Notes to Poem XVII
i. MS Text: The text of this poem begins at the foot of p. 1742 of the MS. The page is thus numbered because of an error of pagination which gives the same number to two consecutive pages. The poem continues on p. 175, and terminates at the foot of p. 176. It is clearly legible for the most part, and there is no evidence that another version was available to the scribe, although scribal carelessness is apparent occasionally.
ii. General background: The most distinctive feature of the poem is its failure to develop its narrative, even though it utilises a plot which is commonly found within the tradition. It may be an unsuccessful attempt at composition, or the BDL version may be defective.
iii. Later versions: No later versions of this poem are known.
iv. Metre: Deibhidhe
v. Line annotation
2 inneós[ad]: The MS form Innois shows no trace of the 1 sg. fut. ending, which may conceivably have been lost by unstressing, and by assimilation to the following initial.
3 <duin[e]>: The MS form dwŋ could also represent dúinn[e], “of us”.
5 Fiaruighis: The MS form Fearis may represent a disyllable in the scribe’s pronunciation.
8 tháin<ig> tú: The MS reading hanyt tow may reflect mod. Sc. G. thàna tu. The use of the analytic verb form at this point may be responsible for the additional syllable in the MS line as it stands. HP suggests in a note that the original reading may have been thángais, which could give correct length, if the prep. a were absent in the original line.
[a]: This prep. is assumed by the following eclipsed initial, and by the sense of the line; but see the preceding note.
11 dubhairt: For line length, this requires to be read as duirt, as the MS form dowrt may indicate.
12 The line is hypermetric as it stands, and can be corrected only by the omission of the prep. a. Cf. 8 n.
[dh]án: It seems likely that the original initial consonant of the MS form ane has been absorbed by the preceding guttural fricative, but the MS form fley could suggest that in certain positions such fricatives were not pronounced in the scribe's dialect.
13 Chonncamar: This late form of the verb (without do-, or earlier ad-) is required for line length.
14 arrachtach: In addition to the entries in the RIA Dict., see the discussion of this word by Dillon, ‘Notes on Irish Words: 2. airrechtach’, Language, XVII (1941), pp. 251-252, where he suggests the meaning ‘seeking a quarrel’, which could be appropriate here.
18 adubhairt: a dowrt MS. Line length may be corrected by substituting duirt for the form restored in the text; cf. 11 n.
<caomh>: The last letter of the MS form keyv<m> is difficult to read with certainty; n, m, or y are equally possible, although m seems the most likely.
19 Fhinn: HP inserts the vocative particle, to compensate for the probable loss of a syllable by elision earlier in the line.
20 <beir>: This restoration follows the superscript ber; the scribe first wrote deych, i.e. deich, which he later cancelled, and which seems likely to have been an error, possibly in anticipation of the beginning of the next line. Cf. 37.
24 <do ghádh na bhFéin>: di ȝane wan̄e MS. The proposed restoration is offered with considerable caution; it is based on the assumption that the scribe has run two words together to give the MS form ȝane. If this restoration is correct, the line would mean: ‘take [them] and Oscar to [meet] the need of the Fian’ (see RIA Dict. s.v. gád).
30 HP transposes suirgh[e] and sealga to give better end rhyme.
32 The line is hypermetric as it stands; HP emends to deichnear d’fhéin agus d’fhoirinn; alternatively, the original may have had deichnear d’Fhianaibh is d’fhoirinn.
37 The line lacks a syllable as it stands, and HP reads Beir-se; cf. 41.
38 The line is hypermetric as it stands; HP suggests the omission of Fhinn.
39 go n-innbhe n-óir: gin ni’wi noir MS. Transl. ‘with a gold notch’. Note the retention of the accus. following gon.
42 dá choin: Note the retention of the n-stem dual; cf. V, 20 n.
44 < >: <(sai)> lowt MS. Because of probable cancellation, it is difficult to know whether the initial letter of the first word in the MS reading is s or f. The second letter could be a or e, or either converted into the other. The MS form could therefore represent ’se or fá; both probably figured in the text at different stages. As for MS lowt, this could represent lúth, as HP suggests in a note, perhaps in the sense of ‘joy, rejoicing’ (RIA Dict. s.v. lúth II (b) recte (c)). The line probably refers to the previously mentioned hounds, and could mean something like ‘which were (or would be) a joy to a troop on the move’. Note that, if we allow ’se or fá to stand, the line is hypermetric; it may originally have read fá lúth d’fhoirinn ag imtheacht.
