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Tecosca Cormaic ‘The instructions of Cormac’

  • Old Irish
  • Medieval Irish wisdom literature
A collection of Old Irish maxims presented as words of advice by the legendary judicious king of Ireland Cormac mac Airt in reply to questions asked by his son and successor Cairpre (Lifechair). The maxims cover a variety of topics relating especially to the nature of good kingship.
Speaker/Addressee
Speaker: Cairpre Lifechair
Cairpre Lifechair
No short description available
See more Cormac mac Airt
Cormac mac Airt
(time-frame ass. with Cormac mac Airt)
Legendary high-king of Ireland; son of Art son of Conn Cétchathach; contemporary of Finn mac Cumaill.
See more
Manuscripts

The conspectus of manuscript witnesses found in the introduction of Meyer’s edition is frequently erroneous. Most of his mistakes and oversights were later rectified by Thurneysen (1912).

Group A
L =
Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1339 (H 2. 18) = Book of Leinster [s. xii2]
pp. 343–345
A copy which according to Meyer, contains many inaccurate readings.
B =
Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS 23 P 12 (536) = Book of Ballymote (Leabhar Bhaile an Mhóta) [1384 x 1406]
pp. 62a–65a
[No siglum] =
Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS D ii 1 (1225) = Leabhar Uí Mhaine (The Book of Uí Maine) [1394]
Meyer was aware of this copy but did not collate it in full, stating that it is almost identical with B.
Lec =
Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1319 vol. 2, pp. 172-187, 192-194 = fragment of the Book of Lecan [xvin]
pp. 179–180
K =
Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland, Adv. MS 72.1.7 [s. xv?]
ff. 9ra–9vb
Imperfect.
Group B and further texts
D =
Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS 23 D 2 (132) [s. xvii]
pp. 5–25
The catalogue description notes that its arrangement differs somewhat from that in Meyer’s edition.
H2 =
Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1328 (H 3. 9) [s. xviii]
pp. 59–end
Meyer wrote H 1. 9 (TCD 1283, a medical manuscript) in error for H 3. 9 (1328).
N1 =
Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS 23 N 10 (967) = Book of Ballycummin [s. xvi]
pp. 1–2, [lacuna], 3–5.m
Meyer writes "23 N 17", but it is clear from his references in the footnote that 23 N 10 is intended.
N2 =
Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS 23 N 27 (966) [1714]
ff. 7v–16v
An extensively glossed copy written by Domhnall ó Duinn mac Eimuinn (1714).
Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS 23 O 20
Transcript of the former written in 1828 by O'Donovan.
[No siglum]
Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1298 pp. 376-456 [s. xv]
pp. 420a–422a
See Fomin (2010) below.
H3 =
Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1349 (H 4. 8) [c.1700]
Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland, Adv. MS 72.1.2 ff. 27-70 [s. xvii]
ff. 66r1–70

Meyer was aware of this copy, which he calls “incomplete and faulty”, but decided against using it.

Meyer thought that TCD 1289 (H 1. 15, siglum H1), written by Tadhg Ó Nechtain (1745), contained a copy with the title Teagasg Riogh, though he did not make any use of it. He could not have done so because as Thurneysen noted, the text in question, on pp. 149-166 (not 174), is a version of Cóic conara fugill.
Language
  • Old Irish
  • “I think there can be no doubt that Tecosca Cormaic in the form in which it has come down to us was compiled during the Old-Irish period of the language and so far as I can judge, not later than the first half of the ninth century. The later forms of the infixed pronouns which Strachan has pointed out [...], such as -das- or -dos-, do not appear in our text” (Meyer).(1)n. 1 Kuno Meyer, The instructions of King Cormac mac Airt (1909): xi, referring to John Strachan, ‘The infixed pronoun in Middle Irish’, Ériu 1 (1904).
Date
"so far as I can judge, not later than the first half of the ninth century" (Meyer).(2)n. 2 Kuno Meyer, The instructions of King Cormac mac Airt (1909): xi.
Textual relationships
Related: Irish glossary from TCD 1337, pp. 623-628Irish glossary from TCD 1337, pp. 623-628Medieval Irish glossary in TCD 1337, pp. 623-628. Many of the entries are known from other works and learned compilations, such as Sanas Cormaic.Máthair ime gaeth áitheMáthair ime gaeth áithe

Short Irish text of prognostications of the weather. The opening part ([M]áthair ime gaeth áithe, sáille sneachta; Túar fola fleochadh, túar teadhma torann) recalls the two quatrains in Tecosca Cormaic § 17. This is followed by some prose notes using an ‘if (madh)/then’ formula.

Senbríathra FíthailSenbríathra Fíthail

Recension of a collection of early Irish maxims that is sometimes referred to as Bríathra Flainn Fhína ‘The sayings of Flann Fína’. In manuscripts such the Book of Leinster, this particular recension is attributed instead to the legendary judge Fíthal. It incorporates parts of Tecosca Cormaic and concludes with a section of gnomic sayings beg. Maith dán ecnae, which has also been treated as a distinct text in its own right.

Classification

Medieval Irish wisdom literatureMedieval Irish wisdom literature
...

Subjects

Cairpre Lifechair
Cairpre Lifechair
No short description available
See more Cormac mac Airt
Cormac mac Airt
(time-frame ass. with Cormac mac Airt)
Legendary high-king of Ireland; son of Art son of Conn Cétchathach; contemporary of Finn mac Cumaill.
See more

Sources

Notes

1.
Kuno Meyer, The instructions of King Cormac mac Airt (1909): xi, referring to John Strachan, ‘The infixed pronoun in Middle Irish’, Ériu 1 (1904).
2.
Kuno Meyer, The instructions of King Cormac mac Airt (1909): xi.

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.] Meyer, Kuno [ed. and tr.], The instructions of King Cormac mac Airt, Todd Lecture Series, 15, Dublin, 1909.
CELT – edition: <link> CELT – English translation: <link> Internet Archive: <link>

Secondary sources (select)

Thurneysen, Rudolf [ed.], Zu irischen Handschriften und Litteraturdenkmälern [I], Abhandlungen der königlichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, Philologisch-Historische Klasse, 14.2, Berlin, 1912.  
comments: Continued by Rudolf Thurneysen, Zu irischen Handschriften und Litteraturdenkmälern II (1913).
3–11
web page identifiers
Contributors
Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
August 2011, last updated: March 2024
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