PREFACE

Instead of the phrase meaning "into a house under lock [which] protects at the well where it remains" original Irish: hi tech fo glass dodeime a tiprait oca mbí, the manuscript reads: "though it is thrown into the sea, though it is put into a house under lock, or into fire, it will be found at the well" original Irish: cia focearta im-muir, cia beirthear hi tech fo glass no do theine, dogeibther occan tiprait. In section 121, instead of "of an art" original: cerdai, it reads "art" original: cerd. In section 139, it has forms for "reaching" and "having reached" original: rotioc and rotocht. In section 143, instead of "honor" original: grúss, its reading is "heat" or "fervor" original: grís. In section 153, it has "they die" original: aibeuloit instead of "they perish" original: eplet. In section 217, it uses "after them" original: tar a n-éisi instead of the equivalent phrase original: dia n-éisi. In section 218, it uses "stripping" original: lomradh twice instead of "leprosy" original: lobra, and "unlawfulness" original: indlighidh for "in illegality" original: i n-indligud. In section 219, it has the correct reading "fine" or "compensation" original: éiric, and for "illegitimacy" original: dithechte, it reads "unlawfulness" original: ditheacht. In section 220, it reads "against another" original: fri aroile instead of "against his fellow" original: fria céile. In section 223, after "many" original: ile, it adds "very distant" original: imchiana. In section 224, it reads "burning of the bellies, that is, disease" original: grís brond .i. galar. In section 229, instead of "wrong recognition" original: meraichne, it has "madness" original: mearaigheacht. In section 235, it has "yoke" or "bondage" original: mhamus for "yoke" original: mám. In section 236, it has "the Plain of Hí" original: Maig Hí instead of "the Plain of Lii" original: Maig Lii, and for "so that he made the ox from it," it reads "so that he made the ox for her" original: co ndeirgenai in dam de vs co nderna in dam fria.

Another copy, written in 1836 by Peter O’Longan—formerly in the possession of the Earls of Crawford—now belongs to the Rylands Library in Manchester. It was found there by Professor Strachan, who kindly copied a page or two for me. It is evidently a very corrupt a "corrupt" manuscript is one containing many transcription errors or alterations from the original copy, which I have not thought worth the trouble of collating collating is the process of comparing different versions of a text to identify variations.

Lastly, there is a copy in the Advocates’ Library in a vellum manuscript marked Kilbride III. It begins on folio 9b² as follows: "The Triads of Judgments here. The head of Ireland is Armagh" original Irish: Treching breath annso. Ceann Eirind Ardmacha.. I hope to compare it with the other versions before long and give some account of it in the next issue of this series.

In all these manuscripts, the Triads either follow, precede, or are incorporated into the collections of maxims and proverbial sayings known as The Instructions of Cormac original: Tecosca Cormaic, The Precept of Morann original: Auraicept Morainn, and The Ancient Sayings of Fithal original: Senbriathra Fithil. Together, these form a body of early Irish gnomic literature gnomic literature consists of meaningful sayings, proverbs, or aphorisms intended to provide moral or practical guidance which deserves to be edited in its entirety. It is clear, however, that the Triads did not originally belong to any of these other texts. They had a separate origin and form a collection by themselves. This is also shown by the fact that the Book of Leinster—the oldest manuscript containing the Instructions...