Texts
Cotail becán becán bec
- Late Middle Irish, Early Modern Irish
- verse
- Duanaire Finn, Early Irish poetry, Finn Cycle, Early Irish lyrics
Initial words (verse)
‘Codail begán begán beg’; ‘Cotail becán, becán bec’ (in Murphy, G., “Anonymous: Díarmait’s sleep”, in Early Irish lyrics (1956)) » In translation: “Sleep a little, just a little”
Context(s)The (textual) context(s) to which the present text belongs or in which it is cited in part or in whole.
Author
Anonymous
Manuscripts
Language
- Late Middle Irish Early Modern Irish
late Middle Irish (Murphy); or Early Modern Irish
Date
c. 1150 (Murphy);(1)n. 1 Gerard Murphy, ‘Anonymous: Díarmait’s sleep’ in Early Irish lyrics... (1956). earlier, “the poem probably was written in the first half of the 12th century” (Murphy).(2)n. 2 Gerard Murphy, Duanaire Finn: The book of the lays of Fionn: Introduction, notes, appendices and glossary, vol. 3 (1953).
Form
verse (primary)
Number of stanzas
15
Sources
Notes
Gerard Murphy, ‘Anonymous: Díarmait’s sleep’ in Early Irish lyrics... (1956).
Gerard Murphy, Duanaire Finn: The book of the lays of Fionn: Introduction, notes, appendices and glossary, vol. 3 (1953).
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: Díarmait’s sleep”, in: Murphy, Gerard [ed. and tr.], Early Irish lyrics: eighth to twelfth century, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1956. 160–165, 237–238.
CELT – edition: <link>
[ed.] [tr.] MacNeill, Eoin [ed.], Duanaire Finn: The book of the lays of Fionn, 3 vols, vol. 1: Irish text, with translation into English, Irish Texts Society 7, London: Irish Texts Society, 1908.
Secondary sources (select)
Murphy, Gerard, Duanaire Finn: The book of the lays of Fionn, 3 vols, vol. 3: Introduction, notes, appendices and glossary, Irish Texts Society 43, London: Irish Texts Society, 1953.
Internet Archive: <link>
69–71
page name: Cotail becán becán bec
page url: https://www.vanhamel.nl/codecs/Cotail_bec%C3%A1n_bec%C3%A1n_bec
redirect: https://www.vanhamel.nl/codecs/Special:Redirect/page/11013
numerical alternatve: https://www.vanhamel.nl/vhcodecs/index.php?curid=11013
page ID: 11013
page ID tracker: https://www.vanhamel.nl/vhcodecs/index.php?title=Show:ID&id=11013
Contributors
Dennis Groenewegen
