odubhain
February 8th, 2009, 10:37 AM
In another thread and article, An Academic (P)Review of Akins' Lebor Feasa Runda[sic.], Dr. Phillip A. Bernhardt-House made some criticisms of Lebor Feasa Rúnda based on Old-Irish usage and names.
Caibre [sic.]
In Lebor Feasa Rúnda, Akins uses only Cairbre to my knowledge so the misspelling indicated by [sic] above must have been introduced by someone posting about it and most probably not Akins.
Firstly, ogam (which is the Old Irish spelling; ogham is the Modern Irish) is not attested earlier than the 2nd century CE, and even that isolated instance is not certain; but what is very definite is that it was developed by the Irish, very likely in the Irish colonies in Britain (especially around southern Wales) in close connection with Latin. The arrangement of consonants in three groups of five letters or feda (plural of fid, "wood") and a separate group for the five vowels, is a grammatical distinction that would not be possible outside of knowledge of Latin.
In the literature mentions are made about Ogham that give it a much earlier provenance. McManus says that Ogam was an Irish invention. The idea that consonants and vowels must be tied to Latin is spurious to the argument. Other languages had such divisions of language and many of them are listed in the seminal Irish works on Ogham that are contained in Auraicept na n-Éces.
Some scholars consider that Ogham could have a creation date as early as perhaps 3200 years BP (Before Present). This idea is based on the ways in which certain letters and sound changes occur in Celtic languages. The person who is primary to this theory is Professor Emeritus Toby Griffen of Southern Illinois University
(http://www.geocities.com/~dubricius/csana01.pdf,
http://www.geocities.com/~dubricius/csana02.pdf,
http://www.geocities.com/~dubricius/impetus.pdf).
It’s true that the “h” in Ogham indicates a Middle to Modern Irish spelling of Ogam. Akins does not say that his use of “Ogham” is Old Irish in his English translation and presentation of Lebor Feasa Rúnda.
Further, if these were translated into Old Irish by Mog Ruith in the third century CE, again that would be impossible, because Old Irish is only attested after the Christian period in Ireland (post-432 CE at the earliest, i.e. early 5th century), and even then, no earlier than the very last years of the sixth century, over a hundred years after the arrival of Latin literacy in Ireland.
Frequently, in texts from the Old and Middle Irish periods, the actual author or writer of a text is attributed to be an earlier fabled person like Amergin, Ferchertne, Ollamh Fodla, Mug Roith, etc. This in no way means that the source material of the text is not that old but that spelling and language usage can be used to date when the story was actually written down on paper or a wooden tablet of some sort.
The use of Old or Middle Irish to report the story also in no way negates its earlier provenance, though it could date when the story was recorded by a scribe.
"Nír taifnichter lat claenmíla Cernai" (Eleanor Knott, ed., Togail Bruidne Da Derga, Medieval and Modern Irish Series Vol. 8 [Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1975], p. 6 line 173, and similarly on p. 8 line 248), translated as "You must not hunt the evil-beasts of Cerna" (John T. Koch and John Carey, eds., The Celtic Heroic Age: Literary Sources for Ancient Celtic Europe & Early Ireland & Wales, Fourth Edition [Aberystwyth and Andover: Celtic Studies Publications, 2003], p. 169). If Akins were any kind of textual scholar, however, he would have realized that this is not a reference to a personal name, it is a reference to a place name
Often in place names stories, the names of people are used to derive or manufacture the names of the places. The dindshenchas about Tara, Cnogba, Dubad, Carmun and many other places in Ireland attest to this fact. The fact that Cerna is the name of a place (a hill or passage mound) in no way demonstates that it was not the name of a person or deity in Old Irish.
Firstly, the very title of the purported work is irregular. "Lebor Feasa Rúnda," which Akins says is the "Book of Secret Knowledge," would have to be in Old Irish "Lebor Fessa (or possibly Fesso) Rúnae." At that stage of the language, the word for "knowledge" was fis, which in the genitive was fessa (or fesso in some very old glosses) (E. G. Quin, ed., Dictionary of the Irish Language, Based Mainly on Old and Middle Irish Materials, Compact Edition [Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 1983], s.v. fis); Akins' form of the word in his title is Classical (Modern) Irish at the earliest (i.e. 13th century or later). His failed attempt at archaizing Modern Irish rún (which is, in Old Irish nominative singular form, also rún, and occasionally in Middle and Modern Irish rúin) into a genitive singular by assuming that there was a double "n," which in Old Irish was a consonant cluster often written "nd" (but would have been pronounced the same as "nn"), is particularly ham-fisted, since there is not a single attested form in Old or Middle Irish of rún being spelled with a geminate "n" (Quin, Dictionary, s.v. rún).
