̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Maire Ni Mhaonaigh

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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Ireland’s Troy?

tdk25 — Wed, 23 Apr 2014 07:41:57 +0000

̽��ֱ��standard account of the Battle of Clontarf – a defining moment in Irish history which happened 1,000 years ago this week – was partly a “pseudo-history” borrowed from the tale of Troy, new research suggests.

̽��ֱ��findings, which are to be published in a forthcoming book about the intellectual culture of medieval Ireland, coincide with extensive celebrations in Dublin marking the millennium of Clontarf, which was fought on Good Friday, April 23, 1014.

In popular history, the battle has been characterised as an epic and violent clash between the army of the Christian Irish High King, Brian Boru, and a combined force led by the rebel king of the territory of Leinster, Máel Mórda, and Sitric, leader of the Dublin-based Vikings. ̽��ֱ��disputed outcome saw the Vikings beaten off, but at huge cost. Brian himself was killed, and became an iconic figure and Irish martyr.

According to the new study, however, much of what we know about Clontarf may be rooted not in historical fact, but a brilliant work of historical literature which modelled sections of its text on an earlier account of the siege of Troy.

Rather than a trustworthy description of the battle itself, this account – Cogadh Gáedhel re Gallaibh (“ ̽��ֱ��War Of ̽��ֱ��Irish Against ̽��ֱ��Foreigners”) – was really a rhetorical masterpiece designed to place Ireland’s legendary past in the context of a grand, classical tradition, stretching back to the works of Homer and classical philosophy.

̽��ֱ��study argues that this in itself should be seen as evidence that the cultural achievements of Brian Boru’s successors in medieval Ireland were complex, highly sophisticated, and the equal of anywhere else in Europe.

It also means, however, that despite the widespread portrayal of Clontarf as a heroic, quasi-national conflict in which the lives of Brian and others were sacrificed in the Irish cause, the historical truth is unknown. While the advent of the battle itself and its significance is beyond question, the details of what happened are likely to remain a mystery.

̽��ֱ��research was carried out by Dr Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, a Reader in medieval literature and history at St John’s College, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge. It will appear in a new book called Classical Literature and Learning in Medieval Irish Narrative, published in Boydell and Brewer’s ‘Studies in Celtic History’ series and edited by Ralph O’Connor.

“ ̽��ֱ��casting of Clontarf as a national struggle in which the aged, holy Brian was martyred still defines what most people know about the battle, and it has probably endured because that was what numerous generations of Irish men and women wanted to read,” Dr Ní Mhaonaigh said.

“Academics have long accepted that Cogadh couldn’t be taken as reliable evidence but that hasn’t stopped some of them from continuing to draw on it to portray the encounter. What this research shows is that its account of the battle was crafted, at least in part, to create a version of events that was the equivalent of Troy. This was more than a literary flourish, it was a work of a superb, sophisticated and learned author.”

Another reason that the story may have endured is a lack of physical evidence for the battle. No archaeological remains have been found, and the precise location, presumed to be somewhere around the modern Dublin suburb of Clontarf, is disputed.

Compared with the very basic information in contemporary chronicles, Cogadh provides by far the most comprehensive account of what happened. It was, however, written about a century later, probably at the behest of Brian’s great-grandson. Historians have rightly treated it as partial, but also as the written version of oral accounts that had been passed on from those who witnessed the battle itself.

̽��ֱ��new research suggests that this pivotal source was even more of a cultivated fabrication than previously thought. Through a close study of the text, Dr Ní Mhaonaigh found that the imagery, terminology and ideas draw inspiration from a range of earlier sources – in particular Togail Troí ( ̽��ֱ��Destruction of Troy), an eleventh-century translation of a fifth-century account of the battle for Troy.

In particular, the unknown author explicitly cast Brian’s son, who it is believed led a large part of his father’s army at Clontarf, as an Irish Hector, whom he describes as “the last man who had true valour in Ireland”. Tellingly, Togail Troí is also found in the same manuscript as Cogadh – suggesting that the author had this to hand when describing the battle.

Rather than pouring cold water on the millennial celebrations by showing the main account of Clontarf to have been an elaborate piece of story-telling, however, the study points out that the work bears witness to the cultural achievements of Brian’s successors.

̽��ֱ��parallel between Murchad and Hector in particular was in fact part of a complex and deeply scholarly analogy which drew on the recurring classical motif of the “Six Ages of the World” and “Six Ages of Man”. It shows that whoever wrote it was not simply describing a battle, but crafting a brilliant work of art.

