79-517: The Dagda ( Old Irish : In Dagda [ˈdaɣða] , Irish : An Daghdha ) is considered the great god of Irish mythology . He is the chief god of the Tuatha Dé Danann , with the Dagda portrayed as a father-figure, king, and druid . He is associated with fertility , agriculture , manliness and strength, as well as magic, druidry and wisdom. He can control life and death (cf. his staff, below),
158-534: A Bull (2011–2013) based around Queen Medb. The myth of Cú Chulainn was also adapted into graphic novels such as An Táin (2006) by Colmán Ó Raghallaigh and by Barry Reynolds and Hound (2014–2018) by Paul J. Bolger and Barry Devlin . The dramatic musical program "Celtic Hero" in the Radio Tales series for National Public Radio , was based on the Ulster Cycle story Tochmarc Emire . Deirdre
237-444: A broad labial (for example, lebor /ˈLʲev u r/ "book"; domun /ˈdoṽ u n/ "world"). The phoneme /ə/ occurred in other circumstances. The occurrence of the two phonemes was generally unrelated to the nature of the corresponding Proto-Celtic vowel, which could be any monophthong: long or short. Long vowels also occur in unstressed syllables. However, they rarely reflect Proto-Celtic long vowels, which were shortened prior to
316-429: A consonant ensures its unmutated sound. While the letter ⟨c⟩ may be voiced / ɡ / at the end of some words, but when it is written double ⟨cc⟩ it is always voiceless / k / in regularised texts; however, even final /ɡ/ was often written "cc", as in bec / becc "small, little" (Modern Irish and Scottish beag , Manx beg ). In later Irish manuscripts, lenited f and s are denoted with
395-466: A magic harp. In the tract found in the Yellow Book of Lecan , there were three items the Dagda named together, his staff ( lorc ), there was the shirt léine ) of protection from sickness, and the cloak ( lumman of shape-shifting and color-change. The "great staff" ( lorg mór ) had a smooth end which brought the dead back to life (he resuscitated his son Cermait Milbél with the smooth end), but
474-613: A notable exception. It is probable that the oldest strata of tales are those involving the complex relationship between the Ulaid and the Érainn , represented in the Ulster Cycle by Cú Roí and the Clanna Dedad , and later by Conaire Mór . It was observed a century ago by Eoin MacNeill and other scholars that the historical Ulaid, as represented by the Dál Fiatach , were apparently related to
553-592: A series of plays – On Baile's Strand (1904), Deirdre (1907), The Green Helmet (1910), At the Hawk's Well (1917), The Only Jealousy of Emer (1919) and The Death of Cuchulain (1939) – and a poem, Cuchulain's Fight with the Sea (1892), based on the legends, and completed the late John Millington Synge 's unfinished play Deirdre of the Sorrows (1910), in collaboration with Synge's widow Molly Allgood. Literary adaptations of
632-454: A sound / h / and a letter h , there is no consistent relationship between the two. Vowel-initial words are sometimes written with an unpronounced h , especially if they are very short (the Old Irish preposition i "in" was sometimes written hi ) or if they need to be emphasised (the name of Ireland, Ériu , was sometimes written Hériu ). On the other hand, words that begin with
711-521: Is a diminutive form of Eochaid, which also has spelling variants of Eochaidh and Echuid. The death and ancestral god Donn may originally have been a form of the Dagda, who is sometimes called Dagda Donn. The Dagda was one of the kings of the Tuatha De Danann. The Tuatha Dé Danann are the race of supernatural beings who conquered the Fomorians , who inhabited Ireland previously, prior to the coming of
790-404: Is a pagan, pastoral one ruled by a warrior aristocracy. Bonds between aristocratic families are cemented by fosterage of each other's children. Wealth is reckoned in cattle. Warfare mainly takes the form of cattle raids , or single combats between champions at fords. The characters' actions are sometimes restricted by religious taboos known as geasa . The stories are preserved in manuscripts of
869-580: Is an opera adaptation of the Ulster Cycle composed 1943-5, by the Canadian composer, Healey Willan , the text by John Coulter . It was the first full-length opera commissioned by the CBC, and was premiered 20 Apr 1946 on radio as Deirdre of the Sorrows , conducted by Ettore Mazzoleni and with Frances James as Deirdre. The myth of Cú Chulainn was adapted by Irish musician Gavin Dunne , better known as "Miracle of Sound," in
