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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 ...

poem written in about the 9th century at or near Reichenau Abbey, in what is now

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, by an Irish monk about his cat. , 'White Pangur', is the cat's name, possibly meaning 'a fuller'. Although the poem is anonymous, it bears similarities to the poetry of Sedulius Scottus, prompting speculation that he is the author. In eight verses of four lines each, the author compares the cat's happy hunting with his own scholarly pursuits. The poem is preserved in the '' Reichenau Primer'' (Stift St. Paul Cod. 86b/1 fol 1v) and now kept in St. Paul's Abbey in the Lavanttal.

Background

The poem is found in only one manuscript, the ''Reichenauer Schulheft'' or ''Reichenau Primer''. The primer appears to be the notebook of an Irish monk based in Reichenau Abbey. The contents of the primer are diverse, it also contains "notes from a commentary of the ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan War#Sack of Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Ancient Rome ...

'', some hymns, a brief glossary of Greek words, some Greek declension, notes on biblical places, a tract on the nature of angels, and some astronomy".

Name

Old Irish had lost the sound /p/, so ''Pangur'' is likely to be a loan word. The generally accepted theory is that put forward by Professor W. J. Gruffydd, that ''Pangur'' represents an old spelling of the Welsh word ''pannwr'' "fuller": "The cat was white: fullers are white by reason of the fuller's earth used by them."

Poem

Gerard Murphy describes the poem's form:

The metre is ''deibide'' (seven syllables in each line with an unstressed final syllable in ''b'' rhyming with a stressed final syllable in ''a'', and an unstressed final syllable in ''d'' with a stressed final syllable in ''c''). Alliteration is frequent.

Modern use

critical edition Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts (mss) or of printed books. Such texts may range i ...

of the poem was published in 1903 by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan in the second volume of the ''Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus''. Among modern writers to have translated the poem are Robin Flower, W. H. Auden,

Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish Irish poetry, poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature. Among his best-known works is ''Death of a Naturalist'' (1966), his first m ...

, Paul Muldoon and Eavan Boland. In Auden's translation, the poem was set by

Samuel Barber Samuel Osmond Barber II (March 9, 1910 – January 23, 1981) was an American composer, pianist, conductor (music), conductor, baritone, and music educator, and one of the most celebrated composers of the mid-20th century. Principally influenced ...

as the eighth of his ten '' Hermit Songs'' (1952–53). Fay Sampson wrote a series of books based on the poem. They follow the adventures of Pangur Bán, Niall the monk (his friend) and Finnglas (a Welsh princess). In the 2009 animated movie '' The Secret of Kells'', which is heavily inspired by Irish mythology, one of the supporting characters is a white cat named Pangur Bán who arrives in the company of a monk. A paraphrase of the poem in modern Irish is read out during the credits by actor and Irish speaker Mick Lally.

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 indigenou ...

singer Pádraigín Ní Uallacháin recorded the poem in her 2011 studio album '' Songs of the Scribe'', featuring 2 verses from the original text and the whole translation by

Nobel laureate The Nobel Prizes (, ) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make outstanding contributions in th ...

. The poem was read by Tomás Ó Cathasaigh (first in Irish, then in Heaney's English translation) at the memorial service held for Heaney at the

Memorial Church of Harvard University The Memorial Church of Harvard University is a building on the campus of Harvard University. It is an interdenominational Protestantism, Protestant church. History 18th century The first distinct building for worship at Harvard University was Ho ...

on 7 November 2013. In 2016, Jo Ellen Bogart and

Sydney Smith Sydney Smith (3 June 1771 – 22 February 1845) was an English wit, writer, and Anglican cleric. Besides his energetic parochial work, he was known for his writing and philosophy, founding the ''Edinburgh Review'', lecturing at the Royal Inst ...

published a picture book based on the poem called ''The White Cat and the Monk''. In 2018, Eddi Reader adapted the words in "Pangur Bán And The Primrose Lass" on her album ''Cavalier''. Dutch band Twigs & Twine used parts of the poem in their song "Messe ocus Pangur Bán". In 2022, Irish writer

Colm Tóibín Colm Tóibín ( , ; born 30 May 1955) is an Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, journalist, critic, playwright and poet. His first novel, ''The South (novel), The South'', was published in 1990. ''The Blackwater Lightship'' was short ...

published his own version of the poem in a collection titled ''Vinegar Hill''. First described in 2022, '' Pangurban'', a genus of nimravid from

Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, is named for the cat in the poem.

Notes

References

* * * * *
"Irish - Pangur Bán"
''Department of Anglo-Saxon Norse and Celtic''. University of Cambridge. Retrieved 28 February 2020.

External links

Original text and spoken version

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by Internet Archive, an American nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California. Launched for public access in 2001, the service allows users to go "back in ...

Archived page)
Pangur Ban, Cats in History
* Robin Flower'
translation
* W. H. Auden'
translation
*

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translation

4 parallel translationsWaulking Song , AI Enhanced 1941 Film
by

Jack Cardiff Jack Cardiff (18 September 1914 – 22 April 2009) was a British cinematographer, film and television director, and photographer. His career spanned the development of cinema, from silent film, through early experiments in Technicolor, to film ...

of Powell & Pressburger fame in 1940/ 41 {{DEFAULTSORT:Pangur Ban Irish poems Early Irish literature Individual cats Medieval poetry Poems about cats Individual cats in the United Kingdom Individual animals in Germany Works about writing Works about academia Works of uncertain authorship Monks