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71-460: The Sword of Light or Claidheamh Soluis ( Old Irish ; modern Irish : Claíomh Solais [ˌklˠiːw ˈsˠɔlˠəʃ] ) is a trope object that appears in a number of Irish and Scottish Gaelic folktales . The "Quest for sword of light" formula is catalogued as motif H1337. The sword appears commonly as a quest object in the Irish folktale of a hero seeking "The One Story" (or the "Cause of

142-444: A broad labial (for example, lebor /ˈLʲev u r/ "book"; domun /ˈdoṽ u n/ "world"). The phoneme /ə/ occurred in other circumstances. The occurrence of the two phonemes was generally unrelated to the nature of the corresponding Proto-Celtic vowel, which could be any monophthong: long or short. Long vowels also occur in unstressed syllables. However, they rarely reflect Proto-Celtic long vowels, which were shortened prior to

213-429: A consonant ensures its unmutated sound. While the letter ⟨c⟩ may be voiced / ɡ / at the end of some words, but when it is written double ⟨cc⟩ it is always voiceless / k / in regularised texts; however, even final /ɡ/ was often written "cc", as in bec / becc "small, little" (Modern Irish and Scottish beag , Manx beg ). In later Irish manuscripts, lenited f and s are denoted with

284-730: A legacy to the god-slaying weapons of Irish mythology by certain scholars, such as T. F. O'Rahilly , the analogues being the primeval Celtic deity's lightning-weapon, Lugh 's sling that felled Balor , the hero Cúchulainn 's supernatural spear Gae bulga and his shining sword Cruaidín Catutchenn . The spelling as appears in published Irish texts and scholastic commentary is Claidheamh Soluis alternatively (an) cloidheamh solais ; but these are pre-reform spelling, and in modernized reformed spelling Claíomh Solais would be used. The name has also been transliterated into Hiberno-English as chloive solais . The sword may be rendered in English as

355-464: A loss, becoming oath-bound (compelled by geis ) to never come home until he has completed the quest for the sword (and other objectives). The opponent who tempts the hero with this gambling game is usually a gruagach ("wizard-champion") or wizard/druid. and the sword's keeper is often a giant ( athach , Scottish Gaelic : fhamhair ) or hag ( cailleach ), or a sibling of the wizard. The sword-keeper oftentimes must be defeated (killed), which

426-662: A more fuller title, e. g., "The Shining Sword and the Knowledge of the Cause of the One Story about Women", This has been corrupted to "news of the death of Anshgayliacht" in the L (Larminie) version. Kittredge considered the "secret about women" element to be an essential and original part of the Irish story, as seen in the stemma of texts given by him, even though the "woman" part of it has been lost in some variants, such as Kennedy's Fios Fath an aon Sceil ("perfect narrative of

497-415: A pole measuring about 2 meters. The blade is secured in a socket-shaft configuration, akin to an axe head, as opposed to having a tang like a sword or naginata. Some variations of glaive blades were even forged with a small hook on the reverse side to better engage mounted opponents, earning them the name "glaive- guisarmes ." In the 1599 treatise "Paradoxes of Defence" by English gentleman George Silver ,

568-459: A sound / h / and a letter h , there is no consistent relationship between the two. Vowel-initial words are sometimes written with an unpronounced h , especially if they are very short (the Old Irish preposition i "in" was sometimes written hi ) or if they need to be emphasised (the name of Ireland, Ériu , was sometimes written Hériu ). On the other hand, words that begin with

639-541: A tale type by Aarne-Thompson , though recognized in The Types of the Irish Folktale . The quest for the sword of light is an added layer, attached to the core tale of the quest for "the one story", which forms a frame story to the Irish versions of the medieval werewolf tale, according to George Lyman Kittredge 's 1903 study. "The one story" is actually shorthand, and Kittredge generally uses "the cause of

710-508: Is "a symbol of Ireland attributed in oral tradition to Cúchulainn" (James Mackillop), although none of the tales listed above name Cuchulainn as protagonist. T. F. O'Rahilly only went as far as to suggests that the "sword of light" in folk tales was a vestige of divine weapons and heroic weapons, such as Cúchulainn's shining sword Cruaidín Catutchenn, whose name means 'the Hard-headed Steeling' . This sword (aka "Socht's sword")

