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|Title= | |Title=<em>Comrac Líadaine ocus Cuirithir</em> | ||
|TranslatedTitle=The meeting of | |TranslatedTitle=The meeting of Líadan and Cuirithir | ||
| | |Scope=entire text | ||
|Displaytitle=<em>Comrac Líadaine ocus Cuirithir</em> | |||
|Defaultsort=Comrac Liadaine ocus Cuirithir | |||
|Classification=Subject:Irish narrative literature about poets;Subject:early Irish verse;Subject:Irish lyrical verse;Subject:dialogue and question-and-answer literature | |||
|AgentCategory=Id:Líadain;Id:Cuirithir mac Doborchon;Id:Cummíne Fota | |||
|SubjectCategory=Subject:pilgrimages | |||
|Type=lyric | |||
|Categories=Early Irish poetry; Early Irish poetry; Medieval Irish literature about poets | |||
|ShortDescription=Prosimetric story about the tragic love relationship between two professional poets, Líadain, a poetess of the Corcu Duibne, and Cuirithir, a Connachtman. | |||
|AuthorComments=Anonymous | |||
|LanguageAuto=Early Irish | |||
|Date=<em>c</em>. 875 (Murphy) | |||
|DateStart=870 | |||
|DateEnd=879 | |||
|Manuscripts2={{MS | |||
|Select=Manuscript | |||
|prefix=* | |||
|MS=London, British Library, MS Harley 5280 | |||
|folio=26a-b | |||
}}{{MS | |||
|Select=Manuscript | |||
|prefix=* | |||
|MS=Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1337/22c-23a (pp. 708-776, 792-809) | |||
|page=759 | |||
}} | }} | ||
==Description== | |FormPrimary=prosimetrum; prose; verse | ||
{{ | |TextTOC={{Text TOC | ||
| | |Title=The wooing of Líadain | ||
| | |Description=(prose) Líadain, a poetess (''ban-éices'') of the Corcu Duibne, makes a circuit around Ireland. When business brings her to Connacht, she meets the Connacht poet Cuirithir mac Doborchon, who invites her to an ‘ale-feast’ (''cuirm'') and suggests that they should come together to produce a child. Although she agrees to unite with him, she tells him to meet her later at her house. The occasion must wait until she has completed her tour. | ||
{{ | |DescriptionQuery=No | ||
{{ | |SummaryQuery=No | ||
|Persons=Corcu Duibne | |||
}}{{Text TOC | |||
|Title=Cuirithir visits Líadain | |||
|Description=(prose) Cuirithir goes south to meet Líadain. He travels in disguise, wearing a poor man’s clothes and being in the company of one servant, while his poet’s garment and spearheads are kept in a bag. When he arrives at the well by her house, he puts on the purple cloak and brandishes his spears. He is met there by Mac Dá Cherda, chief poet and fool (''óinmit'') of Ireland, who is here identified as a son of Máel Ochtraig, son of Dínertach, of the Déisi Muman, and who is said to go across land and sea with his feet still dry. | |||
(prose) When Mac Dá Cherda has identified himself, Cuirithir asks him to go to Líadain on his behalf and persuade her into a meeting by the well. Mac Dá Cherda, whose presence goes unnoticed initially, enters the house and sits down near Líadain and other women in her presence. | |||
He utters a poem (5 qq, beg. ''A tech mór''), in which he speaks in riddles in order to communicate his message to Líadain without being found out by others in the same room. In this poem, he addresses her as a ''banscál'' (laywoman?), whose wisdom/intelligence is not matched among women {{''|under a veil}} (''fo chailliu''). There are punning allusions to the protagonists: to Líadain, in the literal sense of ‘The grey one’, and to Cuirithir, by reference to his father’s name. | |||
|Comments=For a discussion of the word ''banscál'' in the sense of ‘laywoman’ and its occurrence in the text, see {{C/s|Ní Dhonnchadha (Máirín) 1999a }}. | |||
|DescriptionQuery=No | |||
|SummaryQuery=No | |||
|InitiaVerse=A tech mór | |||
|Persons=Comgán Mac Dá Cherda; | |||
}}{{Text TOC | |||
|Title=Speaking through a wall | |||
|Description=Líadain agrees to join Cuirithir. They accept the soul-friendship (''anm-chairde'') of Cummíne Fota son of Fíachna, who confronts the couple with a choice: either to look at or to talk to each other. Since Cuirithir chooses the latter, they resort to speaking through a wall: whenever Cuirithir goes around the burial-place (''martra'') to visit her, her house is closed and he remains outside to converse with her; and likewise, when Líadain visits Cuirithir in turn. | |||
