NOTE BY TRANSLATOR.
The Dean’s MS. was put into the hands of the present translator a few years ago by Mr. Cosmo Innes, with a view to a correct account being given of its contents. After a considerable time spent on deciphering the difficult handwriting, and resolving the strange and irregular orthography, he gave a fuller account of it than had been given before, in a paper read before the Society of Scottish Antiquaries. He was aware that a transcript of the MS. had been made by a Gaelic scholar of the highest reputation, the late Mr. M‘Lachlan of Aberdeen; but that transcript was altogether unknown save by one or two individuals, and was at the time thought to be lost. In December 1860, the publishers proposed to the writer that he should undertake transcribing and translating the MS. with notes, Mr. Skene undertaking to write a historical introduction, with additional notes. There was good reason for reluctance in undertaking such a work. There was immense difficulty in the task itself, consisting very much in an exercise of ingenuity, the results to be tested by comparison, in guessing the meaning of words phonetically spelled; there was the labour of writing the same thing in three different forms; and there was in all this large demands upon time otherwise engrossed by the duties of a profession, whose calls the keeping of a good conscience, and duty to a Divine Master, would not admit of being neglected or postponed. The work itself, however, was very congenial, as contributing somewhat to the literature of the Celtic countrymen of the writer, the literature of a period, too, of which few other literary remains of theirs exist. He therefore undertook to devote his spare hours for a season to the work, which is now laid before the public.
The difficulties did not become less than was anticipated when they came to be practically dealt with. There was first the transcription of the original. A facsimile specimen of the writing is given in this volume, from which some idea may be formed of its character. The handwriting is the current English hand of the fifteenth century, with a few additional peculiarities borrowed from the Gaelic writing of the same period, as practised both in Scotland and Ireland. As is common in the writing of the period, the same sign is used both for c and t. There is often no distinction between o and e, u and n, or ƒ and s; and in the hurry of writing the Dean often wrote m for n, and vice versâ; and the letter z stands for all the sounds resembling the consonant y. Besides, there are numerous contractions, the same sign being often used for in, im, and ir, and the Irish dot (·) is often used as a substitute for h. The MS. is in many places much decayed, and the writing in consequence much obscured, while the orthography is by no means quite regular. The transcript has, however, been carefully made from the original, and compared again in proof, and the reader, with the allowance necessary in the circumstances already described, may feel assured that in the original, as printed, he has a correct copy of the Dean’s work.
The work, however, was not beyond the threshold when the transcription was complete. It was in interpreting the Dean’s phonetic Gaelic, so as to form the modern Gaelic edition, that the chief difficulty arose; and here the translator was left altogether without guide to lead the way, except in the case of a few of the Ossianic poems. There were three peculiar difficulties to be encountered here,—first, the frequent occurrence of obsolete words,—words not to be found in any dictionary of the Scottish Gaelic,—and the meaning of which could only be learned from some acquaintance with the ancient MS. writings of Scottish and Irish scribes; secondly, there was the introduction into the Dean’s grammar of the Irish eclipsis, turning in his orthography f into w, c into g, b into m, and d into n, without any hyphen; and there was, last of all, the accentuation, which, in a number of the pieces, lays the emphasis on the latter syllable of dissyllabic words, and thus alters to a Scotch reader the whole rhythm of the lines. Many of these pieces will not read as poetry at all, unless read in accordance with the Irish method of accentuation. It was known to all acquainted with early Gaelic literature, how much there was that was common to the literature of Scotland and Ireland. This miscellany fully establishes the fact, while it also shows that, in the fifteenth century, Scottish Gaelic, as exemplified in some of these compositions, especially those of Finlay M’Nab, had its own distinctive features. There is nothing more interesting than the weight given in the allusions in these poems to the existence and influence of the Bardic schools at the period, and the large prizes usually conferred by the wealthy on successful poets.
The translation into English was, upon the whole, a less arduous process than the previous one. It might have been otherwise had the attempt been made to translate into English poetry. This, however, has been carefully avoided. The rendering has been made so literal as that the meaning of every sentence in Gaelic is conveyed in English, so far as the editor has been able to do it; and the translation is merely somewhat lightened, and the reading made more agreeable, by having the baldness of mere literality removed, and the lines made somewhat smooth and flowing.
