Texts

The adventures of Mac Dá Cherda

  • Early Irish
  • prose
  • Medieval Irish literature
Early Irish tale about (Comgán) Mac Dá Cherda, son of Máel Ochtraig (king of the Déisi of Mag Femen)
Language
  • Early Irish
Date
Thomas Owen Clancy has tentatively dated the text to the 10th century.(1)n. 1 Thomas Owen Clancy, Saint and fool: the image and function of Cummíne Fota and Comgán Mac Da Cherda in early Irish literature (1991): 119ff.
Form
prose (primary)

Classification

Medieval Irish literatureMedieval Irish literature
...

Subjects

Comgán Mac Dá Cherda
Comgán Mac Dá Cherda
(fl. first half of the 7th century)
Poet and fool (óinmit) in Irish literature; a son of Máel Ochtraig (king of the Déisi Muman) and a contemporary of Cummíne Fota. The name Mac Dá Cherda would mean ‘Son of Two Arts’, but seeing as it may go back to an original Moccu Cherda (as suggested by Jackson and Ó Coileáin) it is perhaps best spelled conservatively, without lengthening in Da.

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Déisi
Déisi/Déssi
No short description available

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Sources

Notes

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.] OʼKeeffe, J. G. [ed.], “Mac Dá Cherda and Cummaine Foda”, Ériu 5 (1911): 18–44.  
An edition and translation of three texts from YBL concerning (Comgán) Mac Dá Cherda and Cummíne Fota: (1) YBL, col. 335 (The dialogue of Cummíne and Comgán); (2) YBL, col. 797, and Harley 5280 (Scéla Guairi meic Colmáin ⁊ Meic Teléne or The trial of Mac Teléne); (3) YBL, col. 798 (The adventures of Mac Dá Cherda).
34–41

Secondary sources (select)

Clancy, Thomas Owen, “Saint and fool: the image and function of Cummíne Fota and Comgán Mac Da Cherda in early Irish literature”, PhD thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1991.
Edinburgh Research Archive: <link>
Esp. Ch. 4
Contributors
Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
October 2014, last updated: January 2024