781-561: Is a trope artefact that occurs in a number of Gaelic tales. It also occurs in Irish folktales also, as described below. The "Quest for sword of light" (H1337) motif is also listed in Stith Thompson's Motif-Index of Folk-Literature . One strand of the "sword of light" tale has been transmitted in French Canada as the tale of the "Sword of Wisdom", and assigned type 305A. However, the Irish cognate had not been catalogued as

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852-426: Is forebear to Modern Irish , Manx and Scottish Gaelic . Old Irish is known for having a particularly complex system of morphology and especially of allomorphy (more or less unpredictable variations in stems and suffixes in differing circumstances), as well as a complex sound system involving grammatically significant consonant mutations to the initial consonant of a word. Apparently, neither characteristic

923-625: Is frequently associated with knights and medieval warriors in contemporary portrayals of chivalry. In the modern era, the glaive continues to be popular among enthusiasts of historical reenactment, martial arts, and collectors of historical weaponry. It is often featured in stage combat and reenactment events. The glaive has also influenced the design of fictional weapons in various forms of media, including video games, movies, and television series. The word "glaive" has historically been given to several very different types of weapons; it originated from French. Almost all etymologists derive it from either

994-405: Is inspired by the formula where the hero gains a beautiful wife (and riches) by gambling against a gruagach aka wizard-champion, but suffers losses which makes him beholden to mount on a hopeless-seeming quest. Like the actual "giant's daughter" bridal quest tales, the sword of light hero often gains assistance of "helpful animals" in completing his tasks or ordeals. The sword has been regarded as

1065-489: Is known as Primitive Irish . Fragments of Primitive Irish, mainly personal names, are known from inscriptions on stone written in the Ogham alphabet. The inscriptions date from about the 4th to the 6th centuries. Primitive Irish appears to have been very close to Common Celtic , the ancestor of all Celtic languages , and it had a lot of the characteristics of other archaic Indo-European languages. Relatively little survives in

1136-406: Is not possible except by some secret means. Thus the hero or helper may resort to the sword of light as the only effective weapon against this enemy. But often the sword is not enough, and the supernatural enemy has to be attacked on a single vulnerable spot. The weak spot, moreover, may be an external soul ( motif index E710) concealed somewhere in the world at large (inside animals, etc.); or, as in

1207-401: Is said to have "shone at night like a candle" according to a version of Echtrae Cormaic ("Adventures of Cormac mac Airt "). T. F. O'Rahilly 's schema, roughly speaking, the primeval divine weapon was a fiery and bright lightning weapon, most often conceived of as a throwing spear; in later traditions, the wielder would change from god to hero, and spear tended to be replaced by sword. From

1278-431: Is subject to u -affection, becoming ⟨éu⟩ or ⟨íu⟩ , while /e₁ː/ is not. A similar distinction may have existed between /o₁ː/ and /o₂ː/ , both written ⟨ó⟩ , and stemming respectively from former diphthongs (*eu, *au, *ou) and from compensatory lengthening. However, in later Old Irish both sounds appear usually as ⟨úa⟩ , sometimes as ⟨ó⟩ , and it

1349-534: Is that just as the sword of light in Irish and Scottish folktales contain a "(fatal) wounding by one's own sword" motif, the Arthurian cycle contains an episode where Arthur is imperiled by his own sword, Excalibur. In the Huth Merlin , Morgan le Fay plots to have Arthur killed with his own Excalibur, by stealing the sword for her lover Accalon, who unbeknownst fights his lord King Arthur with it. The Lady of

1420-463: Is the oldest form of the Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive written texts. It was used from c. 600 to c. 900. The main contemporary texts are dated c. 700–850; by 900 the language had already transitioned into early Middle Irish . Some Old Irish texts date from the 10th century, although these are presumably copies of texts written at an earlier time. Old Irish

1491-594: Is unclear whether /o₂ː/ existed as a separate sound any time in the Old Irish period. /ou/ existed only in early archaic Old Irish ( c. 700 or earlier); afterwards it merged into /au/ . Neither sound occurred before another consonant, and both sounds became ⟨ó⟩ in later Old Irish (often ⟨ú⟩ or ⟨u⟩ before another vowel). The late ⟨ó⟩ does not develop into ⟨úa⟩ , suggesting that ⟨áu⟩ > ⟨ó⟩ postdated ⟨ó⟩ > ⟨úa⟩ . Later Old Irish had

