Texts
Amra Choluim Chille
Incoming data
Elegy on Saint Columba (Colum Cille).
Manuscript witnesses
MS
Dublin, National Library of Ireland, MS G 50
First leaf is a badly stained fragment. On p. 24: introduction beg. Locc don ealadhuinse.
p. 1–
MS
Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS 23 E 25
incipit: LOC dond remoculsa chetus Druimm Ceta ar is ann doronad in mórdáil Dromma Ceta. Continued, after a chasm in the manuscript, on p. 15a.
p. 5a.1–
Text
Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS C iii 2
Extensive gloss
MS
Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1288
Poem with Middle Irish commentary. Transcribed from Egerton 1782
f. 54
Text
Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1441
context: Irish Liber hymnorum Ff. 33v-34vb contain the prose preface, ff. 26ra-28v the poem with interlinear gloss.
ff. 33–34vb (prose preface), 26ra–28v
MS
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Laud Misc. 615
rubric: Incipit d'Amra Coluim Cille innso o Dhallan Forgaill .i. prímhollam Eirenn degna ⁊ deladain incipit: Dia Dia dorogus Version without glosses and preface.
p. 42.11–
Text
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Laud Misc. 615
Fragments.
MS
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson B 502/2 (ff. 19-89)
‘A poem/song for Colum Cille’: the poem ascribed to Dallán Forgaill, with extensive commentary.
f. 54r(95)a.1–
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.
[crit. ed.] [tr.] Bisagni, Jacopo, Amrae Coluimb Chille: a critical edition, Early Irish Text Series, 1, Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 2019.
abstract:
Amrae Coluimb Chille is a complex and fascinating Old Irish text. A unique tour de force of linguistic inventiveness, the Amrae laments the death of Colum Cille and praises equally his monastic perfection and his intellectual achievements, his asceticism and his pastoral leadership, his rejection of the secular world and his descent from a noble lineage.
This book provides the first ever complete critical edition of Amrae Coluimb Chille. The introduction offers a full study of the text’s manuscript transmission, language and style, as well as a discussion of its historical context. The Old Irish text is accompanied by a new English translation and is followed by a detailed commentary, a glossary and several appendices.
[ed.] [tr.] Henry, P. L. [ed. and tr.], Brian Ferran [ill.], and Aonghas MacNeacail [coll.], Amra Choluim Chille: Dallán’s elegy for Columba, Belfast: Colmcille, Ultach Trust, 2006.
Edition and English translation of the poem, together with an introduction by Ciaran Carson, images of paintings by Brian Ferran, calligraphy by Donald Murray, a Scottish Gaelic version by Aonghas Dubh MacNeacail and an afterword by Aodán Mac Póilin.
[ed.] [tr.] Clancy, Thomas Owen, and Gilbert Márkus, Iona: the earliest poetry of a Celtic monastery, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1995.
96–128 Text and translation of the Old Irish poem, based on Stokes’ edition. It omits the later commentary.
[ed.] [tr.] Stokes, Whitley [ed. and tr.], “The Bodleian Amra Choluimb Chille”, Revue Celtique 20 (1899): 31–55, 132–183, 248–289, 400–437. Corrigenda in Revue Celtique 21 (1900): 133–136.
[ed.] Bernard, J. H., and Robert Atkinson [eds.], The Irish Liber hymnorum, 2 vols, vol. 1: Text and introduction, Henry Bradshaw Society, 13, London: Henry Bradshaw Society, 1898.
comments: Volume 1: Text and introduction
Volume 2: Translation
Volume 2: Translation
[tr.] Bernard, J. H., and Robert Atkinson, The Irish Liber hymnorum, 2 vols, vol. 2: Translation and notes, Henry Bradshaw Society, 14, London: Henry Bradshaw Society, 1898.
comments: Volume 1: Text and introduction
Volume 2: Translation
Volume 2: Translation
[ed.] Crowe, John O'Beirne [ed. and tr.], The Amra Choluim Chilli of Dallan Forgaill, vol. 1, Dublin: MacGlashan and Gill, 1871.
comments: Volume 1 contains an edition and translation of the text. Volume 2, which was to include "notes, a grammatical analysis of the text and copious indexes" (as the title announces), was never published.
Secondary sources (select)
Herbert, Máire, Iona, Kells, and Derry: the history and hagiography of the monastic familia of Columba, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988.
9–12
Herbert, Máire, “The preface to the Amra Coluim Cille”, in: Donnchadh Ó Corráin, Liam Breatnach, and Kim R. McCone (eds), Sages, saints and storytellers: Celtic studies in honour of Professor James Carney, 2, Maynooth: An Sagart, 1989. 67–75.
Charles-Edwards, T. M., Early Christian Ireland, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
285–290
Henry, P. L., Saoithiúlacht na Sean-Ghaeilge: bunú an traidisiúin, Dublin: Stationery Office, 1978. xvi + 243 pp + plates.
191–212
Kenney, James F., “Chapter V: The monastic churches: II. The churches of the sixth to ninth centuries; general treatises”, in: James F. Kenney, The sources for the early history of Ireland: an introduction and guide. Volume 1: ecclesiastical, Revised ed., 11, New York: Octagon, 1966. 372–485.
426–427 (§ 212) [id. 212.]
Strachan, John, “The date of the Amra Choluimb Chille”, Revue Celtique 17 (1896): 41–44.
Gallica: <link>
Bernard, J. H., and Robert Atkinson, The Irish Liber hymnorum, 2 vols, vol. 2: Translation and notes, Henry Bradshaw Society, 14, London: Henry Bradshaw Society, 1898.
comments: Volume 1: Text and introduction
Volume 2: Translation
Volume 2: Translation
