Westuopp — Assembly -Place of'Oenach Cairbre and Sid Asail. 371 



the Ui Fidgeinte themselves traced their pedigree from Daire Cairbre,' and, 

 like the Ui Cairbre, do not appear to have ever asserted a claim to the 

 kingship of Minister — conscious evidence of their being aware of an entirely 

 different descent. 



The 'Oenach. — 'Oenach Cairbre was also called 'Oenach beag, the Little 

 Assembly,^ in contrast, we are told (of course no reason is appended), with 

 Nenagh : now this lay in (juite a different tribeland, separated by the 

 Uaithne and Aradha and the mountains of 81ievephelini, from the assembly 

 onthe "Maig." More likely, 'Oenach Cairbre was the "little Assembly," 

 because 'Oenach Culi was (as we know) the c/wc/ cemetery, and therefore the 

 great assembly of the Dergthene ; both were in the Dal Cais tribelands. It 

 was very possibly once 'Oenach Asail. As we saw, there were Brvim-, Mag- 

 Sid-, and Siddn- maigc- Asail. O'Donovan and O'Curry, followed by Mr. 

 Orpen, Father Ilogan, myself, and most other writers,' confused 'Oenacli 

 Cairbre with 'Oenach Culi, or 'Oenach Clochair. When this latter was 

 identified (as Mr. P. J. Lynch and I independently arrived at the same 

 conclusion about it), the first stood out, without rival, as the Assembly which 

 gave its name to Monasteranenagh. The Abbey stood in tl)e land of Cenel 

 mekin (an unknown tribe) across the river, and its cliarter does not grant it 

 'Oenach Cairbre, nor Dromassell, unless " Culocdir " be a liorribly corrupt' 

 copy for Eiiocair. Apart from the implication of tlie name and the (late) 

 usage of Monasteranenagh as the popular Irish name for " De Magio " and 

 " Abbey Maig," there is nothing known to me to show that the 'Oenach was 

 held after the Norman settlement. It may be thouglit that too mucii is said 

 about old errors, but it is impossible to keep writers fi-oni falling back on long 

 disproved identifications, while the hasty decisions of O'Donovan, eighty 

 years ago, are uncritically repeated without contradiction, and (worst of all) 

 get a new and lasting lease of their delusive career even in so important a 

 work of reference as the Onoinasticon Goedelicum. 



' Cormac's Glossary, p. 55. 



-Of course the usual translation " fair " is quite inadequate for "'Oenach," as in 

 Greece "Agora " was a place of assembly and also a market. It is not only a " fair," but 

 an assembly for legislation, musical contests, races, and games, and it is probable, even 

 in later times, that chariot races, as well as horse races, prevailed. Here at Oenach 

 Cairbre we have a chariot name at the ford, and the chariot figures in the ceremonies of 

 Tara, where the chariot course lay near the stone " F:il," and the "Slope of the 

 Chariots " lay near. Tirechan uses the Greek ojdn for the Oenach of Tailltiu. 



^"Manners and Customs," p. 14; "Irish Manuscript Material,'' p. .'505; notes 

 Ann. Four MM., Roy. Soc. Antt. Ir., xxxiv. p. 34; Onomasticon Goedelicum, 

 pp. 513, 597. 



••Hardly worse than " Dernaht " for Buuratty, " Duy " forAine, " Eleuri " for 

 Claire, or " Jolegar" for Uregare. 



