Heroic Romances of Ireland — Complete eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 351 pages of information about Heroic Romances of Ireland — Complete.

Heroic Romances of Ireland — Complete eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 351 pages of information about Heroic Romances of Ireland — Complete.

Ah Cuchulain, under thy sickness
not long would have been the remaining.

And lines 7 and 8 should be: 

Dear would be the day if truly
Cuchulain would come to my land.

The epithet “fair” given to Aed Abra’s daughters in line 4 by Thurneysen is not in the Irish, the rest of his translation is very close.

Line 32.  “Plain of Cruach.”  Cromm Cruach is the name of the idol traditionally destroyed by St. Patrick in the “Lives.”  Cromm Cruach is also described In the Book of Leinster (L.L. 213b) as an idol to whom human sacrifices were offered.  The name of this plain is probably connected with this god.

PAGE 61

Line 30.  “Hath released her,” Irish ros leci.  These words are usually taken to mean that Manannan had deserted Fand, and that she had then turned to Cuchulain, but to “desert” is not the only meaning of lecim.  In the second form of the story, Fand seems to have left Manannan, and though of course the two forms are so different that it is not surprising to find a contradiction between the two, there does not seem to be any need to find one here; and the expression may simply mean that Manannan left Fand at liberty to pursue her own course, which divine husbands often did in other mythologies.  Manannan is, of course, the Sea God, the Celtic Poseidon.

PAGE 62

Line 3.  Eogan Inbir (Yeogan the Stream) occurs in the Book of Leinster version of the Book of Invasions as one of the opponents of the Tuatha De Danaan, the Folk of the Gods (L.L. 9b, 45, and elsewhere).

Line 15.  “Said Liban.”  The text gives “said Fand.”  This seems to be a scribal slip:  there is a similar error corrected on page 79, line 21, where the word “Fand” is written “Emer” in the text.

Line 16.  “A woman’s protection.”  The “perilous passage,” passed only by a woman’s help, occurs elsewhere both in Irish and in other early literatures.  See Maelduin, para. 17; Ivain (Chretien de Troyes), vv. 907 sqq.; and Mabinogion, “Lady of the Fountain” (Nutt’s edition, p. 177).

Line 28.  “Labra.”  Labraid’s usual title, as given to him by Liban in both forms of the romance and once by Laeg in the second description of Fairyland, is Labraid Luath lamar-claideb, the title being as closely connected with him as {Greek boh`n a?gaðo`s Mene’laos}with Menelaus in Homer.  It is usually translated as “Labraid quick-hand-on-sword,” but the Luath need not be joined to lam, it is not in any of the places in the facsimile closely joined to it, and others than Liban give to Labraid the title of Luath or “swift,” without the addition.

The literal translation of the short pieces of rhetoric on pages 62, 63 are,

“Where is Labraid the swift hand-on-sword, who is the head of troops of victory? (who) triumphs from the strong frame of his chariot, who reddens red spear-points.”

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Heroic Romances of Ireland — Complete from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.