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1562-674: The Stowe Missal date from about 900 to 1050. In addition to contemporary witnesses, the vast majority of Old Irish texts are attested in manuscripts of a variety of later dates. Manuscripts of the later Middle Irish period, such as the Lebor na hUidre and the Book of Leinster , contain texts which are thought to derive from written exemplars in Old Irish now lost and retain enough of their original form to merit classification as Old Irish. The preservation of certain linguistic forms current in

1633-559: The eclipsis consonants also denoted with a superdot: Old Irish digraphs include the lenition consonants: the eclipsis consonants: the geminatives : and the diphthongs : The following table indicates the broad pronunciation of various consonant letters in various environments: When the consonants b, d, g are eclipsed by the preceding word (always from a word-initial position), their spelling and pronunciation change to: ⟨mb⟩ / m / , ⟨nd⟩ /N/ , ⟨ng⟩ / ŋ / Generally, geminating

1704-858: The Würzburg Glosses (mainly) on the Pauline Epistles , the Milan Glosses on a commentary to the Psalms and the St Gall Glosses on Priscian 's Grammar. Further examples are found at Karlsruhe (Germany), Paris (France), Milan, Florence and Turin (Italy). A late 9th-century manuscript from the abbey of Reichenau , now in St. Paul in Carinthia (Austria), contains a spell and four Old Irish poems. The Liber Hymnorum and

1775-468: The orthography of Old Irish is not fixed, so the following statements are to be taken as generalisations only. Individual manuscripts may vary greatly from these guidelines. The Old Irish alphabet consists of the following eighteen letters of the Latin alphabet : in addition to the five long vowels , shown by an acute accent (´): the lenited consonants denoted with a superdot (◌̇): and

1846-414: The urfeist (sea-serpent). And in the "Widow's Son", the hero promises marriage to the giant's daughter, who also becomes the hero's helper. Josef Baudiš suggested a slightly different grouping, which similar to the bridal-quest type but distinguishably different: the hero wins a beautiful wife (and riches) as wager in a game played against a gruagach (wizard-champion) figure, but it is a trap, and when

1917-496: The "Sword of Light", or " Shining Sword ". Likewise, the Scottish Gaelic form is claidheamh solais "glaive of light", or claidheamh geal solais "White Glave of Light". The folk tales featuring the sword of light may be bridal quests, and the hero's would-be bride often becomes the hero's helper. But also typically the story is a sort of quasi-bridal quest, where the hero wins a bride by wager, but then suffers

1988-512: The "giant's daughter" type is recognized as an equivalent to folktale to the Six Go through the Whole World type ( ATU 513A), and this type features "magical helpers" or "extraordinary helpers". In the Irish folktale, the hero goes on quest for ' The Only Story' ( Irish : An t-Aon Scéal ) which is thought to mean ' truth about women '. That meaning is illuminated in versions that provide

2059-523: The "sword of light" in folklore. A broad sweeping parallel has been made between the light or lightning weapons of Celtic tradition and King Arthur's Excalibur , described as brightly shining in several places of the Vulgate cycle Roman de Merlin . Similar passages obviously occur in Thomas Malory 's Le Morte d'Arthur , which uses this as a source. A more precise parallel which has been argued

2130-530: The Continent were much less prone to the same risk because once they ceased to be understood, they were rarely consulted. The earliest Old Irish passages may be the transcripts found in the Cambrai Homily , which is thought to belong to the early 8th century. The Book of Armagh contains texts from the early 9th century. Important Continental collections of glosses from the 8th and 9th century include

2201-702: The Easaidh Ruadh refers to a place name in Ireland, probably the Assaroe Falls in Ballyshannon , County Donegal . A similar Irish tale involving the "external soul" is the Donegal tale "Hung up Naked Man" ( Irish : An Crochaire Tarrnochtuighthe ; Irish title: "Éamonn Ua Ciórrthais(?)" ed. E. C. Quiggin ), studied by Roger Sherman Loomis . While Loomis does not explicitly state a connection to

