Varia III. 1. On the preposition <em>for</em> with the negative particle in Old Irish; 2. The River Níth

Abstract

DOI: ­ https://doi.org/10.3318/ERIU.2017.67.9 Ériu LXVII (2017) 227–237 Royal Irish Academy VARIA III 1. On the preposition for with the negative particle in Old Irish In an edition of the first third of Bretha Nemed Toísech, the passage fristoing dana cach duine nabi a nedgus og na foraircella echdrund naircend, CIH­2212.21,1 was normalised and translated in Breatnach (1989, 14–15 §12) as: (1) fris-toing dánu cach duini nád bí i n-enngus óg, ná for airchella echtrann ­n-airchenn. ‘it rejects the gifts of all who are not in pure innocence nor, in addition, does it take away the definite property of ­ another’ . In a note on an earlier edition of this passage (Breatnach, 1984, 447), I took for to be the ­ 3sg. neuter prepositional pronoun used as an adverb, as there is no other evidence for a compound ­ *for-airchella. The formation of adverbs from a preposition with the ­ 3sg. neuter pronoun, such as and ‘there, then’, íarum ‘afterwards, then’, riam ‘previously’, ­ etc., is discussed in Breatnach (1956), and while the formation is well attested in the case of some prepositions, such as those just cited, with others it is rare, and Breatnach cited ­ (p. 336) one example of for in the meaning ‘above (water)’, ­ viz. (from Immram Snédgusa ⁊ Maic Ríagla):2 (2) Léicem ass imram ar curaig, cuairt co tendi, do Chríst mad tol, cid fó cid for beos bemmi,Van Hamel (1941,86 ­ v.­ 7). This was subsequently translated in Murray (2014, 779) as: ‘Let us leave the voyaging of our coracle, a difficult voyage, to Christ if it be his will, whether it be under or over [the ocean] moreover we may ­be’ . The question I am now concerned with is whether the example in (1) is an instance of tmesis, ­ viz. the insertion of a stressed word or words between the unstressed and stressed parts of the verbal complex, and thus belongs to the poetic register, or whether it can be explained ­ differently. One reason for the question is that the stressed element of the verbal complex, airchella, does not alliterate with the immediately preceding element, as is the case in the vast majority of instances of tmesis in Old Irish ­ verse. Another reason is that I have since come across some further comparable examples where 1 With the addition of nabi as in the MS, but omitted in ­ CIH. The passage is abbreviated Fristoing dana daine Na forair cella echtrann, CIH ­ 2100.36, in a set of glossed fragments from Bretha Nemed ­Toísech. 2 Where it is paired with an adverb formed in the same way from fo ‘under’, for which see Breatnach (1956, 335–6) and DIL ­s.v. fo, at F ­ 174.77 . There is no preceding referent which would justify translating these as ‘under it’ and ‘over ­ it’ . 228 LIAM BREATNACH for is used before a verbal form, but where there is no other evidence for a compound of the relevant form with for as first preverb, that is to say, for compounds *for-díupair or *for-scara, ­ etc. Furthermore, three of these are found in prose, and thus cannot be taken as instances of ­ tmesis. The first is in Córus Bésgnai: (3) ­ cach. recht nadoge dliged ­ amamu. nibo ­ hogdirid. Nifordiubarar nach recht gaibter ­ arthorbu. dligtir do diri, Breatnach (2017,­148 §27).3 The second is again from Bretha Nemed Toísech, where the relevant ­ passage reads: (4) coro scara lam fria taob ⁊ceand fri colaind ⁊ tenga fri comlabra amail nad scaruid-side co bas ni forscarud manach fria aircindech co suige nega ni forscara ceile fria tigerna na ­ .c.muinter dligtech fria ceile co nadnacul dib linuib, CIH ­2231.5.4 Here we have a sequence of four clauses with forms of scaraid, alone in the first two, and accompanied by for in the last ­ two. This passage is cited in two digests as follows:5 goro scara lam fri taobh ⁊ cenn fri colainn ⁊ tenga fri comlabra, amail na scarit-sidhe go bas, nicon scara manach fri aircinnech na ­.c.muinnter dligthech fria ceilidi na ceili fria tiagarna...