Texts

Scél saltrach na rann ‘The story of Saltair na rann’

Late Middle Irish
prose

A prose redaction of the Middle Irish biblical poem Saltair na rann. Myles Dillon distinguishes between two main recensions of the tract, which are most fully represented by the (incomplete) versions in the Leabhar Breac and the Book of Uí Maine respectively. The first section in the Leabhar Breac, covering the narratives from Creation to Adam and Eve, has no extant counterpart in the the Book of Uí Maine. (There is also a prose summary corresponding to the first section. It is found as a commentary to the note on place (locc) in the Pseudo-historical prologue to the Senchas Már).

Title

Scél saltrach na rann

‘The story of Saltair na rann’

The title Scél saltrach na rann is attested twice in the Book of Uí Maine recension (e.g. Epistil Matusalem inso sis. Scél Saltrach na Rann ainm aile dó). In modern scholarship, this title is applied more broadly to the work as a whole. Several manuscripts of the first recension give a title for the second section, Stair claindi Israel or Stair mac n-Isra(h)el.

Manuscripts

First section (Creation, fall of Lucifer, Adam and Eve):

Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS 23 P 16 (1230) = Leabhar Breac (‘Speckled Book’) [s. xvⁱⁿ]

pp. 109a.1–113a.37

beg. ‘Dorigne Dia imorro in rigthech uachtarach’

Section on Creation, the fall of Lucifer and the story of Adam and Eve. The text is acephalous and breaks off.

Separately preserved parts from the first section:

London, British Library, MS Egerton 92 = Book of Fermoy fragment [s. xv]

rubric: ‘De operibus Dei’

De operibus Dei

London, British Library, MS Egerton 1782 [1516-1518]

Shorter form of the De operibus Dei text in Egerton 92.

Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1318 cols 573–958 = section of the Yellow Book of Lecan [s. xiv^ex/xvⁱⁿ]

cols 844–849

Section beginning with the fall of Lucifer.

Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS 23 O 48b (476) = Liber Flavus Fergusiorum, part 2 [c. 1435-1440]

ff. 21(23)a.1–21(23)c.34

beg. ‘[Is] ann dorighnidh Dia an t-oibriugad se laithi a n-ingnais in duine’

Dimus an Aingil ⁊ Innarbadh Adaim as Parthas: section on the fall of Lucifer and fall of Adam. Corresponds to LB 109b.50-111b.34.

London, British Library, MS Egerton 136 [s. xvii]

ff. 11b–14b

Section on the fall of Lucifer and fall of Adam. Corresponds to LB 109b.50-111b.34.

Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS 23 O 48a (476) = Liber Flavus Fergusiorum, part 1 [c. 1435-1440]

ff. 25(76)c.13–25(76)d.46

Section containing Pennaid Adaim (Penance of Adam).

Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS 24 P 25 (475) = Leabhar Chlainne Suibhne [s. xvi¹]

ff. 64v(122)b–65r(l23)b.11

Section containing Pennaid Adaim (Penance of Adam).

Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland, Adv. MS 72.1.40 [s. xv-xvi]

pp. 45b–48b

Section containing Pennaid Adaim (Penance of Adam).

Second section (Recension I)

Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS 23 P 16 (1230) = Leabhar Breac (‘Speckled Book’) [s. xvⁱⁿ]

pp. 113a.38–132a.22

beg. ‘Incipit do stair chloinde Israel inso siss amal atbeir in scriptuir’

Second section (Recension I).

Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1318 5, cols 217-280 = YBL section [1407]

cols 249–278

Second section (Recension I).

Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS 23 P 12 (536) = Book of Ballymote (Leabhar Bhaile an Mhóta) [1384 x 1406]

ff. 130va.l–135rb.34

Most of the second section (Recension I), corresponding to LB pp. 113a.38-128a.49.

Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1286 2 [c.1746]

Fragment from the second section.

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS celtique 1 I and IV, ff. 1-8 and 22-29 [s. xv]

ff. 1r–7v

beg. ‘Is-e seo cindedh ocus comhairem ocus tosach aisneisi na-haisi tanaisti in domain’

Ormont gives the title Stair claindi Israel or Stair mac n-Israhel.

Second section (Recension II)

Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS D ii 1 (1225) = Leabhar Uí Mhaine (The Book of Uí Maine) [1394]

ff. 127a.1–129d.53 + 132a.1–132a.19

Second section (Recension II). Lacunose.

Language

Late Middle Irish

Form

prose (primary)

Textual relationships

A text entitled Stair mac n-Israhel is given in the book-list of Tadhg Ó Duinn preserved in UCD, Franciscan A 30 (Collectanea Hibernica 2: 16).

(Possible) sources: Saltair na rannSaltair na rannMiddle Irish verse composition giving accounts of biblical history, from the time of Creation to the resurrection of Christ. It is divided into 150 cantos of varying lengths, ranging from just 3 quatrains to as many as 138.

Associated items

Aichnid dam cech merci mórAichnid dam cech merci mórView incoming dataRig roraidi erim nglanRig roraidi erim nglanView incoming dataSaltair na rannSaltair na rannMiddle Irish verse composition giving accounts of biblical history, from the time of Creation to the resurrection of Christ. It is divided into 150 cantos of varying lengths, ranging from just 3 quatrains to as many as 138.

Classification

Subjects

Adam and EveOld Testament narratives
Adam and Eve

id. 48270

Legends of Adam and Eve, from their creation and life in the garden of Eden to their expulsion and existence in exile.

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.

For his Ph.D. thesis, Axel Harlos (Marburg) is working on an edition on the second part of the text as it stands in the Leabhar Breac.

[ed.] [tr.] Dillon, Myles, “Scél saltrach na rann”, Celtica 4 (1958): 1–43.

Text from the Book of Uí Maine (recension II, section 2).

[ed.] Mac Carthy, Bartholomew [ed. and tr.], The codex Palatino-Vaticanus, no. 830, Todd Lecture Series, 3, Dublin, 1892.

Internet Archive: <link>, <link>, <link> Internet Archive – originally from Google Books: <link>

38–71 Leabhar Breac pp. 109a.1-113a.37

[ed.] [tr.] Anderson, Alan O., “Pennaid Adaim ‘The penance of Adam’”, Revue Celtique 24 (1903): 245–253.

Internet Archive: <link>, <link> Gallica: <link>

Pennaid Ádaim section edited from the Edinburgh MS, with variant readings in the footnotes.

[ed.] Harlos, Axel, “Three sheepish episodes from Scél saltrach na rann as contained in the Leabhar Breac”, in: Franziska Bock, Dagmar Bronner, and Dagmar Schlüter (eds), Allerlei Keltisches. Studien zu Ehren von Erich Poppe. Studies in honour of Erich Poppe, Berlin: curach bhán, 2011. 105–114.

[tr.] Herbert, Máire, and Martin McNamara (eds), Irish biblical apocrypha: selected texts in translation, Edinburgh: Clark, 1989.

Various texts in English translations