In some cases the spelling and handwriting together have so obscured the words, that the editor has been quite unable to give anything like a satisfactory rendering; hence there will be found, in a very few instances, what are apparently different words in the original and modern version. Some instances will also be found of words written in the modern version according to the analogy of the Dean’s orthography, while the precise word intended has not been identified. The editor has only to say regarding these and any other cases of doubtful rendering, which in such a work must be numerous, that he will be happy to receive through the publishers any suggestions from Gaelic scholars which may help to secure greater accuracy.
It is only necessary to say farther, that in extending the modern Gaelic version of these poems, it was perfectly impossible to exclude all the older forms of the language. In many places to do so would have been to destroy the whole poetical structure of the composition. It was essential to retain the “da,” if, the “fa,” on, or under, and the “co” or “go,” with, besides numerous forms of the verb, which it is the practice now to call Irish, but which were common at an early period to the literature of both countries. It was perfectly impossible, with anything like justice to these compositions, to bring them into exact conformity with the rules of modern Scottish Gaelic.
The present volume contains every line of Ossianic or Fenian poetry in the Dean’s MS. It also contains every composition having reference to Scotland, with the exception of five; two of these being so much defaced, and so many of the words obscured by time and exposure, that it is impossible to give anything like an accurate version of them. The other three are eulogies on the clan Gregor chiefs, so much of a piece with those already given, that they would not contribute to the literary value of the work. The purely Irish poems of the O’Huggins, the O’Dalys, etc., are not given in this work, whose object is to illustrate the language and literature of the Scottish Highlands at an early period. A few specimens, such as the laments of Gormlay, wife of Nial Glundubh, and daughter of Flann Sionna, Queen of Ireland, have been transcribed as specimens, which may be not uninteresting either to the Scottish or Irish reader. The Irish compositions are, with few exceptions, of a religious character.
T. M‘L.
Edinburgh, December 1861.
In a note at [p. 43], it is said that an edition of the poem by Allan M’Rory, there translated, would be given at the close of the work, as taken down from the recitation of an old woman, Christina Sutherland, in Caithness, in the year 1854. It is now given, but without a translation, which is not thought necessary.
DUAN CATHA GHABHRA.
Is trom an nochd mo chumha féin, guilgeantach mo rian, Smuaineachadh a chatha chruaidh, chuir mise ’us Cairbar claon-ruadh. A mhic ’s a Chormaig shuinn, is mairg sin fhuaireadh fo a laimh, Laoch gun ghràin cha do chuir, ann a dha laimh iuthaidh. Labhairidh Baranta gu prap, cuimhnich Mucanais, cuimhnich fathasd, Cuimhnich ’ur sinnsreadh, ’s ’ur linn, cuimhnich na cìsean bhitheadh cruaidh, Bha aca an Eirinn ri’r linn, gu ’n bhi ag iocadh do Mhac Cumhail. Gu ’m b’fhearr tuiteam air a mhagh, sinn ’us an Fheinn le chéile, No bhi air barr a mhaigh, bhi an Fheinn air a mhòr thir. Chuir sinn ar comhairle chruaidh, sinn ’us an Fheinn ri aon uair, Feuchainn an cuireadh gach òg aghach, ceangal air . . . An oidhche sin duinn gu lò, eadar mhnathan Fhiann ’s na Feinn og òl, An la sin gu ’m bitheamaid muigh, ’g oillt air Chairbar ’na liath-theach. Chuir sinn sin Cath Ghabhra, ’us chuir gu fuathach, fuileach, feargach, Thuit an Fheinn bonn ri bonn, ’us feara uasal Eirinn. Deich fichead agus fichead ceud, sgeul fior, ni