Texts
Reicne Fothaid Canainne
Incoming data
Old Irish poem, with later prose introduction.
Manuscript witnesses
Text
Dublin, National Library of Ireland, MS G 7
Shorter, Old Irish prose introduction, followed by the first quatrain of the poem. See Hull (1936).
cols 13–14
Text
Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS B iv 2
incipit: A ben nacham aicille Verse (complete).
ff. 133v–135r
Text
Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1336/6.2
Middle Irish prose introduction (incl. verse citation) and first line of verse.
pp. 856–858
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.] Meyer, Kuno [ed. and tr.], “Reicne Fothaid Canainne”, in: Kuno Meyer, Fianaigecht: being a collection of hitherto inedited Irish poems and tales relating to Finn and his Fiana, 16, London: Hodges, Figgis, 1910. 1–21.
[em.] Meyer, Kuno, “Erschienene Schriften”, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 8 (1912): 594–600.
Internet Archive: <link>
594 Various emendations.
[ed.] Hull, Vernam [ed.], “The death of Fothath Cananne”, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 20 (1936): 400–404.
Edition based on NLI G 7.
Edition based on NLI G 7.
[ed.] [tr.] Greene, David, and Frank OʼConnor, “19: The dead lover”, in: David Greene, and Frank OʼConnor [Michael O'Donovan], A golden treasury of Irish poetry, A.D. 600 to 1200, London: Macmillan, 1967. 86–92.
Select stanzas from the poem.
[em.] Hull, Vernam, “Notes on Irish texts”, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 29 (1962–1964): 183–191.
[em.] Hull, Vernam, “Reicne Fothad Canainne”, Modern Language Notes 58:1 (1943): 29–31.
Proposed emendation to st. 19, second verse.
[em.] Vendryes, Joseph, “Bibliographie: I, II, III”, Revue Celtique 32 (1911): 104–110.
Secondary sources (select)
Murray, Kevin, The early Finn Cycle, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2017. 200 pp.
abstract:
The Finn (or Fenian) Cycle (fíanaigecht) is classified by modern scholarship as one of four medieval Irish literary cycles along with the Ulster Cycle, the Cycle of Historical Tales (or Cycles of the Kings) and the Mythological Cycle. It is primarily composed of material dealing with the legendary character Finn mac Cumaill, his warrior band (fían), his son Oisín and his grandson Oscar. In a fashion recalling the expansion of the Arthurian legend throughout Europe, the traditions centred on Finn grew from localized beginnings to spread throughout the entire Gaelic-speaking world. This study takes as its focus the early Finn Cycle, up to and including the composition of the most significant fíanaigecht tale, Acallam na senórach (‘The colloquy of the ancients’), at the beginning of the Early Modern Irish period. The volume also deals in detail with topics such as the nature of the fían; the extent of early fragmentary Finn Cycle sources; the background to Tóraigheacht Dhiarmada agus Ghráinne (‘The pursuit of Diarmaid and Gráinne’); the boyhood deeds and death of Finn; and the development of the Fenian lay tradition. The Early Finn Cycle details and investigates the primary and secondary sources for the study of this material and traces the literary development of the early fíanaigecht corpus. In so doing, it seeks to account for the emergence of the Finn Cycle from fragmentarily documented beginnings to become the dominant genre of Gaelic literature after 1200.
92–93, 153–156, 161
Borsje, Jacqueline, “The ‘terror of the night’ and the Morrígain: shifting faces of the supernatural”, in: Mícheál Ó Flaithearta (ed.), Proceedings of the Seventh Symposium of Societas Celtologica Nordica, Studia Celtica Upsaliensia, Uppsala: University of Uppsala, 2007. 71–98.
Dare.uva.nl – eread: <link>
