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Miscellanea Linguistica Hibernica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2026

Vernam Hull
Vernam Hull*
Affiliation:
New York University
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Extract

In Old Irish, there exists a group of verbs which are characterized by the fact that they normally infix a meaningless neuter pronoun of the third person singular. Such a verb, for example, is ar·crin ‘perishes’, which, however, with the infix usually occurs in the form ara·chrin ‘perishes (it)'. Similar to ara·chrin and to the other verbs of this group is apparently ar·clich ‘wards off, parries'. Although so far this fact has not been noted, it likewise seems to infix a meaningless neuter pronoun in the following two passages from the oldest recension of Táin Bó Cúailnge:

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Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 25 , Issue 2: Apr-June , June 1949, pp. 130 - 138
Copyright
Copyright © 1949 Linguistic Society of America

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References

1 A generous grant from The American Philosophical Society enabled me to collect some of the material presented in this article during the summer of 1947 in the libraries of Ireland.

2 R. Thurneysen, A Grammar of Old Irish 267, §423 (Dublin, 1946).

3 In later sources there is sometimes no infixation in this verb as well as in other verbs which once had infixes; cf. Thurneysen 267, §423.

4 LU (R. I. Best and O. Bergin, Lebor Na Huidre 154.4878 [Dublin, 1929]); YBL (J. Strachan and J. G. O'Keeffe, The Táin Bó Cúailnge from the Yellow Book of Lecan 16.390 [Dublin, 1912]); and Eg. 1782 (E. Windisch, Táin Bó Cúailnge nach der Handschrift Egerton 1782, ZCP 9.130.32 [1913]).

5 LU (Best and Bergin 157.4987); YBL (Strachan and O'Keeffe 20.498); and Eg. 1782 (Windisch 9.133.25 [1913]).

6 Namely, LU and Eg. 1782.

7 Compare LU (Best and Bergin) 189.6121; E. J. Gwynn, An Old-Irish Tract on the Privileges and Responsibilities of Poets, Ériu 13.30.15 (1940); and W. Stokes, O'Davoren's Glossary, ACL 2.224, §162, 2.450, §1422 (1904).

8 Wb. 22 d 18.

9 In Old Irish, the subjunctive replaces the imperative in commands which do not require immediate compliance.

10 K. Meyer, Über die älteste irische Dichtung, Abhdl. d. Königl. Preuss. Akad. d. Wissensch. Jahrg. 1913, Phil.-Hist. Cl., Nr. 6, 2.27 (Berlin, 1913).

11 Literally, ‘a splendor of a bear’.

12 As Meyer, loc.cit., suggests, however, perhaps ara·chliched here governs the dative.

13 Thurneysen 391–4.

14 For ad one likewise finds a(i)r, so that there really are two compounds to-ad-reth- and to-a(i)r-reth-, which are so alike in form that they tend to be confused; cf. Thurneysen 496.

15 Mary E. Byrne and Myles Dillon, Táin Bó Fraích 12.372 (Dublin, 1933).

16 For ina·tāir read inda·tāir.

17 AL 3.58.3.

18 AL 2.122.3.

19 Thes. Pal. 2.348.4.

20 The longer form with final i, however, is well attested; cf. Thurneysen 393.

21 685.

22 AL 5.334.16.

23 Ériu 10.125 (1926–8).

24 D. Greene and E. G. Quin, Contributions to a dictionary of the Irish language, T-tnúthaigid, col. 67 s.v. tan (Dublin and London, 1943).

25 The corresponding prototonic form would be foil. Compare remi·foil ‘anticipet’ (MS anticipiet), Ml. 23 a 8.

26 In this connection note lias, Ml. 33 c 8, the present subjunctive third singular relative of the simplex lingid ‘leaps’.

27 Even in Old Irish, syncope of the middle consonant of a consonantal cluster frequently takes place; cf. Thurneysen 112–3.

28 Thurneysen 465.

29 HIL 2.63.

30 For a critical analysis of this text, see R. Thurneysen, Die irische Helden- und Königsage bis zum siebzehnten Jahrhundert 359–63 (Halle, 1921).

31 E. Windisch, Die irische Sage Noiden Ulad, Berichte d. Königl. Sächs. Gesellsch. d. Wissensch. 36.342 (1884). Windisch's text is based on the copy of this tale in Harleian 5280.

