LITERAL TRANSLATION.
Here begins the Rule of Mochuta of Rathen for teaching the Ten Commandments to every person.
1. This is the way to the Prince
Jesu of noble strength,
To love God with all thy soul,
In heart, in deed.
. To love Him with all thy strength,
Not sadly, though earnestly.
To love thy neighbour next to that
As thou lovest thyself.
3. Do not worship idols,
For the great Lord's sake.
Ask not thy Creator
For pride that is not just.
4. Honour to thy parents
The King ordains,
And to everyone that is senior
And older than thou art.
5. Give honour to the Abbot
Of the Son of Mary, without fail.
Steal not, shed no blood,
And slay no one.
6. Be not covetous of the world,
Nor of the false heaven.
Do not bear witness against any one,
Do not cause pain to a single person.
7. What thou desirest from each one
For thyself of every good,
Do thou that to every one
That thou mayst come to the Prince.
8. Whatever for thyself thou desirest not
Of harm that is evil,
Do not wish to any man
While thou art in the flesh.
NOTES.
The above poem is written in the metre called cumasc etir rannaigeċt móir ocus leṫrannaigeċt, the first half of each line consisting of seven, the second half of five syllables. It is ascribed to Mochuta, abbot of Rathen and bishop of Lismore, who died in A.D. 637, but from the language it is evident that it was composed at a much later period. To mention only one certain test, the forms tóis and róis in the 7th stanza, s-futures of ticcim and riccim, would have counted as two syllables in the 7th century. Still the language is Old Irish, and the poem may, I think, well be ascribed to the 9th century.
3. ní adrai. Observe that ní with the subjunctive is used throughout instead of ná with the imperative. It seems to have the force of the Latin emphatic imperative.
4. ol m-bí, than thou art. ol occurs commonly in the word olċena “besides,” later, arċena, and in oldár “quam est.” Its original meaning seems to have been “ultra.” The m- is the infixed relative pronoun.
6. forsin biṫ—for in nem. This is a good example of the way in which the Irish scribes, by partly retaining, partly modernizing the older forms of language, have handed down the older literature in a form which does not represent the language of any definite period. forsin biṫ (or biuṫ) is Old Irish, for with the dative article; the accusative construction would have been forsin m-biṫ. But for in nem is Middle Irish for Old Irish forsin nim (dat.) or forsa nem (acc), the word nem being neuter in Old Irish.
ib., forgiull, the Old Irish dative of forgell, neut., “witness,” “proof.”
8. dúṫairser, the second pers. sing. of the s-subjunctive of dúṫracur, “I wish,” a deponent verb.
9. not-bé. The t is the infixed pronoun of the second person singular, bé is the third sing. injunctive of bíu.
ib., i corp. This would have been i curp (dat.) in Old Irish.
Kuno Meyer.
NOTES AND QUERIES.
(61). May, 1894, p. 29. In the song Cúl Duḃ Uaiġe, he second half of the stanza I., as heard in the Rosses, uns:
Shuiḋ muid ar an ráṁaiḋe, aċt níor léir ḋúinn
stiúraḋ ḋeanaḋ
Ḃí cuḃar ⁊ cáṫaḋ ’dul go bárra’ na gcrann;
Dá mbíoḋ sgian i n-ár bpócaiḋe a ġearrfaḋ na
rópaiḋe,
Do ċuirdeaḋ an ċóir sinn faoi ḟasgaḋ na
mbeann.
St. III., I: Suḃailce is always used here, not in its proper sense of “virtue, goodness,” but to signify “joy, mirth, happiness” (on the principle, I suppose, that virtue is happiness): ḃí suḃailce ṁór againn, “we had great fun;” duine suḃailceaċ “a merry person,” áit gan suḃailce, “a joyless place.”
III., 3: For Uí Phártaiġ read ná páirte, a term of endearment, a Néill ḃáin na páirte, “O fair Niall of my love!” (See Dr. Hyde's “Love-Songs of Connacht,” 40, 7 and 60, 16).
For clúiteaċ read tuaṫtaċ, “clumsy, awkward,” hence “accidental.” L. 4, for campal read caḃlaċ; 5, for ṫiontuiġ sé an bád, read líonaḋ an bád (as a matter of fact, the boat was not capsized, but filled in); 7, for Coirre read Goṫraoi, Godfrey, a brother of the skipper of the doomed boat.
Cúl Uaiġe, “the back of Owey,” is never literally translated here, but is always understood to mean “behind (i.e., west of) Owey.”
A. J. Doherty, Cruit Island.
(62) Dála na ḃfocal “do” ⁊ “de,” is cuiṁin liom, ’nuair do ḃíos ag léaġaḋ “T. B-Gh. an Bháis” maraon leis an nGaeḋilgeoir mblasda, Seaġán Ua Manaċáin a ainm, do nduḃairt seisean liom gur ḃ’ iongantaċ leis “do ḃríġ,” “do réir,” ⁊ a leiṫéid sin d’ḟaicsin ag an gCéitinneaċ, óir is “de ḃríġ,” “de réir,” do ċualaid féin i gcoṁnaiḋe, ⁊ is dóiġ go ndéantar deiṫḃir idir “do” ⁊ “de” annso.
Do, de ⁊ di, atáid uile gearr annso (i gCorcaiġ).
Osborn O hAiṁirgin.
(63) From Rev. E. Hogan, S.J.—At p. 137 (Dec), “O’Flaherty in his ‘West Connaught’ gives one of Barrett’s most popular songs.” For “O’F” read “Hardiman” (whose real name was O’hArtagáin). O’F. was dead before Barrett came on the scene. P. 138, col. 2, go fiú an oirid sin: add go fiú an sinuainiḋ, Donlevy, 20. Cf. Heb. 12, 20; 1 Cor., 5, 11; fiú an ṁeannáin, Luc, 15, 29; 50 go fiú aon ḟocail, Donlevy, 110. (fiú=“worthy” and “worth”? as biú=“life”: go fiú=ad advalorem?)
