Texts

Fáeth fiada
verse beg. Atom-riug in-diu / Niurt tréun

  • Old Irish
  • verse
  • Early Irish poetry
Title
Fáeth fiada
The title Fáeth fiada or Fíad fiada (‘The deer’s cry’) is assigned to it in the later, Middle Irish preface contained in the Liber hymnorum.
First words (verse)
  • Atom-riug in-diu / Niurt tréun
“Today I gird myself / with a mighty power”
Manuscripts
f. 19r
Copy positioned after the Middle Irish Life of St Patrick (Bethu Phátraic)
f. 7ra
Embedded in the Middle Irish Life of St Patrick (Bethu Phátraic).
Modern copy written by Richard Tipper
In addition, a phrase from the poem (‘cretim Treodataid, faisitin Oendatad’) is echoed, presumably cited, in the Middle Irish introduction to the Altus Prosator.(1)n. 1 John Carey, King of Mysteries: early Irish religious writings (2000): 32 note 7; 277.
Language
  • Old Irish
Date
8th century (Binchy).(2)n. 2 D. A. Binchy, ‘Varia. III’, Ériu 20 (1966).
Form
verse (primary)
Textual relationships
For the Middle Irish prose preface, see Preface to the Fáeth fiada

Classification

Early Irish poetryEarly Irish poetry
...

Early Irish poetryEarly Irish poetry
...

Sources

Notes

John Carey, King of Mysteries: early Irish religious writings (2000): 32 note 7; 277.
D. A. Binchy, ‘Varia. III’, Ériu 20 (1966).

Primary sources Text editions and/or modern translations – in whole or in part – along with publications containing additions and corrections, if known. Diplomatic editions, facsimiles and digital image reproductions of the manuscripts are not always listed here but may be found in entries for the relevant manuscripts. For historical purposes, early editions, transcriptions and translations are not excluded, even if their reliability does not meet modern standards.

