PREFACE

The name is always written as Lusca Lusk, a village in County Dublin; original: Lusca (dating to 916 AD, 928 AD, etc.). In our text (§ 46), all the manuscripts use the spelling Lusca.

In "slender io-stems" io-stems: a specific category of nouns in Old Irish grammar defined by their vowel patterns, the dative singular case in Old Irish ends in -iu. I find this form in the Annals of Ulster for the last time in 816 AD (in the word Gertidiu a personal name or specific grammatical example). From that point onward, it always ends in -i, as seen in our text: "in Cooley" original: hi Cúailgni (§ 43) and "of water" original: d'uisce (§ 64).

The "nasal stem" nasal stem: a noun category where an 'n' appears in certain grammatical forms word for "leap" original: léimm forms its plural as léimmen in Old Irish. However, in section 32, we find "transgressions" or "leaps over" original: tair-leme instead. Likewise, "accidental use" original: foimrimm forms its plural as foimrimme in section 163.

The word for "door" original: dorus is a neuter noun in Old Irish, making its plural either dorus or doirsea. In our text (§§ 173, 174), the word is treated as masculine and uses the plural form doruis.

The word for "ridge" original: Druimm is an "i-stem" in Old Irish, but in the later language, it changes into an "n-stem." In section 51, we find the plural form "ridges" original: drommanna.

The neuter word for "rank" or "grade" original: grád in section 166 uses the plural form gráda, rather than the Old Irish form grád.¹

Based on these linguistic grounds, I would conclude that our collection was compiled sometime during the second half of the ninth century (roughly 850–900 AD). That it cannot be dated any earlier is also clear from another piece of evidence. Professor Zimmer Heinrich Zimmer (1851–1910), a prominent German Celtic scholar taught us to search every ancient Irish text for clues as to whether it was composed before or after the Viking period. I find no words from the Norse language in the Triads—or if there are any, I have missed them—but there are two distinct references to the Viking age. In section 232, a Viking in his "hauberk" original: Gall ina lúirig; a 'Gall' or foreigner (Viking) wearing a coat of chainmail is mentioned as one of three things that are hardest to talk to. Additionally, in section 44, Bangor in County Down is called unlucky or unfortunate. This is undoubtedly because, as the interlinear note original: gloss says, the monastery was repeatedly plundered and destroyed by the Norse during the early ninth century (specifically in 823 and 824 AD).

¹ The infinitive "to be" original: bith used instead of the Old Irish buith (91), the form for "at the end" original: cinn instead of the Old Irish ciunn (98, 135), the plural for "ways/roads" original: sligthi instead of the Old Irish sligid (which I have restored in § 49), the confusion between the prepositions "to/for" and "from" original: do and di (for example, in § 83), and other details are likely errors introduced by later Middle-Irish and Modern-Irish transcribers.