290 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



86. What deprives this man of the status of bdcdre 1 It is that perhaps 

 four or five men may be in joint heirship to a hoaire, so that each of them 

 cannot easily be a hoaire. 



He is entitled to the food-provision for two men of milk and curds or corn, 

 butter on Sundays, a serccol of condiment with this, duilesc, onions, salt. He 

 is entitled to have two persons on sick-maintenance, (and) to butter on 

 alternate days.' 



87. A '^ boaire oi excellence," why is he so called? Because his nobility 

 and his honourprice are derived from kine. He has twice seven cumals of 

 land ; a house of twenty-seven feet, with an outhouse of fi f teen feet ; a share 

 in a mill, so that he grinds for his family and his companies of guests ; a 

 kiln, a barn, a sheep-fold, a calf-fold, a pigsty. These are the seven roof-trees in 

 respect of which every bdcdre is paid dire. He has twelve cows, a half-share 

 in a plough, a horse for working and a steed for riding. Twelve cows are his 

 capital from a lord. A steer with its accompaniment is his house-custom as 

 summer-provision and winter-provision. Five chattels for his dire as regards 

 whatever is an offence to him for his honourprice.^ 



IV 310. — 88. What makes five chattels the honourprice of the bdcdrel 

 Answer : His functions : a chattel for his bond, a chattel for his guarantee, 

 a chattel for his evidence, a chattel for his hostage, a chattel for his composing 

 (disputes) and for his judgment in farm-law. He makes oath (up to) five 

 chattels, they (five chattels) go upon his bond and his guarantee and his 

 hostage and his evidence. His food-provision is for three persons. He is 

 entitled to have three persons on sick-maintenance ; to butter on the second, 

 third, fifth, ninth, and tenth day, (and) on Sunday. Fresh or salted onions 

 for condiment. What is wanting to the qualifications of the bdcdre is 

 wanting to his dire.^ 



'"A serccol of condiment." The official translation of serccol tarsain is "salted 

 venison." A vessel or measure named o? is of frequent mention. /Sercc- may represent 

 sergg, " shrunken." Duilesc is still the name of a seaweed which is dried and eaten as a 

 kind of condiment. 



^ " A horse for working and a steed for riding " — c appall fognoma ociis ech immrimnie : 

 the meaning may be " a saddle-horse for ordinary use and a racehorse for racing," since 

 it is doubtful whether horses were generally used for work. Dire in the second passage 

 means honourprice. In the first, it probably means trehdire, special amends due for 

 injury done to a house. 



^ The statement that the hoaire's five chattels of honourprice are based on his five 

 legal functions, when compared with the other grades, is seen to be merely mnemonic. 



"Salted onions" cuinyienn sailUe. Cainnenn, rendered sometimes by "onions," 

 sometimes by "leeks," means some vegetable preserved by salting (cf. §11 n). Fir- as 

 in the modern /«o?'!«'sye, " fresh water." 



il/)-ia^rec/i<, " farm-law." See^68n. 