32 B.iv.2, fol. 128 verso, 12; Book of Fermoy, page 38, col. a, 33. The fourth MS, YBL, does not contain this form.

33 The r of for cannot represent ro because ro (written ru) already is infixed in the verb.

34 Compare Windisch 347: ‘Es hing ihnen an’.

35 R. Thurneysen, Irisches, KZ 63.114 ff. (1936).

36 Maud Joynt, Contributions to a dictionary of the Irish language, R, col. 89 (Dublin and London, 1944).

37 K. Meyer, Das Apgitir Crábaid des Colmán maccu Béognae, ZCP 3.447 ff. (1901).

38 Edited by E. J. Gwynn, Ériu 13.1 ff. (1940).

39 Ibid. 35.

40 W. Stokes, ACL 2.197 ff. (1904).

41 W. Stokes 2.383, §1064.

42 Maud Joynt, col. 97.

43 Maud Joynt lists the form rondad.

44 K. Meyer, Fianaigecht 14, §33 (Dublin and London, 1910).

45 Meyer 15, §33, translates these two verses: ‘Four candle-sticks, a white light, not feebly do they illumine its board.‘

46 As to the use of āu ‘corner’ in reference to backgammon boards, see Táin Bó Fraích (ed. Mary E. Byrne and Myles Dillon) 3, §8 (Dublin, 1933): Ba caín ind ḟidchell. Clár findruine and co cetheoraib auaib 7 uilneib óir.

47 For the spelling with a instead of o, compare rannadh .i. ruamnadh ‘to redden’, Supplement to O'Reilly's Irish-English dictionary (ed. J. O'Donovan) 688 (Dublin, 1864).

48 Perhaps meth here should be translated ‘luxuriant, juicy’.

49 M. A. O'Brien, Varia II, Ériu 12.239–40 (1938). O'Brien cites ·rassa as a variant reading.

50 Maud Joynt col. 97.

51 YBL, col. 781 28.

52 A grammar of Old Irish 69, §110.

53 Likewise syncopated is its compound tooít (< *to-ḟoídiuth).

54 Thurneysen 377, §592.

55 Ibid. 472, §769.

56 Not always syncopated, however, are vowels between dentals in the second syllable of dissyllabic words; cf. Thurneysen 69, §110.

57 Ibid. 56.

58 Ibid. 374.

59 Ibid. 353.

60 D. Greene and E. G. Quin, col. 196 s.v. tlenaid; compare O'Dav. §1379.

61 C. Marstrander, The deaths of Lugaid and Derbforgaill, Ériu 5.209.39 (1911).

62 The scribe of LL may have misread the t in his source for a c. At all events, these two letters often are confused, because in the Irish script they are difficult to distinguish from each other.

63 Marstrander 216 suggests tentatively that chiúil and thiúil should be emended to ·giúil, the preterite third person singular of glenaid ‘sticks fast, adheres’, but ·giúil is not supported by any of the readings in the MSS.

64 Compare E. Windisch, Irische Texte 844 (Leipzig, 1880), P. S. Dinneen, Foclóir Gaedhilge agus Béarla 1241–2 (Dublin, 1927).

65 K. Meyer and A. Nutt, The Voyage of Bran Son of Febal 1.47.14 (London, 1895).

66 Literally, ‘was’.

67 R. Thurneysen, Zu irischen Handschriften und Litteraturdenkmälern, Abhdl. d. Königl. Gesellsch. d. Wissensch. zu Göttingen, Philol.-Hist. Kl. N.F. Band 14, No. 2, 36, §4 (Berlin, 1912).

68 K. Meyer, Conall Corc and the Corco Luigde, Anecdota from Irish Manuscripts 3.59.2 (1910).

69 K. Meyer, The Laud Genealogies and Tribal Histories, ZCP 8.312.15 (1912).

70 J. Strachan, Cormac's Rule, Ériu 2.65, §9 (1905). Strachan 67 calls attention to several other instances of the use of tráth as a conjunction in early Irish poetry.

71 W. Stokes, Saltair Na Rann 95.6509 (Oxford, 1883).

72 R. Thurneysen, A Grammar of Old Irish 426, §689.

73 In the case of lingid ‘leaps’, leblang-, the first l of leblang- is unhistorical since this verb has lost an initial p. As Thurneysen (426, §689) points out, *peplang- should give eblang-.