DeDanaan

Filed by Aine MacDermot

An example of the tenm laida is also quoted in another story relating to Finn hua Baiscne, which is found in Cormac’s glossary s.v. orc treith. Here we are told that during Finn’s absence his fool (druth), Lomna the Coward by name, is slain at the instigation of Finn’s wife, and his head is taken away, while his body is left. When Finn and his followers return they are unable to identify the body, and Finn is asked to make known who the dead man is. ‘Then Finn put his thumb into his mouth, and he chants by tenm laido, ‘illumination of song,’ and he says : ‘not . . . from Lomna’s head. This is Lomna’s body,’ says Finn. ‘His enemies have taken the head from him.’

A further example of the tenm laida is found also in Cormac’s Glossary s.v. mugh-éme. In this story Connla, son of Tadg, son of Cian, son of Ailill Aulom, finds the skull of the first lap-dog which has come to Ireland, and takes it to the fili Moen, son of Etna, to be identified. The fili identifies the head tre tenm laido, ‘by the tenm laida.’ It is curious that in both these instances the tenm laida is used as a means of identifying a head - absent in the first story, present in the second. It is no doubt the circumstance which led O’Curry to regard the tenm laida as a ‘rite for the identification of dead persons.’ Its occurrence in the story of Finn and the Phantoms is against this ; but its association in these two entries in Cormac’s Glossary and elsewhere with severed heads and its constant association with Finn, are worth noting.

Finally, reference may be made to the story known as the Macgnimartha Find, which is assigned by Meyer to the twelfth century. Here we are told that Finn cooked and ate the salmon of Fec’s pool in the Boyne, which are manifestly the salmon of wisdom associated with the boyne in the Dinnsenchas of Boand. ‘It is that which gave knowledge to Finn, to wit, whenever he put his thumb into his mouth and sang through tenm laida, then whatever he had been ignorant of would be revealed to him. He learnt three things that constitute a poet, to wit, tenm laida (which Meyer translates ‘illumination (?) of song’), and imbas forosna (’knowledge which illumines,’ Meyer), and dichetal dichennaib (’extempore incantation,’ Meyer). It is interesting to note that the song which Finn composed ‘to prove his poetry’ is the ‘Song of Summer,’ beginning

‘May-day, season surpassing,’

which belongs to a class of poetry on the seasons of which Irish literature offers several examples.

This brief survey of some of the instances in which imbas forosnai and tenm laida figure in the sagas may serve to give some idea of the circumstances under which the art was practised. When we seek for a third rubric - dicetal di chennaib, aiseis di channaib a chname - we meet with disappointment. It has, however, been possible to gather certain data which may be briefly recapitulated here. We have seen that in the Leabhar naGabhala the fili Amargin is represented as singing a cetal do chennaib - a series of mantic verses - as he lands in Ireland. We have also seen that the sage Morann sang a laid - which is elsewhere described as cetal na haisnese - as soon as his head was released from its covering. It has also been mentioned that in the Macgnimartha Find, the youthful Finn is said to have learned dichetal di chennaib along with imbas forosnai and tenm laida as a part of his training in the art of poetry and mantic lore.

He is further shown to us chanting (dican) his dicetal in order to be able to identify his fugitive servant in the story of Finn and the Man in the Tree. We have also seen Ferchess chanting tren foachnami over his spear before casting it at Lugaid.

Referring once more to the chanting of Morann’s head after it has been uncovered, and to the two instances just cited in which the tenm laida is chanted in connection with severed heads, we may suspect that such heads are sometimes associated with magical practices, and, perhaps, with the charms with which we are primarily concerned here. It may be worth while, therefore, to recall one or two stories in which severed heads play a prominent rôle.

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