Texts

verse beg. Atchíu fer find firfes cles

  • Middle Irish
  • verse
  • Early Irish poetry, Táin bó Cúailnge
Poem attributed to Fedelm, a poetess (banfhili) and seeress from Connacht, in the first two recensions of the Táin bó Cúailnge. In this poem, she prophesies the coming of Cú Chulainn and his heroic deeds.
First words (verse)
  • Atchíu fer find firfes cles
“I see a fair man who will perform weapon-feats”
Atchíu fer find firfes chless (LL).
Context(s)The (textual) context(s) to which the present text belongs or in which it is cited in part or in whole.
Speaker/Addressee
Speaker: Fedelm [Connacht prophetess]
Fedelm ... Connacht prophetess
female poet (banfhili) and seeress (banfáith) associated with Connacht at the beginning of recensions I and II of the Táin; trained in Alba, according to the first recension; may ultimately be identical with the Fedelm Foltcháin who features in the fore-tale (remscél) known as Ces Ulad.

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Author
Ascribed to: Fedelm [Connacht prophetess]
Fedelm ... Connacht prophetess
female poet (banfhili) and seeress (banfáith) associated with Connacht at the beginning of recensions I and II of the Táin; trained in Alba, according to the first recension; may ultimately be identical with the Fedelm Foltcháin who features in the fore-tale (remscél) known as Ces Ulad.

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Language
  • Middle Irish
  • (?)
Form
verse (primary)
Length
Number of stanzas: 10

Classification

Early Irish poetryEarly Irish poetry
...

Early Irish poetryEarly Irish poetry
...

Táin bó Cúailnge
Táin bó Cúailnge
id. 624

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.

Secondary sources (select)

Miles, Brent, Heroic saga and classical epic in medieval Ireland, Studies in Celtic History, 30, Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2011.  
abstract:
The puzzle of Ireland's role in the preservation of classical learning into the middle ages has always excited scholars, but the evidence from the island's vernacular literature - as opposed to that in Latin - for the study of pagan epic has largely escaped notice. In this book the author breaks new ground by examining the Irish texts alongside the Latin evidence for the study of classical epic in medieval Ireland, surveying the corpus of Irish texts based on histories and poetry from antiquity, in particular Togail Troi, the Irish history of the Fall of Troy. He argues that Irish scholars' study of Virgil and Statius in particular left a profound imprint on the native heroic literature, especially the Irish prose epic Táin Bó Cúailnge (“The Cattle-Raid of Cooley”).
151–152
Ó Concheanainn, Tomás, “LL and the date of the reviser of LU”, Éigse 20 (1984): 212–225.
Contributors
Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
July 2012, last updated: January 2024