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verse beg. Ro thinnscanad in tAmra

  • Middle Irish
  • verse

An Irish quatrain attributed to Máel Suthain, which is cited in the prose preface to the Amra Choluim Chille as supporting evidence for the composition of the Amra having been begun in Áth Féine Ollarba and completed in Tech Lomráin.

First words (verse)
  • Ro thinnscanad in tAmra
Author
Ascribed to: Máel Suthain [poet]Máel Suthain ... poet
Entry reserved for but not yet available from the subject index.

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While Máel Suthain is not a highly common name, it is not possible to fix it on any historical person with certainty. Kenney (p. 428 n. 187; 743) suggests the Munster scholar Máel Suthain Úa Cerbaill, Brian Boruma’s confessor, as a possible candidate; in part because another Middle Irish poem, beg. Cóictach, descipul, foglaintid, is attributed to Máel Suthain; in part because he is the subject of a story (Betha na trí Domnall) that highlights the importance of the Altus prosator attributed to Colum Cille.
Manuscripts
f. 55ra
rubric: ‘Oc Àth Fene immorro im-Mide ro thindscanad in molad-sa cosin crois ic Tig Lommain’
beg. ‘Mael suthain dixit’
1 q.

The poem is referred to in the Irish Liber hymnorum (TCD 1441), along with the attribution to Máel Suthain, but no line of text is quoted.

pp. 51.12–54.14
rubric: ‘Roinn na hAmra ar Colum Cille annso’
beg. ‘And ro tinnscnadh an Amra’

1 q. The quatrains that follow here do not appear to be related.

Language
  • Middle Irish
  • Middle Irish?
Form
verse (primary)
Length
Number of stanzas: 1 q.
Textual relationships
Related: Amra Choluim ChilleAmra Choluim Chille

Elegy on Saint Columba (Colum Cille).

Classification

Subjects

Colum Cille
Colum Cille
(fl. 6th century)
founder and abbot of Iona, Kells (Cenandas) and Derry (Daire).

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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.] [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.
Internet Archive: <link>, <link>
134–135
Contributors
Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
December 2022, last updated: September 2023