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Scéla Guairi meic Colmáin ⁊ Meic Teléne ‘The story of Guaire mac Colmáin and Mac Teléne’

  • Early Irish
  • prose
  • Cycles of the Kings
Early Irish tale about the Munsterman Mac Teléne and Guaire Aidne mac Colmáin, king of Connacht.
Title
Scéla Guairi meic Colmáin ⁊ Meic Teléne
‘The story of Guaire mac Colmáin and Mac Teléne’
This is the title adopted by Dan M. Wiley (ed.), Essays on the early Irish king tales (2008). The text is called The trial of Mac Teléne by Thomas Owen Clancy, Saint and fool: the image and function of Cummíne Fota and Comgán Mac Da Cherda in early Irish literature (1991).
Language
  • Early Irish
Form
prose (primary)

Classification

Cycles of the Kings
Cycles of the Kings
id. 80

Subjects

Cycle of Gúaire Aidne mac ColmáinCycles of the Kings
Cycle of Gúaire Aidne mac Colmáin
id. 47958
Gúaire Aidne mac Colmáin
Gúaire Aidne mac Colmáin
(d. 663)
Gúaire Aidne (‘of Aidne’) mac Colmáin, king of Connacht from the Uí Fhiachrach; son of Colmán mac Cobthaig (d. 622)

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Mac Teléne
Mac Teléne
character in The trial of Mac Teléne.

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Cummíne Fota
Cummíne Fota
(fl. 7th century)
early Irish saint, patron of Clonfert (Clúain Fertae)

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Comgán Mac Dá Cherda
Comgán Mac Dá Cherda
(fl. first half of the 7th century)
Poet and fool (óinmit) in Irish literature; a son of Máel Ochtraig (king of the Déisi Muman) and a contemporary of Cummíne Fota. The name Mac Dá Cherda would mean ‘Son of Two Arts’, but seeing as it may go back to an original Moccu Cherda (as suggested by Jackson and Ó Coileáin) it is perhaps best spelled conservatively, without lengthening in Da.

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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.] OʼKeeffe, J. G. [ed.], “Mac Dá Cherda and Cummaine Foda”, Ériu 5 (1911): 18–44.  
An edition and translation of three texts from YBL concerning (Comgán) Mac Dá Cherda and Cummíne Fota: (1) YBL, col. 335 (The dialogue of Cummíne and Comgán); (2) YBL, col. 797, and Harley 5280 (Scéla Guairi meic Colmáin ⁊ Meic Teléne or The trial of Mac Teléne); (3) YBL, col. 798 (The adventures of Mac Dá Cherda).
Internet Archive: <link>
26–33 Text II. Edited from YBL and Harleian 5280. For the text of the latter, O'Keeffe made use of a transcription by Kuno Meyer.

Secondary sources (select)

Clancy, Thomas Owen, “Reading medieval Irish satire: the trial of Mac Teléne”, in: N. M. Reale, and R. E. Sternglantz (eds), Satura: studies in medieval literature in honour of Robert R. Raymo, Donington: Shaun Tyas, 2001. 20–47.
Clancy, Thomas Owen, “Mac Steléne and the eight in Armagh: identity and context”, Éigse 26 (1992): 80–91.
Clancy, Thomas Owen, “Saint and fool: the image and function of Cummíne Fota and Comgán Mac Da Cherda in early Irish literature”, PhD thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1991.
Edinburgh Research Archive: <link>
Especially Ch. 5.
Contributors
Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
October 2010, last updated: January 2024