Notes to Poem XXI
i. MS Text: The text of this poem begins in the lower half of p. 230 of the MS, and continues to the foot of p. 231. It is easily legible throughout.
A later hand, evidently that of Donald Mackintosh, has written ‘Ossianic’ above and to the left of the ascription, and ‘part of death of Oscar. See Kennedy part 2d’ below the ascription.
ii. General background: Because of the close thematic relationship between this poem and the following item in the MS, its background is discussed in the corresponding section of BDL XXII.
iii. Later versions: See the corresponding section of BDL XXII.
iv. Metre: Rionnaird (62 62 62 62)
v. Line annotation
Ascription: On the significance of the ascription to Fearghus File, and not to Oisean, see BDL XXII, Section ii (2).
3 <dheimhin>: This seems a likely restoration of the MS form ȝevin. In view of the phrase an gcath in 4 (see n), it is probably to be understood adverbially, ‘surely, verily, indeed’; HP takes deimhin as a noun, and supplies the 3 sg. m. poss. pron., which would account for the lenition (ses RIA Dict. s.v. deimin II). However, HP relates the pron. directly to cath Gabhra in 4. This may not be necessary; the sense of the line would appear to be ‘how did things really turn out?’. Later versions differ from BDL, and are consistent with one another: thus dhibhsi (24 P 29); dhuibh (Ed.); dhaoibh (T).
4 The line is hypermetric as it stands, and HP omits the prep. at the beginning of the line; its inclusion is supported by 24 P 29, Ed. and T, although not by K. See 3 n.
9 The line is hypermetric as it stands. The source of the difficulty would seem to be the prep. a (C de), which is clearly represented in the MS reading seachta vec, but which is probably intrusive. Do marbhadh seacht mic caoilte (24 P 29).
10 Almha[n]: With the loss of final n in the MS form alwe, cf. VII, 2 n.
12 fheardha: This restoration of MS arryt is confirmed by 24 P 29.
14 HP restores this line as ’s na s‚ meic sin t’athar, but it is hard to reconcile this with the MS evidence: there is no trace of the article before the numeral, and MS tachryt seems an unusual representation of t’athar. In the present restoration, MS tachryt is regarded tentatively as tachradh, possibly a variant of tochor, ‘act of fighting’ (RIA Dict. s.v. tochor [but sequentially tochur] II (b)), and the line as a whole is taken to refer to Mac Lughach’s sons, not to Fionn’s. 24 P 29 is evidently defective, but it lends some support to this interpretation; thus sa sh‚ mhic tachar. But cf. Na sea Mic san d’ Athair (K).
18 [a] chómhnadh: The MS form chonyt would appear to represent the mod. Sc. G. form of E. Mod. Ir. congnamh, with lenition caused by a preceding 3 sg. m. poss. pron.: a chúnghnamh (24 P 29); chónamh (K).
29 <abhann>: It is probable that the MS form oyvin does represent a dialectal variant of abhann, gen. sg. of abha, ‘river’; this interpretation is suggested by all the later versions. It may be noted, however, that -oy- in the MS orthography normally represents -ua-, and that there is therefore the possibility of transliterating the MS form as uamhain, gen. sg. of uamhan, ‘fear, terror’.
36 The restoration of this line is confirmed by 24 P 29, sa biobhaibh gach én taoibh; transl. ‘and his enemy on every side’. Note, however, that the line is hypermetric as it stands, requiring ga[ch]a, evidently represented by MS gi a, to be read as gach to restore line length. This problem may have been caused by the loss of the final syllable of bhiodhbh[aidh], and the consequent need to compensate elsewhere in the line.
40 24 P 29 reads mur thairm tunne trethan, ‘like the sound of a stormwave’. The present restoration follows 24 P 29 in suggesting that the MS form traa could represent treathai[n], the loss of -n in the MS form perhaps being caused by the scribe thinking in terms of trágha, ‘of the shore’. Note that for mur thairm in 24 P 29, BDL clearly has mar tharbh, and we should possibly translate the BDL line ‘like a bull [with the force] of a storm-wave’. On treathan, see RIA Dict. s.v. 1 trethan. mar fhuaim tuinne ar srotha (Ed.); Mar fhuaim tuinn’ air Sratha (T); Mar mhuinne re carraig (K).
43 tríd a chumpar: Similarly trit a chomhphar (24 P 29); cumpar is to be regarded as a variant of compar, ‘chest, trunk’ (RIA Dict. s.v. ).
47 gon dícheall: gin deichi<l>l MS. The penultimate letter of the second word appears to have been h originally, and the scribe seems to have converted it to l by cancelling the lower part of the h. The phrase is best understood as ‘with utmost endeavour’, taking MS gin as representing a Sc. G. form of gon rather than as gan; cf. co dhithchiall (24 P 29).
48 géarlann: The MS form gairlyn gives no support to the inclusion of the 3 sg. m. poss. pron., restored in HP. re na gearlann (24 P 29)
54 dhar h-umhal: dar hwil MS. 24 P 29 reads chuartaidhios gadh ninsi for this line, and this suggests that the poem may originally have had do shiubhail at this point. The concept of each island being obedient to the poet seems a trifle excessive.