Macgnimartha Find

This text is preserved in the well-known Bodleian Codex Laud 610, where it occupies about six pages and a half, beginning in the middle of fo. 118a2, and ending abruptly on the top of fo. 121b1. Part of it has been printed twice already, first by O'Donovan in the 4th vol. of the Ossianic Society's Transactions, in 1859, and again this year (1881) by Mr. David Comyn for the Gaelic Union; as to the deficiency of both which editions see a letter from me to the Academy of Aug. 13th 1881. In the foilowing print the reader has a faithful rendering of the text as it stands in the Ms. I have added, however, a punctuation of my own, except in the poem ascribed to Finn (par. 20) which, as it offers a great many difficulties some of which I have not been able to overcome, I thought best to print entirely as it reads in Ms. Besides, I have corrected several palpable mistakes of the scribe, but the reading of the Ms. will then be found noted below the text.

The following is a list of the most remarkable irregularities and inconsistencies of the scribe (who, according to O'Donovan, copied the text in 1453) which are those usually met with in Irish Mss. from the 12th century downwards. Cf. Stokes, Three Homilies, p. viii. note.

Confusion of a and u in inlaut: aenar and aenur, Mumun, Albun. Confusion of e and i in auslaut: doroíne, file, also feined (= féinnid), and in gaisced (gen.), d in auslaut being no longer pronounced at the time when the time when the text was copied. a instead of i in the article, the preposition i n-: amach, amuig. i instead of a: isbert, idcondairc. a instead of u (o) in auslaut: forra, cuca, etarra. ea instead of e: celeabraid, ceann, eagla. eo instead of e: meodon. ai instead of oi: faillsithea. oi instead of ai: aroile and araile, oidche and aidche. ae instead of óe: aen, macaem. Neglect of infection: Cumull (gen.), bunad (gen.), Cethern (gen.). Irregularity of infection: berid and beirid, Demne and Deimne, Uirgrenn and Urgrend, rome and roime. Confusion of infected d and g: urnaige, erid (= érig), laig (= laid), naimdige (= naimtide). Omission of infected d or g: faiche, rofaillsithea. Sinking of c, t, and p to g, d, and b: eagla (= ecla), foda, sed (= sét), iardain, condebert. Prosthesis of f: fiarfaig, rosfuc, conosfaccaid. Omission of aspirated f: roaccaib (= ro fhácaib). Omission of the mark of length: mor, gnatach (= gnáthach], rig, dun, dib, suanan. Instead of the accent, we sometimes find the vowel doubled to mark its length: ree, laa. i, as in Latin Mss., often has an accent. Omission of the mark of aspiration: rotescair, dogairtea, gnatach, tocmarc, Lucet.

A very common irregularity of our scribe is to put a single consonant for a double one, and vice versa. Thus we find: Conachtaib, feinid, Boin, im, fogluim, timnas, frisum, laiside, deisid, iarair, lie; and again: innad, fassaid (= fásaig), accaib (fhácaib), Fiaccail, ránicc, Tairrsig, tairrngire. Instead of double n, we then have nd, e. g. condebert (= co n-epert), like andebert (= inn epert?). On the other hand, we find m for double m, instead of original mb: comad (= co m-bad, imresnaid (= imbresnaig).

In conclusion, the following remarks, in reference to a few passages of the text, will not be out of place.

With paragraphs 2 and 3 compare the Fotha Catha Cnucha in LU, p. 41b, where the last two verses of the poem on this battle occur with some slight variations.

Paragraphs 3, 13, in order to have the correct metre, ought, I think, to be read: clanda Morna isin chath.

Paragraph 4, imda gilla tailcair tinnesnach. tailcair (or talchar) and tinnesnach are also found together in Fled Bricrend 37 (Windisch, Irische Texte p. 271), and LBr. 232a: iar sin ro mebaid for in sluag n-génnslige re Cónsatin cor theichset co tinnesnach talchar re Rómanchaib.

Paragraph 5, ocus dono ba hecail le maic Morna dó. The same construction occurs LBr. p. 145b; ar dia m-bad ecal leis bas (leg. bás) for a chind, ni díngned cech a n-derna.

Paragraph 14, tecoiscid-sim lais, wrongly rendered by O'Donovan he (Finn) played against him, instead of: he (the king) was prompted by him, viz. in the movements of his play. Compare the similar narrative of the Toruigheacht Dhiarmuda agus Ghrainne p. 146 (O'Grady's edition) where the same expression (teagasg mhic Uí Dhuibhne agad) is used.

Paragraph 24, iar scíthlim a fé fiadib, I understand to mean after having with difficulty cleared their ramparts before them. lim here seems to be léimm a leap which in composition has become shortened by force of accent, like céimm in tóchim.

Paragraph 28, duma a sepulchral mound O'Donovan Suppl. Cf. ni chumdaigem adnocla na duma for marbu. LBr. p. 211b.

Leipzig,

Kuno Meyer. October 1881.