The use of rúnda and feasa in Old and Middle Irish is attested in these references from the online version of the Dictionary of the Irish Language that is known as eDIL (http://www.dil.ie):
From eDIL:
rúnda
Keywords: mystical; figurative; mysterious
Letter: R
COLUMN: 122
Line: 008
rúnda
io,iā (1 RÚN)
(a) mystical, figurative (opp. to material or literal): imdibe colnide . . . imdibe rúnde, WB. 2 C 10 . isiede ind ail rúnde (gl. petra erat Christus), 11 a 19 . etargna staraide .i. co follus; etargna siansaide .i. runda, PH 3533 . in Dauid rúnda Ísu Crist, 4905 . derrite rúnta, 1705 . is ed dorala dó iartain co rúndai (= mystice contigit), LAT. LIVES 49 .
(b) mysterious: á rí rúndai, FÉL. EP. 458
. Antón, ata rúndai retha `whose courses are mysterious ', 274 . donaib adamraib rúndaib . . . na fetatur cidh aingil nime, ÉRIU II 128 § 93 . ticfa rí runda aile (wonderful? unknown, undreamt of ?), LL 278 A 16 (a pro- phecy).
1 fis
fius(s) fis fius fiss dús fis(s) fesso fessa feasa fiss fess fhios
Keywords: finding out; ascertaining; knowledge; information; tidings; information; secretly; unnoticed; knowledge; so far as; I know; find out; investigate; seek; visit; towards; may be known; to; towards; revealed; made known; who knows; perhaps; known; knowledge; tooth of knowledge; occult; knowledge; revelation; message; notice; summons; sends; sends for; summons; tidings; summons; messengers; description; appella-; tion; honour; generosity; learned; man; sage; known; know; knowledge; wisdom
Letter: F
COLUMN: 152
Line: 033
1 fis (fius)
u and o, n. later m. (used as vn. of RO-FINNADAR, RO-FITIR) O.Ir forms : ns. fius(s) WB 10 B 27 10 c 1 30 a 8 . b 16 . SG 209 B 26 fis ML 46 C 24 (usual Mid Ir spelling) as. cen fius WB 25 C 4 fiss Hy vii 55 ds. fius(s) WB 16 D 12 28 b 23 . SG 209 A 6 THES ii 36.28 (also in petrified phr duús, dús < do fius See Strachan, Subj Mood § 33
fis(s) ML 61 A 13 . THES ii 19.33 gs. fesso WB 14 D 30 fessa 26 d 15 LB 72 B 5 . feasa, TSH 310 ind fiss WB 5 C 16 SG 33 A 27 Mid Ir. generally fessa, but forms fluctuate : mac Rofis RC XXVI 30 § 132 mac Rofessa § 135
nap. fess (neut form) ML 73 B 7 128 d 10 THES ii 27.34 Mid Ir fessa.
I
(a) the act of finding out or ascertaining ; knowledge, information, with obj gen : fis timnae nDae ML 46 C 24 . fiuss do a muntire knowledge to him of his household WB 30 B 16 ba coir do fiuss inna n-ídol it were right for him to have knowledge of the idols 10 c 1 fis cech neich ┐ cech belra occa he has knowledge of all things , etc PH 1975 i n-ecmais a fessa ┐ a eolusa in absence of knowledge of the matter TBC 1561 ar ffaghbhail a fesa co mbaoi Ua C dia bhrath FM VI 2248.11 d'fhagháil fheasa ┐ eólais ar an somharbhthacht, TSH 310 ni mō inā ic Dia itā a fis `God alone knows ' COG 184.34 do chúalaidh éighmhe .. ┐ adubert a fhis cia do denadh an éigheam, IM Br i 59.7 (= a fhios do thabairt cuige ZCP XVII 349 ) do-bhéaram dhuit .. fios t'uaisle I shall tell thee of TD 30.22 crann feasa maitheasa ┐ uilc, Gen ii 9 Rarely folld by prep : cf. do lou brāthai cech fis fīrtait all tidings of the Day of Judgment ARCH iii 303.26 . guid-si in Coimdhi ma fis im ar comarlecad to find out whether we shall be allowed 225.7 FIS SCÉL tidings, information: ar lainni fesso scél on techtairiu because of the eagerness for tidings WB 14 D 30 táncamár dot fis scél to get tidings of thee LU 2334 foidid C Loeg dia fis (do fis LU) scēl dūs cia cruth mbotha TBC² 1572 fios a sgéal tiding about him PBOCHT 20.13 Common with proleptic poss pron and folld by subst or dependent clause : a fiss mad āil duit | dechair maith ┐ mōrhuilcc if thou wishest to learn the difference SR 1329 is mó a fius deitsiu a ndorigeni di maith (gl melius tu nosti) WB 30 A 8 bíd a fhis lib cor cretset na gennti PH 2302 rob ail liumsa a fis d'fagbail uaitsiu cia icá raibe in dúnad, ACALL 2632 beag a fhios agad .. cia misi, STUDIES 1924, 243 fagh a fis damh in beó nó