“Whoever wrote this was operating as part of larger, learned European tradition,” Dr Ní Mhaonaigh added. “People should not see the fact that it is a fabricated narrative as somehow a slur against Brian, because what it really shows is that his descendants were operating at a cultural level of the highest complexity and order.”

For further information about this story, please contact: Tom Kirk, tdk25@cam.ac.uk

As Ireland marks the millennium of the Battle of Clontarf – portrayed as a heroic encounter between Irish and Vikings which defined the nation’s identity - new research argues that our main source for what happened may be more literary history than historical fact.

This was more than a literary flourish, it was a work of a superb, sophisticated and learned author

Máire Ní Mhaonaigh

Isaacs Art Centre, via Wikimedia Commons

An 1826 painting of the Battle of Clontarf by the Irish artist, Hugh Frazer

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Vikings offered early lessons in effective immigration

bjb42 — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0000

In a three-day event starting today (Friday, March 13th), leading scholars will unveil more than 20 cutting-edge studies which reveal how the Vikings shared technology, swapped ideas and often lived side-by-side in relative harmony with their Anglo-Saxon and Celtic contemporaries.

Together, the research further revises our standard image of the Vikings, who academics argue should be seen as an early example of immigrants being successfully assimilated into British and Irish culture.

" ̽��ֱ��latest evidence does not point to a simple opposition between 'Vikings' and 'natives'," Dr Fiona Edmonds, from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge's Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, said.

"Within a relatively short space of time - and with lasting effect - the various cultures in Britain and Ireland started to intermingle. Investigating that process provides us with a historical model of how political groups can be absorbed into complex societies, contributing much to those societies in the process. There are important lessons that can be gained from this about cultural assimilation in the modern era," her colleague, Dr Máire Ní Mhaonaigh added.

̽��ֱ��conference, entitled "Between the Islands", has been organised by the ̽��ֱ��'s Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic and its Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH).

Drawing on a combination of new archaeological evidence, historical studies, and analysis of the language, literature and coinage of the period, it aims to illustrate how between the 9th and 13th centuries, the Vikings became an integral part of the fabric of social and political life which changed Britain and Ireland far more profoundly than is often realised.

̽��ֱ��evidence shows that there was widespread cultural hybridisation, with culturally-mixed groups of Vikings and Celts or Anglo-Saxons engaged in ongoing and fruitful cultural exchanges. Papers being presented at the conference will cover topics including:

• Research into Scandinavian settlement in Ireland showing it to have been much more varied than was once thought. Interaction between Viking incomers and Celts can be detected in many of the camps.

• An examination of evidence for Scandinavian settlement in North-West England including archaeological remains (such as furnished burials) which point to early Viking settlements on the Cumbrian coast.

• A new analysis of personal names in the Domesday Book which suggests that settlements established in Yorkshire, on the path used by travellers voyaging between Viking Dublin and Viking York, retained their Gaelic-Scandinavian identity until the Norman Conquest.

• Investigations into Irish nautical activity indicating that it experienced a flowering in the tenth century perhaps in response to Viking prowess in this area. ̽��ֱ��key product of this development is "Skuldelev 2", an impressive Viking long-ship built in Dublin in 1042.

• Recent studies of regional coinage from the period, which show that Viking rulers developed economies influenced by cultures they encountered on arrival. In East Anglia, for example, (where there had been a well-regulated coin economy), they adopted a similar system, but in other areas, where there had been only limited coin circulation, they introduced a bullion economy instead.

• Evidence that those responsible for Ogam and runic inscriptions may have mutually influenced one another, as indicated by such monuments as stone crosses at Kilalloe (Co. Clare, Ireland) and Kirk Michael (Isle of Man).

• Analysis of Old Norse literary works which shows that some of their features may have been borrowed from Gaelic story-telling.

"There have been significant advances in our understanding of the impact that the Vikings had on Britain and Ireland in the early medieval period, and this conference shows that the three worlds were inexorably intertwined for hundreds of years," Dr Ní Mhaonaigh said.

"We know that the Vikings were part of a much wider process of cultural cross-fertilisation that changed Britain and Ireland forever. This information changes the way we understand the early history of our own islands."

New evidence which reveals how the Vikings successfully blended into British and Irish culture long before they were consigned to history as barbaric raiders is to be presented at a Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� conference.

We know that the Vikings were part of a much wider process of cultural cross-fertilisation that changed Britain and Ireland forever.

Dr Ní Mhaonaigh

luigig from Flickr

Viking Ship

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