1891-92. ] CELTIC PROSODY. 913 
{Uaim) requires two words (of which neither can be a preposition nor a 
particle), in each line to begin with a vowel or with the same consonant. 
A proper concord or zor Uatm obtains where the last two words of a 
line begin with a vowel in the same consonant, e. g.- 
Triall tar Bearbha na sreabh sean. 
An improper concord obtains when the words in question are zoZ the 
last two in the line or verse. 
Correspondence (Comharda) is of two kinds, perfect and imperfect. 
Perfect correspondence is an agreement of two words in number of 
syllables, quantity of vowels and consonants of the same class. 
An imperfect correspondence obtains when two words agree in the 
number of syllables, in vowels and in quantity, without any regard to an 
agreement of consonants. 
Termination or Rzzu requires that the last word in the second and - 
fourth lines of a quatrain should exceed that of the first and third by one 
syllable, If, therefore, the first line end in a word of one syllable, the 
second must end in a word of two and if the third line should end in 
a word of two syllables, the fourth must be of three syllables. The first 
is called Rinn or the Minor Termination, the second Ajirdrinn or the 
Major Termination. 
Union, or Uatthne, is the same as correspondence with the exception 
that the same vowels are not required in each place, and that in poly- 
syllables it is only necessary that they agree in class. 
A Chief, or Head, or Ceann, is a monosyllable which concludes the 
second and fourth lines of a quatrain in that sort of verse called a 
seadna. 
An Amus is much the same with an imperfect correspondence, from 
which it differs only in that it requires an equality in the number of 
syllables. 
O’Molloy states that the initial word of the first quartan of a semi- 
metre is called an Urlann, which may indifferently correspond with its 
subsequent or not. He further states that the chiefest sorts of Dan 
Direach are five: Detbhidhe, Seadna, Rannaigheacht mhor, Rannaigheacht 
bheag and Casbhairn. To each sort whereof, the number of quartans, 
number of syllables, concord and correspondence, are indispensably 
requisite. In the Dezbhidhe the major and minor termination are also 
necessary, as is likewise Union in Rannaigheacht mor and Casbhairn, 
and Chief or Ceann in the Rannaigheacht bheag and Seadna. 
15 