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2272-550: The Lake intercedes at the right moment to prevent Arthur's death. The episode has been copied by Malory as well (with the knight being called Accolon unlike the French original) Dáithí Ó hÓgáin deduces that certain properties of the sword of light (such as screaming when touched in order to alert its owner) is likely borrowed from Arthurian material, because there is evidence that a version of Fios Fatha an Aonsceil ('the knowledge of

2343-465: The Latin ( gladius ) or Celtic ( * cladivos , compare claymore ) word for sword. Nevertheless, all the earliest attestations in both French and English refer to spears . It is attested in this meaning in English roughly from the 14th to 16th centuries. Around the same time, it also began being used as a poetic word for sword. In Modern French, glaive refers to short swords, especially

2414-484: The Old Irish period may provide reason to assume that an Old Irish original directly or indirectly underlies the transmitted text or texts. The consonant inventory of Old Irish is shown in the chart below. The complexity of Old Irish phonology is from a four-way split of phonemes inherited from Primitive Irish, with both a fortis–lenis and a "broad–slender" ( velarised vs. palatalised ) distinction arising from historical changes. The sounds /f v θ ð x ɣ h ṽ n l r/ are

2485-473: The Old Irish period, but the short vowels changed much less. The following short vowels existed: The short diphthong ŏu likely existed very early in the Old Irish period, but merged with /u/ later on and in many instances was replaced with /o/ due to paradigmatic levelling. It is attested once in the phrase i r ou th by the prima manus of the Würzburg Glosses . /æ ~ œ/ arose from

2556-581: The Sword of Light. It is pointed out that in the sword of light fails to occur in the Scottish version of the werewolf tale, replaced by the hero obtaining custody of the werewolf himself, by bartering his horse. Some tales fall into an actual bridal-quest pattern. In " The Thirteenth Son of the King of Erin ", Sean Ruadh (actually the eldest prince) is assisted by the princess who is his would-be bride in slaying

2627-504: The broad lenis equivalents of broad fortis /p b t d k ɡ s m N L R/ ; likewise for the slender (palatalised) equivalents. (However, most /f fʲ/ sounds actually derive historically from /w/ , since /p/ was relatively rare in Old Irish, being a recent import from other languages such as Latin.) Some details of Old Irish phonetics are not known. /sʲ/ may have been pronounced [ɕ] or [ʃ] , as in Modern Irish. /hʲ/ may have been

2698-527: The brother of the sword owner, and the hero's antagonist, the Druid demanding the sword. The Sculloge's rides forth to the dwelling of the sword owner three times, his horse being hacked by the sword in the first two tries, but succeeding on the third. The three time's the charm element that occurs here is also present in the Morraha tale collected by Larminie. The assertion has been made that Claidheamh Soluis

2769-416: The case of " The Young King Of Easaidh Ruadh ", this external soul is encased within a nested series of animals. Typically bound up with the quest for the sword of light is the quest for the "One Story" (' truth about women'), namely, the story of the faithless wife who transforms her husband into a wolf. The hero in some examples are compelled to perform (three) sets of tasks, aided by helpers, who may be

2840-536: The cause of the One Story') had been told about Gearóid Iarla (Earl Gerald FitzGerald) of the 14th century, whose family had close ties with Arthurian tradition. To the Earl is attached a Barbarossa legend ( King asleep in mountain motif), which makes the figure conducive to be transformed into a "sleeping giant" of folktale. Other commentators have equated the Sword of Light to the Grail sword. Loomis also suggested that

2911-554: The complicated Proto-Indo-European (PIE) system of morphology. Nouns and adjectives are declined in three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter); three numbers (singular, dual, plural); and five cases (nominative, vocative, accusative, dative and genitive). Most PIE noun stem classes are maintained ( o -, yo -, ā -, yā -, i -, u -, r -, n -, s -, and consonant stems). Most of the complexities of PIE verbal conjugation are also maintained, and there are new complexities introduced by various sound changes (see below ). Old Irish

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2982-468: The deletion (syncope) of inner syllables. Rather, they originate in one of the following ways: Stress is generally on the first syllable of a word. However, in verbs it occurs on the second syllable when the first syllable is a clitic (the verbal prefix as- in as·beir /asˈberʲ/ "he says"). In such cases, the unstressed prefix is indicated in grammatical works with a following centre dot ( ⟨·⟩ ). As with most medieval languages ,

