Useful posts by Fangzhe.qiu

Irish terms for myths and sagas

terektemirbay — 2020-09-28 10:44:25 UTC

I have received some very good questions in this week's quiz question 3. This one is from Tadhg Carey:
"You mentioned that the terms, myths and sagas, would not have been used by medieval Irish writers. What Irish language terms would have been used by scribes (and their audiences) at the time that Da Derga's hostel was first written down?"

The most general term in Old Irish for a narrative is scél (Modern Irish scéal), but there are other terms that refer to specific aspects of the narratives. Senchas emphasises the 'traditional, canonical' position of the narrative, coimgne 'collective memory, lore' stresses the communal aspect.
Most of the early Irish narratives are titled according to a system of genres, such as tochmarc 'wooing', togail 'destruction', immram 'rowing about', etc. We will talk about these in a future lecture.

Oral or literary?

terektemirbay — 2020-09-28 10:54:24 UTC

This good question comes from Simon O Conchuir:
"Do we know if Togail Bruidne Da Derga is merely a transcription of some commonly-known oral tale, or is it more of an artistic piece of literature?"

In a nutshell, I (and most scholars) believe that it is an artistic piece of literary creation, although it must have absorbed and adapted many narrative elements from oral tradition. The question ties more to the heated debate in Celtic Studies about the 'oral' or 'literate' origins / characteristics of early Irish literature. It is difficult to answer that here, but there are a few articles and books that can give you a glimpse of what is at stake in such discussions.

Ó Cathsaigh's chapter in the 'Extended reading' on BS;
Ó Coileáin, Seán. “Oral or Literary? Some Strands of the Argument.” Studia Hibernica, no. 17/18 (1977): 7–35.

Stevenson, Jane. “Literacy and Orality in Early Medieval Ireland.” In Cultural Identity and Cultural Integration: Ireland and Europe in the Early Middle Ages, edited by Doris Edel, 11–22. Dublin: Four Courts, 1995.

Nagy, Joseph Falaky. “Orality in Medieval Irish Narrative: An Overview.” Oral Tradition 1/2 (1986): 272–301.

McCone, Kim. Pagan Past and Christian Present in Early Irish Literature. Maynooth Monographs 3. Maynooth: An Sagart, 1990.

Intertextuality

terektemirbay — 2020-10-07 08:35:44 UTC

From your own reading of early Irish literature, can you think of some examples of intertextual relationship? Or in other literary traditions?

Meanings of names in TBDD

terektemirbay — 2020-10-13 08:21:16 UTC

I was asked the meaning of the name Mess Buachalla. It means 'foster-daughter of a cowherd (búachaill, which gives the modern Irish word for 'boy'). Here are the meanings of some other names in the saga:
Conaire = cú + aire ‘hound-watching’?
•Echu, gen. Echach, perhaps s short form of Echaid, gen. Echdech < *ekwo-dík- 'horse-fighter?' The two names are often confused because their genitives are quite alike.
•Da Derga: ‘God of the red one’, cf. Mac Da Thó, Da Choca, Dagda. But remember he was called Ua Derga 'descendant of the red one' in the earlier recension.

•Étaín: related to ét ‘jealousy’?

•Ingcél Cáech moccu Conmaicc: ‘ill-omen the half-blind, descendant of Hound-son’

•Eterscélae/ Eterscél: ‘between-tidings’?

•Maine Milscothach: Maine ‘of honey-word’

The word geis

terektemirbay — 2020-10-22 09:33:10 UTC

The plural of this word is at an earlier stage of Irish geissi, but with the passage of time, the i-stem word has changed to á-stem inflection, so the plural has become gessa, which you may find in Gantz's translation. The modern Irish corresponding word is geis, geasa, and it has both the negative meaning of 'prohibition' and the active meaning of 'spell' like Geasa grá, love spells!

Tarbfeis: classical influence on Irish literature?

terektemirbay — 2020-11-16 17:36:45 UTC

I just noticed this article (in French) by Bisagni on the Tarbfeis, freely accessible on line:

Extenuating circumstances

terektemirbay — 2020-11-30 12:42:52 UTC

Please remember, if you have any difficulties in finishing your assessments on time, you can apply for the extenuating circumstances which will give you two more trimesters to finish the assessments without jeopardising your grade.
Here is the link to the application form:

Reflection and feedback on the module

terektemirbay — 2020-12-03 13:53:28 UTC

Hi all,
I wish to say a big thank you for your active participation and contribution to the module so far. It is absolutely a delight to discuss with you and watch your presentations. Here are a few questions that I am giving the students at the live lecture, and you can comment below as well. They are for you to reflect on your learning journey and give some feedback for me to improve this module in the future.

•What is the most difficult part for you in this module?

•Which of these have you achieved? Which is the most important for you?

I have read an interesting Irish story
I have changed my previous perception of Irish myths and sagas
I have understood some important themes recurrent in Irish myths and sagas
I have read some nice pieces of scholarly works that showcase the best academic standard
I can think more critically of literary texts and others’ opinions
I have become a better learner

Sources/secondary literature

terektemirbay — 2020-12-04 09:22:46 UTC

If you cite examples from Gantz's translation of TBDD (which I believe you should to support your arguments), please do not forget to cite them properly.
There are a number of good sources or 'secondary literature' related to each topic in the reading materials on BS.
A good practice is to go through the bibliography of these works after reading them, see which ones may be relevant to your essay, and try to find and read those. In this way you are able to expand the range of your references.
The library has a lot of electronic journals/books, and the internet as well. If you do need a specific article but cannot find it anyway, please feel free to ask me. I may have a scan somewhere in my computer.

