[ [36] It is remarkable that the ancient legends of Cuchullin and the sons of Uisneach connect them with those remarkable structures termed vitrified forts. Dun Scathaig, Dun mhic Uisneachan, and Dundheardhuil, are all vitrified forts, and the latter is a common name for them. There is probably a mythic meaning under this.
[ [37] This poem, with a translation, is given in the Additional Notes, [pp. 143], [144].
[ [38] The scene of this poem is in Scotland, the sea of Tallann being said to be in the east, and it must have been written in Scotland, as the accent is placed on the first syllable of the name Oisin.
The Highlanders call a whale muic mhara, and, from the description, this creature appears to have been a whale.
On communicating this curious poem to Professor O’Curry, he informs me that there is a copy of it in the Book of Leinster, an MS. of the thirteenth century. The text is the same, but the glosses a little different.
I may take this opportunity of calling attention to Professor O’Curry’s admirable Lectures on the MS. literature of Ireland, just published. They are most interesting and instructive, and for the masterly and complete survey taken of the subject, as well as for accurate and minute detail, they are almost unexampled in the annals of literature. They will well repay perusal.
[ [39] The oldest copy of this tale, which was the foundation of Macpherson’s Darthula, is in the Glenmasan MS., in the collection in the Advocates’ Library, which bears the date of 1238, and this translation is made from it.
The scenery is all in Argyllshire. Inis Draighen is Inistrynich in Loch-awe; Dun Suibhne, Castle Sween; Glenlaidhe is now called Glenlochy, where is Benlaoidhe; Glenmasan still bears the name; Gleneitche, in another copy called Loch Eitche, is Glenetive and Loch Etive; Glenurchain is Glenurchay; and Glendaruadh is now called Glendaruail.
[ [40] The name of this poet has given rise to some controversy between the Scotch and Irish Gael. By the latter it is pronounced Oisìn, the accent falling on the last syllable; by the former it is pronounced Ossian, the accent falling on the first. Dean M’Gregor spells the word sometimes Ossan, but usually Ossin. It is manifest from the use of the ss that he intends the accent to fall upon the first syllable, according to the Scottish mode. The Scottish pronunciation would appear to have been the same in his days as now. This form of the word we have retained in our translation. We do not mean to institute any comparison between the Irish and Scottish mode. The difference clearly arises from the peculiarity of each dialect, the Irish almost uniformly, in words of two syllables, laying the accent on the last, and the Scottish upon the first syllable.
[ [41] The Dean’s Finn is the Fingal of some writers. “Fionn,” pronounced “Fiŭghn,” genitive, “Fhinn,” pronounced “Ighn,” is the present Scottish and Irish form of the word, and we have preserved this in M’Gregor’s own orthography. Scottish writers have, however, been unjustly accused of manufacturing the term “Fingal.” It is not, as some Irish scholars have maintained, a modern corruption of Fin mac Cùil, but a word known and in use for centuries. John Barbour, who wrote his metrical life of King Robert Bruce in 1375, uses it as a familiar term:—