[ed.] [tr.] Stokes, Whitley, and John Strachan [eds.], Thesaurus palaeohibernicus: a collection of Old-Irish glosses, scholia, prose, and verse, 3 vols, vol. 2: Non-Biblical glosses and scholia; Old-Irish prose; names of persons and places; inscriptions; verse; indexes, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1903.  
comments: Reprinted by DIAS in 1987, together with Stokes' supplementary volume.
Internet Archive: <link> Internet Archive – originally from Google Books: <link> Wikisource: <link>
354–358 [‘VII. Patrick's hymn (Fáeth fiada)’] Text (including the Middle Irish preface) and translation. direct link
[ed.] [tr.] Carey, John, King of Mysteries: early Irish religious writings, 2nd ed., Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2000.
130–135 Text (‘eclectic text with normalised spelling’) and translation based on Stokes and Strachan
[ed.] [tr.] Borsje, Jacqueline, “Druids, deer and ‘words of power’: coming to terms with evil in Medieval Ireland”, in: Katja Ritari, and Alexandra Bergholm (eds), Approaches to religion and mythology in Celtic studies, Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars, 2008. 122–149.
UvA Digital Academic Repository: <link>
134–139 Text and translation, with references to Carey’s translation.
[ed.] [tr.] Greene, David, and Frank OʼConnor, “4: Breastplate number one”, in: David Greene, and Frank OʼConnor [Michael O'Donovan], A golden treasury of Irish poetry, A.D. 600 to 1200, London: Macmillan, 1967. 27–32.
[ed.] [tr.] Bieler, Ludwig [ed. and tr.], The works of St. Patrick. St. Secundinus: Hymn on St. Patrick, Ancient Christian Writers, 17, Westminster, Maryland: Newman Press, 1953.  
comments: includes the Lorica
67ff Appendix
[ed.] Bernard, J. H., and Robert Atkinson [eds.], The Irish Liber hymnorum, 2 vols, vol. 1: Text and introduction, Henry Bradshaw Society, 13, London: Henry Bradshaw Society, 1898.  
comments: Volume 1: Text and introduction
Volume 2: Translation
Internet Archive: <link> Internet Archive – originally from Google Books: <link> Internet Archive – originally from Google Books: <link> – originally from Google Books: <link>
133–136 Edition
[tr.] Bernard, J. H., and Robert Atkinson, The Irish Liber hymnorum, 2 vols, vol. 2: Translation and notes, Henry Bradshaw Society, 14, London: Henry Bradshaw Society, 1898.  
comments: Volume 1: Text and introduction
Volume 2: Translation
Internet Archive – originally from Google Books: <link> Internet Archive: <link> Internet Archive – originally from Google Books (missing: pp. 18-19, 86-87): <link>
49–51 Translation
[ed.] Stokes, Whitley, The tripartite Life of Patrick: with other documents relating to that saint, 2 vols, vol. 1, Rerum Britannicarum Medii Aevi Scriptores, 89.1, London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1887.
Internet Archive: <link>, <link>
Vol. 1, 48–53 The poem as contained in the Tripartite Life of Patrick, Bethu Phátraic
[ed.] Windisch, Ernst [ed.], Irische Texte mit Wörterbuch, 4 vols, vol. 1, Leipzig, 1880.
Internet Archive: <link> Internet Archive – Originally from Google Books: <link> – Vol. 1, part 1: View in Mirador – Vol. 1, part 2: Wörterbuch: View in Mirador
52–58
[ed.] Stokes, Whitley [ed.], Goidelica: Old and early Middle Irish glosses, 2nd ed., London, 1872.  
Internet Archive: <link>
150–151 direct link
[ed.] Stokes, Whitley, Goidilica or notes on the Gaelic manuscripts preserved at Turin, Milan, Berne, Leyden, with eight hymns from the Liber Hymnorum and the Old-Irish notes in the Book of Armagh, 1st ed., Calcutta: privately printed, 1866.  
comments: This is the first edition. The second edition is here indexed as Stokes, Whitley, Goidelica (1872).
Internet Archive: <link>
[ed.] [tr.] Crowe, John O'Beirne, “The fáeth fíada (Guardsman’s cry) of St. Patric, with the ancient preface”, Journal of the Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland, 3rd series, 1:2 — 1869 (1873): 285–307.
Internet Archive: <link>
[ed.] [tr.] Petrie, George, and John OʼDonovan [collaborator], “On the history and antiquities of Tara Hill”, Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy 18 (1839): 25–232.
Internet Archive: <link>
Edition and translation of the text from TCD 1441 by O'Donovan

Secondary sources (select)

Binchy, D. A., “Varia. III [1. The old negative form of dia ‘if’; 2. (bó) trelaeg; 3. Atromriug; 4. The date of the so-called ‘Hymn of Patrick’]”, Ériu 20 (1966): 229–237.
Borsje, Jacqueline, “Druids, deer and ‘words of power’: coming to terms with evil in Medieval Ireland”, in: Katja Ritari, and Alexandra Bergholm (eds), Approaches to religion and mythology in Celtic studies, Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars, 2008. 122–149.
UvA Digital Academic Repository: <link>
Kenney, James F., “Chapter III: The Irish church in the ‘Celtic’ period”, in: James F. Kenney, The sources for the early history of Ireland: an introduction and guide. Volume 1: ecclesiastical, Revised ed., 11, New York: Octagon, 1966. 156–287.
272–274 (§ 101) [id. 101.]
Bernard, J. H., and Robert Atkinson, The Irish Liber hymnorum, 2 vols, vol. 2: Translation and notes, Henry Bradshaw Society, 14, London: Henry Bradshaw Society, 1898.  
comments: Volume 1: Text and introduction
Volume 2: Translation
Internet Archive – originally from Google Books: <link> Internet Archive: <link> Internet Archive – originally from Google Books (missing: pp. 18-19, 86-87): <link>
208–212
Contributors
C. A., Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
June 2012, last updated: January 2024