Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition: G600030
An Irish Astronomical Tract
Author: [unknown]
Background details and bibliographic information
File Description
Electronic edition compiled by Beatrix Färber, Ruth Murphy
Funded by University College, Cork and
Professor Marianne McDonald via the CELT Project,
formerly CURIA
2. Second draft.
Extent of text: 98800 words
Publication
CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of
University College, Cork
College Road, Cork,
Irelandhttp://www.ucc.ie/celt (2004) (2018) Distributed by CELT online at University College, Cork,
Ireland.
Text ID Number: G600030
Availability [RESTRICTED]
Available with prior consent of the CELT project for
purposes of academic research and teaching only.
Notes
1. This Irish recension of an Astronomical Tract of
Messahalla (Masha'allah) combines matters cosmographical and
astronomical with subject matter regarded as astrological
today. 2. You can purchase the book(s) containing this text
via the ITS website (http://www.irishtextssociety.org/).
Click on the link to the RIA shop.
Sources
MS sources for Irish translations of the work- Stowe, B II 1; Royal Irish Academy, Dublin.
Electronically available, with cataloguing information, on
the ISOS Project (http://www.isos.dias.ie).
- Z 2. 2. 1. (olim V. 3. 1. 38); Marsh's Library,
Dublin.
- 23 F 13; Royal Irish Academy, Dublin.
MS sources for Latin base text (from which a
substantial portion of the Irish text derives)- British Library L 3. B. 32 (transcript of 'De
Scientia Motus Orbis').
Printed sources for Latin base text- De Scientia Motus Orbis, translated from Arab
into Latin by Gerard of Sabionetta, edited by J. Stabius,
printed by Johann Weissenburger, Nuremburg 1504.
- De Elementis et Orbibus Celestibus, edited by
Joachim Heller, Noribergae (Nuremburg) 1549 (re-edition of
Gerard of Sabionetta's work, contains 27 chapters).
Messahalah (Masha'allah) and his work- Edward Stewart Kennedy and David Pingree, The
Astrological History of Masha'allah, Harvard University
Press, Cambridge/Mass., 1971 (with full
bibliography).
- Liber Messahallae de revolutione annorum mundi,
edited by Joachim Heller, Noribergae (Nuremburg)
1549.
- Epistola Messahallae de rebus eclipsium et de
coniunctionibus planetarum in revolutionibus annorum
mundi, translated into Latin by Ioannes Hispalensis and
edited by Joachim Heller, Noribergae (Nuremburg) 1549; and
by N. Pruckner in: Iulii Firmici Materni Astronomicon
Libri VIII, Basilae (Basle) 1551, 115118, as
'Messahalach de ratione circuli et stellarum et qualiter
operantur in hoc seculo'.
- Liber Messahalae de receptione, edited by
Joachim Heller, Noribergae (Nuremburg) 1549.
Secondary literature (about this tract, and other
Irish Astronomical texts)- Charles Vallancey, Collectanea de rebus
Hibernicis. ... Published from the MSS, Vol. vi., part ii.
(Dublin 1804).
- J. J. O'Farrelly, Irish Cosmographical Tract:
Transcription of the Irish Text with contractions
retained. [From Stowe B II 1]. Unpublished handwritten
manuscript, MS 3A7, 852, Royal Irish Academy Library,
1893.
- J. J. O'Farrelly, Irish Cosmographical Tract:
Transcription of the Irish Text, with contractions in
Irish extended with reference to Marsh copy and to RIA
copy 2. Unpublished handwritten manuscript, MS 3A10, 855,
Royal Irish Academy Library, 1893.
- J. J. O'Farrelly, Irish Cosmographical Tract:
English Translation. Unpublished handwritten manuscript,
MS 3A8, 853, Royal Irish Academy Library, 1893.
- Maxwell H. Close, Remarks on a Cosmographical
Tractate in the Irish Language, Proceedings of the Royal
Irish Academy, Vol. VI (190002)
457464.
- J. J. O'Farrelly/Maxwell H. Close, Irish
Astronomical Tract: Introduction, Comments and Appendices.
Unpublished handwritten manuscript, MS 3A9, 854, Royal
Irish Academy Library, 1901. [Contains O'Farrelly's typed
translation and handwritten annotations by Close.]
- J. E. Gore, 'An Irish Astronomical Tract', in:
'Knowledge & Scientific News'; February, 1909.
- Maura Power, Chapters 8, 39, and a portion of
chapter 9, with another small fragment of the text, were
published with the same English translation of the 1914
edition in Celtia, a pan-Celtic monthly magazine, 11
(London, The Celtic Association) 546; 9092;
101103.
- Tomás Ó Concheanainn, The Scribe
of the Irish Astronomical Tract in the Royal Irish
Academy, B II 1, Celtica 11 (1976) 158167.
