User:Mellohi!/Deisi 9

In Section 9 of The Expulsion of the Déisi, the grandfather of Bri the druid sings something while marching into battle. Unfortunately for everyone, whatever he sang has come down to us in a nigh-illegible form that not even Kuno Meyer, one of the greatest Celtic scholars of all time, could understand what it even meant. Not even a century later, with the everlasting expansion of the Dictionary of the Irish Language and other study of Old Irish does anyone have any clue. "In the present state of our knowledge of Old Irish it is impossible to understand more than an occasional word or phrase in these rhapsodical compositions. A comparison of the two versions shows how little they were understood by the scribes themselves" indeed.

The illegible song

The song has come down to us in two versions.

• c. 750-800 Tairired na nDessi from Rawlinson B 502, published in "The Expulsion of the Dessi", Y Cymmrodor (1901, Society of Cymmrodorion), edited and with translations by Kuno Meyer, vol. 14, pp. 104-135, paragraph 9

  Ni o Temair dochumlaid ticid ticid dothaide gluind mara cotobcatha crethit cetnaanad tuidecht do mac Daurthecht deirethe Eogan sceo echta scen macco Echach Airiman Artt ero Corp coitual cel cichsit datfiannae im Findchad mac Niod atroinne noifidir ruthit min mairfitit coicthe rann Dil diairithe Lethe Laidcind ilar lenthus diacoi crochae marfit Dil nad flathius gaile genithar gaibthiut co firu Fochlae ifaitse dosclich doarnid arus mac Meschuirb mogithar dalsus condesil fidgella forderga ord araserb slas ninde mac nDega diagraif arrigthius rige os cach ros codidiandesingar ar Ros mac Feochair feig falnathar cotafodlaib fergair cain iarnitha mac Riath rascthius itreichnimi conoid ni. Ni [lacuna here]

  (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• c. 750-800 Torche na nDessi from Laud 610, published in "The Expulsion of the Déssi", Ériu 3 (1907), edited by Kuno Meyer, pp. 135-142, line 68

  Nitho Themuir dochumlith ticith dofaitech gluind mair conib cath crechtnigther aratuitet da mac Durthacht dercthus echen sceo echde sceo mac mair-Echach ere maine ard erc corba maccu delchidech sit dodaireim Findchath mac Níathait no endi rofitir ruithfid find marfithid coderaind Dil dia ratus Lithi Ladcend hilar lentus dia Chondochtæ norbe dal nadla thugaile gainethur gaibidith co firo foichle hifoidse dosfeth tus ar ditharus mac Meschuirp mogeth ardalsus condessel ditafind gola folt forderga ord æra serbsi as indin indinn. dega grisas rigthus rigib oscechrus condirannais ingair arus mac maic Fechuir fech fellnatar contofodli fergair conar nith mac Níath naiscthus hitrena hitriach none conoethus nithu Ni o Themuir dochumlit.

  (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Kuno Meyer only managed to get through the first phrase Ní ó Temair "Not from Tara!" before he called it quits and moved on to the next section.

Word-by-word analysis

Due to the seemingly illegible nature of the song, all analyses and readings are highly speculative.

• dochumlaid
  • 2pl present of do·cumlai (“to set off”). Accepting this reading, this would make the first phrase translate to "Not from Tara do you set off".
• ticid
  • 2pl present of do·icc (“to come”). For whatever reason, the Rawlinson copy duplicated the word.
• dothaide (R), dofaitech (L)
  • Illegible.
• gluind
  • Probably a form of glond (“deed”).
• mara, mair
  • Probably mór (“great”) modifying gluind.
• gaibthiut co firu Fochlae ifaitse (R), gaibidith co firo foichle hifoidse (L).
  • "Take you to the men, North to South"?
• falnathar (R), fellnatar (L)
  • This word is very troublesome. It appears in the TBC as well, and its translator Cecille O'Rahilly also skipped over it.
• conoid ni (R), conoethus nithu (L)
  • con·ói (“to protect”)?