Tongu Do Dia Toinges Mo Thúath
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is an
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 ...
oath which translates to 'I swear by the god by whom my people () swear'. It is the standard oath in
early Irish literature Early Irish literature, is commonly dated from the 8th or 9th to the 15th century, a period during which modern literature in Irish began to emerge. It stands as one of the oldest vernacular literature in Western Europe, with its roots extendin ...
. Such formulae are common in early Irish literature, and especially in the heroic sagas, where they are sworn for emphasis when a character declares they will perform some feat. Some scholars have interpreted this oath as a relic of Irish Celtic paganism, preserved in Irish literature. Along these lines,
Joseph Vendryes Joseph Vendryes or Vendryès (; 13 January 1875 – 30 January 1960) was a French Celtic linguist. After studying with Antoine Meillet, he was chairman of Celtic languages and literature at the École Pratique des Hautes Études. He founded the ...
argued that the god behind this oath was the Celtic god
Teutates Teutates (spelled variously Toutatis, Totatis, Totates) is a Celtic god attested in literary and epigraphic sources. His name, which is derived from a proto-Celtic word meaning "tribe", suggests he was a tribal deity. The Roman poet Lucan's ...
, and
Calvert Watkins Calvert Watkins ( /ˈwɒtkɪnz/; March 13, 1933 – March 20, 2013) was an American linguist and philologist, known for his book '' How to Kill a Dragon''. He was a professor of linguistics and the classics at Harvard University and after retirem ...
that the oath had roots in
Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. No direct record of Proto-Indo-European exists; its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-Euro ...
. On the other hand, Ruairí Ó hUiginn has argued that the oath was a scholarly Christian invention, contrived to suit the pagan background of the Old Irish sagas. The aspect of
taboo A taboo is a social group's ban, prohibition or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, offensive, sacred or allowed only for certain people.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...
in this oath has also been discussed, with
John T. Koch John Thomas Koch (born 1953) is an American academic, historian, and linguist who specializes in Celtic studies, especially prehistory, and the early Middle Ages. He is the editor of the five-volume ''Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia'' ...
suggesting that it originated as a
taboo deformation A euphemism ( ) is when an expression that could offend or imply something unpleasant is replaced with one that is agreeable or inoffensive. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the u ...
(i.e., modification of a phrase to avoid a taboo word).


in early Irish literature

Early Irish literature comprises the extensive literary productions of Ireland, in both Irish and Latin, dating between the 5th and 12th centuries CE. The Christianization of Ireland was in process by the 5th century CE, and the earliest written literature from Ireland is Christian in nature. However, the secular narrative literature of early medieval Ireland (and especially the prose sagas) is frequently set in a pagan, heroic past. These sagas were written down by monks and our earliest manuscripts of them are monastic in provenance. The degree to which early Irish literature was influenced by Christianity is vigorously debated, with "revisionists", who stress Christian influence, on one side and "nativists", who stress indigenous and pagan influences, on the other. Oath-taking was an important part of medieval Irish society, both Christian and pre-Christian. Oaths were a feature of legal processes, but were also made in everyday life to emphasise assertions. In early Irish literature, and especially in the heroic sagas, characters are frequently made to swear formulaic oaths, preceding declarations that the character will perform some action or fulfil some threat. The
Ulster Cycle The Ulster Cycle (), formerly known as the Red Branch Cycle, is a body of medieval Irish heroic legends and sagas of the Ulaid. It is set far in the past, in what is now eastern Ulster and northern Leinster, particularly counties Armagh, Do ...
contains a number of such scenes. For example, in the earliest recension of the Ulster Cycle saga , when the hero
Cú Chulainn Cú Chulainn ( ), is an Irish warrior hero and demigod in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology, as well as in Scottish and Manx folklore. He is believed to be an incarnation of the Irish god Lugh, who is also his father. His mother is the ...
is told that to kill Fóill, son of Nechtain Scéne, he must kill him with the first blow, he says the following: The oath in this passage, ('I swear by the god by whom my people swear'), is the standard oath in early Irish literature. It appears in several forms in Irish literature (Ó hUiginn has listed 25), though the variation is more limited in the Old Irish period, only diversifying in the transition to
Middle Middle or The Middle may refer to: * Centre (geometry), the point equally distant from the outer limits. Places * Middle (sheading), a subdivision of the Isle of Man * Middle Bay (disambiguation) * Middle Brook (disambiguation) * Middle Creek ...
and
Early Modern Irish Early Modern Irish () represented a transition between Middle Irish and Modern Irish. Its literary form, Classical Gaelic, was used in Ireland and Scotland from the 13th to the 18th century. Classical Gaelic Classical Gaelic or Classical Irish ( ...
. Aside from the form in the passage above, the commonest forms in the Old Irish period are ('I swear by the god by whom my people swear'), ('I swear indeed by what my people swear') and ('I swear to god what my people swear'). In later Irish texts, plural "gods" is commonly substituted for "god" in order to emphasise the pagan aspect of the oath. The word (a
lenition In linguistics, lenition is a sound change that alters consonants, making them "weaker" in some way. The word ''lenition'' itself means "softening" or "weakening" (from Latin 'weak'). Lenition can happen both synchronically (within a language ...
of ) is translated here as 'people', but is occasionally also translated as 'tribe'.