in marb C., Comp ConC 113.3 CEN fis: cen fius dúib without your knowing WB 25 C 4 In loose constr., where proleptic pron might be expected : cen fis do neoch a beith aice none knowing that he had it PH 56 cen fis accu beos he buden ina cristaige ib. (Absol ) secretly, unnoticed: ni berend in gadaige leis acht a mbeir cen fhis PH 7574 ac foraire co nach bereadh Conall orra gan fis, Comp ConC 118x ? ná briss form lugi gan fess TBC 3507 (cf. 2 FEIS) CO FIS : cin co fiss guilt incurred wittingly ARCH iii 222y CO FIS DOM with my knowledge ; so far as I know: co fis dō nacha dligenn knowing that he is not entitled to do so LAWS IV 58.10 COMM. go bhfios damh TD 3.38 go bfios dhuit féin, MACAINGIL 144.11 .
DO FIS (fius)
The simple fact is that there are few errors in Old Irish in the Lebor Feasa Rúnda that most probably can be attributed to the fact that little of it is presented in the language in the first place. The Irish that is used in the book generally follows accepted practices for the language and the period of its use. The words “feasa” and “runda” are valid words in either Old or Middle Irish works as evidenced by citations in eDIL.
One must conclude that Old Irish misuse or misunderstandings on the part of Steven Akins do not constitute a valid attack on his book, Lebor Feasa Rúnda. To determine what is useful or true in the book should be done by comparing the stories it contains with what is known from more accepted Irish texts and even folklore. Even then and even if the entire text were presented in valid Old or even Primitive (Ogam) Irish, this would be the case almost entirely should it depart greatly from the Senchus and Coimgne of Ireland.
Searles O'Dubhain
Caibre [sic.]
In Lebor Feasa Rúnda, Akins uses only Cairbre to my knowledge so the misspelling indicated by [sic] above must have been introduced by someone posting about it and most probably not Akins.
Firstly, ogam (which is the Old Irish spelling; ogham is the Modern Irish) is not attested earlier than the 2nd century CE, and even that isolated instance is not certain; but what is very definite is that it was developed by the Irish, very likely in the Irish colonies in Britain (especially around southern Wales) in close connection with Latin. The arrangement of consonants in three groups of five letters or feda (plural of fid, "wood") and a separate group for the five vowels, is a grammatical distinction that would not be possible outside of knowledge of Latin.
In the literature mentions are made about Ogham that give it a much earlier provenance. McManus says that Ogam was an Irish invention. The idea that consonants and vowels must be tied to Latin is spurious to the argument. Other languages had such divisions of language and many of them are listed in the seminal Irish works on Ogham that are contained in Auraicept na n-Éces.
Some scholars consider that Ogham could have a creation date as early as perhaps 3200 years BP (Before Present). This idea is based on the ways in which certain letters and sound changes occur in Celtic languages. The person who is primary to this theory is Professor Emeritus Toby Griffen of Southern Illinois University
(http://www.geocities.com/~dubricius/csana01.pdf,
http://www.geocities.com/~dubricius/csana02.pdf,
http://www.geocities.com/~dubricius/impetus.pdf).
It’s true that the “h” in Ogham indicates a Middle to Modern Irish spelling of Ogam. Akins does not say that his use of “Ogham” is Old Irish in his English translation and presentation of Lebor Feasa Rúnda.
Further, if these were translated into Old Irish by Mog Ruith in the third century CE, again that would be impossible, because Old Irish is only attested after the Christian period in Ireland (post-432 CE at the earliest, i.e. early 5th century), and even then, no earlier than the very last years of the sixth century, over a hundred years after the arrival of Latin literacy in Ireland.
