Uses of the Round Towers of Ireland, fyc. 



signify a certain penitential station, which the Roman Catholics still perform, or lately performed, 

 in many parts of Ireland, at holy wells near ancient churches and in the modern chapels: it is per- 

 formed by moving on the knees from one penitential station to another at the ancient churches, or 

 from one station of the Holy Cross to another in the modern chapels, and repeating certain prayers 

 before each station. Hence aj caBaipc cupaip means 'performing a station or a pilgrimage ,' but 

 the word is understood by the most illiterate peasant as alluding to the journeying on the knees; 

 and the same person, who would know that 05 caBaipc cupaip means performing a station or pil- 

 grimage, would understand cupap paoa to mean a long JOURNEY ; cpiocnuf ^eap mo rupap, ' / //ace 

 finished my JOURNEY;' 50 n-eipftm DO rupap leac, ' may you succeed on your journey.'' From these 

 examples it appears quite obvious that the Irish word cupap has nothing to do with tower or turris, 

 but that it is of the same signification and derivation with the English 'tour,'' which I trust no 

 person will derive from the Latin turris, a tower. 



" I am of opinion that the term cupap is not long in use in the sense of station or pilgrimage, for I 

 never met any ancient MS. authority for such a figurative signification of the word. It is always used 

 in Irish books and MSS. to signify a journey, a travel, a tour; and if the word naom were added, then 

 it would mean a pilgrimage, 'a holy journey,' (naovh-cupap). But in all our ancient annals the 

 word used to signify 'pilgrimage' is ailicpi. Cupap does not mean 'penance? as asserted by Dr. 

 Smith, and never had any such signification, the word dicpi^e (which is a noun formed from the 

 adjective airpeac, sorrowful,) being always used to denote penance, whether mental or corporeal." 



To these judicious remarks it is hardly necessary to add another word. I am 

 quite persuaded that if Dr. Smith had had any distinct authority for his vague 

 reference, either manuscript or printed, he would not have failed to have trium- 

 phantly produced it. Why did he not tell us what the Towers were called in 

 those ancient Irish MSS., which state that they were used to imprison penitents ? 

 He answers this question by anticipation, thus : " Some of our writers have 

 named them Inclusoria and Arcti Inclusorii Ergastula, the Prisons of a 

 narrow enclosure particularly in the Life of Dunchad O'Braoin, &c." But 

 these are not Irish words, and I have already shown, in the preceding section, 

 that the authorities here referred to make no allusion whatever to towers, but 

 on the contrary distinctly and invariably call those Inclusoria cellce or cells. 



The name, however, by which the ' Penitentiaries' were called in Irish may 

 be seen in almost every page of our Annals : it is ouip-reach or oeaji-reac 

 a name which is supposed by some to be poetically compounded of the words 

 oecqi, a tear, and reach, a house. It is thus explained by O'Reilly in his 

 Irish Dictionary : 



" Oeap-ceac, dear-theach, an apartment in a monastery calculated for prayers and penitence." 



