Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition

The Triads of Ireland (Author: unknown)

List of witnesses

• L: The Yellow Book of Lecan, pp. 414b-418a
• B: The Book of Ballymote, pp. 65b-66b.
• M: The Book of Húi Maine, fo. 190a-fo. 191a.
• Lec: The Book of Lecan (also referred to as H by Meyer), (H 2 17 p.186b ends p. 184b Trinity College)
• N: 23 N 10, pp. 98-101.
• H1: H 1 25, pp 946-957.
• S: Stowe Collection, 23 N 27, fo. 1a-7b.

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PREFACE

The collection of Irish Triads, which is here edited and translated for the first time, has come down to us in the following nine manuscripts, dating from the fourteenth to the nineteenth century:—

1. L, i.e. the Yellow Book of Lecan, a vellum of the end of the fourteenth century, pp. 414b–418a, a complete copy.
2. B, i.e. the Book of Ballymote, a vellum of the end of the fourteenth century, pp. 65b–66b (ends imperfectly).
3. M, i.e. the Book of Húi Maine, a vellum of the fourteenth century, fo. 190a[1]–fo. 191a[2]. A complete copy beginning: ‘Ceand Erenn Ardmacha,’ and ending: ‘tri hurgairt bidh a caitheam díescaidheadh (sic) a chaitheam iarna coir a caitheam gan altughudh.’ Then follow proverbial sayings from the ‘colloquy of Cormac and Cairpre,’ such as: ‘Dedhe ara ndligh gach maith domelar ithe & altugud. Anas deach gacha fleidhe a cainaltughudh & a mochdingbail. Caidhe deach samtha. Ni hansa. Gal gan forran. Deasgaidh codulta frislige,’ &c., ending: ‘deasgaidh aineolais imreasain. Ni d'agallaim Cormaic & Cairpre coruici sin.’
4. Lec, i.e. the Book of Lecan, a vellum of the fifteenth century. The leaves on which the Triads are found are now bound up with the codex H. 2. 17 belonging to Trinity College. It is a complete copy beginning on p. 183b: ‘Ceand erenn Ardmacha,’ and ending on p. 184b: ‘ceitheora aipgitri baisi baig connailbi gell imreasain.’¹

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5. N, i.e. 23. N. 10, a paper MS. written in the year 1575,² pp. 98–101. A complete copy, the gap between pp. 100 and 106 being made up by pp. 7a–10b of the vellum portion of the manuscript.
6. H', i.e. H. 1. 15, pp. 946–957. This is a paper manuscript written by Tadhg Tiorthach O Neachtain in 1745. It is a complete copy, with copious glosses in Modern Irish, the more important of which are printed below on pp. 36–43. At the end O Neachtain has added the following:—‘Trí subhailce diadha: creidhemh, dothchus agus grádh. Trí a n-aon: athair, mac, spiorad naomh, da raibh gloir, moladh & umhlacht tre bith sior tug ré don bhochtan bocht so. Aniu an 15 do bhealltuine 1745. Tadhg O Nechtuin mac Seain a n-aois ceithre bliadhna déag et trí fithchit roscriob na trithibh suas.’

These manuscripts have, on the whole, an identical text, though they all occasionally omit a triad or two; and the order of the single triads varies in all of them. They have all been used in constructing a critical text, the most important variants being given in the foot-notes. The order followed is in the main that of the Yellow Book of Lecan.

There are at least three other manuscripts containing copies of the Triads. One of them I discovered in the Stowe collection after the text had been printed off. It is a paper quarto now marked 23. N. 27, containing on fo. 1a–7b a copy of the Triads, followed on fo. 7b–19a by a glossed copy of the Tecosca Cormaic. It was written in 1714 by Domnall (or Daniel) O Duind mac Eimuinn. Its readings agree closely with those of N. In paragraph 237, it alone, of all manuscripts, gives an intelligible reading of a corrupt passage. For ‘cia fochertar im-muir, cia berthair

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Another copy, written in 1836 by Peter O'Longan, formerly in the possession of the Earls of Crawford, now belongs to the Rylands Library, Manchester, where it was found by Professor Strachan, who kindly copied a page or two for me. It is evidently a very corrupt copy which I have not thought worth the trouble of collating.

Lastly, there is in the Advocates' Library a copy in a vellum manuscript marked Kilbride III. It begins on fo. 9b2 as follows:—‘Treching breath annso. Ceann Eirind Ardmacha.’ I hope to collate it before long, and give some account of it in the next number of this series.

