Texts

verse beg. Gáir na Gairbe glebinne

  • Late Middle Irish
  • verse
  • Early Irish poetry, Early Irish lyrics
Middle Irish poem (18qq) which occurs in a series of poems attributed to Mo Ling but which appears to be spoken by Suibne Geilt, the once-king turned wild man harboured by the saint at Tech Moling.
First words (verse)
  • Gáir na Gairbe glebinne
“The cry of the clear-melodious Garb”
Gwynn's reading for glebinne is glaíd-binne ‘tunefully-roaring’ (from <DIL s.v. ‘1 gláed’>); but cf. <DIL s.v. ‘1 glé’>.
Author
Anonymous
Manuscripts
p. 52.11
rubric: ‘Moling cecinit’
beg. ‘Gair na Gairbhe glebinne’
Poem ascribed to Mo Ling (18qq). There is a marginal note below the poem.
Language
  • Late Middle Irish
Date
c. 1150 (Murphy)
Form
verse (primary)

Classification

Early Irish poetryEarly Irish poetry
...

Early Irish poetryEarly Irish poetry
...

Early Irish lyricsEarly Irish lyrics
...

Subjects

Suibne Geilt
Suibne Geilt
(supp. fl. 6th/7th century)
A king of Dál nAraide who figures most prominently in the tale Buile Shuibhne.

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Mo Ling
Mo Ling
(d. 697)
Irish saint, abbot and patron saint of Tech Mo Ling (St Mullins, Co. Carlow) and reputed ‘bishop’ of Ferna (Ferns).

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BerbaBerba
Entry reserved for but not yet available from the subject index.

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Tech Mo Ling
Tech Mo Ling ... St Mullins, St Mullin's
County Carlow
No short description available

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Sources

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.] Murphy, Gerard [ed. and tr.], “Anonymous: The cry of the Garb”, in: Gerard Murphy [ed. and tr.], Early Irish lyrics: eighth to twelfth century, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1956. 112–117, 225–227.
CELT – edition: <link>
[ed.] Stokes, Whitley [ed.], “Poems ascribed to S. Moling”, in: Osborn Bergin, R. I. Best, Kuno Meyer, and J. G. OʼKeeffe (eds), Anecdota from Irish manuscripts, vol. 2, Halle and Dublin, 1908. 20–41.  

Poems ascribed to Mo Ling and related poems from Brussels MS 5100-4, pp. 50-67: 1. Tainic rath forettarsa, 18qq (pp. 20-22); 2. Glend na n-aingel n-ainglidhe, 14qq (22-23); 3. Moling cecinit. Gair na Gairbhe glebinne, 18qq (23-24) and scribal colophon; 4. Cros an Choimdhedh cumachtaigh, 12qq (25); 5. Moling cecinit. A bhen Graig is graccda sain, 24qq (26-28); 6. Molling cecinit. Daigh Cairill ticfa im dail, 4qq (28); 7. A Mulling, na mill mo tuat[h]a, 3qq (28); 8. Angelus Dei et Mulling dixit. Gabhal do sruth Órt[h]anain, 3qq (29); 9. Mulling cecinit. Mo muilendsa is geb dedáil, 5qq (29); 10. Mulling cecinit. Cellan cille Daimcinn duir, 5qq (30); 11. Mulling. Tangas cuccam o Choin Cruacan, 3qq (30); 12. Mulling cecinit. Cech righdamhna Raigne, 3qq (31); 13. Mulling. Cech fer cloinne Conallaig, 3qq (31); 14. Mulling cecinit. Bennacht lem do Chiarraighibh, 5qq (31-32); 15. Mulling cecinit. IS feta in t-airiughadh, 8qq (32); 16. Mulling cecinit. Féocháine mac Brain, 3qq (32-33); 17. Mulling. A Meic Muire it foircclidhe, 3qq (33); 18. Mulling cecinit. Bennacht in Coimdedh do nimh, 4qq (33); 19. Mulling cecinit. Hua Briuin occom riaruccud, 6qq (34); 20. Mulling cecinit, nisi vel potius Dunchadh de quo in fine. Hui Degadh Osraighe áin, 24qq, and marginal note (34-36); 21. Mulling cecinit. Uamhain Gall tainic Muling, 21qq (36-38); 22. Mulling cecinit. Disert mBrecain sunn istleiph, 4qq (39); 23. Colum cille cecinit. Tegh Mulling meic Faolain, 5stt (39-40); 24. Mulling cecinit. A meic madatt buan, 19qq (40-41).

Celtic Digital Initiative: <link> Internet Archive – Anecdota vols 1-5: <link>
23–24
[tr.] Jackson, Kenneth Hurlstone [tr.], A Celtic miscellany: translations from the Celtic literatures, Revised ed., Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1971.
78–79 (first 10 qq)

Secondary sources (select)

Frykenberg, Brian, “The ‘rebaptism’ of Suibhne”, Peritia 28 (2017): 51–75.  
abstract:
‘Anecdota’ poems of Suibhne Geilt (‘Mad Sweeney’) and St Mo Ling in Brussels MS 5100-04 focus upon sacred waters at the saint’s primary foundation, Tech Mo Ling (present-day St Mullins, Co. Carlow) in a manner that emphasizes pilgrimage, penance and monastic ‘rebaptism’ as the primary concerns of this twelfth-century cycle, which relates the death, burial and resurrection of the geilt in the company of his confessor.
Contributors
Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
April 2012, last updated: January 2024