28 Mr. PETRIE'S Inquiry into the Origin and 



or house of benediction ; and as authority for this name he quotes the Glossary 

 of Cormac Mac Cullenan. But in this, as in an instance recently quoted, he has 

 most shamelessly garbled and falsified the text of that writer, as will appear from 

 the following accurate transcript of it from the oldest copies : 



Spijic ban-pile, injen in t)ajjoae; ip i inpm 6pijic be n-icpi, .1. ban-oea no aopacip pilio, ap 

 ba po mop, ocup ba po an a ppii^nam. l Deo earn t)eam uocanc poecapum ; cuiup popopep 

 tpanc 6pijic be leijip, ocup &pi,jie be goibne, injenu inDagoae; oe quapum nomirnbuppenep 

 hornmep hibepnenpep oea 6p'^ic uocabacup. &pijie, Din, .1. bpeo-paiic. 



" Brighit the poetess, the daughter of the Dagda ; she was the goddess of poetry, i. e. the goddess 

 whom the poets worshipped, for very great and very noble was her PRESIDING CARE. Idea earn Deam 

 vacant poetarum; cujus sorores erant Brighit, the goddess of physic, and Brighit, the goddess of 

 smiths, the daughters of the Dagda ; de quarum nominibus penes homines Hibernenses Dea Brighit 

 vocabatur. Brighit then means an arrow of fire." H. -2. 16. 



That the word pjiicjnam in the preceding passage, which General Vallancey 

 has manufactured into Afrihnam by joining the possessive pronoun a, her, to 

 the noun, to make it resemble the Chaldee Aphriun, can only be understood 

 as implying the diligent care, or attention, with which the goddess was sup- 

 posed to watch over the inspiration of the poets, can be proved by numerous 

 examples from ancient Irish MSS., and among these from Cormac's own work, 

 in which the word occurs twice under the word lecec, thus: 



12 o bui colleicc; in t-ccep oc acallam mo ecpme, ocup oc cup pulae cap a ppirgnam. 

 " The poet was at the time conversing with the tyro-poet, and keeping an eye over his ASSIDUITY." 

 T?o pacai rapam in r-ecep mop menmain in ecpme, ocup laijt;ec a ppirjnavhn. 

 " The poet afterwards observed the great mind of the tyro-poet, and the smallness of his ASSI- 

 DUITY." 



And under the modern spelling, ppiocnarh, this word is explained care, 

 diligence, in the Dictionaries of O'Brien, O'Reilly, and in what is superior to 

 either the MS. Dictionary of Peter O'Connell, preserved in the British Museum. 

 Under the modern spelling the word is also used in the sense of " caring, pre- 

 siding over, or superintending," by the Four Masters, as in the following passage. 



A. D. 1174. plcmn .1. plopenc Ua ^opmain, aipo-peap lecchinn Opoa TTlacha ajup Openn 

 uile,paoi epjna, eolac, ipm eaccna oiaba, ajupoomanoa, lap m-betr bliaoam ap picic i b'-ppan- 

 caib' ajup i SaraiB ace pocclaim, aj^up p'che bliaoan ele ajj ppiocnnam ajup 05 Follarh- 

 nacchao pcol Gpenn, ac bar co poinmeac ip in Ceaccaoin pia j-Cuipj lupp an peaccmojuo 

 bliaoain a aoipi. 



