NOTES
Notes on the personal names and place names are given in the Indexes. The following abbreviations are used:—Keating = the Irish Texts’ Society’s edition of Keating’s History of Ireland; R.C. = Revue Celtique; TBC = Prof. Windisch’s edition of the LL, or Book of Leinster version of the “Táin Bó Cuailnge”; TY = the Strachan-O’Keeffe edition of the YBL or Yellow Book of Lecan version.
Page 1. Táin Bó Cuailnge, gCuailnge might be expected after the gen. pl. bó, but I have not found the eclipsis marked in any MS. In fact the scribes generally content themselves with writing t. b. c. Cf. ‘Táin Bó Dartada,’ ‘Táin Bó Aingen,’ where eclipsis of the noun following ‘Bó’ does not appear even in the oldest known copies (only in the case of nouns beginning with b, d, g, or a vowel would the clipsis be marked in O. Ir. texts). Windisch TBC p. i., points out that ‘táin bó’ is a terminus technicus, signifying ‘cattledriving.’ In such a stereotyped phrase it was natural that the grammatical case of the second word should come to be ignored.
p. 2. Mac Faċtna, Fachtna Fathach, King of Ireland, preceded Eochaidh Feidhleach, by whom he was slain. Méibh’s allusion to Conchobhar’s offer and her refusal is obscure. In ‘Cath Bóinde’ it is stated that Conchobhar was her first husband, whom she forsook ‘tre uabhar meanman,’ ‘through pride of spirit,’ and that the first cause of the Táin Bó Cuailnge ‘was the desertion of Conchobhar by Meadhbh against his will’ (Eriu II. 176).
p. 4. i ndualgas cirt mo ṁáṫar, Méibh’s father, Eochaidh Feidhleach, drove out the reigning king of Connacht, and established her in charge of the province. There are different accounts of Oilill’s claim to the kingship. According to ‘Cath Bóinne’ his father was Máda, son of Sraibhgenn of the Erna, a Munster tribe, he was brought up in Cruachain, and Méibh, out of admiration for his valour, made him her husband and King of Connacht (Eriu II. 182). A more convincing account, however, is given in the Leinster genealogies as follows: Oilill was son of Ros Ruadh of Leinster and Máda Muirisc, a Connacht woman. When Méibh received the province the men of Connacht marched with her and her father into Leinster and carried of Oilill to