Frequently, in texts from the Old and Middle Irish periods, the actual author or writer of a text is attributed to be an earlier fabled person like Amergin, Ferchertne, Ollamh Fodla, Mug Roith, etc. This in no way means that the source material of the text is not that old but that spelling and language usage can be used to date when the story was actually written down on paper or a wooden tablet of some sort.
The use of Old or Middle Irish to report the story also in no way negates its earlier provenance, though it could date when the story was recorded by a scribe.
"Nír taifnichter lat claenmíla Cernai" (Eleanor Knott, ed., Togail Bruidne Da Derga, Medieval and Modern Irish Series Vol. 8 [Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1975], p. 6 line 173, and similarly on p. 8 line 248), translated as "You must not hunt the evil-beasts of Cerna" (John T. Koch and John Carey, eds., The Celtic Heroic Age: Literary Sources for Ancient Celtic Europe & Early Ireland & Wales, Fourth Edition [Aberystwyth and Andover: Celtic Studies Publications, 2003], p. 169). If Akins were any kind of textual scholar, however, he would have realized that this is not a reference to a personal name, it is a reference to a place name
Often in place names stories, the names of people are used to derive or manufacture the names of the places. The dindshenchas about Tara, Cnogba, Dubad, Carmun and many other places in Ireland attest to this fact. The fact that Cerna is the name of a place (a hill or passage mound) in no way demonstates that it was not the name of a person or deity in Old Irish.
Firstly, the very title of the purported work is irregular. "Lebor Feasa Rúnda," which Akins says is the "Book of Secret Knowledge," would have to be in Old Irish "Lebor Fessa (or possibly Fesso) Rúnae." At that stage of the language, the word for "knowledge" was fis, which in the genitive was fessa (or fesso in some very old glosses) (E. G. Quin, ed., Dictionary of the Irish Language, Based Mainly on Old and Middle Irish Materials, Compact Edition [Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 1983], s.v. fis); Akins' form of the word in his title is Classical (Modern) Irish at the earliest (i.e. 13th century or later). His failed attempt at archaizing Modern Irish rún (which is, in Old Irish nominative singular form, also rún, and occasionally in Middle and Modern Irish rúin) into a genitive singular by assuming that there was a double "n," which in Old Irish was a consonant cluster often written "nd" (but would have been pronounced the same as "nn"), is particularly ham-fisted, since there is not a single attested form in Old or Middle Irish of rún being spelled with a geminate "n" (Quin, Dictionary, s.v. rún).
The use of rúnda and feasa in Old and Middle Irish is attested in these references from the online version of the Dictionary of the Irish Language that is known as eDIL (http://www.dil.ie):
From eDIL:
rúnda
Keywords: mystical; figurative; mysterious
Letter: R
COLUMN: 122
Line: 008
rúnda
io,iā (1 RÚN)
(a) mystical, figurative (opp. to material or literal): imdibe colnide . . . imdibe rúnde, WB. 2 C 10 . isiede ind ail rúnde (gl. petra erat Christus), 11 a 19 . etargna staraide .i. co follus; etargna siansaide .i. runda, PH 3533 . in Dauid rúnda Ísu Crist, 4905 . derrite rúnta, 1705 . is ed dorala dó iartain co rúndai (= mystice contigit), LAT. LIVES 49 .
(b) mysterious: á rí rúndai, FÉL. EP. 458
. Antón, ata rúndai retha `whose courses are mysterious ', 274 . donaib adamraib rúndaib . . . na fetatur cidh aingil nime, ÉRIU II 128 § 93 . ticfa rí runda aile (wonderful? unknown, undreamt of ?), LL 278 A 16 (a pro- phecy).
1 fis
fius(s) fis fius fiss dús fis(s) fesso fessa feasa fiss fess fhios
Keywords: finding out; ascertaining; knowledge; information; tidings; information; secretly; unnoticed; knowledge; so far as; I know; find out; investigate; seek; visit; towards; may be known; to; towards; revealed; made known; who knows; perhaps; known; knowledge; tooth of knowledge; occult; knowledge; revelation; message; notice; summons; sends; sends for; summons; tidings; summons; messengers; description; appella-; tion; honour; generosity; learned; man; sage; known; know; knowledge; wisdom
Letter: F
COLUMN: 152
Line: 033
1 fis (fius)
u and o, n. later m. (used as vn. of RO-FINNADAR, RO-FITIR) O.Ir forms : ns. fius(s) WB 10 B 27 10 c 1 30 a 8 . b 16 . SG 209 B 26 fis ML 46 C 24 (usual Mid Ir spelling) as. cen fius WB 25 C 4 fiss Hy vii 55 ds. fius(s) WB 16 D 12 28 b 23 . SG 209 A 6 THES ii 36.28 (also in petrified phr duús, dús < do fius See Strachan, Subj Mood § 33
fis(s) ML 61 A 13 . THES ii 19.33 gs. fesso WB 14 D 30 fessa 26 d 15 LB 72 B 5 . feasa, TSH 310 ind fiss WB 5 C 16 SG 33 A 27 Mid Ir. generally fessa, but forms fluctuate : mac Rofis RC XXVI 30 § 132 mac Rofessa § 135
nap. fess (neut form) ML 73 B 7 128 d 10 THES ii 27.34 Mid Ir fessa.
