AN GAODHAL.
413
something identical with the primitive Aryan
speech and Sanskrit. Those forms may, elsewhere
be looked for in vain, as other languages have
either lost them entirely, or have so disfigured
them, that they can no longer be fairly recognized
and identified. Moreover, the luxuri nt lexical
growth and richness of the Irish language, that
brightest flower of the Celtic branch, becomes ap¬
parent by the fact, that, should all the existing
glossaries, old and new, be added together, we
should have at least thirty thousand words, — be¬
sides those in printed dictionaries, — a richness of
vocabulary to which, perhaps, not a single living
language can bear even a remote comparison.
For the historian, geagrapher, and antiquarian,
the study of the Irish language is of great interest
and importance. For, as we have already observ¬
ed, it is the only Celtic tongue which has entirely
escaped the subversive influence of the Roman
rule and dominion. It, therefore, often furnishes
us information, on points relating to history and
topography, which could, in no other way, find any
explation or solution. Thus, — to give, here, but
a single example, out of many, — let us take the
names of places, many of which appear as com¬
pounds ending uniformly in the word donum, and
which occur everywhere throughout the extensive
region once inhabited by the Celts ;— such as Lug¬
dunum (Lyons), Lugdunum [Leyden], Mellodu¬
num Melun], Virodunum [Verdun], etc. Now,
there existed, really, an old town called Dunum,
and that was in Ireland; and, even in the Irish of
the present day, it continues as a common name,
under the form of dun, meaning a fortress, castle,
or royal palace.
None of the other Celtic tribes or nations has
given us so important and ancient a literature as
the Irish, and the Celtic antiquities and old writ¬
ings are, according to all appearance, much more
abundant in Ireland than elsewhere.
But the literary productions in Irish are not on¬
ly very numerous, — they extend also to a wonder¬
ful variety of subjects and departments of mental
conception and activity, such as poetry, history,
laws, grammar, etc., and it is a well-known fact
that many legends of French and German poets in
the Middle Ages, derive their origin from Irish
and other Celtic songs. The Irish Epic literature
is abundant, and of great interest. Like the Kale-
wala, in Finnland, those Irish songs and poems of
old were first preserved only as oral traditions in
the mouths of the people, and were, much later,
committed to writing, until they were variously
combined, and appeared, finally, in a regular well-
connected form. In some of them we may yet find
usages and customs of old Gaul described as they
were in Cæsar's time, if not even of an age still
more remote. Let us, now, only mention here in
passing, some few of the literary monuments of
Ireland, — without however, binding ourselves, on
this occasion by any chronological succession, or
any other order or system of classification. Thus,
we have a long panegyric poem on St. Patrick, by
Bishop Fiace Fiech, the Dinn Seanchus, by Amer¬
gin Mac Amhalghaidh (Macauley): the Uraicept,
by Am er i n Cinfaela (Cennfaeladh). MacLaig's
poem on the death of King Brian Boru, — that em¬
inently successful warrior, that wise and noble
prince, who met his death at the hands of a fugi¬
tive Dane, while kneeling, in his tent, in prayerful
devotion. We may also mention the poems of
Eochaodh Dallan, of the Sixth Century, those of
Eochaidh Flann (Echaid O'Flinn), — the poem of
Aldfrid, in praise of Ireland, the poems of Thur¬
logh O'Carolan, the list of the bards, who died in
1737 A. D. We may also name the "Immrams,"
— such as the "Voyage of St. Brendan," the "Wan¬
derings of the Sons of Ua Carra", those of "Mael¬
dun", and the "Fisa”, or visions which so often
resemble the "Immrams", such as the "Purgatory
of St. Patrick," the "Vision of Tundale," etc.
In all the beautiful Irish songs and poems, sto¬
ries and romances, we meet with a truly wonderful
productiveness and originality and a most surpri¬
sing power of invention, such as we find in the O¬
riental tales, which, for so long a time, were the
delight of the whole Western World. In lyric po¬
etry, the Irish literature has evinced, and always
maintained an astonishing superiority. We find
in the Irish historians, mention of works — written
even in Pagan times, in Ireland, and of these the
Saltair of Tara, a work which has not come down
to us, but is described as having been a complete
collection of metrical essays and dissertations on
the laws and usages of Ireland. As its author, is
given Cormac Mac Airt, King of Ireland (from 227
to 266 A. D.) We have ever so many important
and valuable works, either in manuscript or print
dating from various periods of time, more or less
ancient and remote. Thus, we have the Leabhar
na h-Uidhri which dates from the Sixth Century,
the leabhar breac, or "Speckled Book", also called
"The Great Book of Dun Doirghre" lebhar mor
Dun 'na Doighre) ; the "Book of Leinster," a
manuscript of the Twelfth Century, of which a
fac-simile has been published by the Royal Irish
Academy ; the "Book of Ballymote," a manuscript
of the end of the Fourteenth Century. These works
are well known to all Irish scholars, and need on¬
ly to receive here a cursory glance and short men¬
tion. So, also, the "Book of Lecan", a manuscript
of the latter part of the Fourteenth Century, and
especially the Annala Rioghachta Eireann, — pub¬
lished, with a translation, by O'Donovan in seven
volumes. We will also mention the "Book of Ar¬
magh," of the Ninth Century, which is a book of
of hymns, and the most ancient manuscript in Ire¬
land; the Angus Ceile De, also of the Ninth Cent¬
ury, the Martyrology of Tallaght, of the Tenth
Century, that of Marianus O'Gorman, of the
Twelfth Century, the leabhar Genealach of the
Seventeenth Century.
To be continued.