In all these manuscripts the Triads either follow upon, or precede, or are incorporated in the collections of maxims and proverbial sayings known as Tecosca Cormaic, Auraicept Morainn, and Senbríathra Fíthil, the whole forming a body of early Irish gnomic literature which deserves editing in its entirety. It is clear, however, that the Triads do not originally belong to any of these texts. They had a separate origin, and form a collection by themselves. This is also shown by the fact that the Book of Leinster, the oldest manuscript containing the Tecosca Cormaic

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It is but a small portion of the large number of triads scattered throughout early Irish literature that has been brought together in our collection under the title of Trecheng breth Féne, i.e., literally ‘a triadic arrangement of the sayings of Irishmen.’ I first drew attention to the existence of Irish triads in a note on Irish proverbs in my edition of the Battle of Ventry, p. 85, where a few will be found quoted. A complete collection of them would fill a small volume, especially if it were to include those still current among the people of Ireland, both among Gaelic and English speakers. I must content myself here with giving a few specimens taken at random from my own collections:—

1. Three kinds of martyrdom that are counted as a cross to man, i.e. white martyrdom, green martyrdom, and red martyrdom.—The Cambray Homily ( Thesaurus Palæohibernicus, II., p. 246).
2. Three enemies of the soul: the world, the devil, and an impious teacher.— Colman maccu Beognae's Alphabet of Piety ( Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie, III., p. 452).
3. Three things whereby the devil shows himself in man: by his face, by his gait, by his speech.—Ib., p. 453.
4. Three profitable labours in the day: praying, working, reading.— Regula Choluimb Cille ( Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie, III., p. 29).
5. Three laymen of Ireland who became monks: Beccan son of Cula, Mochu son of Lonan, and Enda of Arann.—Notes on the Félire of Oengus (Henry Bradshaw Society, vol. xxix., p. 112).
6. Three chief artisans of Ireland: Tassach with Patrick, Conlaed with Brigit, and Daig with Ciaran.—Ib., p. 186.
7. Three poets of the world: Homer of the Greeks, Vergil of the Latins, Ruman of the Gaels.— Book of Leinster, p. 354b.
8. The three worst counsels that have been acted on in Ireland through the advice of saints: the cutting short of Ciaran's

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   life, the banishment of Colum Cille, the expulsion of Mochuta from Rathen.—Notes on the Félire of Oengus, p. 204, and Tripartite Life, p. 557.³
9. Three things there are for which the Son of living God is not grateful: haughty piety, harsh reproof, reviling a person if it is not certain.⁴
10. Three things there are for which the King of the sun is grateful: union of brethren, upright conversation, serving at the altar of God.⁵
11. Woe to the three folk in horrid hell of great blasts: folk who practise poetry, folk who violate their orders, mercenaries.⁶
12. Three things there are which do not behove the poor of living God: ingratitude for his life whatever it be, grumbling, and flattery.⁷

The following modern triads I owe to a communication from Dr. P. W. Joyce, who heard them in his youth among the people of Limerick:—

1. Three things to be distrusted: a cow's horn, a dog's tooth, and a horse's hoof.
2. Three disagreeable things at home: a scolding wife, a squalling child, and a smoky chimney.

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3. The three finest sights in the world: a field of ripe wheat, a ship in full sail, and the wife of a Mac Donnell with child.⁸

In our collection an arrangement of the Triads in certain groups, according to their contents, is discernible. Thus, the first sixty-one—of which, however, the opening thirty-one are no Triads at all—are all topographical; and among the rest, those dealing with legal matters stand out clearly (paragraphs 149–172).

When the collection was made we have no means of ascertaining, except from internal evidence, such as the age of the language, and a few allusions to events, the date of which we can approximately fix.

The language of the Triads may be described as late Old-Irish. Their verbal system indeed is on the whole that of the Continental glosses,⁹ and would forbid us to put them later than the year 900. On the other hand, the following peculiarities in declension, in which all the manuscripts agree, make it impossible for us to put them much earlier than the second half of the ninth century.

The genitive singular of i- and u-stems no longer shows the ending -o, which has been replaced throughout by -a.¹⁰ Now, in the Annals of Ulster, which are a sure guide in these matters and allow us to follow the development of the language from century to century, this genitive in -o is found for the last time in A.D. 816 (‘rátho, Ailello’). Thence onward the ending -a is always found.

The place-name ‘Lusca’, ‘Lusk,’ is originally an n-stem making its genitive ‘Luscan’. This is the regular form in the Annals of Ulster till the year 880, from which date onward it

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In slender io-stems the dative singular in Old-Irish ends in -iu. I find this form in the Annals of Ulster for the last time in A.D. 816 (Gertidiu). Thence onward it is always -i, as in our text (hi Cúailgni 43, d'uisci 64).

The nasal stem léimm makes its nom. plur. léimmen in Old-Irish. In paragraph 32 we find instead (tair-)leme. So also foimrimm makes its nom. plural foimrimme in paragraph 163.

