'Summer Has Gone'
Douglas Simms and Jonathan Slocum
An Anonymous Old Irish Lyric: 'Summer has gone'
From the Finn-Cycle
Text from Gerard Murphy, ed. & trans., Early Irish Lyrics, Eighth to Twelfth Century (Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, 1956, pp. 160-61). Originally prepared by Douglas Simms; edited by Jonathan Slocum.
Glosses for each line appear to the right. Each bold word/phrase in a gloss corresponds to a single word in the source; non-bold terms indicate grammatical information. The perfect-indicating particle ro is glossed merely as 'ptc'.
Ut dixit Finn úa Baíscni: Thus spoke Finn of Baíscni: Scél lem dúib: tidings neut, nom.pl; by-me; to-you pl. dordaid dam; bellows 3.sg. pres; stag masc, nom.sg. snigid gaim; snows 3.sg. pres; winter masc, nom.sg. ro fáith sam; ptc; has-gone 3.sg. perf; summer masc, nom.sg. Gáeth ard úar; wind fem, nom.sg; high fem, nom.sg; cold fem, nom.sg. ísel grían; low fem, nom.sg; sun fem, nom.sg. gair a rrith; short masc, nom.sg; her; run masc, nom.sg. ruirthech rían; strong-running masc, nom.sg; sea masc, nom.sg. Rorúad rath; very-red masc, nom.sg; bracken masc, nom.sg. ro cleth cruth; ptc; concealed 3.sg. perf. pass; form masc, nom.sg. ro gab gnáth ptc; seized 3.sg. perf; usualness masc, nom.sg. giugrann guth. goose masc, gen.sg; voice masc, acc.sg. Ro gab úacht ptc; seized 3.sg. perf; cold masc, nom.sg. etti én; wings fem, acc.pl; birds masc, gen.pl. aigre ré; ice neut, gen.sg; season fem, nom.sg. é mo scél. these neut, nom.pl; my neut, nom.pl; tidings neut, nom.pl.
Key to gloss abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| 3. | = | 3rd (person) |
| acc. | = | accusative (case) |
| fem. | = | feminine (gender) |
| gen. | = | genitive (case) |
| masc. | = | masculine (gender) |
| neut. | = | neuter (gender) |
| nom. | = | nominative (case) |
| pass. | = | passive (voice) |
| perf. | = | perfect (aspect) |
| pl. | = | plural (number) |
| pres. | = | present (tense) |
| ptc. | = | particle |
| sg. | = | singular (number) |
We have three translations of this Old Irish poem:
- a literal translation by Gerard Murphy;
- a rhyming translation by Ruth P. Lehmann;
- an alliterative translation by Douglas Simms.
