Curses & Insults

Úir aineóil tarat!

(soil * unknown * over you)

Foreign soil over you!

In other words, may you die and be buried in a strange land. A curse quoted by Stokes in "On the Calendar of Oengus".

Ní gilla i ngillaidecht é, ní óclach i n-óclachas, ocus ní gaiscedach i ngaisced.

(is not * page * in * pageship * he * is not * squire * in * squireship * and * is not * knight * in * knighthood)

His actions befit neither page nor squire nor knight.

This imprecation was delivered, entirely petulantly and inappropriately, by Gúaire against Finn Bán after losing a series of fidchell games to him. This episode is found in "Acallam na Senórach". I have restated the line slightly, shifting it from indirect to direct speech, and normalizing the orthography to the Old Irish norm. I have also, rather more radically, translated the threefold insult in terms of Anglo-Norman chivalry. In more Gaelic terms, the "gilla" was a serving boy, the "óclach" was a young warrior, and the "gaiscedach" was a seasoned champion.

The original text is "Adubairt nár' ghilla a n-gillaighecht h-é, & nár' óclach i n-óclachus & nár' ghaisceadach a n-gaisced." (He said that he was not a page....) A very similar formula is found in the short tale "Erchoitmed Ingine Gulidi", where it is used positively to praise Gulide:

"Is amlaid immorro bái Gulide, co mba laech ar laechdacht ... 7 co mba feinnid ar fheinnidecht 7 ba mílid ar milidacht 7 ba brugaid ar brugamnus 7 ba cainti ar caintecht." (Thus indeed was Gulide, having been a warrior in warriorship, and a fenian in fenianship, and a soldier in soldiership, and a landholder in holding land, and a satirist in satire.)

Mo mallacht is mallacht ríg nime ar lín in tighi-sea i tái!

(my * curse * and * curse * of king * of heaven * on * full number * the * of house * in which * you are)

My curse and the curse of the king of heaven on all those within your house!

Patrick's curse on Máelán, a wealthy householder who refused him a drink, found in "Acallam na Senórach" (line 4839).

Saint Mo Ling uses a similar formula against Finnachta in the "Bóroma" (at LL 39190):

Mo mallacht ar Finnachta
ocus mallacht ríg nime;
ro impá form Finnachta,
niba airdite a fhine.

My curse on Finnachta
and the curse of the king of heaven;
Finnachta turned against me,
his family will not be the higher (for it).

Bad nenaid co bráth a lucht!

(let be * nettles * to * doomsday * his * household)

May his household be nettles forever!

In other words, "May his house be deserted forever!" This malediction is included in "Mairg thochras ri clerchib cell", a poem attributed to Diarmait mac Cerbaill and found in LL 149b36. Nettles ("nenaid") are one of the three signs of a ruin or a cursed place, the other two being the elder bush ("tromm") and the corncrake or landrail ("tragna", modern "traonach"). "Trecheng Breth Féne" includes the triad "Trí comartha láthraig mallachtan: tromm, tradna, nenaid", and "Cáin Adomnáin" (§23) talks of "three shouts of malediction on every man who should kill a woman... so that his heirs would be elder and nettle and corncrake (... comad he a comarbpa trom 7 nenaid 7 traghnae)".

Fognad dúib ág is ernbas!

(may serve * to you (pl.) * strife, oppression, etc. * and * iron-death)

May danger and violent death follow you all!

This curse was meted out somewhat inexplicably by Digais to her sons and daughters in "Bairend Chermain", the tenth poem in volume three of "The Metrical Dindshenchas".

Goirde shaogail duit abhus 7 ifrenn thall!

(shortness * of life * to you * on this side * and * hell * yonder)

Short life to you on this side, and hell on the other!

Thus Saint Moling curses the swineherd who killed Suibhne Geilt. See also "Mallacht Críst" in this collection.

Mallacht Críst ar a hanmoin!

(curse * of Christ * on * her * soul)

Christ's curse on her soul!

When Suibhne Geilt thinks back on the now-deceased Old Woman of the Mill, who had incited his return to madness, he curses her in those words. Saint Moling places a similar curse on the swineherd who kills Suibhne at the tale's end: "Mallacht Críst ort, a bhuachaill!" See also "Goirde shaogail duit" in this collection.

Gurab bás do rinn nosbéra!

(May be * death * of * point * that will take him)

May it be death by spear point that takes him!

This is Rónán the cleric's curse on Suibhne, who has just humiliated him publicly, in the Middle Irish tale "Buile Suibhne".

Ní raib clann ná cenélach,
Rub dérechtach díbdathach!

(not * may be * offspring * nor * kindred /
may he be * deserted * extinct)

May there not be offspring or kindred,
may he be abandoned and childless!

This was the curse that Adomnáin inflicted on his opponent, King Irgalach, in paragraph 21 of "Cáin Adomnáin". For more of the same, see "Ben in cluiccín for Domnall" in this collection.

Ben in cluiccín for Domnall,
ná rup comlann a blíadain.

(strike * the * little bell * on * Domnall /
not * may be * complete * his * year)

Ring the little bell against Domnall!
May he not complete his year!

This curse, portending death within the year to Domnall, is half of a stanza put in the mouth of the cleric Adomnán, in the narrative introduction to "Cáin Adomnáin". According to the story, when Adomnán promulgated his "Law of the Innocents" in the 7th century, a number of kings took exception to the protections he granted in it to women, and they tried to kill him. He countered their swords with his "little bell", which he used to curse them. This is one of the curses, which he instructed his young attendant to carry out with the bell on his behalf. A similar formula from the same text is "Ben clucc ar Cellach Carmain, co raib i talmain ría ciunn blíadna!" (Ring the bell against Cellach Carmain, that he may be in the earth before the year's end!)