Texts
Tánic sam
Incoming data
Poem on the coming of summer, attributed to Finn mac Cumaill. It evokes an image of the season by referring, for instance, to the appearance and behaviour of stags, dogs, salmon and birds such as the cuckoo and the blackbird.
Manuscript witnesses
Text
Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS C iii 2
incipit: Tanuig samh slan saor 7 stanzas. The orthography has been modernised. James Carney (1971) suggests that it is a closely related but otherwise independent copy, probably deriving from the ‘lost’ Book of Glendalough. However, Pádraig Ó Riain (1981), who takes the view that the ‘Book of Glendalough’ refers, in fact, to a part of Rawl. B 502, sees no evidence of an independent transmission of the text.
f. 10a
Text
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson B 502/2 (ff. 19-89)
context: Mac Lesc mac Ladáin aithech incipit: Tanic sam slan soer 7 stanzas. The poem occurs in the context of an anecdote concerning a meeting between Finn and his servant Mac Lesc mac Ladáin (see Mac Lesc mac Ladáin aithech). The first poem beg. Fuitt co brath is attributed to Mac Lesc and followed by the present poem, which is here attributed to Finn.
ff. 60ra(=107a)5–18
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.] Carney, James P., “Three Old Irish accentual poems”, Ériu 22 (1971): 23–80.
43–45 (critical and diplomatic editions from both MSS); 46–47 (translation); 51–52 + 37–39 (notes and discussion)
[ed.] Hull, Vernam [ed.], “Four Old-Irish songs of summer and winter”, Celtica 9 (1971): 200–201.
Edition from both MSS
[ed.] [tr.] Greene, David, and Frank OʼConnor, “32: Summer”, in: David Greene, and Frank OʼConnor [Michael O'Donovan], A golden treasury of Irish poetry, A.D. 600 to 1200, London: Macmillan, 1967. 137–139.
Based on Rawl. B 502
[ed.] [tr.] Meyer, Kuno [ed. and tr.], Four Old-Irish songs of summer and winter, London: Nutt, 1903.
16–23
