̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Celtic

Lost Irish words rediscovered, including the word for ‘oozes pus'

ta385 — Fri, 30 Aug 2019 07:00:00 +0000

If you were choosing where to live in medieval Ireland you might insist on somewhere ogach which meant ‘eggy’ or ‘abounding in eggs’, but in reference to a particularly fertile region. By contrast, you would never want to hear your cook complaining brachaid, ‘it oozes pus’. And if you were too boisterous at the dining table, you might be accused of briscugad (making something easily broken).

All three words have been brought back to life thanks to a painstaking five-year research project involving a collaboration between Queen’s ̽��ֱ�� Belfast and the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge. ̽��ֱ��team has scoured medieval manuscripts and published texts for words which have either been overlooked by earlier dictionary-makers or which have been erroneously defined.

Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Professor of Celtic and Medieval Studies at Cambridge says: “ ̽��ֱ��Dictionary offers a window onto a fascinating and important past world. ̽��ֱ��project extends our understanding of the vocabulary of the time but also offers unique insights into the people who used these words. They reveal extraordinary details about everyday lives, activities, beliefs and relationships, as well as contact with speakers of other languages.”

̽��ֱ��revised dictionary spans the development of the Irish language over a thousand years from the sixth century to the sixteenth, from the time just after the arrival of St Patrick all the way down to the era of Elizabeth I. ̽��ֱ��team has amended definitions, presented evidence to show that some words were in use much earlier than previously thought, and even deleted a few fake words. One of these is tapairis which had been taken to be some kind of medicinal substance but in effect is not a word at all, since it arose from an incorrect division of two other words literally meaning ‘grains of paradise’, the term for Guinea grains.

Lost words

̽��ֱ��rediscovered lost words include a term for ‘becomes ignorant' – ainfisigid, based on the word for knowledge: fis. Other words have been shown to have been attested hundreds of years earlier than was previously thought, such as foclóracht meaning vocabulary. Yet, other examples emphasise that the medieval world continues to resonate. One of these is rímaire, which is used as the modern Irish word for computer (in its later form ríomhaire).

Professor Ní Mhaonaigh explains: “In the medieval period, rímaire referred not to a machine but to a person engaged in the medieval science of computistics who performed various kinds of calculations concerning time and date, most importantly the date of Easter. So it’s a word with a long pedigree whose meaning was adapted and applied to a modern invention.”

̽��ֱ��historical dictionary on which the electronic one is based was originally published by the Royal Irish Academy in 23 volumes between 1913 and 1976. “Advances in scholarship since the publication of the first volume had rendered parts of the dictionary obsolete or out of date,” says Greg Toner, leader of the project and Professor of Irish at Queen’s ̽��ֱ�� Belfast. “Our work has enabled us to resolve many puzzles and errors and to uncover hundreds of previously unknown words.”

̽��ֱ��online Dictionary serves up a feast of information on subjects as diverse as food, festivals, medicine, superstition, law and wildlife. One of the newly added phrases is galar na rig, literally the king's disease, a term for scrofula which is known in English as king's evil.

Outlaws and turkeys

̽��ֱ��project sheds new light on Ireland’s interactions with foreign languages, cultures and goods in the medieval period. ̽��ֱ��Dictionary points out that útluighe, meaning an outlaw, ultimately goes back to the Old Norse word útlagi, though the term was perhaps borrowed into Irish through English or Anglo-Norman. Its use appears to have been limited – the researchers have only found it once, in a thirteenth-century poem by Giolla Brighde Mac Con Midhe.

Another loanword in Modern Irish is turcaí (turkey) but before this was borrowed from English, this bird was known as cearc fhrancach (turkey hen) or coilech francach (turkey cock). Strictly speaking, the adjective Francach means 'French' or 'of French origin'. This usage to denote a bird native to the Americas may seem odd but in other languages, it is associated with various countries including France, for reasons which remain unclear.

Spreading the word

Professor Toner says: “A key aim of our work has been to open the Dictionary up, not only to students of the language but to researchers working in other areas such as history and archaeology, as well as to those with a general interest in medieval life.”

In a related project, the researchers have been developing educational resources for schools in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.

̽��ֱ��Dictionary launched on 30 August 2019 at the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin. A History of Ireland in 100 Words, drawing on 100 of the Dictionary's words and tracing how they illuminate historical changes will be published in October 2019 by the Royal Irish Academy.

For more on the newly discovered words, see a piece by Dr Sharon Arbuthnot, a researcher on the project, in the Brainstorm series on National Irish Television (RTÉ).