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#1733084686144948-762: Is credited with a seventy- or eighty-year reign (depending on source) over the Tuatha Dé Danann , before dying at Brú na Bóinne, finally succumbing to a wound inflicted by Cethlenn during the battle of Mag Tuired. The Dagda has similarities with the later harvest figure Crom Dubh . He also has similarities with the Gaulish god Sucellos , who is depicted with a hammer and a pot, and the Roman god Dīs Pater . Old Irish language Old Irish , also called Old Gaelic ( Old Irish : Goídelc , Ogham script : ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; Irish : Sean-Ghaeilge ; Scottish Gaelic : Seann-Ghàidhlig ; Manx : Shenn Yernish or Shenn Ghaelg ),
1027-426: Is forebear to Modern Irish , Manx and Scottish Gaelic . Old Irish is known for having a particularly complex system of morphology and especially of allomorphy (more or less unpredictable variations in stems and suffixes in differing circumstances), as well as a complex sound system involving grammatically significant consonant mutations to the initial consonant of a word. Apparently, neither characteristic
1106-485: Is known as Primitive Irish . Fragments of Primitive Irish, mainly personal names, are known from inscriptions on stone written in the Ogham alphabet. The inscriptions date from about the 4th to the 6th centuries. Primitive Irish appears to have been very close to Common Celtic , the ancestor of all Celtic languages , and it had a lot of the characteristics of other archaic Indo-European languages. Relatively little survives in
1185-516: Is said to be husband of the Morrígan , who is called his "envious wife". His children include Aengus , Cermait , and Aed (often called the three sons of the Dagda), Brigit and Bodb Derg . He is said to have two brothers, Nuada and Ogma , but this may be an instance of the tendency to triplicate deities . Elsewhere the Dagda is linked exclusively with Ogma, and the two are called "the two brothers." In
1264-431: Is subject to u -affection, becoming ⟨éu⟩ or ⟨íu⟩ , while /e₁ː/ is not. A similar distinction may have existed between /o₁ː/ and /o₂ː/ , both written ⟨ó⟩ , and stemming respectively from former diphthongs (*eu, *au, *ou) and from compensatory lengthening. However, in later Old Irish both sounds appear usually as ⟨úa⟩ , sometimes as ⟨ó⟩ , and it
1343-666: Is the epic Táin Bó Cúailnge (Cattle Raid of Cooley). The Ulster Cycle is one of the four 'cycles' of Irish mythology and legend, along with the Mythological Cycle , the Fianna Cycle and the Kings' Cycle . The Ulster Cycle stories are set in and around the reign of King Conchobar mac Nessa , who rules the Ulaid from Emain Macha (now Navan Fort near Armagh ). The most prominent hero of
1422-456: Is the oldest form of the Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive written texts. It was used from c. 600 to c. 900. The main contemporary texts are dated c. 700–850; by 900 the language had already transitioned into early Middle Irish . Some Old Irish texts date from the 10th century, although these are presumably copies of texts written at an earlier time. Old Irish
1501-436: Is thought to mean "the good god" or "the great god". His other names include Eochu or Eochaid Ollathair ("horseman, great father"), and Ruad Rofhessa ("mighty one/lord of great knowledge"). There are indications Dáire was another name for him. The death and ancestral god Donn may originally have been a form of the Dagda, and he also has similarities with the later harvest figure Crom Dubh . Several tribal groupings saw
1580-594: Is unclear whether /o₂ː/ existed as a separate sound any time in the Old Irish period. /ou/ existed only in early archaic Old Irish ( c. 700 or earlier); afterwards it merged into /au/ . Neither sound occurred before another consonant, and both sounds became ⟨ó⟩ in later Old Irish (often ⟨ú⟩ or ⟨u⟩ before another vowel). The late ⟨ó⟩ does not develop into ⟨úa⟩ , suggesting that ⟨áu⟩ > ⟨ó⟩ postdated ⟨ó⟩ > ⟨úa⟩ . Later Old Irish had
