Mr. Petrie on the History and Antiquities of Tara Hill. 135 



65 cjiuaj Cephi cainij cuaio, 

 Nip gnim cleire pe oen uaip 

 Cancon po leij luinj cen luatj. 

 pop cuino in c-paili c-pepb-puaio. 

 Coimoiu Cancoin, ni clici, 

 Gcepun, ba hepcpeoe, 

 If pluaj na njlap oepc jleici, 

 Uao ppi raipec qien Cephi. 

 T?o pcapc bap 6peran on bpuch, 

 dp ba ecal heccepun, 

 Comap blaiD ppia mepp Don mup, 

 Cep a capblaij Cephi pun. 

 Ip pon pamla pin, punoa, 

 55""> 5U calma a ceocuma 

 Cempa jan caiobliup cpuma, 

 Qp aibniup, ap eopuma. 

 Ceamaip cac apo, cac ipjna, 

 popr nibiD popca, po oingna, 



The piteous death of Tephi, who went to the north, 



Was not a concealed fact for one hour. 



Canthon put his ship without cheerfulness 



On the surface of the bitter-reddish brine. 



The God* of Canthon, it is not concealed, 



£!therun, in whom faith was placed. 



And the host of the bright green eyes, 



Had been pledged for the restoration of proud Tephi. 



The chief of Britain shouted from the shore, 



For Etherun was an idol — 



That it would be fame and respect to the mur, 



South in the famous shrine of Tephi, f 



It was in this manner, in this place, 



They nobly made the first form 



Of TemurJ (which is) without an 6qual 



For amenity, for lightness. 



Temur [means] every height, every eminence. 



On which is a dwelling, a good fortress,§ 



• Coimoni, God ; Divinity, numen. In tlie copy of tliis poem, preserved in the Book of Glendalough, the word 

 eplam, a patron saint, or tutelary god, is substituted liere for COimoiu ; and in the prose account of this Tephi, 

 Gchepun is called the Idol of the Britons — loal na m-5peacan. It can be no other than the Taran of the British 

 antiquaries and historians, by which they understand the chief God or Jupiter of the Pagan Britons. 



+ The meaning of this quatrain is very obscure, and some error has crept into the text through the ignorance of 

 transcribers. The three copies of it differ in orthography and words, and each is equally obscure. The meaning 

 seems to be, that Canthon took a figure of the British god Etherun or Taran with him to Spain, to be placed on the 

 tomb of Tephi, that it might add to its fame and venerable character. 



X The meaning is, that the tomb which was erected in Spain for Tephi was the model after which Heremon built 

 the monument or mur of Tea on the hill of Temur, from which it took its name. 



§ The words Dinn, Dinjean, and Dinjna, which seem cognate with Tin^in the Scandinavian dialects, are of constant 

 occurrence in ancient Irish MSS., and employed to signify a fort, fortress, or palace. The Hag's Castle in Lough Mask 

 is, in the Annals of the Four Masters, called the Dinjean DOinjean of Connaught. As the words Dinn and Dinjjna 

 are of such constant occurrence in these documents, and not explained in any dictionary, a few examples of their use 

 are here given from the Book of Lismore, one of the best Irish MSS. now extant. Thus, describing a city in the east, 

 the word Dino is used in the sense of tower : "Cpi Dopuip umaiDi pop cech cerpaiiiain Di, ocup Omo 

 DirojluiDi pop cec n-Dopup," &c. And again: "Ocupnile nech Don carpaij t)inn na caiplen 

 d6 puil pop a peo, occ coimoep oa jach aen lao pum." — p. 123. Again : " t)o nicep a puach do 

 pinoGD in gac tDino a piji na Caprpaijeach." — p. ill. The word omgna is used throughout the same 

 MS. to signify a fortress or habitation : Ctpcaba uaim-pi DOib, ap Qenjup 05, TTlac in tDajoa, .1. Dunao 

 ocup tDinjna, ocup baile pijoa pomopo cu ponnacuib pic-apoa, ocup 50 n-jpiananaib jledpoa, 

 jlainioe — p. 190. In the same MS. Tara is called the chief Dlngna of Ireland. 