I
(a) the act of finding out or ascertaining ; knowledge, information, with obj gen : fis timnae nDae ML 46 C 24 . fiuss do a muntire knowledge to him of his household WB 30 B 16 ba coir do fiuss inna n-ídol it were right for him to have knowledge of the idols 10 c 1 fis cech neich ┐ cech belra occa he has knowledge of all things , etc PH 1975 i n-ecmais a fessa ┐ a eolusa in absence of knowledge of the matter TBC 1561 ar ffaghbhail a fesa co mbaoi Ua C dia bhrath FM VI 2248.11 d'fhagháil fheasa ┐ eólais ar an somharbhthacht, TSH 310 ni mō inā ic Dia itā a fis `God alone knows ' COG 184.34 do chúalaidh éighmhe .. ┐ adubert a fhis cia do denadh an éigheam, IM Br i 59.7 (= a fhios do thabairt cuige ZCP XVII 349 ) do-bhéaram dhuit .. fios t'uaisle I shall tell thee of TD 30.22 crann feasa maitheasa ┐ uilc, Gen ii 9 Rarely folld by prep : cf. do lou brāthai cech fis fīrtait all tidings of the Day of Judgment ARCH iii 303.26 . guid-si in Coimdhi ma fis im ar comarlecad to find out whether we shall be allowed 225.7 FIS SCÉL tidings, information: ar lainni fesso scél on techtairiu because of the eagerness for tidings WB 14 D 30 táncamár dot fis scél to get tidings of thee LU 2334 foidid C Loeg dia fis (do fis LU) scēl dūs cia cruth mbotha TBC² 1572 fios a sgéal tiding about him PBOCHT 20.13 Common with proleptic poss pron and folld by subst or dependent clause : a fiss mad āil duit | dechair maith ┐ mōrhuilcc if thou wishest to learn the difference SR 1329 is mó a fius deitsiu a ndorigeni di maith (gl melius tu nosti) WB 30 A 8 bíd a fhis lib cor cretset na gennti PH 2302 rob ail liumsa a fis d'fagbail uaitsiu cia icá raibe in dúnad, ACALL 2632 beag a fhios agad .. cia misi, STUDIES 1924, 243 fagh a fis damh in beó nó in marb C., Comp ConC 113.3 CEN fis: cen fius dúib without your knowing WB 25 C 4 In loose constr., where proleptic pron might be expected : cen fis do neoch a beith aice none knowing that he had it PH 56 cen fis accu beos he buden ina cristaige ib. (Absol ) secretly, unnoticed: ni berend in gadaige leis acht a mbeir cen fhis PH 7574 ac foraire co nach bereadh Conall orra gan fis, Comp ConC 118x ? ná briss form lugi gan fess TBC 3507 (cf. 2 FEIS) CO FIS : cin co fiss guilt incurred wittingly ARCH iii 222y CO FIS DOM with my knowledge ; so far as I know: co fis dō nacha dligenn knowing that he is not entitled to do so LAWS IV 58.10 COMM. go bhfios damh TD 3.38 go bfios dhuit féin, MACAINGIL 144.11 .
DO FIS (fius)
The simple fact is that there are few errors in Old Irish in the Lebor Feasa Rúnda that most probably can be attributed to the fact that little of it is presented in the language in the first place. The Irish that is used in the book generally follows accepted practices for the language and the period of its use. The words “feasa” and “runda” are valid words in either Old or Middle Irish works as evidenced by citations in eDIL.
One must conclude that Old Irish misuse or misunderstandings on the part of Steven Akins do not constitute a valid attack on his book, Lebor Feasa Rúnda. To determine what is useful or true in the book should be done by comparing the stories it contains with what is known from more accepted Irish texts and even folklore. Even then and even if the entire text were presented in valid Old or even Primitive (Ogam) Irish, this would be the case almost entirely should it depart greatly from the Senchus and Coimgne of Ireland.
Searles O'Dubhain