Early Irish Literature and Mythology

A Professor of Linguistics at Harvard University, Calvert Watkins, is often quoted as having stated (during the 1960's) that Irish had the oldest vernacular literature of Europe.

The earliest recorded examples of Irish literature date from the sixth century CE. These of course belong to the period after the coming of Christianity, which introduced writing into Ireland for the first time. The Latin alphabet was adapted for the Irish language leading to the beginning of a vibrant literate culture which drew on the native secular traditions.

The ways in which the monastic scribes interacted with their Irish material is increasingly a contentious area of debate among scholars. The view that monks were faithful copyists of an earlier pagan tradition, and that our early literature is a true unmediated picture of Pre-Christian Ireland, is now being questioned. It is, however, undisputed that Irish possesses a wonderful body of early literature comprising lyric poetry, mythological tales, warrior tales and sagas, voyages and Ossianic tales (stories about Fionn and the Fianna) which continue to influence our literary traditions to this day.

Ogam

The earliest extant writings in Irish are in a form of Archaic Irish which dates from the fourth and fifth centuries These writings are in the Ogam script, which comprised a series of twenty symbols consisting of strokes and dots. They were inscribed primarily on stone slabs and pillar stones, but are also recorded on bone and wood. Examples are preserved both in the collections of the National Museum, and also in situ throughout the Irish countryside. These predate the earliest extant examples of Old Irish proper, which are preserved in the form of glosses or marginalia in Latin manuscripts, written by monks who had gone to the Continent.

Early Irish Lyric Poetry

Early Irish lyric poetry is among the most delightful in all our literature. The earliest date from the Old Irish period and were written by monastic scribes in the margins of Latin manuscripts. The most famous is probably Pangur Bán or White Pangur where the scribe describes the affinity between his own task and that of his cat. It was translated into English by Frank O'Connor as The Scholar and his Cat:

Messe (ocus) Pangur Bán
cechtar nathar fria saindín;
bith a menma-sam fri seilgg,
mu menma céin im saincheird

Each of us pursues his trade,
I and Pangur, my comrade
His whole fancy on the hunt
And mine for learning ardent

Other lyrics extol the beauties of nature and the simplicity of the hermit's life. A selection of this poetry from the 8th to the 12th century was published in bilingual form in Early Irish Lyrics by the scholar Gerard Murphy.

The Manuscript Tradition

The early Irish l iterary tradition is a very rich one and includes many different genres of literature. These include mythological and warrior tales, history, lives of saints, voyages, visions, sermons, annals, laws, genealogy, place lore and grammatical tracts as well as translations from Latin. This literature has come down to us in manuscript form: some manuscripts contain a single text, however the earlier and most famous ones contain a miscellany of material.

The earliest existing manuscript is known as the Book of the Dun Cow: it is referred to by scholars as Lebor na hUidhre or LU and dates from the 12th century. It is believed to have been written in Clonmacnoise and includes material which, from linguistic evidence, can be said to be a lot older. Other manuscripts include the Book of Leinster (LL, 1180-1200) and the Yellow Book of Lecan (LBL 14 century).

In the later Middle Ages these stories were supplanted in popularity by tales of Fionn Mac Cumhail and the Fianna. Among the most important of these were Agallamh na Seanórach (The Colloquy, Discourse of the Ancients) a delightful mixture of prose and poetry and Tóraíocht Dhiarmada agus Ghráinnne (The pursuit of Diarmaid and Gráinne).