Luccreth moccu Chiara

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Luccreth moccu (or mocu) Chíara (or Cíara, Chérrai, Cheri, Cerai, Gerai, etc.) (floruit c. 600 AD) was a poet from County Kerry, Ireland who wrote in archaic Old Irish.

His work includes Conailla Medb míchuru ("Medb has entered evil contracts"), found in a genealogical tract in the 15th century manuscript Laud Misc 610 in the Bodleian Library.[1] This poem is written in very difficult, archaic language and has not been fully translated. It contains one of the earliest references in Irish literature to events and characters of the Ulster Cycle, telling how the legendary queen Medb seduced the Ulster hero Fergus mac Róich against his own people, but how Fergus' son Fiacc remained loyal to the Ulster king, Conchobar mac Nessa, and fought against his father. However, although Medb is associated in later legend with Connacht, in this poem Fergus goes into exile at Tara, supporting T. F. O'Rahilly's theory that the Ulster Cycle contains a distorted memory of warfare between the Ulaid and the Uí Néill. The poem goes on to recount how the descendants of the exiled Ulsterman Solchenn son of Cethern later migrated from the region of Tara to Munster in the 5th century. Luccreth refers to the material he presents as sen-eolas ("old knowledge"), traditional material passed down from his ancestors.[2]

Another poem ascribed to Luccreth is Ba mol Mídend midlaige, telling the origin tale of the Corcu Óchae, a people of Munster who traced their ancestry to an Ulster Cycle character, Dubthach Dóeltenga.[3]

Kuno Meyer ascribes to Luccreth another poem, Cu cen mathair, which includes an early account of the 72 peoples said to have been dispersed from the plain of Shinar, each with their own language, following the Tower of Babel. However, their names, arranged in Irish metre, have been shown to derive not from Genesis, but rather from the roster of nations, former Roman provinces and other places mentioned in St. Isidore's Etymologiae (Books IX and XIV):

"Bithin, Scithin, Scuitt, Scill,
Scarthaig, Greic, Guitt, Gaill.
Germain, Point, Pampil muaid,
Moraind luind, Lugdoin uaig.
Oatri, Cipri, Ciclaid, Creit,
Corsic, Sardain, Sicil, Reit.
Rigind, Rudi, Romain mair,
Masail, Mussin, Macedoin nair.
Numin, Noric, Nombithi braiss,
Bretain, Belgaich, Boet maiss.
Magoich, Armein, amais gairg,
Galait, Achaid, Athain aird.
Alain, Albain, Hircain oig,
Etail, Espain, Guith goich.
Grinne fairne Frainc, Frig,
Fresin, Longbaird luind lir.
Lacdemoin, Tessail, Traic,
Troian, Dardain, Dalmait, Daic.

This listing, in several variants, seems to have become well-known in medieval Ireland, as forms of it appear in both Auraicept na n-Éces[4] and the later Lebor Gabála Érenn.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Kuno Meyer, "The Laud Genealogies and Tribal Histories", Zeitschrift für Celtische Philologie 8, 1912, pp. 291-338
  2. ^ James Carney, "Language and literature in 1169", in Dáibhí Ó Cróinín (ed.), A New History of Ireland 1: Prehistoric and Early Ireland, Oxford University Press, 2005, pp. 451-510
  3. ^ Dáibhí Ó Cróinín, "Prosopographical Analysis of Táin Bó Cúailnge in a Historical Setting", in Hildegard L. C. Tristram (ed.), New Methods in the Research of Epic, Gunter Narr Verlag, 1998, pp. 153-160
  4. ^ George Calder, Auraicept na n-éces : the scholars' primer, 1917: Introduction, p. xxxii.