abraim breug, Gun robh sinte an la sin, air a mhagh gun anamain, Dha uiread eile ’us sin bha ann, aig rìgh Eirinn, sgeul bu mho, Gun robh sinte air an taobh eile, de uaislibh Eirinn airm-ghloin. Chuir sinn ar teachdair saor, gu Fathacanain mac a Choin, Rachad an teachdair o ar cinn, gu ard thulach Eirinn. Ciod e sin a phlòdh a bhuail oirbh, ars’ an rìgh le meud a thoirm, Is e mheud ’s a bha annaibhse d’an uabhar, sin a mhill na fir eile. Ach innis duinn Oisiain fheile, ’n uair chuir thu gach iorghuill treun, An d’fhuair thu do mhac anns a chath, no an d’rug air ’ard labhradh. Thainig mi an deigh cur an àir, os cionn mo mhic Osgair àigh, Gun d’fhuair mise a sgiath ri làr, ’s ’s a lann ’n a dheas laimh; Chuir mi bonn mo shleagh ri làr, ’us rinn mi os a chionn tàmh, Phadruig, smuainich mise an sin, ciod a dheanainn ri mo shaoghal; Gum b’e freagairt mo mhicse féin, ’n uair bha e an deireadh anamain, “Fo ris na duilibh, thusa a bhi lathair, athar.” Ach nior their mise a ghò, freagairt cha robh agam dhò, Ach an d’ thainig Caoilte cain, thugamsa dh’ fheuchainn Osgair. ’N uair dh’ fheuch Caoilte gach cneadh air chòir, fhuair e gach aon ni o dhòigh, Fhuair e ’chorp creuchdach, glan, air a sgaradh le geur shleaghan; Sleagh chrithinn a Chairbair ruaidh, an innibh Osgair, mo thruaighe! Bha lamh Chaoilte gu uileann deas, ann an àite na sleagha, Leud na coise bhàn air ’fholt, cha robh sin slàn ’n a chorp, Ach an ruigeadh e ’bhonn làr, ach ’eudan ’n a h-aonar. Mar bhuinne aimhne bha a shnuagh, no sruth reothairt bha ro luath, Gun robh e ’cuir ’fhola dheth, ’am blaghaibh a luirich. Thog sinn an t-Osgar suas, chunnacas tochdair mu ’r coinnimh, Fionn mac Cumhail is e treunmhor, ’us e ’g imeachd feadh an t-sloigh, Ag iarraidh mo chorpsa ’s a chath, ’us corp Osgair an aird fhlatha, Corp Chaoilte nach tinn, deagh mhic a pheathair ionmhuinn. Chunnaic sinn nis Fionn, ’us e ’g imeachd feadh an t-sloigh, Thog sinn ar sleagha os ar cionn, ’us ruith sinn uile ’n a chomhdhail. Bheannaich sinn an sin do Fhionn, ’us cha d’fhreagair esan sinn, Ach ruith gu tulach nan treun, far am bith Osgar nan arm geur. ’N uair chunnaic an t-Osgar Fionn, ’us e tamuil os a chionn, Thog e air an aghaidh aluinn, ’us bheannaich e d’a sheanair, Beagan bu mhiosa thu na sin, an la Chab-an-eudainn, Chiteadh na neoil troimh do shlios, ’us dh’fheudar do leigheas, Rachad na coirean air luathainn, troimh do cholainn chraobh uallaich, D’fhuaigheal dh’ iarr thu le goid, nach d’rinneas air laoch romhad. Mo leigheas cha-n ’eil aig fàil, nocha-n fhaighear e gu bràth, Tuilleadh cha-n ’eil agaibh do ’m thoirbheirt, ach an t-sreangsa do ’m ard labhradh, Sleadh Charbair chràdh mo chridhe ’s gur i sgar mi o mo chairdibh, Chuir e sleadh nan naoi slinn, eadar m’imleag ’us m’airnean, Mo thruaighe sin! Osgair fhéile, ’s a dheagh mhic mo mhicse féin, Bha sgaradh na sleagh o do dhruim, ’n am togail cìs o shliochd mhòr Chuinn, D’eisdeachd ri briathraibh Fhinn, an ainm an Osgair dhuinn, Shin e uaith a dha laimh, ’us dhùn e an rosg bha ro mhall. Thionndadh Fionn ruinn a chùl, ’us shil a dheura gu dlù; An taobh muigh de Osgar ’us de Bhran, gun chaoineadh air neach bh’air thalamh. Cha chaoineadh duine a mhac féin, ’s cha chaoineadh e brathair ’n a dhèigh, Bha sinn mar sin uile, ’s gach neach a caoineadh Osgair. A mhain ach mi féin ’us Fionn, cha robh aon neach os a chionn, Nach tug tri glaodhan mu’n uaigh, chuir clos air Eirinn ri aon uair. D’éisdeachd ri beucaich nam fear, ’us sgreadail nan comh-mhilidh, Ri faicinn an oig-fhir threin, ’us e ’n a luidh ’n a bhaoth-neul, Ge b’e rìgh thigeadh an sin, gheibheadh e foide gun aoidh, Gun fhuathach, gun umhladh, gun dail, gun achmhasan, gun iomadan. O’n la chuir mi cath Ghabhra, gu dearbh mi gun trom labhradh, ’Us oidhche cha robh mi no lo, gun osnadh bha gu lionmhor.
T. M‘L.