Dindsenchas
Encyclopedia
Dindsenchas or Dindshenchas (modern spellings: Dinnseanchas or Dinnsheanchas), meaning "lore of places" (the modern Irish
word dinnseanchas means "topography
") is a class of onomastic text in early Irish literature
, recounting the origins of place-names and traditions concerning events and characters associates with the places in question. Since many of the legends related concern the acts of mythic and legendary figures, the dindsenchas is an important source for the study of Irish mythology
.
The literary corpus of the dindsenchas comprises about 176 poems plus a number of prose commentaries and independent prose tales (the so-called "prose dindsenchas" is often distinguished from the "verse", "poetic" or "metrical dindsenchas"). As a compilation the dindsenchas has survived in two different recensions. The first recension is found in the Book of Leinster
, a manuscript of the 12th century, with partial survivals in a number of other manuscript sources. The text shows signs of having been compiled from a number of provincial sources and the earliest poems date from at least the 11th century. The second recension survives more or less intact in thirteen different manuscripts, mostly dating from the 14th and 15th centuries. This recension contains a number of poems composed after the Book of Leinster text. Dindsenchas stories are also incorporated into saga texts such as Táin Bó Cúailnge
and Acallam na Senórach
.
Although they are known today from these written sources, the dindsenchas are clearly a product of the pre-literary
tradition and are structured so as to be a mnemonic aid as well as a form of entertainment. They are far from an accurate history of how places came to be named. Many of the explanations given are made to fit the name and not the other way around, especially in the many cases where a place was much older than the Middle Irish spoken at the time of the poems' composition. In other cases, the dindsenchas poets may have invented names for places when the name of a place, if it had one, was not known to them. A detailed analysis points to a pre-Christian origin for most of the tales (http://www.jstor.org/pss/25508581). For example many placenames appear which had fallen out of use by the 5th century A.D., when Irish written records began to appear in quantity.
Knowledge of the real or putative history of local places formed an important part of the education of the elite in ancient Ireland. This formed part of the training of the military, for whom a knowledge of the landscape was essential. It was also essential knowledge for the bardic caste, who were expected to recite poems answering questions on place name origins as part of their professional duties. Consequently, the dindshenchas may well have grown by accretion from local texts compiled in schools as a way of teaching about places in their area.
Edward J. Gwynn compiled and translated dindsenchas poems from the Book of the Dun Cow, the Book of Leinster, the Rennes Manuscript, the Book of Ballymote
, the Great Book of Lecan
and the Yellow Book of Lecan
in The Metrical Dindshenchas, published in four volumes between 1903 and 1906, with a general introduction and indices published as a fifth volume in 1935.
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
word dinnseanchas means "topography
Topography
Topography is the study of Earth's surface shape and features or those ofplanets, moons, and asteroids...
") is a class of onomastic text in early Irish literature
Early Irish literature
-The earliest Irish authors:It is unclear when literacy first came to Ireland. The earliest Irish writings are inscriptions, mostly simple memorials, on stone in the ogham alphabet, the earliest of which date to the fourth century...
, recounting the origins of place-names and traditions concerning events and characters associates with the places in question. Since many of the legends related concern the acts of mythic and legendary figures, the dindsenchas is an important source for the study of Irish mythology
Irish mythology
The mythology of pre-Christian Ireland did not entirely survive the conversion to Christianity, but much of it was preserved, shorn of its religious meanings, in medieval Irish literature, which represents the most extensive and best preserved of all the branch and the Historical Cycle. There are...
.
The literary corpus of the dindsenchas comprises about 176 poems plus a number of prose commentaries and independent prose tales (the so-called "prose dindsenchas" is often distinguished from the "verse", "poetic" or "metrical dindsenchas"). As a compilation the dindsenchas has survived in two different recensions. The first recension is found in the Book of Leinster
Book of Leinster
The Book of Leinster , is a medieval Irish manuscript compiled ca. 1160 and now kept in Trinity College, Dublin, under the shelfmark MS H 2.18...
