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verse beg. Robad mellach a meic mo Dé

  • Middle Irish
  • verse
  • Early Irish poetry, Early Irish lyrics
Middle Irish poem attributed to Colum Cille.
First words (verse)
  • Robad mellach a meic mo Dé
“It would be pleasant o Son of my God”
Author
Ascribed to: Colum CilleColum Cille
(fl. 6th century)
Columba
founder and abbot of Iona, Kells (Cenandas) and Derry (Daire).
See more
Anonymous; attributed to Colum Cille.
Manuscripts
Language
  • Middle Irish
Date
c. 1000 (Murphy)
Form
verse (primary)
Number of stanzas
9 or 10 » The quatrain between stt 8 and 9 is the same as the opening quatrain of another poem, beg. Tréide as dile lem fo-rácbus. Murphy regards as it as an interpolation.
Textual relationships
Related: Mellach lem bith i n-ucht ailinnMellach lem bith i n-ucht ailinnLate Middle Irish poem (12 qq) ascribed in one MS to Colum Cille.
Tréide as dile lem fo-rácbusTréide as dile lem fo-rácbusShort, late Middle Irish poem on the three places dear to Colum Cille.

Classification

Early Irish poetryEarly Irish poetry
...
Early Irish lyricsEarly Irish lyrics
...

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.] Murphy, Gerard [ed. and tr.], “Anonymous: An exile’s dream”, in: Gerard Murphy [ed. and tr.], Early Irish lyrics: eighth to twelfth century, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1956. 66–69, 202–204.
CELT – edition: <link>
[ed.] OʼRahilly, Thomas F., Measgra dánta: Miscellaneous Irish poems, 2nd ed., Dublin and Cork: Cork University Press, 1927.
Internet Archive: <link>
194–195

A selection of five quatrains, here reproduced for comparison with the poem beg. Mellach lem bith i n-ucht ailinn.

[ed.] Meyer, Kuno [ed.], “Mitteilungen aus irischen Handschriften: Colum Cille cecinit”, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 7 (1910): 309–310.
Internet Archive: <link>
Based on RIA 23 N 10 and RIA B iv 2.
[ed.] [tr.] Reeves, William, Life of St. Columba, founder of Hy, written by Adamnan, 1st ed., Dublin: Irish Archaeological and Celtic Society, 1857.
CELT – edition: <link> CELT – translation: <link> Internet Archive – original print: <link> Internet Archive – 1874 reprint: <link>
274–275 Brussels MS.

Secondary sources (select)

Herbert, Máire, “Becoming an exile: Colum Cille in Middle-Irish poetry”, in: Joseph Falaky Nagy, and Leslie Ellen Jones (eds), Heroic poets and poetic heroes in Celtic tradition: a Festschrift for Patrick K. Ford, 3, 4, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2005. 131–140.
Celtic Digital Initiative: <link>
web page identifiers
Contributors
Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
April 2012, last updated: December 2022
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