Aislinge Meic Conglinne. The Vision of MacConglinne: A Middle-Irish Wonder Tale

268 Pages·1892·9.966 MB·English

by  Kuno Meyer (ed., transl.)

AISLINGE MEIC CONGLINNE
THE VISION OF MacCONGLINNE
A MIDDLE-IRISH WONDER TALE
EDITED
WITH A TRANSLATION (BASED ON W. M. HENNESS Y’S),
NOTES, AND A GLOSSARY
BY
KUNO MEYER
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
WILHELM WOLLNER
LONDON
DAVID NUTT, 270-271, STRAND
1892
(jRights of translation and reproduction
reserved.)
TO
W HITLEY STOKES.

CONTENTS.
PAGE
Pbeface . . . . . VÜ—xi
Introduction, by Professor W. Wollner . xiii—liii
Text and Translation of the “ Leabhab Breac”
Version . . . . . 1—113
Text of the H. 3,18, Version . . . 114—129
Notes . . . . . 130—147
Translation of the II. 3,18, Version . . 148—155
Glossary . . . . . 156—199
Index of Persons . . . . 200—201
Index of Places and Tribes . . . 202—204
Corrigenda . . . . . 205—207
Addenda . . . . . 208—212

PREFACE.
The famous Irish tale known as “The Vision of Mac-
Conglinne” is now for the first time printed in the
different versions which have come down to us. The
longer of these versions, to which, on account of its
literary merits, I have assigned the chief place, is taken
from the huge vellum codex known as the Leabhar Breac,
or Speckled Book, now preserved in the Royal Irish
Academy, Dublin, by which it was published in fac­
simile in 1876. This MS. was compiled from various
sources in the fourteenth century. It is noteworthy
that, with the exception of the Vision and a version of
the mediaeval legend of Alexander, the contents of this
MS. are almost wholly ecclesiastical and religious.
The second shorter version, printed infra, pp. 114-129,
and translated on pp. 148-155, is taken from a paper
MS. of the end of the sixteenth century, preserved in
the library of Trinity College, Dublin, where it is classed
H. 3. 18 (pp. 732-742).
In printing the text, I have added a punctuation of
my own. I have separated words according to the
method followed by Windisch and Stokes. I have ex­
tended contractions, using italics in all cases where
there could be the smallest doubt as to the correctness
of such extensions. Long vowels are marked by an
accent wherever this is the case in the MS., and by
a horizontal line in cases where the scribe has omitted
viii Preface.
to put the accent. Obvious corrections are received
into the text, but the reading of the MS. will then be
found at the foot of the pages, where I have also put
some few conjectural emendations. After the text was
in print, I had an opportunity of comparing the fac­
simile of Leabhar Breath with the original The results
of this comparison will be found in the Corrigenda.
As regards the translation, my first intention was
simply to republish the late W. M. Hennessy’s spirited
rendering of the Leabhar Breac version in Fraser's Maga­
zine of September 1873. However, on carefully com­
paring it with the original, I soon became convinced
that this was not feasible. Mistakes, inaccuracies, and
omissions were too frequent. I should have had to alter
and to add so much that the character of Hennessy’s
work would have been completely changed. Nor did
I feel that Hennessy had been happy in his style.
Like many of his countrymen, he seems to have been
over-fond of Romance words, and to have preferred
these where the simpler Saxon equivalents were at
least as effective. For these reasons I decided to make
a translation of my own, basing it on Hennessy’s, and
adopting his rendering wherever it seemed accurate and
forcible. I thought it right, however, in the notes to
indicate where my rendering differs most from his, as
also to give a list of the more serious mistakes into which
he has fallen. I hope no one will think that this was
done in a fault-finding spirit. I honour the memory of
W. M. Hennessy as one of the few native scholars who
did not shut their eyes to the progress of Celtic research
on the Continent, and as one who was generous enough
to place, his intimate knowledge of his mother-tongue
at the disposal of any student wise enough to consult