The Cattle Raid of Cooley: The first few verses of the first chapter.

[Mike Hunt]

Inspired by @DrVincentWolf I had a go at translating the first few verses of the Táin Bó Cúailnge, about the great warrior Cú Chulainn's mortal battle with Connachta's queen Medb and her husband Aillil. This was originally an oral poem that was written down into Old Irish which made this a pain in the ass to translate. This is Ireland's national epic and a great tale that was thankfully recorded and written by monks some time in the early middle ages. The historical basis is muddy: it's probable that Queen Medb did exist but the events of this are unknowable as Ireland's written tradition started sprouting really in the 6th century, long after these events are supposed to have taken place.

Note, this poetry's Irish is very, VERY old and probably so the script was different and the methods of denoting speech were different. For sanity's sake i've translated this into I

Fect n-oen do Ailill & do Meidb íar n-dergud a rígleptha dóib i Cruachanráith Chonnacht, arrecaim comrad chind-cherchailli eturru.

Long ago, when Ailill (King of Connacht) and Maeve had spread their royal bed, in the town of Cruachan of Connacht, here was the talk that fell upon them:

Fírbriathar, a ingen, bar Ailill, is maith ben ben dagfir. Maith omm, bar ind ingen. Cid diatá latsu ón. Is de atá lim, bar Ailill, ar it ferr-su indiu indá in lá thucus-sa thu. Bamaith-se remut, ar Medb. Is maith nach cualammar & nach fetammar, ar Ailill, acht do bithsiu ar bantincur mnaa & bidba na crich ba nessom duit oc breith do slait & do chrech i fúatach úait.

And so, Ailill said "True is the saying, woman, that whom is a rich man's wife is well off," "Aye she is," answered Maeve, "but wherefore (untranslatable, the closest I found was the word' opin'st') you?" And so replied Ailill with great content, "For this, this day you are better off than the day than when I first took you in marriage," "I was as well off as I was before I ever married thou," his wife replied. Lord Aillil responded "It was a wealth that I had never seen, nor heard of, but you possessed but a woman's wealth, and many foes from your neighbouring lands/tuaths came to carry off plunder and spoil."

Ni samlaid bása, ar Medb, acht m'athair i n-ardrigi hErenn .i. Eocho Feidlech mac Find meic Findomain meic Findeoin meic Findguni meic Rogein Rúaid meic Rigéoin meic Blathachta meic Beothechta meic Enna Agnig meic Oengusa Turbig. Bátar aice se ingena d'ingenaib: Derbriu, Ethi & Éle, Clothru, Mugain, Medb, messi ba uasliu & ba urraitiu díb.

And so Maeve replied, "Nor was I so, the High King of Ireland himself I sired/birthed, Eoghan the Champion, son of Finn whom by name was son of Findoman, whom himself was son of Finden, son of Findguin, son of Rogen the Red (literally Rogen Red), son of Rigen, heir of Blathacht, himself son of Beothacht, son of Enna Agnig, son of Aengus Turbech. He had six women as children: Derbriu, Ethne, Ele, Clothru, Mugain and Maeve, myself being the comeliest and regal of them all.

[DrVincentWolf]

Man this is really cool! Props for doing this, translation work, expecially with older texts such as these, is often a lot harder than people think. Also sorry for not noticing this sooner, the tagging system seems to be a bit wonky on facepunch atm.

Irish mythology is pretty interesting. Spoiler for the "Fishing trip of Byleif" (because I know so many people care ;p) but the island Byleif actually finds and settles down in is inspired by the best part of Ireland and Iceland. Best from the perspective of viking, of course. In the game I am working on that also takes place in this world he also encounters the god Lugh, although their relationship ends up being more inspired by Gilgamesh and Enkidu.

Keep working on this, I at least will be an avid reader!