- Mario Esposito, An Unpublished Astronomical
Treatise by the Irish Monk Dicuil. Dublin: Hodges/Figgis
1907. PRIA vol. 26, Section C, no. 15, 378446.
Reprinted in: Mario Esposito, Irish Books and Learning in
Mediaeval Europe, Ch. 7, Variorum 1990. (Edited from MS
4.4.3, [=Mangart no. 386], Bibliothèque Municipale
de Valenciennes, ff. 66118.)
- Mario Esposito (ed.), A Ninth-Century
Astronomical Treatise, in: Modern Philology 18, Chicago
192021, 177188. Reprinted in: Mario
Esposito, Irish Books and Learning in Mediaeval Europe,
Ch. 8, Variorum 1990. (Contains fresh collation of printed
text with MS 4.4.3, Bibliothèque Municipale de
Valenciennes, ff. 66118, and emendations).
- Bartholomei Anglici 'De proprietatibus rerum
liber octavus'. Leagan Gaeilge ó thús na
15ú aoise. Ed. by Gearóid Mac Niocaill,
Celtica 8 (1968) 201242; 9 (1971) 266315.
(Early 15th century translation of the book of astronomy,
based on MS TCD H 2 8; with a Latin text.) [Reviews by
Tomás Ó Concheanainn, in Éigse 13
(1969/70) 247f.; Éigse 14 (1971/72) 161.]
- An Irish Corpus Astronomiae (being Manus
O'Donnell's seventeenth century version of the Lunario of
Geronymo Cortès), ed. by F. W. O'Connell and R. M.
Henry, London 1915.
- John A. Williams, The Irish Astronomical Tract:
a case study of scientific terminology in 14th century
Irish. M. Phil. Thesis, University of Sydney, 2002.
Contains a revised translation. Electronically available
at:
http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/adt/public_html/adt-NU/public/adt-NU20030430.161139/
- Mary Kelly and Charles Doherty (eds), Music and the Stars: Mathematics in Medieval Ireland (Dublin 2013).
Secondary literature (General)- Donald K. Yeomans, Comets: a chronological
history of observation, science, myth, and folklore. New
York: Wiley, 1991.
- Edward Grant, Planets, stars and orbs: the
medieval cosmos, 12001687. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press 1996.
- The Cambridge illustrated history of astronomy,
ed. Michael Hoskin. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge
University Press 1997.
The edition used in the digital edition- An Irish Astronomical Tract. Based in
part on a mediaeval Latin version of a work by
Messahalah. Maura Power (ed), First edition [xviii + 176 pp.] Irish Texts SocietyLondon (1914) (reprinted 1994) . Irish Texts Society [Cumann na Sgríbheann
Gaedhilge]. , No. 14
Encoding
Project Description
CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts
Sampling Declaration
Contents of printed edition: Preface ixi; frontispiece and transcription xviixviii; text and translation 2159; glossary 161176; notes 177. The electronic text represents pages ixi and pages 2159 of the volume. The first text consists of the even pages with the Irish document, the second consists of the odd pages with Power's English translation. A second revised and annotated English translation compiled by J. A. Williams, based on the translations of Power and O'Farrelly/Close follows. NB: Without recourse to the manuscript, in some cases doubts remain as to where an apparatus entry starts, since the hardcopy text does not indicate this. It is hoped to clarify this in a revised electronic edition.
Editorial Declaration
Correction
Text has been checked and proofread three times. All corrections and supplied text are tagged.
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The electronic text represents the edited text. Where
nasalisation occurs, nasalised letters have been
hyphenated off; particles/prepositions amalgamated to the
next word have been separated by an apostrophe to
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The few quotations are rendered q.
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hard or soft hyphen crossing a page-break have been placed
on the line on which they start.
Segmentation
div0=the group of texts. CELT's
acknowledgements and Maura Power's Introduction are
contained in separate unnumbered divs outside
the div0. The div1 represents
the Irish and English text respectively;
div2=the chapter; div3=the
subsection; paragraphs are marked; page-breaks are marked
pb n="". For reasons of compliance with TEI
guidelines, Williams' preface to the revised translation
has been appended.
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Interpretation
The ae ligatures and accentus gravis in Latin are not
retained; The editor's notes are numbered and tagged as
note type="auth". Editorial additions in
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name type="person" and capitalized. The
reg attribute of the name tag contains a
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Canonical References
This text uses the DIV2 element to represent the Caibidil.
Profile Description
Created: Date range: c.13001350 [Irish text].
(1913 [Power's translation])
(2002 [William's translation])
Use of language
Language: [GA] The text is in Early Modern Irish.
Language: [EN] Introduction, footnotes, appendix and the two translations are in English.
Language: [LA] Some words and phrases in Latin.
Language: [FR] One quote in the introduction is in French.
Language: [AR] One word is in Arabic.
Revision History