Presents diplomatic text, normalised critical edition and English translation of the fragmentary material in the last two folios of NLI G 50 (pp. 141-144), omitted in James Carney's 1964 edition of Blathmac’s poems.
1. Blathmac son of Cú Brettan: his name, time and place; 2. Carney’s edition; 3. Blathmac and his sources; 4. Metrics; 5. Phonology; 6. Morphology; 7. Lexicon; 8. Syntax; 9. Conclusion.
Examines how the Biblical sources underlying the Blathmac poems were adapted to suit early Irish legal and societal institutions, focusing on clientship and sick-maintenance.
cobfolaid in the poem, beg. Tair cucum, a Maire boíd, ascribed to Blathmac mac Con Brettan, emended to cobfodail (vn. of con-fodlai), meaning here ‘alloted portion’.
1. A far-fetched formula for fairrge? [On an alliterative formula involving fairrge first attested in Blathmac]; 2. The ocean in uproar [Proposes two alternative etymologies for OIr. fairrge]; 3. The sound of the silent [On ‘compound alliteration’ in Blathmac]; 4. Alliterating beös [Argues beös in Blathmac §218 is a disyll. stressed on the last syll. making alliteration with an initial stressed vowel].
Provides a transcription of the fragmentary quatrains (i.e. nos 260-303) of the poems of Blathmac, contained in NLI MS G 50, not included in James Carney’s edition (The poems of Blathmac, Dublin 1964 [BILL 5593]).