1659-660: The Stowe Missal date from about 900 to 1050. In addition to contemporary witnesses, the vast majority of Old Irish texts are attested in manuscripts of a variety of later dates. Manuscripts of the later Middle Irish period, such as the Lebor na hUidre and the Book of Leinster , contain texts which are thought to derive from written exemplars in Old Irish now lost and retain enough of their original form to merit classification as Old Irish. The preservation of certain linguistic forms current in
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#17330846861441738-559: The eclipsis consonants also denoted with a superdot: Old Irish digraphs include the lenition consonants: the eclipsis consonants: the geminatives : and the diphthongs : The following table indicates the broad pronunciation of various consonant letters in various environments: When the consonants b, d, g are eclipsed by the preceding word (always from a word-initial position), their spelling and pronunciation change to: ⟨mb⟩ / m / , ⟨nd⟩ /N/ , ⟨ng⟩ / ŋ / Generally, geminating
1817-557: The Milesians . The Mórrígan is described as his wife, his daughter was Brigit , and his lover was Boann , after whom the River Boyne is named, though she was married to Elcmar and with whom he had the god Aengus. Prior to the battle with the Fomorians , he coupled with the goddess of war, the Mórrígan , on Samhain . (Cf. § Family ). Of Dagda it is stated "He was a beautiful god of
1896-449: The Morrígan , Aengus and Midir also make occasional appearances. Unlike the majority of early Irish historical tradition, which presents ancient Ireland as largely united under a succession of High Kings , the stories of the Ulster Cycle depict a country with no effective central authority, divided into local and provincial kingdoms often at war with each other. The civilisation depicted
1975-599: The Red Branch Cycle , is a body of medieval Irish heroic legends and sagas of the Ulaid . It is set far in the past, in what is now eastern Ulster and northern Leinster , particularly counties Armagh , Down and Louth . It focuses on the mythical Ulster king Conchobar mac Nessa and his court at Emain Macha , the hero Cú Chulainn , and their conflict with the Connachta and queen Medb . The longest and most important tale
2054-445: The Táin and rise in popularity. Here follows a list of tales which are assigned to the Ulster Cycle, although it does not claim to be exhaustive. The classification according to 'genre' followed here is merely a convenient tool to bring clarity to a large body of texts, but it is not the only possible one nor does it necessarily reflect contemporary approaches of classifying texts. Most of
2133-465: The Táin , refer to Cairbre Nia Fer as the king of Tara , implying that no High King is in place at the time. The presence of the Connachta as the Ulaid's enemies is an apparent anachronism: the Connachta were traditionally said to have been the descendants of Conn Cétchathach , who is supposed to have lived several centuries later. Later stories use the name Cóiced Ol nEchmacht as an earlier name for
2212-816: The Würzburg Glosses (mainly) on the Pauline Epistles , the Milan Glosses on a commentary to the Psalms and the St Gall Glosses on Priscian 's Grammar. Further examples are found at Karlsruhe (Germany), Paris (France), Milan, Florence and Turin (Italy). A late 9th-century manuscript from the abbey of Reichenau , now in St. Paul in Carinthia (Austria), contains a spell and four Old Irish poems. The Liber Hymnorum and
2291-464: The orthography of Old Irish is not fixed, so the following statements are to be taken as generalisations only. Individual manuscripts may vary greatly from these guidelines. The Old Irish alphabet consists of the following eighteen letters of the Latin alphabet : in addition to the five long vowels , shown by an acute accent (´): the lenited consonants denoted with a superdot (◌̇): and
2370-472: The 12th to 15th centuries but, in many cases, are believed to be much older. The language of the earliest stories is dateable to the 8th century, and events and characters are referred to in poems dating to the 7th. The earliest extant manuscripts of the Ulster Cycle are Lebor na hUidre , "The Book of the Dun Cow", dating to no later than 1106, and The Book of Leinster , compiled around 1160. The events of
