O'Davoren's Glossary is an early modern

glossary A glossary (from , ''glossa''; language, speech, wording), also known as a vocabulary or clavis, is an alphabetical list of Term (language), terms in a particular domain of knowledge with the definitions for those terms. Traditionally, a gloss ...

Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic (, Ogham, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ; ; or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic languages, Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive written texts. It was used from 600 to 900. The ...

terms, many of which are legal in nature. The glossary is important for its well-preserved quotations from

early Irish legal Early Irish law, also called Brehon law (from the old Irish word breithim meaning judge), comprised the statutes which governed everyday life in Early Medieval Ireland. They were partially eclipsed by the Norman invasion of 1169, but underwen ...

texts (which would otherwise have been lost or preserved only in corrupt form). The glossary is associated with the

Mac Aodhagáin Mac Aodhagáin ( English: ''Egan'' or ''Keegan''), is an Irish Gaelic clan of Brehons who were hereditary lawyers - firstly to the Ó Conchobhair Kings of Connacht, and later to the Burkes of Clanricarde. The earliest surviving Irish law ma ...

(McEgan) law school in Park,

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

Manuscripts and editions

O'Davoren's Glossary survives in two independent and contemporary copies, British Library, MS Egerton 88 (given the

siglum Scribal abbreviations, or sigla (singular: siglum), are abbreviations used by ancient and medieval scribes writing in various languages, including Latin, Greek, Old English and Old Norse. In modern manuscript editing (substantive and mecha ...

E) and Trinity College Dublin, MS 1317 (given siglum F). E is from the hand of Domhnall Ó Duibhdábhoirenn (O'Davoren) and is dated to 1564. The manuscript Egerton 88 is associated with

O'Davoren The O'Davoren () family were a scholarly clan of Corcomroe, Thomond (modern-day County Clare), Ireland active since medieval times. Famed for their sponsorship of schools and knowledge of history and Early Irish law, the Uí Dhuibh dá Bhoirea ...

s, an obscure Irish legal family. F is from the hand of Dubhaltach Mór Mac Firbhisigh. Of the two manuscripts, F is the much worse preserved: the definitions under the letters A, B, and O are entirely missing; substantial portions are missing from other letters; and, in some sections, the scribe substituted definitions from other glossaries. Whitley Stokes was the first to publish an edition of O'Davoren's Glossary. His earlier edition (1862) gave the text of E with readings from F in the

corrigenda An erratum or corrigendum (: errata, corrigenda) (comes from ) is a correction of a published text. Generally, publishers issue an erratum for a production error (i.e., an error introduced during the publishing process) and a corrigendum for an a ...

; his later edition (1904), which he published with an English translation, incorporated some readings from F, but was still largely based on E. Daniel Binchy re-edited E in a

diplomatic edition Diplomatics (in American English, and in most anglophone countries), or diplomatic (in British English), is a scholarly discipline centred on the critical analysis of documents, especially historical documents. It focuses on the conventions, pr ...

for the ''

Corpus Iuris Hibernici The ''Corpus Iuris Hibernici'' (cited as ''CIH'') is a six-volume collection of the sources for the study of early Irish law (known as Brehon law) edited by D. A. Binchy. It presents a transcription of the manuscripts (Old Irish and Latin) rele ...

'' (1978). Modern editors have tended to favour the readings from F, where the manuscript is not too badly damaged and the glosses are not borrowed. Liam Breatnach (2005) gives a list of superior readings from F not included in Stokes's later edition.

O'Davoren's Glossary gives concise definitions of 1618 difficult

terms. In most cases, an illustrative quote accompanies these definitions (in some cases, two or three quotes). The glosses and quotations in O'Davoren's Glossary are frequently legal in subject matter. O'Davoren's glossary is associated with the Mac Aodhagáin (McEgan) law school in Park,

. The compilers of O'Davoren's Glossary were working with better manuscripts (fewer transmission errors and less abbreviated) of the early Irish legal texts than are available to us today. In many cases, quotes from the glossary have been used by scholars to substitute or correct poor manuscripts of these legal texts. Moreover, a number of legal texts which have not survived, or have survived only in fragments, have quotes from them in the glossary. Liam Breatnach, who has used the glossary to reconstruct the partially lost ''

Senchas Már ''Senchas Már'' (Old Irish for "Great Tradition") is the largest collection of early Irish legal texts, compiled into a single group sometime in the 8th century, though individual tracts vary in date. These tracts were almost certainly written ...

'', calls the glossary "a source of the utmost importance in dealing with incomplete and fragmentarily preserved

egal Egal or Égal may refer to: People * Ali Sugule Egal (1936–2016), Somali composer, poet and playwright * Fabienne Égal (born 1954), French announcer and television host * Liban Abdi Egal, Somali entrepreneur * Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal (1928� ...

texts." The legal texts that the glossary most frequently quotes from are '' Bretha Nemed Toisech'', '' Bretha Nemed Dédenach'', and the first two thirds of ''Senchas Már''. O'Davoren's Glossary is not solely legal in subject matter. It contains a number of glosses of difficult words from ''

Dindshenchas ''Dindsenchas'' or ''Dindshenchas'' (modern spellings: ''Dinnseanchas'' or ''Dinnsheanchas'' or ''Dınnṡeanċas''), meaning "lore of places" (the modern Irish word ''dinnseanchas'' means "topography"), is a class of onomastic text in early Irish ...

'' and from the

Mythological Cycle The Mythological Cycle is a conventional grouping within Irish mythology. It consists of tales and poems about the god-like Tuatha Dé Danann, who are based on Ireland's pagan deities, and other mythical races such as the Fomorians and the Fir ...

. Quotes from non-legal sources are rare, but occasionally appear. The glossary contains quotes from the '' Amra Coluimb Chille'' ("Poem for

Saint Columba Columba () or Colmcille (7 December 521 – 9 June 597 AD) was an Gaelic Ireland, Irish abbot and missionary evangelist credited with spreading Christianity in what is today Scotland at the start of the Hiberno-Scottish mission. He founded the ...

") and the ''Félire Óenguso'' ("Martyrology of

Óengus In Irish mythology, Aengus or Óengus is one of the Tuatha Dé Danann and probably originally a god associated with youth, love,Ó hÓgáin, Dáithí. ''Myth, Legend & Romance: An encyclopedia of the Irish folk tradition''. Prentice-Hall Press, ...

").

Notes

References

External links

Bibliography for O’Davoren’s glossary
at CODECS: Collaborative Online Database and e-Resources for Celtic Studies. Early Irish law Irish dictionaries Law dictionaries

Manuscripts and editions

Contents

Notes

References

Further reading

External links