, a manuscript of the 12th century, with partial survivals in a number of other manuscript sources. The text shows signs of having been compiled from a number of provincial sources and the earliest poems date from at least the 11th century. The second recension survives more or less intact in thirteen different manuscripts, mostly dating from the 14th and 15th centuries. This recension contains a number of poems composed after the Book of Leinster text. Dindsenchas stories are also incorporated into saga texts such as Táin Bó Cúailnge
Táin Bó Cúailnge
is a legendary tale from early Irish literature, often considered an epic, although it is written primarily in prose rather than verse. It tells of a war against Ulster by the Connacht queen Medb and her husband Ailill, who intend to steal the stud bull Donn Cuailnge, opposed only by the teenage...
and Acallam na Senórach
Acallam na Senórach
Acallam na Senórach is an important prosimetric Middle Irish narrative dating to the last quarter of the 12th century...
.
Although they are known today from these written sources, the dindsenchas are clearly a product of the pre-literary
Oral literature
Oral literature corresponds in the sphere of the spoken word to literature as literature operates in the domain of the written word. It thus forms a generally more fundamental component of culture, but operates in many ways as one might expect literature to do...
tradition and are structured so as to be a mnemonic aid as well as a form of entertainment. They are far from an accurate history of how places came to be named. Many of the explanations given are made to fit the name and not the other way around, especially in the many cases where a place was much older than the Middle Irish spoken at the time of the poems' composition. In other cases, the dindsenchas poets may have invented names for places when the name of a place, if it had one, was not known to them. A detailed analysis points to a pre-Christian origin for most of the tales (http://www.jstor.org/pss/25508581). For example many placenames appear which had fallen out of use by the 5th century A.D., when Irish written records began to appear in quantity.
Knowledge of the real or putative history of local places formed an important part of the education of the elite in ancient Ireland. This formed part of the training of the military, for whom a knowledge of the landscape was essential. It was also essential knowledge for the bardic caste, who were expected to recite poems answering questions on place name origins as part of their professional duties. Consequently, the dindshenchas may well have grown by accretion from local texts compiled in schools as a way of teaching about places in their area.
Edward J. Gwynn compiled and translated dindsenchas poems from the Book of the Dun Cow, the Book of Leinster, the Rennes Manuscript, the Book of Ballymote
Book of Ballymote
The Book of Ballymote , named for the parish of Ballymote, County Sligo, was written in 1390 or 1391....
, the Great Book of Lecan
Great Book of Lecan
The Book of Lecan is a medieval Irish manuscript written between 1397 and 1418. It is in the possession of the Royal Irish Academy....
and the Yellow Book of Lecan
Yellow Book of Lecan
The Yellow Book of Lecan , or TCD MS 1318 , is a medieval Irish manuscript written no later than the dawn of the 15th century. It is currently housed at Trinity College, Dublin and should not be confused with the Great Book of Lecan.-Overview:The manuscript is written on vellum and contains 344...
in The Metrical Dindshenchas, published in four volumes between 1903 and 1906, with a general introduction and indices published as a fifth volume in 1935.
External links
- The Metrical Dindshenchas, edited and translated by Edward J. Gwynn, at CELT
- Volume 1: text and translation
- Volume 2: text and translation
- Volume 3: text and translation
- Volume 4: text and translation
- The Prose Tales from the Rennes Dindshenchas, edited and translated by Whitley Stokes, at Thesaurus Linguae Hibernicae
- Part 1: text and translation
- Part 2: text and translation
- Part 3: text and translation
- Part 4: text
- The Bodleian Dinnshenchas: text and translation by Whitley Stokes, at Thesaurus Linguae Hibernicae
- The Edinburgh Dinnshenchas: text and translation by Whitley Stokes, at Thesaurus Linguae Hibernicae
- Selected poems at MythicalIreland.com