2449-563: The 20th and 21st centuries include Rosemary Sutcliff 's children's novel The Hound of Ulster (1963), Morgan Llywelyn 's Red Branch (1989), Patricia Finney 's novel A Shadow of Gulls (1977), and Vincent Woods ' play A Cry from Heaven (2005). Randy Lee Eickhoff has also created a series of six novelistic translations and retellings, beginning with The Raid (2000). Parts of the cycle have been adapted as webcomics , including Patrick Brown's Ness (2007–2008) and The Cattle Raid of Cooley (2008–2015); and M.K. Reed's unfinished About
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2528-525: The Brú from an older god representing the growing sun taking over from the waning sun. The Tochmarc Étaíne , tells the story of how Bóand conceives Aengus by the Dagda. In the Aislinge Oengusso or Dream of Aengus the Dagda and Boand help Aengus to find a mysterious woman who he has fallen in love with in his dreams. In a poem about Mag Muirthemne , the Dagda banishes an octopus with his "mace of wrath" using
2607-582: The Clanna Dedad. T. F. O'Rahilly later concluded that the Ulaid were in fact a branch of the Érainn. A number of the Érainn appear to have been powerful Kings of Tara , with a secondary base of power at the now lost Temair Luachra "Tara of the Rushes" in West Munster, where some action in the Ulster Cycle takes place and may even have been transplanted from the midland Tara. Additionally it may be noteworthy that
2686-518: The Continent were much less prone to the same risk because once they ceased to be understood, they were rarely consulted. The earliest Old Irish passages may be the transcripts found in the Cambrai Homily , which is thought to belong to the early 8th century. The Book of Armagh contains texts from the early 9th century. Important Continental collections of glosses from the 8th and 9th century include
2765-610: The Dagda as an ancestor and were named after him, such as the Uí Echach and the Dáirine . The Dagda has been likened to the Germanic god Odin , the Gaulish god Sucellos , and the Roman god Dīs Pater . The Old Irish name Dagda is generally believed to stem from Proto-Celtic : * Dago-dēwos , meaning "the good god" or "the great god". The Dagda has several other names or epithets which reflect aspects of his character. The name Eochu
2844-401: The Dagda is his true father and asks him for a portion of land. In some versions of the tale, the Dagda helps Aengus take ownership of the Brú from Elcmar. Aengus asks and is given the Brú for láa ocus aidche ; because in Old Irish this could mean either "a day and a night" or "day and night", Aengus claims it forever. Other versions have Aengus taking over the Brú from the Dagda himself by using
2923-529: The Dindsenchas, the Dagda is given a daughter named Ainge, for whom he makes a twig basket or tub that always leaks when the tide is in and never leaks when it is going out. The Dagda's father is named Elatha son of Delbeath. Englec, the daughter of Elcmar, is named as a consort of the Dagda and the mother of his "swift son". Echtgi the loathesome is another daughter of the Dagda's named in the Banshenchas . Before
3002-508: The Fomorians and escape. He possessed two pigs, one of which was always growing whilst the other was always roasting, and ever-laden fruit trees. He is also described as being the owner of a black-maned heifer that was given to him for his labours prior to the Second Battle of Moytura. When the heifer calls her calf, all the cattle of Ireland taken by the Fomorians as tribute graze. The Dagda
3081-484: The Old Irish period may provide reason to assume that an Old Irish original directly or indirectly underlies the transmitted text or texts. The consonant inventory of Old Irish is shown in the chart below. The complexity of Old Irish phonology is from a four-way split of phonemes inherited from Primitive Irish, with both a fortis–lenis and a "broad–slender" ( velarised vs. palatalised ) distinction arising from historical changes. The sounds /f v θ ð x ɣ h ṽ n l r/ are
3160-465: The Old Irish period, but the short vowels changed much less. The following short vowels existed: The short diphthong ŏu likely existed very early in the Old Irish period, but merged with /u/ later on and in many instances was replaced with /o/ due to paradigmatic levelling. It is attested once in the phrase i r ou th by the prima manus of the Würzburg Glosses . /æ ~ œ/ arose from
