Line 9. "Dun Imrith nor yet to Dun Delga." Dun Imrith is the castle in
which Cuchulain was when he met the War-Goddess in the "Apparition of
the Morrigan," otherwise called the "Tain bo Regamna." Dun Delga or
Dundalk is the residence usually associated with Cuchulain. The
mention of Emer here is noticeable; the usual statement about the
romance is that Ethne is represented as Cuchulain's mistress, and Emer
as his wife; the mention here of Emer in the Antiquarian form may
support this; but this form seems to be drawn from so many sources,
that it is quite possible that Ethne was the name of Cuchulain's wife
in the mind of the author of the form which in the main is followed.
There is no opposition between Emer and Ethne elsewhere hinted at.
Line 15. The appearance of Lugaid Red-Stripes gives a reason for his
subsequent introduction in the link between the two forms of the story.
Line 18. "Near the entrance of the chamber in which Cuchulain lay."
It does not yet seem certain whether imda was a room or a couch, and it
would seem to have both meanings in the Antiquarian form of this story.
The expression forsind airiniuch na imdai which occurs here might be
rendered "at the head of the bed"; but if we compare i n-airniuch ind
rigthige which occurs twice in "Bricriu's Feast," and plainly means "at
the entrance of the palace," it seems possible that airinech is here
used in the same sense, in which case imda would mean "room," as
Whitley Stokes takes it in the "Bruiden da Derga." On the other hand,
the word imda translated on page 63, line 11, certainly means "couches."
Line 27. "Ah Cuchulain, &c." Reference may be made for most of the
verses in this romance to Thurneysen's translation of the greater part
of it in Sagen aus dem alten Irland but, as some of his renderings are
not as close as the verse translations in the text, they require to be
supplemented. The poem on pp. 60, 61 is translated by Thurneysen, pp.
84 and 85; but the first two lines should run:--
Ah Cuchulain, under thy sickness
not long would have been the remaining.
And lines 7 and 8 should be:
Dear would be the day if truly
Cuchulain would come to my land.
The epithet "fair" given to Aed Abra's daughters in line 4 by
Thurneysen is not in the Irish, the rest of his translation is very
close.
Line 32. "Plain of Cruach." Cromm Cruach is the name of the idol
traditionally destroyed by St. Patrick in the "Lives." Cromm Cruach is
also described In the Book of Leinster (L.L. 213b) as an idol to whom
human sacrifices were offered. The name of this plain is probably
connected with this god.
PAGE 61
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