3053-433: The following consonant (in certain clusters) or a directly following vowel in hiatus . It is generally thought that /e₁ː/ was higher than /e₂ː/ . Perhaps /e₁ː/ was [eː] while /e₂ː/ was [ɛː] . They are clearly distinguished in later Old Irish, in which /e₁ː/ becomes ⟨ía⟩ (but ⟨é⟩ before a palatal consonant). /e₂ː/ becomes ⟨é⟩ in all circumstances. Furthermore, /e₂ː/

3124-470: The following inventory of long vowels: Early Old Irish /ai/ and /oi/ merged in later Old Irish. It is unclear what the resulting sound was, as scribes continued to use both ⟨aí⟩ and ⟨oí⟩ to indicate the merged sound. The choice of /oi/ in the table above is somewhat arbitrary. The distribution of short vowels in unstressed syllables is a little complicated. All short vowels may appear in absolutely final position (at

3195-669: The former were trills while the latter were flaps . /m(ʲ)/ and /ṽ(ʲ)/ were derived from an original fortis–lenis pair. Old Irish had distinctive vowel length in both monophthongs and diphthongs . Short diphthongs were monomoraic , taking up the same amount of time as short vowels, while long diphthongs were bimoraic, the same as long vowels. (This is much like the situation in Old English but different from Ancient Greek whose shorter and longer diphthongs were bimoraic and trimoraic, respectively: /ai/ vs. /aːi/ .) The inventory of Old Irish long vowels changed significantly over

3266-612: The glaive had its origin in Wales, and that it remained a national weapon until the end of the XVth Century. Grose mentions a warrant (Harleian MS., No. 433) issued to Nicholas Spicer, dated the first year of Richard III's reign, 1483 for enrolling of smiths for "the making of two hundred Welsh glaives" – twenty shillings and sixpence being the charge for thirty glaives with their staves, made at Abergavenny and Llanllowel. The glaive typically consists of three main components: The glaive

3337-622: The glaive is described as being used in a manner similar to other polearms like the quarterstaff , half pike, bill , halberd , voulge , and partisan. Silver considered this class of polearms superior to all other hand-to-hand combat weapons. The Morgan Bible , also known as the Maciejowski Bible, features illustrations of two-handed glaives used on horseback, showcasing their historical application in mounted combat. The contemporary term for this weapon may have been " faussart ," which referred to various single-edged weapons related to

3408-661: The helpers are a hawk, otter, and a fox ("Hawk of the Grey Wood", the "Otter of the Endless Tempests", and the "Fox of the Pleasant Crag"). In Campbell's Scottish The Young King of Easaidh Ruadh ( c text), the helpers are a dog, hawk, and an otter ("slim dog of the greenwood", "hoary hawk of the grey rock", and "brown otter of the river"). In McInnes's Scottish version ( m text) there are not three, but four animals. It might be noted that Irish bridal quest of

3479-582: The hero suffers a loss, he is compelled to go on a quest, usually for the sword of light. Kittredge has recognized the presence of "helpful animals" assisting the hero in the tales, catalogued in the range of Types B300–590, "Helpful Animals" in Thompson's Motif-Index . Kittedge recognizes the Skilful Companions motif in the werewolf in-story, but that portion does not much concern the sword, as aforementioned. In O'Foharta's Irish text ( O'F )

3550-508: The heroic cycles, some prominent examples are Fergus Mac Roigh 's sword Caladbolg and Mac Cecht's spear. But Caladbolg does not manifest as a blazing sword, and the latter which does emit fiery sparks is a spear, thus failing to fit the profile of a sword which shines. One example which does fit, is Cúchulainn's sword Cruaidín Catutchenn which was aforementioned. And the legacy of these mythological and heroic weapons (Lug's lighting-weapon, his "son" Cúchulainn's remarkable sword, etc. ) survive in

3621-645: The horse or rider. These weapons were employed in various historical conflicts, from the medieval European battlefields to the Far East. The glaive holds cultural significance not only for its martial applications but also for its representation in art, literature, and folklore . It is often depicted in medieval tapestries and illuminated manuscripts , showcasing its presence in European history. The weapon has made appearances in numerous fantasy and historical fiction works, cementing its place in popular culture. It