3239-643: The Second Battle of Mag Tuired the Dagda builds a fortress for Bres called Dún Brese and is also forced by the Fomorian kings Elatha , Indech, and Tethra to build raths . In the lead up to the Second Battle of Mag Tuired, when Lugh asks Dagda what power he will wield over the Fomorian host, he responds that he "will take the side of the men of Erin both in mutual smiting and destruction and wizardry. Their bones under my club will be as many as hailstones under feet of herds of horses". The Dagda has an affair with Boann ,
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3318-700: The Ulaid's prize bull, Donn Cúailnge , opposed only by the seventeen-year-old Cú Chulainn. In the Mayo Táin, the Táin Bó Flidhais it is a white cow known as the 'Maol' that is the object of desire. One of the better known stories is the tragedy of Deirdre , source of plays by W. B. Yeats and J. M. Synge . Other stories tell of the births, courtships and deaths of the characters and of the conflicts between them. The stories are written in Old and Middle Irish , mostly in prose, interspersed with occasional verse passages, with
3397-465: The antiquity of these records was a matter of politicised debate; modern scholars have generally taken a more critical stance. Some scholars of the 19th and early 20th centuries, such as Eugene O'Curry and Kuno Meyer , believed that the stories and characters of the Ulster Cycle were essentially historical; T. F. O'Rahilly was inclined to believe the stories were entirely mythical and the characters euhemerised gods; and Ernst Windisch thought that
3476-487: The bravest awarded the curadmír or "champion's portion", the choicest cut of meat. Kings are advised by druids ( Old Irish druí , plural druíd ), and poets have great power and privilege. These elements led scholars such as Kenneth H. Jackson to conclude that the stories of the Ulster Cycle preserved authentic Celtic traditions from the pre-Christian Iron Age . Other scholars have challenged that conclusion, stressing similarities with early medieval Irish society and
3555-498: The broad lenis equivalents of broad fortis /p b t d k ɡ s m N L R/ ; likewise for the slender (palatalised) equivalents. (However, most /f fʲ/ sounds actually derive historically from /w/ , since /p/ was relatively rare in Old Irish, being a recent import from other languages such as Latin.) Some details of Old Irish phonetics are not known. /sʲ/ may have been pronounced [ɕ] or [ʃ] , as in Modern Irish. /hʲ/ may have been
3634-554: The complicated Proto-Indo-European (PIE) system of morphology. Nouns and adjectives are declined in three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter); three numbers (singular, dual, plural); and five cases (nominative, vocative, accusative, dative and genitive). Most PIE noun stem classes are maintained ( o -, yo -, ā -, yā -, i -, u -, r -, n -, s -, and consonant stems). Most of the complexities of PIE verbal conjugation are also maintained, and there are new complexities introduced by various sound changes (see below ). Old Irish
3713-654: The cycle are traditionally supposed to take place around the time of Christ . The stories of Conchobar's birth and death are synchronised with the birth and death of Christ, and the Lebor Gabála Érenn dates the Táin Bó Cúailnge and the birth and death of Cú Chulainn to the reign of the High King Conaire Mor , who it says was a contemporary of the Roman emperor Augustus (27 BC — AD 14). Some stories, including
3792-522: The cycle is Conchobar's nephew, Cú Chulainn . The Ulaid are most often in conflict with the Connachta , led by their queen, Medb , her husband, Ailill , and their ally Fergus mac Róich , a former king of the Ulaid in exile. The longest and most important story of the cycle is the Táin Bó Cúailnge or "Cattle Raid of Cooley", in which Medb raises an enormous army to invade the Cooley peninsula and steal
3871-469: The cycle, while largely imaginary, contains little genuine myth. Elements of the tales are reminiscent of classical descriptions of Celtic societies in Gaul , Galatia and Britain . Warriors fight with swords, spears and shields, and ride in two-horse chariots, driven by skilled charioteers drawn from the lower classes. They take and preserve the heads of slain enemies, and boast of their valour at feasts, with
3950-468: The deletion (syncope) of inner syllables. Rather, they originate in one of the following ways: Stress is generally on the first syllable of a word. However, in verbs it occurs on the second syllable when the first syllable is a clitic (the verbal prefix as- in as·beir /asˈberʲ/ "he says"). In such cases, the unstressed prefix is indicated in grammatical works with a following centre dot ( ⟨·⟩ ). As with most medieval languages ,
