Dinnseanchas, or the Lore of Places...
There's a really interesting page on Facebook called Irish Medieval History. I encourage people to check it out. They posted a piece today about a class of old Irish text, the dinnseanchas, which concerned itself with the lore of places. My father's people, the Vances, are believed to hail from around Donegal. On my mother's side, the Caven family immigrated from Armagh, and the Mathers from somewhere in Northern Ireland. It looks like my people are all from Ulster. Here's the piece...
Dinnseanchas in modern Irish translates as "topography" which directly translates as the "lore of places". Older spellings include ‘dindsenchas/dindshenchas’ which are a class of text in early Irish literature tells of the origins of placenames, traditions, characters and events associated with various places. In the pre-literary era poetry was the primary mnemonic used and the dindsenchas comprises about 176 poems plus a number of prose commentaries thus offering evidence that the information contained in the volumes is largely from pre-history. Below a poem describes the inhabitants of the 5 provinces of Ireland. The Irish language word for province is “cúige” meaning a fifth. The area around the Hill of Tara was the fifth province which was called ‘Mide’ meaning the middle province and the name survives in the county names Meath and Westmeath. The ancient province is no part of Leinster.
Ard Ruide
Connacht, in the west is the kingdom of learning, the seat of the greatest and wisest druids and magicians; the men of Connacht are famed for their eloquence, their handsomeness and their ability to pronounce true judgement.
Ulster, in the north is the seat of battle valour, of haughtiness, strife, boasting; the men of Ulster are the fiercest warriors of all Ireland and the queens and goddesses of Ulster are associated with battle and death.
Leinster, the eastern kingdom, is the seat of prosperity, hospitality, the importing of rich foreign wares like silk or wine; the men of Leinster are noble in speech and their women are exceptionally beautiful.
Munster, in the south is the kingdom of music and the arts, of harpers, of skilled ficheall players and of skilled horsemen. The fairs of Munster were the greatest in all Ireland.
The last kingdom, Meath, is the kingdom of Kingship, of stewardship, of bounty in government; in Meath lies the Hill of Tara, the traditional seat of the High King of Ireland. The ancient earthwork of Tara is called Rath na Ríthe (‘Ringfort of the Kings’).
Image: the modern provinces of Ireland with their respective flags.
Approximate pronunciation guide
Cúige – Coo-ig-ah
Mide – Meed-ah
Ruide - ru-ida
Dinnseanchas in modern Irish translates as "topography" which directly translates as the "lore of places". Older spellings include ‘dindsenchas/dindshenchas’ which are a class of text in early Irish literature tells of the origins of placenames, traditions, characters and events associated with various places. In the pre-literary era poetry was the primary mnemonic used and the dindsenchas comprises about 176 poems plus a number of prose commentaries thus offering evidence that the information contained in the volumes is largely from pre-history. Below a poem describes the inhabitants of the 5 provinces of Ireland. The Irish language word for province is “cúige” meaning a fifth. The area around the Hill of Tara was the fifth province which was called ‘Mide’ meaning the middle province and the name survives in the county names Meath and Westmeath. The ancient province is no part of Leinster.
Ard Ruide
Connacht, in the west is the kingdom of learning, the seat of the greatest and wisest druids and magicians; the men of Connacht are famed for their eloquence, their handsomeness and their ability to pronounce true judgement.
Ulster, in the north is the seat of battle valour, of haughtiness, strife, boasting; the men of Ulster are the fiercest warriors of all Ireland and the queens and goddesses of Ulster are associated with battle and death.
Leinster, the eastern kingdom, is the seat of prosperity, hospitality, the importing of rich foreign wares like silk or wine; the men of Leinster are noble in speech and their women are exceptionally beautiful.
Munster, in the south is the kingdom of music and the arts, of harpers, of skilled ficheall players and of skilled horsemen. The fairs of Munster were the greatest in all Ireland.
The last kingdom, Meath, is the kingdom of Kingship, of stewardship, of bounty in government; in Meath lies the Hill of Tara, the traditional seat of the High King of Ireland. The ancient earthwork of Tara is called Rath na Ríthe (‘Ringfort of the Kings’).
Image: the modern provinces of Ireland with their respective flags.
Approximate pronunciation guide
Cúige – Coo-ig-ah
Mide – Meed-ah
Ruide - ru-ida
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