The word dorus is neuter in Old-Irish, making its nom. acc. plural either dorus or doirsea. In our text (paragraphs 173, 174) the word is masculine, and makes its nom. plural doruis.

Druimm is an i-stem in Old-Irish, but in the later language passes into an n-stem. In paragraph 51 we find the nom. pl. drommanna.

The neuter grád in paragraph 166 makes its nom. plur. grúda for O. Ir. grád.¹¹

On linguistic grounds, then, I should say that our collection was made some time during the second half of the ninth century. That it cannot be dated earlier is also apparent from another consideration. Professor Zimmer has taught us to search in every ancient Irish text for indications of its having been composed either before or after the Viking period. I find no words from the Norse language in the Triads, or, if there are any, they have escaped me; but there are two distinct references to the Viking age. In paragraph 232, a Viking in his hauberk (Gall ina lúirig) is mentioned as one of three that are hardest to talk to; and, in paragraph 44, Bangor in Co. Down is called unlucky or unfortunate, no doubt, as the gloss says, because of the repeated plunderings and destruction of its monastery by the Norse during the early part of the ninth century (A.D. 823, 824).

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In endeavouring to trace the origin of the Triad as a form of literary composition among the Irish, one must remember that it is but one of several similar enumerative sayings common in Irish literature. Thus the collection here printed contains three duads (124. 133. 134), seven tetrads (223. 230. 234. 244. 248. 251. 252), and one heptad (235). A whole Irish law-book is composed in the form of heptads;¹² while triads, tetrads, &c., occur in every part of the Laws.¹³ Such schematic arrangements were of course a great aid to memory.

If the Triad stood alone, the idea that it owes its origin to the effect of the doctrine of the Trinity upon the Celtic imagination might reasonably be entertained. The fact that this doctrine has led to many peculiar phenomena in Irish folklore, literature, and art has frequently been pointed out. Nor would I deny that the sacred character of the number three, together with the greater facility of composition, may have contributed to the popularity of the Triad, which is certainly the most common among the various numerical sayings as well as the only one that has survived to the present day.

However that may be, I believe that the model upon which the Irish triads, tetrads, pentads, &c., were formed is to be sought in those enumerative sayings—Zahlensprüche, as the German technical term is—of Hebrew poetry to be found in several books of the Old Testament. I am indebted to my friend the Rev. Carl Grüneisen for the following list of such sayings, which I quote in the Vulgate version.

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DUADS AND TRIADS.

Ecclus. 23: 21,

Ib. 26: 25,

Ib. 26: 28,

TRIADS AND TETRADS.

Proverb. 30: 15,

Ib. 30: 18,

Ib. 30: 21,

Ib. 30: 29,

Ecclus. 26: 5,

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A TETRAD.

Proverb. 30, 24,

A HEXAD AND HEPTAD.

Proverb. 6. 16,

AN ENNEAD.

Ecclus. 25, 9,

The question arises whether these biblical sayings were the direct source from which the Irish imitations are derived, or whether the Irish became acquainted with the numerical Proverb through the medium of Greek and Latin literature. As the Irish clerics ever since the days of St. Patrick were diligent students of the Bible, there would be nothing strange in the former assumption. But there exists at least one early document which renders the latter equally possible. Under the title of Proverbia Grecorum we possess a collection of sayings translated by some Irish scholar in Ireland from the Greek into Latin before the seventh century.¹⁴ Among them we find three triads,¹⁵ two pentads,¹⁶ three heptads,¹⁷ and two octads.¹⁸

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As examples I select the following two triads:—

Tres bacheriosi(?) sunt: terribilis bellator armatus promptusque ad praelium, leo de spelunca quando praedam devorat, aper ferus de silva quando furore in aliquem irruit.

Tres sunt imperfecti qui numquam ad perfectionem vitae disciplinae pervenire possunt; tunc enim a vitiis recedunt, quando mala facere non possunt. Antiquus nauta qui multis annis seductis omnibus emere et vendere poterat; senex auriga qui in curribus et in equis Deo derelicto vana cura atque conversatione meditatur atque utitur; vetula ancilla quae dominae suae subdole in omnibus rebus quae cottidiano ministerio perficiuntur male retribuit.

Triads occur sporadically in the literature of most other nations, and have occasionally been collected. But I am not aware that this kind of composition has ever attained the same popularity elsewhere as in Wales and Ireland, where the manufacture of triads seems at times almost to have become a sport.

The wittiest triads are undoubtedly those in which the third item contains an anticlimax. Two perfect examples of this kind were composed by Heine when he tells the foreigner visiting Germany that he need but know three words of the language: Brot, Kuss, Ehre; and in his often quoted witticism: ‘Der Franzose liebt die Freiheit wie seine Braut, der Engländer wie seine Frau, der Deutsche wie seine alte Grossmutter.’