mac Airt from Tara. Cormac flees to Munster, where he becomes a vassal of Fíachu Muillethan, Éogan's great-grandson, in return for his assistance against Fíachu Araide. Fíachu Muillethan defeats the latter in battle. Cormac is thereby restored to the kingship and grants the lands settled by the Ciannachta to Fíachu Muillethan, who passes them on to Connla mac Taidg.
Manuscripts
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Laud Misc. 610 ff. 1–58 and ff. 73–122 = Leabhar na Rátha [1453–1454]
ff. 97ra (line 27)–97vb
Headed "Do bunad imthechta Eoganachta in so"
Language
  • Middle Irish Old Irish
  • Late Old Irish or early Middle Irish
Date
“very likely, from the late ninth century or very early tenth” (Ó Corráin).(3)n. 3 Donnchadh Ó Corráin, ‘Irish origin legends and genealogy: recurrent aetiologies’ in History and heroic tale... (1985): 53.
Provenance
Munster
Form
prose (primary)
Textual relationships

Ó Corráin suggests that the episode in which Éogan accepts advice from his seers concerning the famine, was modelled on the biblical tale of Pharaoh's dream (Genesis 41). The author of the tale was also familiar with a version of the legend relating to Míl Espáine.(1)n. 1 Donnchadh Ó Corráin, ‘Irish origin legends and genealogy: recurrent aetiologies’ in History and heroic tale... (1985): 53. Cf. Cath Maighe Léna, Tochmarc Moméra and Cóir anmann §§ 36-39 (in Stokes' edition).

(Possible) sources: Book of GenesisBook of GenesisThe first book of the Bible.
Related: Cath Maighe LénaCath Maighe LénaCóir anmannCóir anmannTochmarc MoméraTochmarc MoméraStory in which Éogan Mór is invited to Spain and marries the daughter of the King of Spain. Afterwards he returns to contend for the kingship in Ireland and his first son, Ailill Aulom, is born to him.

Classification

Cycles of the Kings
Cycles of the Kings
id. 80
minor Irish prose tales (foscéla)Irish narrative literature
minor Irish prose tales (foscéla)
id. 33994

Relatively short prose tales in Irish. In learned discourse from the Middle Irish period and later, a distinction is sometimes made between the longer prím-scél and the shorter fo-scél. See eDIL s.v. ‘foscél’ for some references. In the first two volumes of BILL (1913 and 1942), Best included separate headings for ‘Minor tales’.

Subjects

Dál CuinnDál Cuinn
Entry reserved for but not yet available from the subject index.
See more Fiachu MuillethanFiachu Muillethan
Entry reserved for but not yet available from the subject index.
See more Mug NuadatMug Nuadat
Entry reserved for but not yet available from the subject index.
See more Éoganachta
Éoganachta
No short description available
See more

Sources

Notes

1.
Donnchadh Ó Corráin, ‘Irish origin legends and genealogy: recurrent aetiologies’ in History and heroic tale... (1985): 53.
2.
Francis J. Byrne, Irish kings and high-kings (2001): 200–201.
3.
Donnchadh Ó Corráin, ‘Irish origin legends and genealogy: recurrent aetiologies’ in History and heroic tale... (1985): 53.

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.] Meyer, Kuno [ed.], “The Laud genealogies and tribal histories”, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 8 (1912): 291–338.
CELT – edition: <link> Celtic Digital Initiative – PDF: <link> Internet Archive: <link>
312–314 direct link
[tr.] Byrne, F. J., Irish kings and high-kings, 2nd ed., Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2001.
199–200 Translation of a single passage only.
Translation wanted
A full translation is not known at this stage.

Secondary sources (select)

Byrne, F. J., Irish kings and high-kings, 2nd ed., Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2001.
199–201
Ó Corráin, Donnchadh, “Irish origin legends and genealogy: recurrent aetiologies”, in: Tore Nyberg, Iørn Piø, and P. M. Sørenen (eds), History and heroic tale: a symposium, Odense: Odense University Press, 1985. 51–96.
Sproule, David, “Origins of the Éoganachta”, Ériu 35 (1984): 31–37.
web page identifiers
Contributors
Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
October 2010, last updated: January 2024
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