46 an t-ógl<á>ch: It seems likely that -ay- in the MS form i’ toglayt represents an unstressed long vowel; cf. óglách in Keating, Three Shafts, p. 460 s.v., but the vowel is evidently short in in toglat (16). Note that the line is hypermetric as it stands, with no obvious solution except the omission of ard, which seems drastic. HP suggests in a note that ógl<á>ch may have displaced an earlier monosyllable, such as óg. This, too, seems improbable.
47 The MS form of this line is clear, but it is by no means obvious how it is to be transliterated or construed; it might be transliterated very tentatively as tugar fā bhuaidh ad thigh[e]. To wrest any sense from this it is necessary to take tugar (MS <T>uggir) as a form of togar in its Sc. G. sense of ‘pleasure’; taken with 48, the meaning might be: ‘While subjugated in your houses, our (i.e. my) host and company were happy’. The stranger may be trying to allay Fionn’s fear (faitcheas, 45) by referring to an earlier incident when Fionn had imprisoned the stranger’s men, but had treated them well; he would act similarly on this occasion.
48 The line is hyermetric as it stands; to restore line length, the preverb do has to be omitted, and MS is read as ’s.
49 ainmheach: a’wic MS. The sense here would seem to be ‘insulting’ (see RIA Dict. s.v. ainmech (b)).
51 a bhfiadhnais: a weanos MS. Note that for line length the prep. has to be elided, and MS weanos has to be restored as a disyllable, as in mod. Sc. G. fianais, although it is a trisyllable (fiadhnaise) in E. Mod. and Mod. Ir.
53 chuirf<ea[d]>: churffe MS. The -ff- of the MS form could indicate that the verb form is intended as a fut. or condit. Here, the 1 sg. fut. is restored tentatively, on the assumption that final -d of the inflection has been lost; cf. 2 n. Note, however, that this makes the line hypermetric. HP reads ní cuirthe, which preserves line length, but does not follow the MS form closely.
64 Cf. VIII, 42 n.
67 <am bíonn>: This restoration follows the superscript y’ beinni. It is difficult to know what the earlier cancelled reading ch<u nni> was meant to represent; it may be an error of anticipation involving the name Conán in 68.
68 <do [ráidh] Conán>: The MS reads di cho’nane, which could represent do Chonán. This would give tolerable sense if the cuid referred to in 67 was to be given to Conán, but such an interpretation seems strained. The present restoration suggests that a word has been omitted in the MS, as the line lacks a syllable. This could be the appropriate part of ráidhim; if this were so, Conán would be identified as the speaker of 65-67; cf. 55. On initial ch in the MS, cf. coilean in XVI, 8 n.
71 bheir: This would seem to be the form represented by MS war; normally this would be 3 sg. pres. indic. conjunct in E. Mod. Ir., but in Sc. G. it functions as the fut. absolute, as demanded by the present context. E. Mod. Ir. would normally have had béaraidh in this position, but this would make the line hypermetric.
chinn: Thus the MS form chinni, the restoration being confirmed by the rhyme with the following line. Does this indicate that the stranger had more than one head?
72 an t-inchinn: i’ tinchin MS. inchinn is generally f., but in the O. Ir. period it may have been n. (RIA Dict. s.v.). This may account for the use of the m. def. article in this instance, as sometimes occurs in Sc. G. dialects (e.g. Tiree).
73 <ceó>: The following line makes it clear that the MS form koill is scarcely to be transliterated as ceól; in Mid. Scots l may occur after long a or o, but be unsounded (SMS, pp. xxiii-xxiv). Given the undeveloped plot of this poem, the ceó appears somewhat abruptly, and may be a deus ex machina.
draoidheacht<[a]>: The MS form dreichid could represent something like draoidhead[a].
74 léir dhaibh: leyr rawe MS. Cf. XII, 50 n. Note that the line is hypermetric as it stands.
78 The line is hypermetric as it stands; HP suggests the omission of mé.
80 na <h-allt[a]>: nit aewlt MS. If the suggested restoration is correct, allta is to be taken as the pl. of allaid, ‘wild, undomesticated’ (RIA Dict. s.v.), here used substantivally, ‘the wild animals’. This gives good sense in the context.
81 The impersonal and retrospective reference to Oisean in this line is peculiar, since the poem is apparently meant to be a conversation between Oisean and Patrick. Even if Patrick is the speaker in this quatrain, he is remarkably distant from Oisean; one might have expected a more direct address. Clearly the quatrain is meant to conclude the poem as it contains the dúnadh, and all this considerably strengthens the case for believing that this piece is a late, and relatively poor, attempt at composing a ballad.
82 Transl. the line: ‘no leader has come who has not perished’. Note that the line is hypermetric as it stands.