Cormac, king of Cashel, O'Davoren, Donall, Oengus, the Culdee, Stokes, Whitley. Three Irish Glossaries

256 Pages·18.297 MB·Irish-English

the pResence ofthis Book
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Stephen
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From the Library of Daniel Binchy

TIIREE IEISH GLOSSABIES.
CORMAC'S GLOSSARY
OODEX
A.
(FROM A MANUSCRIPT IN THE LIBRARY OF THE ROYAL IRISH
ACADEMY),
O'DAVOREN'S GL0SSARY
(FROM A MANUSCRIPT IN THE LIBRARY OF THE BRITI8II
MUSEUM),
AND
A GL0SSARY TO THE CALENDAR
OF OTNGUS THE CULDEE
(FROM A MANUSCRIPT IN THE LIBRARY OF TRINITY COLLEGE,
DUBLIN).
WITH A PREFACE AND INDEX
BY
w.
s.
WILLIAM8 ANI) NORGATE.
14, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LOKDON;
AND
20, south fredp:rick street, EDINBUIM.H.
1862.

TO
GEORGE PETHIE LL
D.
AHCILEOUMiIST, PAIN^ER, MUSICIAN, MAN OP LBTTBR3.
AS SUCH, AND FOR HIMSELF,
REVEREI) AND LOVED.
a
úr
^MJ
"^.^
W

p r e f a
(: i :
The present volumc contains three Irish glossaries.
which are now printed íbr the íirst time. I purpose in this
preface to describe the manuscripts from which they have been
taken respectively, and to point out their value as contribu-
tions to Celtic philology, mythology and history.
The first and most important of these glossaries is the
so-called Sanas Cormaic*. The manuscript from which our
text has been taken presents the oldest complete copy known
to exist. It is preserved in the library of the Royal Irish
Academy, marked II. and S. [Hodges and Smith] No. '224.
S. 3/67. I call it Codex A. and the following is a descrip-
tion of it. The codex is vellum, in large folio, and dates,
I should say, from about the early part of the fifteenth
century. There are eleven leaves, which are discoloured in
some places: the margins are broken, and the left-hand
lower corners of folios 5 and 6 have been cut away. The
*) Sanas (of which a diminutive sanasán is found) may hetfe mean
érther a glossary or an etymologicon. I am inelined to derive it from sov
n.lx. vo.iibiilum Z. 969), with the regressive assimilation found in m«-
nac/i (moBrneatc.huhsa)nea:nd"heit>hiei».ir/ya;/"as(d(pe^OtLyimoo\looygíoiLa),.SACNoAm?pa)reChoorwmeavce'rs tdheeriWvealtsifoan
/>- (infra p. 10.) ^ran' knowledge" is unworthv of attention.
VI PIIEFACE.
scribe's name does not appear, but in the upper margin of
p. 8 we find
Ac so indara line donnu- Here is the second line of
rachadh aceneW fechin .i. in- the renewing in Cenél Fechin
legtoir ofathaig itus. ocus i. e. the Reader 0'Fahy at
seaan iraibne iarsin. first, and John O'Raibne after-
wards.
I
Hence it appears that the manuscript was retouched in
that ancient district, in the County of Galway, of which,
as Mr. Curry's catalogue informs me, the O'Fahvs were
chieftains.
The handwriting closely resembles that of the latter part
of the socalled Leabhar Breacc ("Speclded Book"). Mr.
Curry, indeed, thinks that our codex originally formed part
of that manuscript. I am inclined to agree with him, especially
as the scribe's perverse ingenuity in disfiguring Latin words*
can only be paralleled by the efforts in the same direction of
the writer of the Speckled Book.
The Sanas Cormaic begins at page 1 of our codex, and
ends in the second column of page 10. It is followed by a
life of St. Cellach, commencing
Rig rogab forcondachtu .i. A king was over the Con-
eogan bel mac cellaig maic naughtmen, to wit, Eogan Bél,
oillelJa muilt. son of Cellach, son of Ailill
Molt.
—
(
p. 15, col. 1. Incipit coisecrad eclaisi indso a tract
on the consecration of a church.
p. 16, col. 1. a tract beginning
Pais cristifirinchonchinn.vii. The passion of Christopher
kl. mai aungreim mor forsna- the dog-head, the 7th of the
cmíaidib inaimser déich in- kalends of May: a great per-
himper Rogabadh dana infer secution of the Christians in
noem cristoforus annsin coro- the time of Decius the empe-
pianad cwmmu caich. ror. Now the holy man Chri-
stopherus was taken and pu-
nished like every one [else].
* Inthepresent edition the spelling oftheLatin hasgenerallyheensetright.