Researchers from Cambridge and Queen’s ̽��ֱ�� Belfast have identified and defined 500 Irish words, many of which had been lost, and unlocked the secrets of many other misunderstood terms. Their findings can now be freely accessed in the revised version of the online dictionary of Medieval Irish (www.dil.ie).

̽��ֱ��Dictionary offers a window onto a fascinating and important past world

Máire Ní Mhaonaigh

National Library of Ireland, Manuscript G11 403a10. Image, Irish Scripts on Screen

National Library of Ireland, Manuscript G11 403a10

Funding

Work on the Dictionary has been supported by the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council. ̽��ֱ��related project developing schools’ resources is funded by a grant from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, School of Arts and Humanities Impact Fund.

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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Opinion: From Medieval kings to modern politics: the origins of England’s North-South divide

Anonymous — Fri, 26 Feb 2016 15:11:35 +0000

̽��ֱ��medieval world has a powerful hold over our modern imaginations. We continually revisit this murky period of history in fictional frolics such as Game of Thrones, and stirring series including ̽��ֱ��Last Kingdom. Echoes of the so-called “dark ages” even carry as far as today’s politics – particularly when it comes to discussions about devolution.

Indeed, as Westminster begins to relinquish political powers to England’s newly-formed city regions, some have claimed that these territories should be defined by historical precedent, rather than administrative practicalities.

But how close are we to our medieval roots, and are our connections with the past really strong enough to influence modern-day decisions? To find out, we need to take a closer look at what’s left of the Celtic, Anglo-Saxon and Viking kingdoms of yore.

Ancient Elmet

̽��ֱ��Leeds city region. harkeytalk/Wikimedia commons

Perhaps the most obvious links between past and present can be found simply by looking at the names of places on a map. Take, for example, the Leeds city region – one of the first regions to be granted new powers over transport and skills development.

This region encompasses the villages, towns and cities between Harrogate in the north, Barnsley in the south, Bradford in the west and York in the east, with Leeds at its heart. But it’s not the first time Leeds has been the centre of a regional power base; it was also at the core of the early medieval kingdom of Elmet.

A map of the Old North, based on information from Celtic Culture by John Koch Notuncurious/Wikimedia commons, CC BY-SA

This shadowy kingdom was under the control of Celtic rulers, who spoke a language akin to Welsh. It was later conquered by Edwin, an Anglo-Saxon king, in the 7th century and became part of his empire. Today, the kingdom is recalled in place names, and the parliamentary constituency of Elmet and Rothwell.

Yet despite these geographical similarities, this connection is tenuous – the modern Leeds city region also encompasses parts of North Yorkshire that would not have been in Elmet. And it’s unlikely that administrators had the medieval kingdom in mind when they were drawing the boundaries.

Pursuing the past

To find a more convincing connection between modern politics and medieval monarchs, we need to go beyond mere borders and explore cultural, political and genetic links. For instance, the advocates of Yorkshire devolution trace their heritage back to medieval times – and even earlier. There’s certainly some evidence to support their longstanding connection with the region.

̽��ֱ��People of the British Isles project analysed the DNA of more than 2,000 people whose grandparents came from the same rural areas. ̽��ֱ��resulting genetic groups have been compared with 7th-century kingdoms, indicating some local stability in population over many centuries. What’s more, these ancestral links hold cultural and political force: a recent study showed how much “Yorkshireness” is still a key element of the identity of those living in the county.

We can trace Yorkshire’s political identity back to the days of Edwin, a highly successful Anglo-Saxon king. Edwin belonged to the ruling dynasty of the Deirans, whose power base originally lay in eastern Yorkshire. Edwin expanded into the west of the county and overshadowed his northern Northumbrian neighbours, the Bernicians. He also established looser control over other parts of Britain. Not merely a warrior, Edwin was baptised in York and venerated as a saint. After his death, the Deirans lacked a strong champion. They were dominated by their northern neighbours and absorbed into a greater Northumbrian kingdom.

̽��ֱ��original Northern Powerhouse

̽��ֱ��Kingdom of Northumbria. Wikimedia Commons

Bordered to the south by the River Humber, the Kingdom of Northumbria encompassed northern England and some parts of southern Scotland. Dating from the 7th century, it is said to be the first concrete instance of the North-South divide: the early medieval writer Bede described separate spheres of Northumbrian and southern English politics.

This northern Anglo-Saxon kingdom fragmented during the turbulence of the Viking Age. ̽��ֱ��core area was gradually incorporated into England, while the northern districts became part of Scotland. Nevertheless, Northumbrian identity evolved into a northern separatism that recurred in later times. This in turn generated a sense of northern cultural difference that is familiar today; “pies and prejudice”, in Stuart Maconie’s words.

