Texts
Saltair na rann
Incoming data
Middle Irish verse composition giving accounts of biblical history, from the time of Creation to the resurrection of Christ. It is divided into 150 cantos of varying lengths, ranging from just 3 quatrains to as many as 138.
Manuscript witnesses
Text
Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS 23 P 16
context: Scél saltrach na rann Part of canto X only.
p. 111b
MS
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson B 502/2 (ff. 19-89)
incipit: Conice in so corp saltrach na rann Colophon for Saltair na rann: “Conice in so corp saltrach na rann .i. na tri coicait duan. A do autem post fri fois[itin] ⁊ fri athirgi. ocus a deich fri h-aisneis na h-eisseirgi conid da duain dec ar trib coictaib duan samlaid” (text taken, with slight modifications, from Ó Cuív and Whitley Stokes, Saltair na rann: a collection of early Middle Irish poems (1883): 114).
f. 39r(65)a.49–
MS
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson B 502/2 (ff. 19-89)
rubric: S[altair] na rann inso sis do-rigni Oengus celi De incipit: Mo rise ri nime nair Middle Irish verse composition on biblical history, divided into 150 poems or cantos.
f. 19r(25)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.
[ed.] Stokes, Whitley [ed.], Saltair na rann: a collection of early Middle Irish poems, Anecdota Oxoniensia, Mediaeval and Modern Series, 1.3, Oxford: Clarendon, 1883.
[ed.] [tr.] Greene, David [ed. and tr.], Saltair na rann, Online: School of Celtic Studies, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 2007–. URL: <https://www.dias.ie/celt/celt-publications-2/celt-saltair-na-rann/>.
[ed.] [tr.] Greene, David, and Fergus Kelly, The Irish Adam and Eve story from Saltair na Rann, 2 vols, vol. 1, Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1976.
[tr.] Carey, John, King of Mysteries: early Irish religious writings, 2nd ed., Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2000.
97–124 Cantos 1-3 only.
[tr.] Hull, Eleanor, The poem-boek of the Gael: translations from Irish Gaelic poetry into English prose and verse, Chicago, 1913.
Internet Archive: <link>
2–50 Select poems in translation.
[ed.] [tr.] Heist, William W., The fifteen signs before Doomsday, East Lansing, Michigan: Michigan State College Press, 1952.
Contents: Preface -- Saltair na rann [edition and translation of verses CLIII-CLXII] -- I. The legend -- II. Previous study of the legend -- III. The sources proposed by Nölle and Grau -- IV. The chief early groups -- V. The later development -- VI. Conclusions -- Appendix A. Versions of the Fifteen Signs Annotated -- Appendix B. Versions not used in this study -- Bibliography -- Index.
HathiTrust: <link>
1–21
Verses CLIII-CLXII.
Secondary sources (select)
Mac Eoin, Gearóid, “Observations on Saltair na rann”, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 39 (1982): 1–28.
Murdoch, Brian O., The Irish Adam and Eve story from Saltair na Rann, 2 vols, vol. 2, Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1976.
Commentary to volume 1 (text and translation).