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3692-422: The letter h ⟨fh⟩ , ⟨sh⟩ , instead of using a superdot ⟨ḟ⟩ , ⟨ṡ⟩ . When initial s stemmed from Primitive Irish *sw- , its lenited version is ⟨f⟩ [ ɸ ] . The slender ( palatalised ) variants of the 13 consonants are denoted with / ʲ / marking the letter. They occur in the following environments: Although Old Irish has both

3763-439: The letter m usually becomes the nasal fricative / ṽ / , but in some cases it becomes a nasal stop, denoted as / m / . In cases in which it becomes a stop, m is often written double to avoid ambiguity. Ambiguity arises in the pronunciation of the stop consonants ( c, g, t, d, p, b ) when they follow l, n, or r : Glaive A glaive typically consists of a single-edged blade approximately 45 centimeters long affixed to

3834-467: The one story about women"), which culminates in the discovery of a "Tale of the Werewolf" (a man magically turned wolf by an unfaithful wife). However, the sword is uninvolved in the man-wolf portion, and only figures in the hero-adventure frame story . The sword of light, according to a different commentator, is a fixture of an Irish tale group describable as a quasi-bridal-quest. This characterization

3905-415: The one story about women", as occurs in O'Foharta's version. Similar titles or sub-titles occur in Irish as well. The form "news of the death of Anshgayliacht" in "Morraha", is deemed to be a corruption. The werewolf tale, recounted by a man who had once been magically transformed into a wolf by an unfaithful wife, is analyzed by Kittredge for its compound structure, but the in-tale generally does not concern

3976-542: The same sound as /h/ or /xʲ/ . The precise articulation of the fortis sonorants /N/, /Nʲ/, /L/, /Lʲ/, /R/, /Rʲ/ is unknown, but they were probably longer, tenser and generally more strongly articulated than their lenis counterparts /n/, /nʲ/, /l/, /lʲ/, /r/, /rʲ/ , as in the Modern Irish and Scottish dialects that still possess a four-way distinction in the coronal nasals and laterals . /Nʲ/ and /Lʲ/ may have been pronounced [ɲ] and [ʎ] respectively. The difference between /R(ʲ)/ and /r(ʲ)/ may have been that

4047-533: The scythe, alongside terms like falchion , falcata , or fauchard , all derived from the Latin term for "scythe." Historical records suggest that the glaive may have originated in Wales and remained a national weapon until the late 15th century. There is a mention of a warrant from the first year of Richard III 's reign, dated 1483, for the production of "two hundred Welsh glaives," further highlighting its historical significance in weaponry. It has been argued that

4118-408: The sound /h/ are usually written without it: a ór /a hoːr/ "her gold". If the sound and the spelling co-occur , it is by coincidence, as ní hed /Nʲiː heð/ "it is not". The voiceless stops of Old Irish are c, p, t . They contrast with the voiced stops g, b, d . Additionally, the letter m can behave similarly to a stop following vowels. These seven consonants often mutate when not in

4189-513: The stressed prefix air- (from Proto-Celtic *ɸare ). Archaic Old Irish (before about 750) had the following inventory of long vowels: Both /e₁ː/ and /e₂ː/ were normally written ⟨é⟩ but must have been pronounced differently because they have different origins and distinct outcomes in later Old Irish. /e₁ː/ stems from Proto-Celtic *ē (< PIE *ei), or from ē in words borrowed from Latin. /e₂ː/ generally stems from compensatory lengthening of short *e because of loss of

4260-502: The sword obtained by Cei ( Sir Kay ) in the Welsh tale Culhwch and Olwen (i.e., the sword of Gwrnach the giant) must be "related to the sword of light which is the object of the Irish and Scottish folk-tales". Old Irish Old Irish , also called Old Gaelic ( Old Irish : Goídelc , Ogham script : ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; Irish : Sean-Ghaeilge ; Scottish Gaelic : Seann-Ghàidhlig ; Manx : Shenn Yernish or Shenn Ghaelg ),

4331-418: The sword of light, he remarks that there is parallel to the Irish giant Cú roí whom he describes a "solar host" or "solar divinity", and notes that Cú roí was "slain with his own sword", (as according to the narrative Aided Chon Roí in which Cú roí's wife Blaíthíne reveals the weakness). In the specimen collected by Kennedy, the hero is assisted by the king who is his own father-in-law, who happens to be