4029-451: The earliest extant versions dated to the 12th century. The tone is terse, violent, sometimes comic, and mostly realistic, although supernatural elements intrude from time to time. Cú Chulainn in particular has superhuman fighting skills, the result of his semi-divine ancestry, and when particularly aroused his battle frenzy or ríastrad transforms him into an unrecognisable monster who knows neither friend nor foe. Evident deities like Lugh ,
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#17330846861444108-433: The following consonant (in certain clusters) or a directly following vowel in hiatus . It is generally thought that /e₁ː/ was higher than /e₂ː/ . Perhaps /e₁ː/ was [eː] while /e₂ː/ was [ɛː] . They are clearly distinguished in later Old Irish, in which /e₁ː/ becomes ⟨ía⟩ (but ⟨é⟩ before a palatal consonant). /e₂ː/ becomes ⟨é⟩ in all circumstances. Furthermore, /e₂ː/
4187-470: The following inventory of long vowels: Early Old Irish /ai/ and /oi/ merged in later Old Irish. It is unclear what the resulting sound was, as scribes continued to use both ⟨aí⟩ and ⟨oí⟩ to indicate the merged sound. The choice of /oi/ in the table above is somewhat arbitrary. The distribution of short vowels in unstressed syllables is a little complicated. All short vowels may appear in absolutely final position (at
4266-488: The following words: "Turn thy hollow head! Turn thy ravening body! Turn thy resorbent forehead! Avaunt! Begone!", the sea receded with the creature and the plain of Mag Muirthemne was left behind. In the Dindsenchas the Dagda is described as swift with a poison draught and as a justly dealing lord. He is also called a King of Erin with hosts of hostages, a noble, slender prince, and the father of Cermait, Aengus, and Aed. He
4345-663: The former were trills while the latter were flaps . /m(ʲ)/ and /ṽ(ʲ)/ were derived from an original fortis–lenis pair. Old Irish had distinctive vowel length in both monophthongs and diphthongs . Short diphthongs were monomoraic , taking up the same amount of time as short vowels, while long diphthongs were bimoraic, the same as long vowels. (This is much like the situation in Old English but different from Ancient Greek whose shorter and longer diphthongs were bimoraic and trimoraic, respectively: /ai/ vs. /aːi/ .) The inventory of Old Irish long vowels changed significantly over
4424-422: The goddess of the River Boyne. She lives at Brú na Bóinne with her husband Elcmar . The Dagda impregnates her after sending Elcmar away on a one-day errand. To hide the pregnancy from Elcmar, the Dagda casts a spell on him, making "the sun stand still" so he will not notice the passing of time. Meanwhile, Boann gives birth to Aengus , who is also known as Maccán Óg ('the young son'). Eventually, Aengus learns that
4503-456: The harp can fly itself to the Dagda when thus beckoned. He is said to dwell in Brú na Bóinne (Newgrange). Other places associated with or named after him include Uisneach , Grianan of Aileach , Lough Neagh and Knock Iveagh . The Dagda is said to be the husband of the Morrígan and lover of Boann . His children include Aengus , Brigit , Bodb Derg , Cermait , Aed , and Midir . The Dagda's name
4582-508: The harp leapt off the wall and came to him. The harp was forbidden by the Dagda from issuing any sound, unless thus called upon by the names, which translate to "Oak of Two Meadows" and "the Four Angled Music"; Hence, harp was a richly ornamented magic harp made of oak which, when the Dagda played it, put the seasons in their correct order; The Dagda had the skill to play the "Three Strains" (joy, sorrow, sleep) which he used to immobilize
4661-527: The heathens, for the Tuatha Dé Danann worshipped him: for he was an earth-god to them because of the greatness of his magical power", in the Middle Irish language Coir Anmann (The Fitness of Names) says: Tales depict the Dagda as a figure of immense power. He is said to own a magic staff, club or mace which could kill nine men with one blow; but with the handle he could return the slain to life. He owned