Question from Anya McD. :

2021-01-18 13:51:58 UTC

I know you mentioned that no Celtic invasions were ever recorded. However, is there any evidence of conflict between the two categories of celts? Or maybe the better question to ask is was their relationship always as stable as suggested through cultural diffusion?

Question abt. Norman Influence + thoughts.

2021-01-20 08:42:17 UTC

As I understand, there is quite a bit of Norman influence on the Insular Celts (particularly during the Viking Age, abt. 750 AD-1250 AD), but is there much evidence of an earlier Norman influence on the 'Celts' on the continent, at least from an artistic standpoint? I was examining some of the images from the La Téne period and some of the weapons look strangely similar to Norman weaponry at that time.

Also, fun fact! Many speakers of the old, insular Celtic languages tend to differentiate between the languages as Goidelic (Irish Gaeilge, Scottish Gàidhlig, and Manx Gaeilg.) or the Brittonic (Welsh, Breton, Cornish). I, as an Irish speaker, can understand much of Scottish Gàidhlig and Manx Gaeilg, but can't understand any Brittonic Celtic, but as I'm told, speakers of the different Brittonic languages still have some intelligibility as well.

The Carnyx is extremely cool piece of equipment. I am just wondering is there a debate over its use? Given the evidence it looks like it was used in Warfare however the guy within the video mentioned ritual usage. Is there evidence that this was used in rituals also?

2021-01-20 13:42:10 UTC

Thanks,
AnnMarie

Carnyx

2021-01-20 17:33:28 UTC

I am also interested in the debate of the usses of this instrument. They claim it cannot be used upright as displayed in many images and judjuing by the stands they used to play their instrument it may have been a two person operation. it may be possible that the celts marched towards battle with the instruments held aloft prior to using them. I would suspect that they stayed back from the battle on a heiht as the instrument is so unweildy. The reason I support the theroy of use in battle is that there is contemporary written evidence of such horns being part of celtic warefare. It is very interesting to remake such items which can practically challenge long held views.

Question about the weapon throwing into the water

2021-01-25 14:34:58 UTC

I was wondering if throwing of the weapons into the water as a sacrifice had influence from the Roman religion. Would it be possible that the British Celts were influenced by Roman expansion that they adapted some of that into their culture, or religion?

Thanks,
Ella Pitts

Etymology of Celtic terms.

2021-01-27 11:35:46 UTC

I'm sure that this is a really difficult and complex facet of Celtic study, but do we know much about the etymology of the word 'Celtic' and 'Gaul' or 'Gael?' I have just been noticing similar words in other cultures that have a connection to Celtic history. For example, the word 'Gallego' in Spain refers to the language spoken in the Gaelic or Celtic northern Spain. I can understand it, as it is very similar to Spanish, but some of the pronunciations are almost more Irish sounding. I guess I'm just wondering if Celt, Gaul, Gael, Gàdhl, Gallego, are all linguistic interpretations of the same word?
Thanks a million,
Breandán Sánchez

Rome's Reach within Britain

2021-01-31 15:22:50 UTC

I can understand why the Romans did not invade parts of Scotland due to the hard terrain etc however I am wondering why did they invade to places like Cornwall?
Is there a reason for their lack of presence in these area's?

2021-02-01 15:33:49 UTC

I would be interested to hear your views on the theory of the Atlantic fringe Celts put forward by Barry Cunliffe and others. As you are no doubt away, he questions the traditional view that the Celts originated in central Europe and migrated outwards, eventually inhabiting Britain and Ireland. In his view, based on DNA, linguistics and archaeology, there is evidence to suggest that instead of viewing the insular Celts as the remnants of the culture, that they were the origin. He suggests a movement eastwards rather than westwards. This would obviously turn a lot of existing thought on its head, but it may be a case that Le Tene and Hallstatt cultures have influenced thoughts as to origin when it is feasible for them to have existed after such an eastward migration.

Thank you,
John Ryan

Book Reference

2021-03-30 09:18:45 UTC

I couldn´t find which book the Alex Woolf "Apartheid and Economics in Anglo-Saxon England " article is from, could you please provide the details?

Welcome to debate and challenge the course contents!

terektemirbay — 2021-04-07 11:18:27 UTC

Hi everyone,
you are actually more than welcome to point out any errors or doubts in the contents of this module. Although we are scholars from different fields, we will not pretend that we know every aspect of British and Celtic culture, which traverses many disciplines. I myself, for example, am a linguist and I may probably be wrong with archaeological details. The most important lesson in college, in my opinion, is critical and independent thinking. Therefore I will be more than happy if anyone is willing to do extra research into some course contents and point out that I am actually wrong. You can post your argument here, or send it to me, Allison or Nathan. Learning is a never-ending process, for all of us!

The location of the Tywyn Stone

terektemirbay — 2021-04-07 11:36:23 UTC

I was wrong in the map shown on Slide P.7 of the lecture on the written culture of medieval Wales. Tywyn is not on the North coast of Wales but West of Snowdonia (see map attached). Well done for the person who spotted this!