Curses & Insults

Narab marthain duit!

may not be * remaining in existence * to you

May you not remain alive!

Rule of Tallaght §41.

A eoin re n-ossaib!

(o * bird * in front of * deer)

O bird before deer!

The insult here, besides simply calling someone a bird, may lie in the parody of the usual heroic image of the bull or boar leading the herd. Cú Chulainn says, for example, in the LL Táin:

"Dodechad ré n-ócaib
im t[h]orc trethan trétaig
re cathaib re cétaib."

I came in front of warriors
as a bold herd-rich boar
before battalions, before hundreds.

See also "A chacc cuirre uidre ittige!" in this collection.

A chacc cuirre uidre ittige!

(o * shit * of crane * grey-brown * winged)

O shit of a flapping dun-colored crane!

The adjectives that make this a truly baroque insult in Irish probably can't be carried over into English successfully. Our closest equivalent would be a blunt "You crane shit!" The word "corr" (genitive "cuirre") can mean either "crane" or "heron" in Old Irish. The insult is one of five, directed in rapid succession against someone named Bressal or Brénnan in a quatrain edited by Kuno Meyer in "Mittelirische Verslehren" (IT iii 102 §189) and then in "Bruchstücke der älteren Lyrik Irlands". The latter edition is:

A mâelscolb do messair,
a eclas crainn, a chacc cuirre uidre ittige,
a eôin re n-ossaib,
a fhertas a broinn bicire, a Brênaind!

A chride ind eoin ittig!

(o * heart * of the * bird * winged)

O heart of a fluttering bird!

Or, in more colloquial terms, "You chicken-hearted coward!" Fer Diad hurls this insult at Cú Chulainn as they prepare to meet in single combat in the LL Táin.

Bid móin 7 mothar a feranna-som co bráth.

(will be * bogland * and * thicket * their * lands * until * judgment day)

Their lands will be boglands and thickets forever.

This prophetic curse is the opening salvo of a longer litany of ill-will delivered by Saint Colmán against his ecclesiatical enemies in paragraph 59 of "Betha Colmáin".

Gura féis ic faelaib do chorp!

(may it be * feast * at * wolves * your * body)

May your body be a feast for wolves!

Spoken by Congal in "Cath Muigi Rath" (p. 189 in FDG). He continues with "ocus gura fáilid fiach ármuige ós do bruinne" (and may the raven of the battlefield be joyful over your breast).

Dolma n-aithisc for fer th'inaid do grés.

(slowness * of speech * on * man * of your place * for * ever)

Hesitant speech on your successor forever!

This curse comes to us from the Leabhar Breac and is quoted in DIL s.v. "dolma". For an example of the use of the "fir th'inaid" in a blessing, see "Sonus ocus degfhéth tria bithu d'fhir th'inaid do grés" in this collection.

Ferr cach maín mainbthig mifhocal már marta.

(Better * (than) * every * treasure * rich * evil word * of death)

A great killing curse is better than any opulent treasure.

At one point in the law tract "Bretha Nemed Dédenach", which was edited by Stephen Gwynn in Ériu xiii under the title "An Old-Irish Tract on the Privileges and Responsibilities of Poets", Athairne, the great mythical satirist par excellence, asks:

"Cía háithemh éo?"
"What is the sharpest of points?"

His immediate answer is "acais dhlighidh", which is glossed as "aor no mallacht" (satire or curse). A bit further along we are treated to the Vodemortian maxim above, which was spelled "Ferr gach maoin mainbthigh miofhocal már marta" in the late medieval manuscript in which it survives. Despite the modernized spelling, the maxim is in classical Old Irish, with the prepositionless dative used to express comparison.

Ní raib úaid acht cairem 7 círmaire nó nech bed fíu iad.

(not * may be * from him * but * shoemaker * & * combmaker * or * one * that would be * equivalent to * them)

"May none spring from him but shoemakers and combmakers, or people of that kind."

That is Kuno Meyer's translation of Saint Colmán's curse on those who would turn on him, from Meyer's 1911 edition and translation of "Betha Colmáin Maic Luachain". A very similar formula is envoked by the poet Eochaid against the impertinent young Mongán, after Mongán had arranged for his followers to mock Eochaid's learning (in "Why Mongán was deprived of issue" in Ériu 8, edited by Eleanor Knott from the test in the Yellow Book of Lecan):

Nícon bia acht eachbachlaich uait! = There will be only stable-boys from you!

Beirid tríst 7 mallachtain nóem nÉrenn!

(let them carry * curse * and * malediction * of saints * of Ireland)

May they bear the curse and the malediction of the saints of Ireland!

This curse is quoted in Archiv für Celtische Lexicographie, ii.3.23. Another version of it is found in the Book of Fermagh (142.1):

Mallacht 7 tríst 7 anoráit naem nÉrend dóib! = The malediction and the curse and the imprecation of the saints of Ireland to them!