Interpretation

Some have interpreted the oath as a genuine Celtic pagan formula, preserved in early Irish literature.
Joseph Vendryes Joseph Vendryes or Vendryès (; 13 January 1875 – 30 January 1960) was a French Celtic linguist. After studying with Antoine Meillet, he was chairman of Celtic languages and literature at the École Pratique des Hautes Études. He founded the ...
suggested that the Celtic god
Teutates Teutates (spelled variously Toutatis, Totatis, Totates) is a Celtic god attested in literary and epigraphic sources. His name, which is derived from a proto-Celtic word meaning "tribe", suggests he was a tribal deity. The Roman poet Lucan's ...
, a tribal deity whose name has the same root as , was the pagan god behind this oath. Vendryes has been followed in this proposal by
Myles Dillon Myles Patrick Dillon (11 April 190018 June 1972) was an Irish scholar whose primary interests were comparative philology, Celtic studies, and Sanskrit. Early life Myles Dillon was born in Dublin on 11 April 1900, one of six children of John a ...
and Proinsias Mac Cana.
Gearóid Mac Niocaill Gearóid Mac Niocaill (1932–2004) was one of the foremost twentieth-century scholars and interpreters of late medieval Irish tracts. Life Gearóid was born in Hull, England in 1932 to an Irish mother. His lifelong work in the Irish language b ...
proposed that the function of the pagan god behind this oath was the tribe's ancestor god. Kenneth H. Jackson proposed that the god was the tribe's
tutelary god A tutelary (; also tutelar) is a deity or a spirit who is a guardian, patron, or protector of a particular place, geographic feature, person, lineage, nation, culture, or occupation. The etymology of "tutelary" expresses the concept of safety and ...
. Against the identifications of the phrase as a remnant of pagan culture, Ó hUiginn has argued that the phrase "has every appearance of being a contrived learned phrase", an innovation in the early Irish epics dating to the Christian period rather than "an inherited pre-Christian archaism". He argues that the archaic grammatical features in this phrase show a "syntactic imbalance", which would be unexpected in a genuine idiomatic expression. His proposal is that a Christian author attempted to contrive an archaic pagan oath (suitable to the pagan background of the Old Irish epics) out of the Christian formula ('I swear to god'). Kim McCone and Tom Sjöblom have followed Ó hUiginn's analysis.
Calvert Watkins Calvert Watkins ( /ˈwɒtkɪnz/; March 13, 1933 – March 20, 2013) was an American linguist and philologist, known for his book '' How to Kill a Dragon''. He was a professor of linguistics and the classics at Harvard University and after retirem ...
, who points to "conservative nature of the
rish Rish ( Riš) is a village in Smyadovo Municipality, Shumen Province, Bulgaria, with a population of 6931 as of 2024. Population According to the 2011 Census, the population of Rish consists mainly of Bulgarian Turks (72.6%), followed by a ...
language and of oath-taking in general", has paralleled this oath with two others from Indo-European languages: (1) an oath of the
Kievan Rus' Kievan Rus', also known as Kyivan Rus,. * was the first East Slavs, East Slavic state and later an amalgam of principalities in Eastern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical At ...
from the ''
Primary Chronicle The ''Primary Chronicle'', shortened from the common ''Russian Primary Chronicle'' (, commonly transcribed ''Povest' vremennykh let'' (PVL), ), is a Rus' chronicle, chronicle of Kievan Rus' from about 850 to 1110. It is believed to have been or ...
'', "May we be accursed of the god whom we worship", and (2) an oath from a litany of the
mysteries of Isis The mysteries of Isis were religious initiation rites performed in the cult of the Egyptian goddess Isis in the Greco-Roman world. They were modeled on other mystery rites, particularly the Eleusinian mysteries in honor of the Greek goddesses D ...
, "I swear by the gods whom I worship". He suggests that these oaths, with the peculiar feature of invoking one's own gods in a restrictive relative clause, ultimately derive from a Proto-Indo-European oath. Watkins does not agree with Ó hUiginn that the phrase shows "syntactic imbalance". He considers Ó hUiginn's proposed explanation of the phrase "most unlikely", in view of the absence of documentation for this development, and the small number attestations of the Christian formula. The aspect of taboo in the oath (which avoids the name of the god being sworn by) has also been noted. Vendryes argued that the suppression of the name of the god in an oath to that god was typical of Celtic religion. He compares it to
Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...
's reference to a nameless god of the
Celtiberians The Celtiberians were a group of Celts and Celticized peoples inhabiting an area in the central-northeastern Iberian Peninsula during the final centuries BC. They were explicitly mentioned as being Celts by several classic authors (e.g. Strabo) ...
, and
Lucan Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (3 November AD 39 – 30 April AD 65), better known in English as Lucan (), was a Roman poet, born in Corduba, Hispania Baetica (present-day Córdoba, Spain). He is regarded as one of the outstanding figures of the Imper ...
's poetic description in the ''
Pharsalia ''De Bello Civili'' (; ''On the Civil War''), more commonly referred to as the ''Pharsalia'' (, neuter plural), is a Latin literature, Roman Epic poetry, epic poem written by the poet Lucan, detailing the Caesar's civil war, civil war between Ju ...
'' of
Gauls The Gauls (; , ''Galátai'') were a group of Celts, Celtic peoples of mainland Europe in the Iron Age Europe, Iron Age and the Roman Gaul, Roman period (roughly 5th century BC to 5th century AD). Their homeland was known as Gaul (''Gallia''). Th ...
dreading gods whom they do not know.
John T. Koch John Thomas Koch (born 1953) is an American academic, historian, and linguist who specializes in Celtic studies, especially prehistory, and the early Middle Ages. He is the editor of the five-volume ''Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia'' ...
proposed that the formula, alongside the Welsh oath ('I swear a destiny on you') and a
Gaulish Gaulish is an extinct Celtic languages, Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, ...
phrase from the
Chamalières tablet The Chamalières tablet () is a lead tablet, six by four centimeters, that was discovered in 1971 in Chamalières, France, at the Source des Roches excavation. The tablet is dated somewhere between 50 BC and 50 AD. The text is written in the Ga ...
, originated as a "
taboo deformation A euphemism ( ) is when an expression that could offend or imply something unpleasant is replaced with one that is agreeable or inoffensive. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the u ...
" of an oath sworn to
Lugus Lugus (sometimes Lugos or Lug) is a Celtic god whose worship is attested in the epigraphic record. No depictions of the god are known. Lugus perhaps also appears in Ancient Rome, Roman sources and medieval Insular Celts, Insular mythology. Va ...
(a god whose name, he argues, derives from a Celtic word for oath). Stefan Schumacher and
Thomas Charles-Edwards Thomas Mowbray Owen Charles-Edwards (born 11 November 1943) is an emeritus academic at the University of Oxford. He formerly held the post of Jesus Professor of Celtic and is a Professorial Fellow at Jesus College. Biography He was educated ...
have argued that identifying the Welsh and Irish oaths poses difficulties, as the pun in the Welsh oath between 'to swear' and 'to destine' relies on phonological developments unique to
Middle Welsh Middle Welsh (, ) is the label attached to the Welsh language of the 12th to 15th centuries, of which much more remains than for any earlier period. This form of Welsh developed directly from Old Welsh (). Literature and history Middle Welsh is ...
, not traceable to
Proto-Celtic Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, is the hypothetical ancestral proto-language of all known Celtic languages, and a descendant of Proto-Indo-European. It is not attested in writing but has been partly Linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed throu ...
, where the words are unconnected.


Notes


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Further reading

* * * ''
Dictionary of the Irish Language ''Dictionary of the Irish Language: Based Mainly on Old and Middle Irish Materials'' (also called "the ''DIL''"), published by the Royal Irish Academy, is the definitive dictionary of the origins of the Irish language, specifically the Old Irish, ...
'', s.v.,
tongaid
. * * {{cite journal , last=Schumacher , first=Stefan , year=1995 , title=Old Irish *''tucaid'', ''tocad'' and Middle Welsh ''tynghaf tynghet'' re-examined , journal=Ériu , volume=46 , pages=49–57 , jstor=30007873 Early Irish literature Celtic mythology Irish words and phrases Religious oaths