DeDanaan

Filed by Aine MacDermot

Why, then, is the dicetal di chennaib allowed to remain ‘in the order of art,’ and what is its association with the aisneis dichennaib a chname ? The example of the aisneis just referred to appears to be, in its present form, a Christian hymn. If this interpretation given by Stokes is correct, it is easy to see why St. Patrick is said to have permitted it to remain in the ‘order of art,’ since it served as a declaration or testification to the Christian faith. In other words, it has been transformed from a heathen spell to a Christian hymn - a process for which analogies may be traced in Anglo-Saxon poetry. From the context in which it occurs, and from its close association with dicetal di chennaib it is possible that the latter form of incantation may have undergone a similar transformation.

It is not necessary, however, to assume such a transformation for the latter in order to account for St. Patrick’s tolerance. The primary meaning of the words cetal and dicetal, is simply ‘chanting.’ Because the chanting of the filid was believed to be potent the words came to be used commonly with the sense of ‘incantation,’ as in the dicel in druad in the Tripartite Life of St Patrick. That its use was not restricted to magical songs is proved, however, by the use of the word cetal in the curriculum of the filid in Text II. of the ‘Metrical Tractates’ (p. 63), where among the rochetal, we read of the ‘cetal na haisnese,’ a poetical summons to the adoration of God (cf. p. 12 above), and two cetal of the ‘glorification’ (noud) including Fiac’s Hymn to St Patrick and Broccan’s Hymn to St. Bridget .

From the examples cited it is clear that the rubrics or technical terms which we are considering are associated especially with the filid and other mantic persons. Moreover, they all appear to be closely bound up with the art of poetry. It would seem, indeed, from the ‘Metrical Tractates’ that they are here treated as titles of distinctive poetical forms or metres, though we may suspect that this development is due in some measure to the schematisation of Christian antiquarian learning. It is probably due to their inclusion in the list of metres and in the curriculum of the filid that the terms have sometimes been spoken of by scholars as if they were themselves the title of actual charms. It would seem, indeed, in certain cases that our terms were so used. But that this was not so in every case is clear from the text in Cormac’s Glossary under discussion, where imbas forosnai is described, not as a charm, but as a process of revelation brought on by a mantic sleep. That the other terms which occur at the close of the text also had originally a practical bearing, and relate to various phases of the mantic experience, would seem to be indicated by the prose sagas in which they occur, and which we will consider as briefly as possible.

We will first take examples of imbas forosnai. One of the most interesting and important occurs in Tain Bo Cuailnge, in connection with Fedelm the banfaid of Connact. According to LU and YBL Fedelm tells Medb that she has been in Alba learning filidect. Medh asks her if she has learnt imbas forosnai, and on hearing that she has, asks her to ‘look’ ( deca ) how her own (Medb’s) undertaking will prosper. Fedelm ‘looks,’ and then proceeds to chant in strophic form and at considerable length the result of her vision.

In the account of Scathach’s prophecies to CuChulainn, which is found in LU.fo. 125b9, and which almost certainly comes from the Book of Druim Snechta and was written down as early as the eighth century, we read:

‘Asbert iarom Scathach friss iar sin ani arid bói diaforciund ocus arcáchain dó tria imbas forosnai,’

which Thurneysen translates ‘um ihn zu Vollenden.’

According to the earliest texts of the Wooing of Emer, Scathach dwelt among the ‘Alps’ ( Alpi ), which appears in the latest version as Albu (Albion, Scotland, or perhaps Britain). From this story, therefore, and from the passage in the Tain already cited, it would seem that according to Irish tradition the imbas forosnai was introduced into Ireland from outside, doubtless from Britain, and that in the milieu represented in the CuChulainn Cycle it was the special métier of women. The early period to which the origin and the personnel of the CuChulainn Cycle are generally ascribed invests these references with considerable interest.

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