The Triads of Ireland (Trecheng Breth Féne)

A TETRAD A "tetrad" is a group or set of four..

Proverbs 30:24: There are four small things on the earth, and they are wiser than the wise: 25 the ants, a weak people who prepare their food in the harvest; 26 the rock hyrax original Latin: lepusculus, literally "little hare", a frail folk who make their home in the rocks. original Latin: "Quattuor sunt minima terrae, et ipsa sunt sapientiora sapientibus : 25 formicae, populus infirmus qui praeparat in messe cibum sibi, 26 lepusculus, plebs invalida qui collocat in petra cubile suum."

A HEXAD AND HEPTAD A "hexad" is a group of six; a "heptad" is a group of seven..

Proverbs 6:16: There are six things that the Lord hates, and the seventh his soul detests: 17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, 18 a heart that devises wicked thoughts, feet that are swift to run toward evil, 19 a deceitful witness who utters lies, and him who sows discord among brothers. original Latin: "Sex sunt quae odit Dominus, et septimum detestatur anima eius : 17 oculos sublimes, linguam mendacem, manus effundentes innoxium sanguinem, 18 cor machinans cogitationes pessimas, pedes veloces ad currendum in malum, 19 proferentem mendacia testem fallacem, et eum qui seminat intra fratres discordias."

AN ENNEAD An "ennead" is a group of nine..

Ecclesiasticus 25:9: I have honored nine unexpected things of the heart, and I will speak of the tenth with my tongue to men, etc. original Latin: "Novem insuspicabilia cordis magnificavi, et decimum dicam in lingua hominibus, &c."

The question arises whether these biblical sayings were the direct source from which the Irish imitations are derived, or whether the Irish became acquainted with the numerical proverb through the medium of Greek and Latin literature. As the Irish clerics—ever since the days of St. Patrick—were diligent students of the Bible, there would be nothing strange in the former assumption. But there exists at least one early document which renders the latter equally possible. Under the title of Proverbs of the Greeks original: Proverbia Grecorum, we possess a collection of sayings translated by some Irish scholar in Ireland from the Greek into Latin before the seventh century.¹ Among them we find three triads groups of three,² two pentads groups of five,³ three heptads groups of seven,⁴ and two octads groups of eight.⁵

¹ This is the opinion of S. Hellmann, their latest editor. See his Sedulius Scottus, p. 135, in Traube’s Sources and Investigations into the Latin Philology of the Middle Ages original: Quellen und Untersuchungen zur lateinischen Philologie des Mittelalters, vol. i.: Munich, 1906.
² A. 39, 41. B. 5. ³ A. 52. ⁴ A. 54. B. 3, 7. ⁵ B. 1, 2.