Irish Poetry from 11th Century

M' óenurán im aireclán
A hermit song

M' óenurán im aireclán
cen duinén im gnáis:
robad inmuin ailethrán
ré n-dul i n-dáil m-báis.
Bothnat deirrit diamair
do dílgud cach cloín;
cubus díriuch diamain
dochum nime noíb.

Nóebad cuirp co sobésaib:
saltrad ferda for,
súilib tláithib todéraib
do dílgud mo thol.
Tola fanna féodaidi,
freitech domnáin ché,
coicle bána béodaidi,
ba sí dígde Dé.
Donála co n-dílechtai
dochum nime nél,
coibsin fíala fíretlai,
frossa díana dér.
Dérgud adúar áigthide
amal tálgud troch,
cotlud gairit gáibthide
díucra meinic moch.
Mo thúara, mo thuinide,
robad inmuin cacht;
ním-dingénad cuilide
mo longud, cen acht.
Arán toimse tírmaide ---
maith don-airnem gnúis ---
uisce lerga lígmaise
ba sí deog no lúis.
Longud serbda séimide,
menma i l-lebor léir,
lám fri cath, fri céilide,
cubus roithen réid.

Robad inmuin (araidi)
ainim nechta nóeb,
leicne tírmai tanaidi
tonn chrocnaide chóel.

Céim íar sétaib soscéla
salmchétal cach thráth,
crích fri rád, fri roscéla,
filliud glúine gnáth.
Críst mac Dé dom thaithigid,
mo Dúilem, mo Rí,
mo menma día aithigid
issind flaith i m-bí.
Ba sí in chrích fom-themadar
eter lissu lann
locán álainn eladglan,
os mé m'óenur ann.

M' óenurán im aireclán,
m' óenurán am-ne;
m' óenur do-llod forsin m-bith;
m' óenur rega de.

M' óenur ma do-rogbus ní
d' úabar betha cé,
cluinte mo núallán oc caí,
m' óenurán, a Dé.

Re: Irish Poetry from 11th Century


That is beautiful, Miller. Do you have any idea who wrote it? I don't know many 11th century poets.

No, I don't. The author is signed, Anonymous.

Yes, it is beautiful.

Nor I. Why are they 'featured'?

Trying to Identify Irish Poem/Lyric
An Irish friend in his 70s is attempting to trace the source and full
text of an poem (or lyric) his father used to recite, going back to the
early 1900s. I'm trying to help him identify the source. The known
stanzas went:

"Stand ye now for Erin's glory,
Stand ye now for Erin's cause
Long you've groaned beneath
the rigors of the Norsemen's savage laws!

Men of Erin, Men of Erin,
grasp your battle axe and spear
Drive these Northern wolves before you
like a herd of frightened deer

...missing verses

Should ten thousand arrows peirce me,
Bear my body not away.

Till this day of days be over
till the field is fought and won
then let the Holy Mass be chanted
and the funeral rites be done."


I hope you can help us identify it.

Bill Naughton
[email protected]

I believe that this is what you are looking for:

Gallant Men of Erin

Hmm... URL didn't go all the way-- you'll have to search that title yourself. Anyway, my father used to hum the same tune-- Gallant Men of Erin is the title, I believe.

There's poetryvery similar to this Iish poem, in some of the ancient Persian Islamic writings.

not to dispute you, but just wanted to point out that there's no ancient persian writting thats islamic.


persian is the sister language of sanskrit, is totally cognate with it, and they are like two lines with the "c-intercept" different >> Y = mx + C1 and Y = mx + c2.

the sanskrit S is the persian H and so on.

and they were zorastrian back then. ancient persian literature isnt islamic.



when they fell to islam, the language persian (which is inflective and syllable based and goes from left to right while writting) got transliterated to arabic script (right to left, like all semitic languages).


some of the best literature of the islamic era and the islamic people were produced by the converts of erstwhile great civilizations liek the persian and sumerian (iran and iraq respectively) and not by arabs.

A good example of Persian Islamic literature is "The Conference of the Birds" by Farid ud-Din Attar, a Persian poet who was born at some time during the 12th century in Neishapour.

"The COnference of the Birds" is a poem about sufism ( Islam ), the doctrine propounded by the mystics of Islam.

persian yes
islamic yes


but ancient ???????
12 century is ancient?????????


persia goes back to the hoary past !!

i was talking of a ancient persia of at least b.c days.


most of the islamic intellectuals, when islam later over ran half of asia and some of africa and europe, were the converted people of the erstwhile babylonian/sumerian/chaldean (which ever one is from iraq, i think all) or persian/iranians civilizations...and not arabs at all.


persian as a language has fig in common with arabic, and w/e similarity they have is because, when the zorastrian iranians were made to switch to islam by the sword, their persian languge was transliterated into the arabic script, and over time certainly arabic influences came over.


Farid is actually a persian name and zorastraians have that name to this day.


Its the persian Farid thats arabificated to Fariduddin.