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Gaelic Literature of the Traditional poets and songmakers: O - Q |
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MUIRGHEASÁIN, Donnchadh (17th Century) This poet was a member of a Hiberno-Scottish
bardic family.
For a discussion of this family, see T.F. O’Rahilly’s
‘A Hiberno-Scottish Family: Ó Muirgheasáin,
Morrison’ (Scottish Gaelic Studies, 5:101-105). Ronald Black gives a useful summary with
references of the family-s history in The
Companion to Gaelic Scotland (Thomson
1983:219-220). ‘Marbhruiñ Shior Toirmoid vic Leoid: do reiñe
Niall mc Muirricgh’.
Reliquiae Celticae. Alexander Cameron. Vol. 2.
The text,
as transcribed from the Book of Clanranald, with a
parallel English translation. Here the
elegy is ascribed to Niall MacMhuirich, but Derick
Thomson in his article ‘The Poetry of Niall MacMhuirich’
notes that it is ascribed elsewhere to Donnchadh Ó Muirgheasáin (TGSI,
46:300), an ascription with which he is inclined to agree. There are
forty-six stanzas, beginning with ‘Do thuirn aoibhneas iñsi gall’, in deibhidhe metre. Sir Norman
MacLeod of Berneray is the subject of several of
the poems of Màiri Nighean Alasdair Ruaidh to be found in J.C. Watson’s edition of her work (Watson 1934). ____________ Ó MUIRGHEASÁIN,
Eóin Óg (16th / 17th Century) This poet was the earliest
known member of his family known to have been a bard to the Clan MacLeod. Eóin Óg Ó Muirgheasáin. ‘Creach Gaoidheal i reilig
Rois’. Scottish Gaelic Studies, 8, Pt. 1
(December 1955), 27-52. A lament
for Ruairidh Mór, seventeenth chief of the Clan
MacLeod, who died in 1626. It has been
edited by John MacDonald from a transcription and transliteration, as well as
a Photostat copy, of the version in the Royal Irish Academy’s
MS 23, N.12, P.9. As well as the
Gaelic text, there is a parallel English translation. It has more than fifty stanzas and is
described by John MacDonald as a “highly elaborated” bardic
composition. ____________ PEUTAN, Aonghas
(19th / 20th Century) This poet belonged to Aonghas Peutan.
‘A Mhurchaidh ma chaidh thu ceàrr’. Gairm, 76 (Am Foghar 1971), 308-309. A group of
local men were fishing on Loch Earlish when a
porpoise appeared close to their boat.
One of the company, named Murchadh,
made an amusing song about the incident, naming each of the company in
turn. Aonghas Peutan composed these two quatrains in reply. From the Rev. Domhnallach’s article ‘Aoirean agus Luinneagan Eibhinn’ (Gairm,
76:299-319). ____________ PEUTAN, Iain
(18th Century) There is confusion as to
the identity of the composer of the poem noted below. Both versions identify the composer as Iain
Beton, or Peutan, Fear Dhun
an Eirthirich.
The Rev. Thomas Whyte’s account of the Beatons
of Skye lists an Angus Bethune of Donnelrich who
had four sons: John, Ewan, Ferquhand and
Norman. John, his eldest son, became
minister of Glenshiel and Angus was succeeded by
his second son, Ewan (Whyte 1893:28-30). A more recent account of the Skye Beatons has transliterated Whyte’s ‘Donnelrich’
as ‘Dun Eilthirich’ (Clan MacLeod Magazine, 1953:97-100) which could be identified
with the Dun an Eirthirich of the poem’s
ascription, and with Dunelireach on the Harlosh peninsula.
Angus Bethune’s son John might then seem to be a likely candidate for
the authorship of the poem, until we consider the designation ‘Fear Dhun an Eirthirich’. Even though he was the eldest son, it was
his younger brother Ewan who succeeded their father, so the Rev. John could
not have been designated as Fear Dhun an Eirthirich. If one
of Angus Bethune’s sons did indeed compose the poem, then Ronald MacDonald
and the Rev. A. MacLean Sinclair are in some way mistaken in their
ascriptions. ‘Slàn iomradh
do ‘n ùr-mhnaoi’ i ‘ Comh-chruinneachidh Orannaigh Gaidhealach. [Eigg Collection]. Le Raonuill MacDomhnuill. Duneidiunn:
Walter Ruddiman, 1776, dd. 46-48. ii ‘ the Rev. A. MacLean
Sinclair. A graceful
tribute to a young woman, reminiscent of eighteenth-century love poems
composed by educated members of the Gaelic gentry in that century (cf. entry for the Rev. Domhnall MacLeòid
of Greshornish’s ‘Beannachadh
Bàird’). The
subject of this poem, Seònaid, would appear from
the ascription to have been a sister of the poet Lachlann
Mac Theàrlaich Oig,
c.1665-1734. This could weaken the
case for the composer having been one of the sons of Angus Bethune. When the Rev. Thomas Whyte’s account of the
Beatons of Skye was first published in 1776, the
Rev. John Bethune was then living in retirement, indicating that he and his
brothers were one generation younger than Lachlann,
who died in 1734. The
place-name reference to Ugairidh in the second line
is puzzling. A.R. Forbes lists such a
place in his Place-Names of Skye (Forbes 1923:440), but without
any clear indication as to where it may be found. There are
nine eight-line stanzas in an amhran metre. The second version shows some variations
from the first, but I think it likely that the Eigg Collection was Sinclair’s source. ____________ PEUTAN, Niall
(20th Century) Son of the poet Aonghas
Peutan, q.v. Tormod Domhnallach.
