Page:Irish Lexicography.djvu/32
24
ON IRISH LEXICOGRAPHY.
opinion. Anyhow, O'R. is not to blame, for he did not assign this meaning to the word direccra. It is common enough in Middle Irish, and variously used as an intensive adjective. I [shall quote a few instances of this varied application from Z. Breac : —
(a) heavy, strong, of perfume [LB. 35 β 7] : in tan tucsam corp Stephain as in inad when we took the body of Stephen i mboi, dorala talam-chumscugud mor from the place where it was, there hap- arm, ⁊ tanic bolad direccra de as in pened a great earthquake, and there adnocul, co ro-lfn in uli inud i mba- came a heavy perfume from it out of mar : ro-b ailgen tra in mbolad-sin. the grave, so that it filled the whole place where we were — pleasant in sooth was that perfume. (b) heavy y loud, anguished, of screaming [LB. 39 β 52] : — is ann-sin nach fil comdidnad no cum- there is no consolation nor rest nor sanud na etarfuarad doib-sium, acht coolness for them, but heavy shouting, nuall tromm ⁊ diucaire dermair ra-mor and mighty, vast, loud outcry, ro-direccra. (c) heavy, thick, of darkness [LB. 118 α 27] : — in cet plaig tucad for in tir-sin .i. the first plague that was brought on dorchatu dfreccra. this land, viz. thick darkness. Cf. also 154 β 25, 41 ; 165 α 37, &c.
In his edition of Tochmarc Etaine, Ir, Texte, p. 129, we have a passage whose explanation escaped Windisch, viz. : " rotirmaiss ecaine ocus mor olcc ocus imniuth duit bith i n-ingnaiss do mna". In his glossary the first word is divided, and placed under (ro) tirmaiss, but no meaning is attached to it. I believe it to be ro~t-irmais$, " hath hit thee", the word appearing under the forms ermaiss, urmaiss, and, as here, irmaiss [cf. forms like aurlam, urlam, erlam, irlam].
In Cormac's Gloss., sub voce, 'taurthaiV (' random shot'), we have urchar . ... do urmaise secip nach raeta, &c, which O'Donovan had rendered " a throw .... to hit anything whatsoever." Upon this Stokes remarks : — " I rather think this (urmaise) means ' to aim at', and then 'to purpose* ", quoting tuisled ho ermaissin firinne from Z 2 1064. But surely the very quotation makes for 0' Donovan's transla- tion. The full gloss is [Ml. 2d 6 ] is f uasnad dutmenmainsiu tuisled ho- ermaissiu firinne trimrechtrad natintathach, i. e. " it is a disturbance
to thy mind, thy failing to hit the truth through the variety of inter-
