make him king of Connacht, because his mother was a Connacht woman, and because there was neither fear nor jealousy in his heart, and also because they wished to establish an alliance between these two provinces, and to make war upon the province of Conchobhar. So that, subsequently, Oilill, with his three thousand Gailiain drove the kine of Cuailnge (Rawl. B. 502, p. 118, b. 6, cf. ‘Cath Ruis na Ríg,’ p. 58). The interrelations of the characters in the Táin have not yet been satisfactorily unravelled. The fact that several chiefs are named more usually from the mother, e.g., Conchobhar mac Neasa, doubtless caused confusion in some cases.
p. 5. feall ar Ṁ., see note on p. 2 above.
p. 7. na Craoḃruaiḋe. The Craobhruadh was one of Conchobhar’s houses in Eamhain. In it the kings lived. See Keating II. 198, and Stories from Keating, p. 104, I. 30.
p. 8. an Finn-ḃeannaċ, ‘The White-horned.’ an Donn Cuailnge, ‘The Dun (Bull) of C.’ In one of the foretales, or preludes to the Táin these are shown to have been originally two swineherds, who passed through a series of metamorphoses, becoming in turn birds, fish, deer, warriors, worms and eventually bulls. See Irische Texte III. 1.
p. 9. ’na ċeas, this is a reference to the mysterious ces noíden (or noínden), a debility which rendered the Ulstermen helpless for the space of five days and four nights, when ever their kingdom was threatened by an enemy. This weakness, from which Cú Chulainn and the women and boys of the province were exempt, was supposed to have been sent upon them by the fairy Macha as a punishment for their cruelty towards her. See Hull’s Cuchullim Saga.
„ „ tóg uaim é ’s gan uaim aċ é, ‘take it away, though it is exactly what I want.’ Used in sarcastic reference to a person who, by reason of perversity or sulkiness, refuses to accept something he is most anxious to have.
p. 13. na cúige, i.e., Cúige Ulaḋ, which is frequently referred to in early Irish tales simply as in cóiced, the Fifth. This is not without interest to the student of early Irish history. The explanation might be that one-fifth of Ireland was apportioned to the northern race before the division of the whole country into five kingdoms.
p. 14. fuil do ċur leis an mbéal—, ‘to draw blood from the lips.’
p. 15. ag cur ċúċa ná uaṫa, ‘interfering with them directly or indirectly.’
p. 19. an dtáining = ar ṫáinig.. See An Cleasaiḋe, p. 75.
„ „ cáirde síḋe, ‘supernatural friends,’ ‘spirit friends.’
„ „ idir Ultaiḃ agus Connaċta ḋóiḃ, ‘both as Ulstermen and Connachtmen.’