‘Aoirean agus Luinneagan Eibhinn’. Gairm, 76 (Am Foghar 1971), 299-319. Includes on pages 309-310
the following songs composed by Niall Peutan: i ‘Mo chruinneag
dhonn ‘s toigh leam thu’ ii ‘Throd mo bhean ‘s gun throd i rium’ Titles
only are given for this and the previous song. Rev. Domhnallach mentions that both are sometimes heard on the radio. iii ‘Tha mi trom ‘s mo chrìdh’ fo leòn’ Two
quatrains of a love song which Niall composed when very young. Rev.
Domhnallach also gives two quatrains of the older song, ‘Thogainn fonn air murradh mór’, upon which it is
modelled. iv ‘Is muladach mi
‘n diugh ‘s mi ‘g éirigh’ A song
about the misery of spending the summer in a fisherman’s bothy in Scorrybreck. There
are six four-line stanzas in a strophic metre and a three-line refrain. ____________ PEUTON, Uilleam (19th
Century) This poet belonged to Kilmuir
in Skye. Uilleam Peuton. ‘S muladach
mi ‘n-diugh ‘s mi ‘g èirigh’. Tuath is Tighearna: Tenants and Landlords. Edited by Donald E. Meek. Composed when the poet and a
number of his companions were serving a prison sentence in ____________ POL
CRUBACH (17th Century) Pòl MacLeòid, Pòl Crubach, was the son of
Alasdair Bàn Og, one of
the MacLeods of Lynedale
in Skye. Said to be tall and handsome,
he fell in love with a daughter of MacDonald of Kensaleyre. Her family and friends disapproved of the affair and in a
fight Pòl’s leg was broken: hence the epithet Crubach. He was
known in Skye tradition as a man of great strength. (Information from Magnus MacLean’s
‘Skye Bards’ (Highland Monthly,
4:692-693), and John MacInnes’ entry
for Pòl Crubach in The Companion to Gaelic Scotland (Thomson 1983: 236) ) ‘ ‘S i so iorram na truaighe’ i Comh-chruinneachidh Orannaigh
Gaidhealach. Le Raonuill
MacDomhnuill. [Eigg Collection]. Duneidiunn: Walter Ruddiman, 1776,
dd. 34-37 ii The
Gaelic Bards from 1411 to 1715. Edited by the Rev. A. MacLean
Sinclair. Haszard and Moore, 1890, pp. 35-39 iii Bàrdachd
Ghàidhlig. Edited by William J.
Watson. 2nd ed. The first version is headed ‘Le Pòl Crubach do Iain Mac Shir Ruairidh MhicLeòid’ and this information is repeated in slightly
different formats in the second and third versions, with the additional
information that the subject of the lament died in
1649. This chief, the XIVth of Clan MacLeod according to Alexander MacKenzie
and the XVIth according to I.F. Grant, was known as
Iain Mór, although W.J. Watson refers to him as Iain Breac
(MacKenzie 1889: 92-100; Grant 1959: 267-288; Watson 1932: 316). This is a fine example of a
traditional lament for a chief. There
are twelve eight-line stanzas in what W.J. Watson calls a four-stress iorram-cumha (Watson 1932: lviii-lix). There
are changes in the position of the rhyming stresses throughout. Prof. Colm Ó Baoill has commented to me
that this in effect produces three metres, and would pose difficulties for
anyone singing the lament. The second version shows several
variations from that in the Eigg Collection.
W.J. Watson cites both versions as his sources for the third, but it
is clear that the Eigg Collection is his principle source. |
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A-C D-Domhnall Domhnallach-Dz E–G H–L M–MacA MacB–MacC MacD MacE-MacK, MacLa-MacLeod MacLeòid A-H MacLeòid I-Z MacM-MacN MacO-MacZ M N O-Q R-Z Annie Arnott An Cabairneach Carmina Gadelica
Catriona
Dhùghlas Tormod Domhnallach Marjory Kennedy-Fraser Angus Lamont K. N. MacDonald Johan MacInnes Hugh MacKinnon Calum I. MacLean Sorley MacLean Kenneth MacLeod Niall MacLeòid Màiri
Nighean Alasdair Cairistiona
Mhàrtainn Alexander Morison Kenneth Morrison Angus Nicolson Portree
HS Magazine Lachlann
Robertson Frances Tolmie I Frances Tolmie II Somhairle
MacGill-Eain The New Poetry Books
etc: A-L Books etc: MacA-MacL Books etc: MacM-Z Periodicals, MSS, AV |
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© Sabhal Mòr Ostaig 2018