Cearbhall Óg Ó Dálaigh (;

fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...

1630), sometimes spelt in English as Carroll Oge O'Daly, was a 17th-century

Irish language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

and

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

ist, who composed the song "". Cearbhall (Carroll) was a common name amongst people of the

Ó Dálaigh The Ó Dálaigh () were a learned Irish Bardic poetry, bardic family who first came to prominence early in the 12th century, when Cú Connacht Ó Dálaigh was described as "The first ''Ollamh'' of poetry in all Ireland" (''ollamh'' is the title g ...

(O'Daly,

Daly A disability-adjusted life year (DALY) is a measure of overall disease burden, representing a year lost due to ill-health, disability, or early death. It was developed in the 1990s as a way of comparing the overall health and life expectancy of d ...

) surname, and more than one poet of that surname bore the name. The Cearbhall Óg who composed "Eileanóir a Rún" was from Pallas, near

Gorey Gorey () is a market town in north County Wexford, Ireland. It is bypassed by the main N11 road (Ireland), M11 Dublin to Wexford road. The town is also connected to the Gorey railway station, railway network along the same route. Local newspape ...

in County

Wexford Wexford ( ; archaic Yola dialect, Yola: ''Weiseforthe'') is the county town of County Wexford, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the ...

. The Eileanóir of the poem was the daughter of Sir Morgan Kavanagh of Clonmullen in

County Wexford County Wexford () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. Named after the town of Wexford, it was ba ...

. In

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

, Cearbhall is presented as a womaniser and trickster similar to the Gobán Saor..

Eileanóir a Rún

Irish folklore recounts how Eileanóir Chaomhánach (Eleanor Kavanagh) eloped with Cearbhall (Carroll) the day she was about to marry another man. Cearbhall arrived at the wedding to play music at the wedding feast, and fell in love with the bride. He composed the song Eileanoir a Rún to woo the bride.

Other Songs and Poems

Another song, in the style of the crosántacht, ''Seachrán Chearbhaill'', is ascribed to Cearbhall Óg. Both, a poem by the Dominican priest Pádraigín Haicéad. addressed to Cearbhall, and Cearbhall's poem in response, survive in a 17th-century manuscript. The story ''Mac na Míchomhairle'' (The Son of Poor Council) has been ascribed to him in

, but current scholarship casts doubt on this ascription.

Cearbhall Óg Ó Dálaigh in Recordings

A version of Seachrán Chearbhaill by Joe Éinniu Seosamh Ó hÉanaí is available on a CD with the book ''Joe Éinniu: Nár fhágha mé Bás Choíche'' by Liam Mac Con Iomaire (Cló Iarchonnachta 2007); and a later recording of an earlier version of the song on Peadar Ó Ceannabháin's CD, ''Mo Chuid den tSaol'' (Cló-Iarchonnachta). There are many commercially available recordings of Eleanór a Rún. Both songs are recognised as part of the traditional Irish language repertoire of unaccompanied ballads known as ' sean-nós song'.

Cearbhall Óg Ó Dálaigh in Literature

Cearbhall Óg Ó Dálaigh appears as an historical character in

Darach Ó Scolaí Darach Ó Scolaí is an Irish novelist, playwright, publisher, and artist living in the County Galway Gaeltacht of Connemara. He was awarded the Oireachtas Prize for Literature in 2007 for his novel,'' An Cléireach''. Writing His 2007 novel' ...

's Irish language novel An Cléireach, as a soldier in the Royalist army in 1650 and in the Spanish

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

as late as 1662.

References

Bibliography

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External links

The song "Eileanóir na Rún" sung ''sean nós'' (un-accompanied)
{{DEFAULTSORT:ODalaigh, Cearbhall Og 17th-century Irish male musicians 17th-century Irish-language poets Irish male harpists Irish folk musicians Irish folk harpists Musicians from County Wexford Writers from County Wexford 17th-century Irish harpists 17th-century Irish male writers