NOTES. 85 



nor for washing, so also is a man without a soulfricnd ;' bot Jo Brega, 'fire throughout 

 Brega,' p. clxxx. One of the inost frequcnt sayings is gel cech mia, ' white everything 

 new,' which occurs in prose and poetry, SC. p. 43, LL. p. 121 marg., LL. p. 149 a, 

 LL. p. 344 b. The following proverbs are also interesting: dithiu cech delg is ou, ' the 

 younger thorn is always the sharper,' Rev. Celt. IL p. 382 ; is aiihe cach n-delg iss ou 

 Stowe ]MS. 992, fo. 65 a, 2; is fochen aged fecheman, ' welcome is a debtor's face,' 

 Rev. Celt. IIL p. 184. ferr cech dal dia tic std, 'better a meeting from which peace 

 comes,' LL. p. 147 b. ferr sUh sochocad, Tog. Tr. 2, 1454. 



We sometimes find wise or witty sayings arranged in a series of three, like the Welsh 

 trioedd, as in LBr. p. 70 marg. Treda dogm iti guth do etsecht hi ceiti .i. beimm tren 7 loc 

 ard 7 rethinche aeoir, ' Three things cause the sound to be heard afar, viz. a strong blow, 

 and a high place, and clearness of air.' AIso LBr. p. 71 marg. A tri on airecur tol de ./. 

 genus i n-oide, cressine im-midais, ettla fri haes, ' Three things there are through which 

 God's pleasure is attained, viz. chastity in youth, austerity in middle-life, sadness in 

 old age.' Also LBr. p. 176 : trede dremuti, is mo col, domun demun 7 ben. 



642. co toillfedh mac mh etir gach da asna do. Cf. go m-ba metithir ri cend maic mis 

 cach thothocht 7 gach thinmi do beired ccich dib de guallib 7 de J/iastaib 7 de slinneocaib 

 araile, LL. 85 b. ' So that larger than the head of a child a month old was every piece 

 and every lump that each of them took out of the shoulders and thighs and shoulder- 

 blades of the other.' 



680. stiiste imreamur iarnaidhe. In the Togai/ Bruidne Dd Derga, LU. 95 b, this 

 weapon is thus described : fri teora susta iarndae cona secht s/abradaib tredua/achaib 

 trechissi cona secht cendphartib iarndaib a cind cacha s/abraide, trummithir tinni deich 

 brudamna cach n-ae. ' With three iron flails with their seven thrice-folded, thrice .... 

 chains, with their seven iron head-pieces at the end of every chain, heavier than a salted 

 pig of ten every one of them.' 



690. Instead of machtaighedar we ought perhaps to read insaigedar, as in 1. 200. 

 The INIS. has insaighedar or msaighedar. 



721. ati Croderg fa hainm di. Cf. 642 : don craisigh crodeirg chatha. 



734. Rofreagradar, &c. Translate : * Then the beings of the upper regions responded 

 in a meeting of battle between them.' It is noteworthy that, in this description, there is 

 no element of Christian mythology as we find it, e.g. in a similar passage, in LL. p. 291 a : 

 bd dub iti t-aer udsaib-seom coZ/nc do tia demnaib oc irtiaide tia n-anttiati truag dia tarrung 

 dochom iffrin, &c. ' The air above them was black from the demons waiting for the 

 poor souls to drag them towards hell.' 



736. do thogadar na tonna tromghair. The sound of the waters is often in Irish 

 poetry interpreted as expressing a human sympathy in the fate of men. Cf. I. 993: 

 trenchainid na tonna iad. In a tale of LL. p. 175 a, somebody makes a wrong leap 

 {sdeb/eimm) into a lake and is drowned ; the wave closes iaughing over him, ' ro thib tond 

 tairis.' In the same way in the version of the story of the children of Israel, LBr. 

 1 18 b, the Irish translator says of the Pharaoh's troops being drowned in the Red Sea: 

 ro gdir in muir dar in s/og. Compare aiso the legcnd of the thrce waves of Erinn 

 (referred to in our text, 1. 927) the Totin C/idna, 'Tottn Rudraige, and Tonn Tuage. They 