4740-508: The important Ulster Cycle tales can be found in the following publications: The Ulster Cycle provided material for Irish writers of the Gaelic revival around the turn of the 20th century. Augusta, Lady Gregory 's Cuchulain of Muirthemne (1902) retold most of the important stories of the cycle, as did Eleanor Hull for younger readers in The Boys' Cuchulain (1904). William Butler Yeats wrote
4819-517: The influence of classical literature, while considering the possibility that the stories may contain genuinely ancient material from oral tradition. J. P. Mallory thus found the archaeological record and linguistic evidence to generally disfavour the presence of Iron Age remnants in the Ulster and Mythological Cycles, but emphasised the links to the Corlea Trackway in the earlier Tochmarc Étaíne as
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#17330846861444898-422: The letter h ⟨fh⟩ , ⟨sh⟩ , instead of using a superdot ⟨ḟ⟩ , ⟨ṡ⟩ . When initial s stemmed from Primitive Irish *sw- , its lenited version is ⟨f⟩ [ ɸ ] . The slender ( palatalised ) variants of the 13 consonants are denoted with / ʲ / marking the letter. They occur in the following environments: Although Old Irish has both
4977-415: The letter m usually becomes the nasal fricative / ṽ / , but in some cases it becomes a nasal stop, denoted as / m / . In cases in which it becomes a stop, m is often written double to avoid ambiguity. Ambiguity arises in the pronunciation of the stop consonants ( c, g, t, d, p, b ) when they follow l, n, or r : Ulster Cycle The Ulster Cycle ( Irish : an Rúraíocht ), formerly known as
5056-570: The province of Connacht to get around this problem. However, the chronology of early Irish historical tradition is an artificial attempt by Christian monks to synchronise native traditions with classical and biblical history, and it is possible that historical wars between the Ulaid and the Connachta have been chronologically misplaced. Along with the Lebor Gabála Érenn , elements of the Ulster Cycle were for centuries regarded as historical in Ireland, and
5135-542: The same sound as /h/ or /xʲ/ . The precise articulation of the fortis sonorants /N/, /Nʲ/, /L/, /Lʲ/, /R/, /Rʲ/ is unknown, but they were probably longer, tenser and generally more strongly articulated than their lenis counterparts /n/, /nʲ/, /l/, /lʲ/, /r/, /rʲ/ , as in the Modern Irish and Scottish dialects that still possess a four-way distinction in the coronal nasals and laterals . /Nʲ/ and /Lʲ/ may have been pronounced [ɲ] and [ʎ] respectively. The difference between /R(ʲ)/ and /r(ʲ)/ may have been that
5214-415: The same trick. It has been suggested that this tale represents the winter solstice illumination of Newgrange at Brú na Bóinne, during which the sunbeam (the Dagda) enters the inner chamber (the womb of Boann) when the sun's path stands still. The word solstice (Irish grianstad ) means sun-standstill. The conception of Aengus may represent the 'rebirth' of the sun at the winter solstice, him taking over
5293-421: The several small cycles of tales involving the early dominance of the Érainn in Ireland generally predate the majority of the Ulster Cycle tales in content, if not in their final forms, and are believed to be of a substantially more pre-Christian character. Several of these do not even mention the famous characters from the Ulster Cycle, and those that do may have been slightly reworked after its later expansion with
5372-408: The sound /h/ are usually written without it: a ór /a hoːr/ "her gold". If the sound and the spelling co-occur , it is by coincidence, as ní hed /Nʲiː heð/ "it is not". The voiceless stops of Old Irish are c, p, t . They contrast with the voiced stops g, b, d . Additionally, the letter m can behave similarly to a stop following vowels. These seven consonants often mutate when not in
5451-547: The staff's rough end caused instant death. The staff/club is also described in the Ulster Cycle narrative, Mesca Ulad , where it was called the "terrible iron staff" ( lorg aduathmar iarnaidi ). The Cauldron of the Dagda is one of the Four Treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann , of which it was said "an assembly used not to go unsatisfied from it". The cauldron "signified plenty and generousity". Hence, his magic cauldron
