78 THE BATTLE OF VENTRY. 



mbiur nach cuala fiecb reme riani. And aibert ind ingen : Bid e and so inber bes a?iiu 

 i n-hErinn.' ' She heard the song of the mermaid in the mouth of the river, that 

 nobody ever heard before her. Then said the maiden : This is the estuary that is 

 fairest in Erinn.' About the Welsh mermaid (the mor/orivyn) see Rhys, Welsh Fairy 

 Tales in the Cymmrodor IV. p. 179, and V. p. 156. 



48. brirrlig or beirling, as the Egerton version has it, seems to be a loanword from 

 Old Norse, Hlve lipting 'taffrail,' Tog. Tr. Ind, The Irish, not being so much given to 

 seafaring as their Teutonic neighbours, have at all times borrowed largely from them 

 for nautical terms. Thus, at an earlier period, they took their long, liburn, port, &c. 

 from the Romans. 



60. sithan Lacha Lein Hnnuair, ' from a hillock of L. L.' Loch Lein is often called 

 linnuar, also lindgel, lindmar (LL. 155 a). 



62. a gabhail beo, &c. In the same way the sons of Usnech are said to have been as 

 swift as hounds at the chase, killing the wild beasts by swiftness : Bat comluatha fri 

 conaib oc taffond, no marbdais nafiada ar luas. Tr. T. p. 72. 



66. a anam, a ghlais. Cf. 'Cinnas, a ni' atiim, a IrielV bar Conchobur, LL. 175 b. 

 Thus also eneit is employed in the Mabinogion as a term of endearment in addressing 

 persons. 



72. Bjnn fia Bairci. Cf. 996 Ruad Rinn Dd Barc. Mr. Hennessy informs me that 

 this is to the present day the name of a promontory in the Dingle District. 



75. da sirJeimm. Though I have, following the example of other scholars, translated 

 s'ir by ' long,' I am not sure whether in connections like these it has not a diiferent 

 meaning. Cf. LL. p. 55 b: binnidir teta mendchrot ac a seinm al-ldmaib sirsudd bind- 

 fogur a goiha 7 a cdinurlabra. 



76. dubchonn. Cf. aithle na cesta n-dur n-dub, LL. 1433. 



77. c'ia da rainic, &c. Translate : ' To whom did this land fall as a portion of the 

 spoil, when they divided E. between them before they came westward ? ' 



90. )nac Brain mic Feabhail. It is a chief characteristic of these later romantic tales 

 that they not only draw largely on the older tales of the heroic and mythic cycles, but 

 transfer entire personages from them without scruple. Thus Bran mac Febail, a well- 

 knovvn hero of the mythological cycle, has here been fathered upon Conncrithir, a 

 warrior of the fiann. This practice is often resorted to in order to impart additional 

 splendour to a favourite hero. Thus, according to Leinster tradition, Finn mac Cumail 

 was the grandson of N6adu Necht, highking of Erinn; this was effected through a 

 confusion with Finn, king of Leinster, who, according to 0'Curry On the Mann. II. 53, 

 was the grandson of Nfiadu Necht (perhaps Find mac Rossa SC. 22). 



96. mairg mdthair dorad m' idhna, lit. ' woe (to) the mother that gave my birthpangs.' 



104. gradh ecmaisi, a way of falling in love very nmch in vogue with ladies in the 

 ancient Irish tales. It is the same when Flidais loves Fergus (LL. 247 a), and Derb- 

 forgaill loves C6chulaind (LL. 125 a), ar a airsceVaib. With the construction in the 

 genitive, compare carait ecmaisi, ' absent friends,' LL. 173 a, 6; cot chairdib ecmaisi, 

 LL. 171 b. 



105. The ?/> Tibhir in the East is the lake of Tiberias, introduced from the N. T, 



