The Metrical Dindshenchas, or Lore of Places, is probably the major surviving monument of Irish bardic verse. It is a great onomastic anthology of naming legends of significant places in the Irish landscape and comprises about 176 poems in total. Onomastics (Onomatology) is the study of proper names of all kinds and the origins of names. ...

As a national compilation, the Metrical Dindshenchas has come down to us in two different recensions. The first recension is found in the 12th century manuscript the Book of Leinster with partial survivals in a number of other manuscript sources. The text shows signs of having been compiled from a number of provincial sources and the earliest poems date from at least the 11th century. The Book of Leinster (Irish Lebor Laignech), formerly known as the Book of Noughaval (Lebor na Nuachongbála), is a medieval Irish manuscript compliled ca. ...

The second recension survives more or less intact in thirteen different manuscripts, mostly dating from the 14th and 15th centuries. This recension contains a number of poems composed after the Book of Leinster text. These may have been added by the compiler for completeness. Since many of the naming legends related in the poems concern the acts of mythological beings, the Metrical Dindshenchas is an important source for the study of Irish mythology. (13th century - 14th century - 15th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 14th century was that century which lasted from 1301 to 1400. ... (14th century - 15th century - 16th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 15th century was that century which lasted from 1401 to 1500. ... The mythology of pre-Christian Ireland did not entirely survive the conversion to Christianity, but much of it was preserved, shorn of its religious meanings, in medieval Irish literature, which represents the most extensive and best preserved of all the branches of Celtic mythology. ...

Uses of the Metrical Dindshenchas

Knowledge of the real or putative history of local places formed an important part of the education of the elite in ancient Ireland. This formed part of the training of the military, for whom a knowledge of the landscape was essential. It was also essential knowledge for the bardic caste, who were expected to recite poems answering questions on place name origins as part of their professional duties. Consequently, the Dindshenchas may well have grown by accretion from local texts compiled in schools as a way of teaching about places in their area.

The poems are accompanied in both recensions by an incomplete prose commentary, now known as the Prose Dindshenchas.

References

Edward Gwynn: The Metrical Dindshenchas (1991, reprint)
This is the standard edition with text, translations, notes. a general introduction and glossary.

External link

• Some translated poems