5530-513: The stressed prefix air- (from Proto-Celtic *ɸare ). Archaic Old Irish (before about 750) had the following inventory of long vowels: Both /e₁ː/ and /e₂ː/ were normally written ⟨é⟩ but must have been pronounced differently because they have different origins and distinct outcomes in later Old Irish. /e₁ː/ stems from Proto-Celtic *ē (< PIE *ei), or from ē in words borrowed from Latin. /e₂ː/ generally stems from compensatory lengthening of short *e because of loss of
5609-518: The u-infection of stressed /a/ by a /u/ that preceded a palatalized consonant. This vowel faced much inconsistency in spelling, often detectable by a word containing it being variably spelled with ⟨au, ai, e, i, u⟩ across attestations. Tulach "hill, mound" is the most commonly cited example of this vowel, with the spelling of its inflections including tulach itself, telaig , telocho , tilchaib , taulich and tailaig . This special vowel also ran rampant in many words starting with
5688-431: The very end of a word) after both broad and slender consonants. The front vowels /e/ and /i/ are often spelled ⟨ae⟩ and ⟨ai⟩ after broad consonants, which might indicate a retracted pronunciation here, perhaps something like [ɘ] and [ɨ] . All ten possibilities are shown in the following examples: The distribution of short vowels in unstressed syllables, other than when absolutely final,
5767-502: The way of strictly contemporary sources. They are represented mainly by shorter or longer glosses on the margins or between the lines of religious Latin manuscripts , most of them preserved in monasteries in Germany, Italy, Switzerland, France and Austria, having been taken there by early Irish missionaries . Whereas in Ireland, many of the older manuscripts appear to have been worn out through extended and heavy use, their counterparts on
5846-448: The weather and crops, as well as time and the seasons . He is often described as a large bearded man or giant wearing a hooded cloak. He owns a magic staff ( lorc ) of dual nature: it kills with one end and brings to life with the other. He also owns a cauldron (the coire ansic ) which never runs empty, and a magic harp ( Uaithne , though this may be the name of the harper), which will not play unless called by its two bynames, and
5925-567: The word-initial position. In non-initial positions, the single-letter voiceless stops c, p, and t become the voiced stops / ɡ / , / b / , and / d / respectively unless they are written double. Ambiguity in these letters' pronunciations arises when a single consonant follows an l, n, or r . The lenited stops ch, ph, and th become / x / , / f / , and / θ / respectively. The voiced stops b, d, and g become fricative / v / , / ð / , and / ɣ / , respectively—identical sounds to their word-initial lenitions. In non-initial positions,
6004-494: Was otherwise known as the coire ansic ("the un-dry cauldron"). After Úaithne , the Dagda's harper was abducted by the Fomorians , the Dagda went to the enemy's hall and retrieved his magic harp , which had two names, according to the text of the Cath Maige Tuired ("Second Battle of Moytura"). And when the Dagda called upon his harp by its two names: "Come Daur Dá Bláo / Come Cóir Cetharchair / Come summer, come winter.."
6083-519: Was present in the preceding Primitive Irish period, though initial mutations likely existed in a non-grammaticalised form in the prehistoric era. Contemporary Old Irish scholarship is still greatly influenced by the works of a small number of scholars active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, such as Rudolf Thurneysen (1857–1940) and Osborn Bergin (1873–1950). Notable characteristics of Old Irish compared with other old Indo-European languages , are: Old Irish also preserves most aspects of
6162-482: Was quite restricted. It is usually thought that there were only two allowed phonemes: /ə/ (written ⟨a, ai, e, i⟩ depending on the quality of surrounding consonants) and /u/ (written ⟨u⟩ or ⟨o⟩ ). The phoneme /u/ tended to occur when the following syllable contained an *ū in Proto-Celtic (for example, dligud /ˈdʲlʲiɣ u ð/ "law" (dat.) < PC * dligedū ), or after
6241-560: Was the only known member of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic languages , which is, in turn, a subfamily of the wider Indo-European language family that also includes the Slavonic , Italic / Romance , Indo-Aryan and Germanic subfamilies, along with several others. Old Irish is the ancestor of all modern Goidelic languages: Modern Irish , Scottish Gaelic and Manx . A still older form of Irish
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