A poem, beg. ''Cuirithir int athéces'', follows, in which both Líadain (4 qq) and Cuirithir (1 q) sadly reflect on their unrequited longings for each other. In doing so, Líadain reveals that Cuirithir, now a former poet (''ath-éices'') without a companion by his side and without cattle, frequents a stone south of the oratory (''dairthach'') after Mass. | |||
In a final quatrain, in which Líadain addresses Cummíne Fota, the brink of Loch Se(i)ng (?) and Cell Conchinn are identified as the homes of Cuirithir and Líadain respectively. | |||
|Comments=On the concept of ‘soul-friendship’ (''anm-chairde''), see {{C/s|Follett 2013a}}. The poem beg. ''Cuirithir int athéces'' is separately edited and translated by {{C/s|Greene and O'Connor 1967a14}}. | |||
|DescriptionQuery=No | |||
|SummaryQuery=No | |||
|InitiaVerse=Cuirithir int athéces | |||
|Persons=Cummíne Fota | |||
|Places=Loch Seing; Cell Conchinn | |||
}}{{Text TOC | |||
|Title=The ordeal (sleeping with a novice in between) | |||
|Description=Cummíne allows Líadain and Cuirithir to sleep together in the same bed, but with a student (''léignid becc'') between them to prevent them from folly (''an-esba''). In two verse quatrains (both beg. ''Másu óenadaig atbir''), Cuirithir and Líadain say that they are content to see one another in this way even if it is for a single night. When that night has passed, Cummíne takes the boy to confession and threatens to kill him if he conceals the truth. The boy is in a tight spot, because Cuirithir threatens to kill him if he reveals what has happened. The outcome is that he (Cuirithir) is transferred to another church (''cell''). | |||
|Comments=Poem: ed. and tr. {{C/s|Greene and O'Connor 1967a15}} | |||
|DescriptionQuery=No | |||
|SummaryQuery=No | |||
|InitiaVerse=Másu óenadaig atbir | |||
}}{{Text TOC | |||
|Title=Reflections (verse) | |||
|Description=Cuirithir (1 q beg. ''Di chíanaib'') complains that time goes by slowly since he has been cut off from any contact with Líadain. Líadain (1 q) imagines what a bewildered impression Cuirithir must now leave on scholars (''rétairi'') who are unaware of his situation. Cummíne (1 q) protests, saying that Cuirithir has never been mad (''mer''). Líadain then recalls (1 q) that what happened that Friday (i.e. the night when they slept together) was not “camping on honey-pastures / on the fleece of her white couch / in Cuirithir’s arms” (tr. Meyer). | |||
|Comments=See also {{C/s|Ó Cuív 1948a}} | |||
|DescriptionQuery=No | |||
|SummaryQuery=No | |||
|InitiaVerse=Di chíanaib | |||
}}{{Text TOC | |||
|Title=Líadain’s lament | |||
|Description=Cuirithir leaves for Cell Letrech, in the land of the Déisi, in order to go on a pilgrimage. When Líadain is looking for him, she utters a sad poem (10 qq) beg. ''Cen áinius''. She recalls the happy time when they kept each other company; realises too late that that her ‘bargain’ (''caingen'') has tormented her lover and ultimately pushed him away from her. | |||
|Comments=Ed. and tr. {{C/s|Meyer 1902d|at=22-25}}. The poem beg. ''Cen áinius'' has been frequently edited, e.g. {{C/s|Carney 1967a|at=24ff (with English translation)}}; {{C/s|Greene and O'Connor 1967a13}} (with English translation); {{C/s|Murphy 1956a35}} (with English translation); {{C/s|Pokorny 1923a|at=16-17}}. For philological discussions of individual passages, see {{C/s|Ahlqvist 1982a}}, where an emendation of line 3 is suggested, and {{C/s|O'Brien (M. A.) 1956a|at=no. 9}}. | |||
|DescriptionQuery=No | |||
|SummaryQuery=No | |||
|InitiaVerse=Cen áinius | |||
|Places=Cell Letrech | |||
}}{{Text TOC | |||
|Title=Prose epilogue | |||
|Description=Some of the narrative allusions in the poem are given an explanation in prose: the act by which Líadain has tormented her lover is said to be her quick acceptance of the veil (''caille''). Despite having learned that Líadain has arrived from the west, Cuirithir steps into his coracle to go on a pilgrimage. Líadain dies on the stone (''lecc'') on which she used to pray and she is buried under the same (head)stone. | |||
|DescriptionQuery=No | |||
|SummaryQuery=No | |||
}} | |||
|StatusDescription=Notes | |||
* MetreComments=Cen áinius stanza is in treochair | |||
* Re: ...complains that time goes by slowly : days feel like months and months like years | |||
* "Cuirithir leaves for Cell Letrech, in the land of the Déisi, in order to go on a pilgrimage" : later: for fear of the king of heaven. | |||
}} | }} | ||
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