Scéla Cormaic ⁊ Ciarnaite ‘The story of Cormac and Cíarnat’
- Early Irish
- prose, verse
- Cycles of the Kings
Brief account of the affair between Cormac mac Airt and Cíarnat, a Pictish princess who was taken captive.
Title
Scéla Cormaic ⁊ Ciarnaite
‘The story of Cormac and Cíarnat’
There is no title in the manuscript. Scéla Cormaic ⁊ Ciarnaite is the title given to it by Dan M. Wiley, ‘An introduction to the early Irish king tales’ in Essays on the early Irish king tales... (2008).
First words (prose)
- Ciárnat ingen ríg Cruithnech tucsat cūicer Ulad
Manuscripts
London, British Library, MS Egerton 1782 [1516-1518]
f. 44b, line 2ff
Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1286 2 [c.1746]
p. 93.5 ff
Language
- Early Irish
Form
prose, verse (primary)
Contains poems
‘Ciárnat cumhal Chormaic chóir’
Textual relationships
- All three quatrains at the end of the text also occur in the dinnshenchas poem beg. Temair, toga na tulach, attributed to Cuán ua Lothcháin (st. 28-30 in Gwynn’s edition, Temair III). The preceding comment in this poem which tells that Cormac built his first mill at the stream of Nemnach in Tara is not reproduced in the present text, which, in fact, omits any mention of the place. The section on Nemnach in the prose dinnshenchas text Dindgnai Temrach also alludes to the affair, calling Cíarnat a bondmaid (cumal) of Cormac, as in the stanza beg. Ciarnait cumal Cormaic cóir
- The present story is reproduced in modernised but otherwise faithful form by Geoffrey Keating in his Foras feasa ar Éirinn (ed. Dinneen, II, pp. 334-337).
Related: Dindgnai TemrachDindgnai TemrachForas feasa ar ÉirinnForas feasa ar ÉirinnThe prose history of Ireland completed by Geoffrey Keating (Seathrún Céitinn) in c. 1634. Comprising an introduction, two books and appendices, it narrates the history of the island from the time of Creation to the Norman conquest in the 12th century. As set out by the vindicatory introduction (an díonbhrollach), the work was written in response to the cultural biases of Anglo-centric writers (e.g. William Camden and Edmund Spenser).Dinnshenchas of Temair IIIDinnshenchas of Temair IIIDinnshenchas of Temair
Associated items
Ciárnat cumhal Chormaic chóirCiárnat cumhal Chormaic chóirView incoming data
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.
[tr.] Vendryes, Joseph, “Les moulins en Irlande et l’aventure de Ciarnat”, Revue archéologique 5:14 (1921): 362–374.
Gallica: <link>
370 Translation into modern French
Secondary sources (select)
Vendryes, Joseph, “Les moulins en Irlande et l’aventure de Ciarnat”, Revue archéologique 5:14 (1921): 362–374.
Gallica: <link>
web page identifiers
page name: Scéla Cormaic ocus Ciarnaite
page url: https://codecs.vanhamel.nl/Sc%C3%A9la_Cormaic_ocus_Ciarnaite
redirect: https://codecs.vanhamel.nl/Special:Redirect/page/267
numerical alternative: https://codecs.vanhamel.nl/index.php?curid=267
page ID: 267
page ID tracker: https://codecs.vanhamel.nl/index.php?title=Show:ID&id=267
Contributors
Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
October 2010, last updated: January 2024