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4402-518: The u-infection of stressed /a/ by a /u/ that preceded a palatalized consonant. This vowel faced much inconsistency in spelling, often detectable by a word containing it being variably spelled with ⟨au, ai, e, i, u⟩ across attestations. Tulach "hill, mound" is the most commonly cited example of this vowel, with the spelling of its inflections including tulach itself, telaig , telocho , tilchaib , taulich and tailaig . This special vowel also ran rampant in many words starting with

4473-485: The unique story") A more familiar Arthurian tale perhaps than Arthur and Gorlagon which embeds the quest of "What is it that women most desire?" is The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle . The external soul motif in Sword of Light stories have been noted for example by Gerard Murphy. The tale " The Young King Of Easaidh Ruadh " was also given as a typical example of "External soul" motif (E 710) by folklorist Katharine Mary Briggs . It has been pointed out that

4544-431: The very end of a word) after both broad and slender consonants. The front vowels /e/ and /i/ are often spelled ⟨ae⟩ and ⟨ai⟩ after broad consonants, which might indicate a retracted pronunciation here, perhaps something like [ɘ] and [ɨ] . All ten possibilities are shown in the following examples: The distribution of short vowels in unstressed syllables, other than when absolutely final,

4615-507: The way of strictly contemporary sources. They are represented mainly by shorter or longer glosses on the margins or between the lines of religious Latin manuscripts , most of them preserved in monasteries in Germany, Italy, Switzerland, France and Austria, having been taken there by early Irish missionaries . Whereas in Ireland, many of the older manuscripts appear to have been worn out through extended and heavy use, their counterparts on

4686-567: The word-initial position. In non-initial positions, the single-letter voiceless stops c, p, and t become the voiced stops / ɡ / , / b / , and / d / respectively unless they are written double. Ambiguity in these letters' pronunciations arises when a single consonant follows an l, n, or r . The lenited stops ch, ph, and th become / x / , / f / , and / θ / respectively. The voiced stops b, d, and g become fricative / v / , / ð / , and / ɣ / , respectively—identical sounds to their word-initial lenitions. In non-initial positions,

4757-543: The would-be bride, "helpful animals", or a supernatural being ("little green/red man"). Below are the lists of tales where the sword of light occurs. Kittredge's sigla ( K J L C 1 O'F H c m ) are given in boldface: The publication of tales from the Highlands ( Campbell (1860) , Popular Tales of the West Highlands ) predate the Irish tales becoming available in print. The sword of light (or glaive of light)

4828-434: Was a versatile weapon on the battlefield. It was effective for both cutting and thrusting, and its long reach allowed warriors to strike opponents from a relatively safe distance. Some common glaive techniques included sweeping strikes to disarm or incapacitate enemies and thrusting attacks to penetrate armor . Glaives were used by infantry and could be particularly effective against mounted opponents, as they could target

4899-519: Was present in the preceding Primitive Irish period, though initial mutations likely existed in a non-grammaticalised form in the prehistoric era. Contemporary Old Irish scholarship is still greatly influenced by the works of a small number of scholars active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, such as Rudolf Thurneysen (1857–1940) and Osborn Bergin (1873–1950). Notable characteristics of Old Irish compared with other old Indo-European languages , are: Old Irish also preserves most aspects of

4970-488: Was quite restricted. It is usually thought that there were only two allowed phonemes: /ə/ (written ⟨a, ai, e, i⟩ depending on the quality of surrounding consonants) and /u/ (written ⟨u⟩ or ⟨o⟩ ). The phoneme /u/ tended to occur when the following syllable contained an *ū in Proto-Celtic (for example, dligud /ˈdʲlʲiɣ u ð/ "law" (dat.) < PC * dligedū ), or after

5041-574: Was the only known member of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic languages , which is, in turn, a subfamily of the wider Indo-European language family that also includes the Slavonic , Italic / Romance , Indo-Aryan and Germanic subfamilies, along with several others. Old Irish is the ancestor of all modern Goidelic languages: Modern Irish , Scottish Gaelic and Manx . A still older form of Irish

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