NOTES. 79 



It is called miiir Ttbir also in LBr. p, iiSb, whilst LBr. p. 126 a, preserves the Latin 

 mare Tibriatis. Biblical and classical topography has entered largely into Irish story 

 teiling. Thus in the Agall. na Senor. Rawl. 487 fo. 1 3 a, i we read: tbipraid Bofinne 

 co Garrdhai na n-hberrdha inn-oirrther in domain. 



111. sluag draidhechta. Compare the airbeda druad, Tog. Tr. 1672. Perhaps sl- 

 ought to be differently read. 



ib. read gairfedid, a 3 d plur. with its termination doubled. Cf. betit, bertait, pass., 

 gabtait, LU. 10 la, 41 ; cesfaitit, genfedit, Three Hom. p. 28. i. 



134. co tobhacht a cheann da cholainn. Cutting off the conquered encmy's head is an 

 old Irish custom often referred to in the heroic tales. The victor then put it under his 

 thigh, or told his charioteer to put it in the chariot (' cuir in da chend, a Laeg, issin 

 carput^ LL. iiob), in order that it might afterwards be placed on a stake {tanic Laeg 

 immach fiad na sluag 7 fuachais di chualle 7 dobreth cend Guill for indara cualle 7 da 

 cend Gairb Glinni Rigi ar in cuailli aile. ' Laeg went out before the hosts, and shaped 

 two poles, and put the head of Goll on the one pole, and the two heads of Garb 

 of Glenn Rigi on the other pole '), or among the other trophies of the hero. Conall 

 Cernach, one of the chief heroes at King Gonchobur's court, never slept without 

 the head of a Connaught foe under his knee, LL. p. 107 a, 21 ; Sc. M. 16. In one of 

 the three great buildings at the royal residence in Emain jNIacha, called the Croebderg, 

 or Red Branch, heads of enemies were coUected and preserved as trophies {isin 

 Chroebdeirg no bttis in chennal^ 7 na fuidb, LL. 106 b). Another custom of the Ulster 

 heroes was to take the brain out of the head, to mix lime with it, and thus to form it 

 into a round and hard ba!l, which balls were then preserved on a shelf. See LL. 123 b. 

 In LL. 299 b, it is told, how after the battle of Ath Dara for Berba, a cairn of the 

 enemies' heads was raised by the victors on the bank of the Barrow in Mag Ailbe. So 

 also in the Tor. Dhiarm. p. 210, three cairns are made, one of the heads, one of the 

 bodies, and one of the arms and accoutrements of the slain enemies. C6chulaind makes 

 one cairn of the heads and byrnies of the three times nine mcn he slew while watching. 

 F. B. 84. 



145. ar sedaibh an beatha uili. Cf. ar mhaithios an domhain, Eg. 179. 



149. a fegmais a clannmaicne fen, Cf. a n-egmuis, ' besides, without including.' 

 Chron. Scot. Ind. 



ib. luidim-si fom armaibh. The reading of Egerton here is : luighim-se fam bhriathar 

 j fdm armuibb gaisge. Swearing by their weapons, especially by the shield, was a 

 frequent custom among the old Irish heroes. 



Cf. Atbiur fom sc\ath scenbda tra, 

 A Laeg, a maic Riangabra, 

 nach fuiciub in mag {niet glond) 

 co fesser inme a chomlond. LL. 108 a, 49. 



' This seems to be the proper form of thc sg. nom., not ccnddil, as Windisch has it in 

 his Worterbuch. 



