Onomastic verse

An interest in place-names which are said to mark the scenes of action in the narrative is not unusual in the ballads, as is exemplified in Poems XIII, and XXVII.  Sometimes, however, the composers of the ballads take pleasure in listing not only key place-names, but also their own onomastic knowledge.

BDL contains three ballads which incorporate catalogues of place-names.  In Poems XVI and XXIV these catalogues are not extensive or ambitious.  That in Poem XVI lists relatively well-known places in Ireland in which the Fian search for a special object.  The place-names mentioned in Poem XXIV locate the adventures of Diarmaid and Gráinne in the north of Ireland, in contrast to the southern links of the Tóruigheacht.

The most impressive catalogue of place-names in the entire corpus of Fian ballads is found in Poem IX, which tells how Caoilte gathered a pair of all the wild animals in Ireland (see Adventure narratives).  The catalogue extends to over eighty Irish place-names, which may well constitute the raison d'etre of the poem, taking precedence over the impressive knowledge of animals demanded by the exercise.  Of the three surviving versions of the poem, the BDL version contains the largest catalogue of place-names, and the manner in which its text has been emended by the scribes suggests that it held a special fascination for them.