But while large kingdoms were liable to disintegrate in turbulent times, local and regional networks have tended to remain relatively stable. They formed the building blocks of larger political units and some, like Yorkshire, went on to become modern-day counties.

A key question for modern politics is how the new devolution deals will complement these deeply-rooted identities. ̽��ֱ��case of Yorkshire highlights the tension between the new city regions, the old counties and an ancient northern identity. Medieval allegiances could be multi-layered, and encompass local, regional and national loyalties. ̽��ֱ��same balance is at stake in the modern devolution agenda.

Fiona Edmonds, Senior Lecturer in Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge

This article was originally published on ̽��ֱ��Conversation. Read the original article.

̽��ֱ��opinions expressed in this article are those of the individual author(s) and do not represent the views of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge.

Fiona Edmonds (Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic) discusses devolution and the medieval kingdoms of England.

Chris Jones

̽��ֱ��Vikings are coming

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Explore the scary stories of early cultures

amb206 — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 16:00:31 +0000

̽��ֱ��Festival of Ideas (www.cam.ac.uk/festivalofideas/) is the UK’s largest free festival celebrating the arts, humanities and social sciences. It runs this year from October 24-November 4 with a theme of ‘Dream and Nightmares’.

Narratives built around dreams and nightmares are woven into the early cultures of the British Isles with blood-curdling descriptions of scary beasts – fire-breathing dragons, many-humped sea-monsters, composite creatures mutating before our eyes – whose forms decorate many of the precious manuscripts that survive to bring us gripping tales of heroes and outlaws.

An afternoon of talks and readings this Saturday (3 November) at the Faculty of English will explore the language and literature of early Britain and Ireland – the Anglo-Saxons, the Welsh, and the Irish – with a series of eminent speakers giving an accessible overview of their research for an audience of teenagers upwards. ̽��ֱ��Vikings, whose culture influenced those of Britain and Ireland in this period, will also make an appearance.

̽��ֱ��sessions will start with a talk by Professor Paul Russell about dream narratives in Old Welsh and Old Irish. Professor Russell, head of Cambridge’s Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic, will introduce the audience to tales such as the Old Irish Aislinge Oenguso ( ̽��ֱ��Dream of Oengus) and the medieval Welsh Breudwyt Ronabwy ( ̽��ֱ��Dream of Ronabwy). ̽��ֱ��audience will also meet a Welsh monk who dreams of a beautiful girl. This talk will be followed by readings of Old Welsh and Old Irish given by current undergraduates of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic.

Dr Richard Dance will explore the origins of the words ‘dream’ and ‘nightmare’ with reference to his research into the history of the English language. He will then read an extract of the Old English poem ̽��ֱ��Dream of the Rood, an early Christian poem that describes the Crucifixion from the viewpoint of the Cross. ‘This poem is an example of Old English verse at its most imaginative,’ said Dr Dance. “It brilliantly harnesses the vivid, weird metamorphosis of dreams to explain the inner meaning of this central Christian story.”

Further readings of Old English and Old Norse by students will be followed by a talk on the monsters of Old English coinage by Dr Rory Naismith. He will refer in particular to a coin belonging to the Fitzwilliam Museum that bears the image of a creature that is half-dragon, half-wolf. It illustrates the way in which imagery from the pagan heritage of the English overlapped with Christian imagery as symbols of the power of rulers such as Penda and Offa of Mercia.

̽��ֱ��afternoon will conclude with a talk on dreams in Old Norse by Dr Judy Quinn, who is known for her work on Old Norse poetry and Icelandic sagas. She will explore two different dream sequences recorded in Icelandic sagas, one set in the ancient pagan past (Gísla saga) and another during the politically tumultuous thirteenth century (Íslendinga saga). In both sagas, powerful ‘dream women’ visit saga figures to try to influence their behaviour, creating scenes that are shockingly vivid and rich in detail about the cultural value of dreams.

Dreams and nightmares in early Britain and Ireland will take place at the Judith Wilson Studio, Faculty of English, Sidgwick Site, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge on Saturday 3 November from 2pm to 5pm. No need to book, no charge, suitable for ages 14 and over.

For full details of the sessions and all Festival of Ideas events go to www.cam.ac.uk/festivalofideas/.

Don’t miss the chance to learn about the rich cultures of the early British Isles in a series of free talks and readings at the Faculty of English, taking place this Saturday (3 November) as part of Cambridge ̽��ֱ��’s Festival of Ideas.

Narratives built around dreams and nightmares are woven into the early cultures of the British Isles.

Jóhanna Ólafsdóttir

Illustration from the Saga of St Olaf, Flateyjarbók, Reykjavik, Iceland

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