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Is ór glan is nem im gréin
verse beg. Is ór glan is nem im gréin

  • Old Irish
  • verse
Old Irish praise poem in honour of a religious man, whom manuscript tradition identifies as the saint Mo Ling. This praise is delivered in the form of analogies with both natural and man-made things. In several manuscript versions, the poem is introduced by a prose anecdote which explains that the Devil had appeared to Mo Ling disguised as Christ but was unsuccessful in his attempts to deceive the saint. Mo Ling challenged the Devil and forced him into uttering this poem in his honour.
First words (verse)
  • Is ór glan is nem im gréin
Manuscripts
St. Paul im Lavanttal, Stiftsbibliothek, MS 86a/1 = Reichenau Primer [s. ixin]
f. 8v.6–8
rubric: ‘Muling [Maling]’
beg. ‘Is en immo n.iada sas’
2qq of the poem.
Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1135 [s. xix3/3]
Modern copy.
Lebar Glinne Dá Locha (‘Book of Glendalough’)
Lost.
Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS 23 P 12 (536) = Book of Ballymote (Leabhar Bhaile an Mhóta) [1384 x 1406]
p. 256(140v)a
beg. ‘Is ór glan is neam im grein’
7 qq, here said to have been taken from the Lebar Glinne Dá Locha.
Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1295 (H 2. 4) [1728]
beg. ‘Is or glan is neimh’
From the ‘Book of Glen Da Locha’.
Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1135 [s. xix3/3]
Modern copy.
Poem with prose anecdote
Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1339 (H 2. 18) = Book of Leinster [s. xii2]
p. 284a
beg. ‘Is ór glan is nem im gréin’
8qq.
Cork, University College, Book of Lismore = Book of Lismore (Leabhar Leasa Móir) [s. xv]
f. 87ra–rb
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Laud Misc. 610 ff. 59–72 and ff. 123–146 = (part of the) Book of the White Earl [c. 1410-1452]
Entry for June 17. 8qq.
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson B 512 II, ff. 53–75 [c. 1500]
f. 64vb
Entry for June 17.
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson B 512 IV, ff. 123-144
f. 141vb
First part only.
Dublin, National Library of Ireland, MS G 156
pp. 137–138
beg. ‘Is or glan is neamh im ghrein’
7qq. Modern copy.
Cambridge, University Library, MS Additional 4183
pp. 158–159
beg. ‘Is ór glan is neamh im ghréin’
8qq. Modern copy.
Language
  • Old Irish
Form
verse (primary)

Classification

Subjects

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).
See more

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.

[dipl. ed.] Best, Richard Irvine, and M. A. OʼBrien, The Book of Leinster, formerly Lebar na Núachongbála, vol. 5, Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1967. xv + pp. 1119-1325.
CELT – pp. 1119-1192 and 1202-1325: <link>
1239–1240 LL.
[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>
294 Text of the quatrains in the Reichenau Primer.
[ed.] [tr.] Stokes, Whitley, The martyrology of Oengus the Culdee, Henry Bradshaw Society, 29, London: Harrison, 1905.  
Edition and translation of the Félire Óengusso, with introduction, notes, etc.
CELT – edition (prefaces, prologue, main text and epilogue): <link> Internet Archive: <link>, <link> Internet Archive – originally from Google Books: <link>, <link>
156–157 (poem IV) Laud 610 version, with some variants from LL.
[ed.] [tr.] Stokes, Whitley [ed. and tr.], On the calendar of Oengus, Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, Irish Manuscript Series, 1.1, Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 1880.  

Stokes' first edition of the Félire Óengusso (the second edition was published in 1905). A new version of the preface was published as in 1883.

Internet Archive: <link>
cv–cvi Laud 610 version.
[ed.] [tr.] Stokes, Whitley [ed.], Goidelica: Old and early Middle Irish glosses, 2nd ed., London, 1872.  
Internet Archive: <link>
177 (2 qq from the St. Paul im Lavanttal MS); 179–182 (poem from LL)
web page identifiers
Contributors
Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
October 2019, last updated: June 2023
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