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Texts
Commentary on the Amra Choluim Chille
- Middle Irish
- prose
- Irish glosses, Medieval Irish literature, Medieval Irish literature about poets, commentaries
Middle Irish commentary in the form of scholia accompanying copies of the Amra Choluim Chille.
Known copies of the early 7th-century (or late 6th-century) elegiac poem Amra Choluim Chille ascribed to Dallán Forgaill ultimately derive from an annotated redaction that was made in the beginning of the 11th century. The poem is here accompanied by extensive commentary in Middle Irish, comprising:
- A prose preface or introduction (rem-fhocul, not to be confused with the verse preface of the canonical poem), beginning ‘Loc dond remfhoculsa chetus Druimm Cetta ...’ in Rawlinson B 502. It tells that the poet Dallán Forgaill composed the Amra for Columba on the occasion of the convention at Druim Cett, where the abbot secured the release of Scandlán Mór, negotiated terms of peace between Ireland and the Irish settlers of Scotland and saved the learned classes from expulsion (Dallán recited it after the abbot's death). The story varies in length and detail from one manuscript version to another.
- Interlinear gloss to the Amra (verse preface and chapters I-IX)
Initial words (prose)
- Loc dond remfhoculsa chetus Druimm Cetta ...
“The place of this preface, first of all, was Druimm Cetta ...”
Manuscripts
A distinction is sometimes made between a shorter and longer version of the commentary (e.g. Brian Ó Cuív, ‘Some items from Irish tradition’, Éigse 11 (1965–1966)).
- First division
- Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson B 502 2 = Lebar Glinne Dá Locha (?) [1125 x 1150] ff. 54r–59v
- Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1441 (E 4. 2) = Liber hymnorum [s. xiex-xiiin] ff. 33–34vb (prose preface), 26ra–28vFf. 33v-34vb contain the prose preface, ff. 26ra-28v the poem with interlinear gloss.
- Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS 23 E 25 (1229) = Lebor na hUidre [s. xi/xii] ff. 5a–15aImperfect copy.
- Second division
- Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1318 cols 573–958 = section of the Yellow Book of Lecan [s. xivex/xvin] p. 71ff (facsimile) col. 680ff
- London, British Library, MS Egerton 1782 [1516-1518] ff. 1r–14v
- Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1288 (H 1. 14) [c. 1750] f. 54ffCopy from Egerton 1782
- Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1288 (H 1. 14) [c. 1750]
- Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS C iii 2 (1236) [s. xvi] Extensive gloss
- Dublin, National Library of Ireland, MS G 50 (Phillipps 10276) [s. xvii] pp. 1–105
- Other
- Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS 23 P 16 (Hodges & Smith 224, 1230) = Leabhar Breac [s. xvin] ff. 238–248Imperfect copy.
- Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Laud Misc. 615 = Saltair Choluim Chille [s. xvi1]
- Additional fragments
include:
- Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1106 [s. xix] Item nos. 3 and 8. Modern copy of the introduction to the Amra Choluim Chille from the Leabhar Breac and YBL respectively.
- Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland, Adv. MS 72.1.40 [s. xv-xvi] Preface and other quotations inserted in the Betha Choluim Chille.
Language
- Middle Irish
Middle Irish
Date
early 11th century
Form
prose (primary)
verse (secondary)
Textual relationships
- Related:
- Irish glossary from TCD 1337, pp. 623-628
- (Possible) sources:
- Amra Choluim Chille
Contents
Work in progress
remfhocul » entry
Verse preface
Chapter 1
Summary:forthcoming
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
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.] Stokes, Whitley [ed. and tr.], “The Bodleian Amra Choluimb Chille”, Revue Celtique 20 (1899): 31–55, 132–183, 248–289, 400–437. Corrigenda in Revue Celtique 21 (1900): 133–136.
[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.
[ed.] [tr.] Crowe, John O'Beirne [ed. and tr.], The Amra Choluim Chilli of Dallan Forgaill, vol. 1, Dublin: MacGlashan and Gill, 1871.
Betha Choluim Chille in Gaelic MS XL:
[tr.] Hennessy, W. Maunsell [tr.], “The old Irish Life of St. Columba: being a discourse on his life and character delivered to the brethren on his festival”, in: Skene, William F., Celtic Scotland: a history of ancient Alban, 3 vols, vol. 2: Church and culture, 2nd ed. (1877), Edinburgh: Douglas, 1887. 467–507.
Internet Archive: <link>
494–502 Translation of the preface as inserted into the Betha Choluim Chille copy of Gaelic MS XL, compared with the Leabhar Breac and YBL version. direct link
[ed.] Stokes, Whitley [ed. and tr.], Lives of saints from the Book of Lismore, Anecdota Oxoniensia, Mediaeval and Modern Series 5, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1890.
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Contributors
Dennis Groenewegen
