Sanas Cormaic (; or Sanas Chormaic, Irish for "Cormac's narrative"), also known as Cormac's Glossary, is an early Irish glossary containing etymologies and explanations of over 1,400 Irish words, many of which are difficult or outdated. The shortest and earliest version of the work is ascribed to Cormac mac Cuilennáin (d. 903), Many of its entries are still frequently cited in Irish and Celtic scholarship.
Manuscripts and editions (with external links)
The glossary survives, in part or whole, in at least six manuscripts. The work may have been included in the Saltair Chaisil ("Psalter of Cashel"), a now-lost manuscript compilation that is thought to have contained various genealogical and etiological lore relating to Munster. The versions of Sanas Cormaic divide into two groups: the earliest and shortest version represented by Leabhar Breac and the fragment in MS Laud 610, and a longer one represented by the Yellow Book of Lecan, which underwent some expansion in the hands of later redactors.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Siglum
! Manuscripts
!Source
! Editions and translations
|- valign="top"
|A (B)
|
- Leabhar Breac: Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS 1230 (23 P 16), pp.263–72.
|
|
- Stokes, Whitley (ed.). Three Irish Glossaries: Cormac's Glossary, O'Davoren's Glossary and a Glossary to the Calendar of Oengus the Culdee. London: Williams and Norgate, 1862. 1-44.
- Edition (pp 1–44) in HTML markup available from Thesaurus Linguae Hibernicae.
- PDF available from Internet Archive.
|- valign="top"
|G (La)
|
- MS Laud 610: Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Laud 610, f. 79r-84r. Fragment corresponding to YBL, 756–1224.
|
|
- Stokes, Whitley (ed. and tr.). "On the Bodleian Fragment of Cormac's Glossary." Transactions of the Philological Society (1891–94): 149–206.
|- valign="top"
|B (Y)
|
- Yellow Book of Lecan (YBL): Dublin, TCD MS 1318 (H.2.16), cols. 3-87 (= pp. 255a-283a in facsimile edition).
|
|
- Meyer, Kuno (ed.). "Sanas Cormaic." In Anecdota from Irish Manuscripts 4 (1912): I-XIX, 1–128.
|- valign="top"
|C (H)
|
- MS 1317: Dublin, TCD MS 1317 (MS H.2.15), pp. 13–39 (written by Fland) and pp. 77–102 (written by Dubhaltach Mac Firbhisigh).
|
| See Early Irish Glossaries.
|- valign="top"
|F (L)
|
- Book of Leinster: Dublin, TCD MS 1339 (H.2.18), p. 179a-b. Fragment, corresponding to YBL 1224-34 and 1268–75.
|
|
- Best, R.I. and M.A. O’Brien (eds.). Book of Leinster. Vol. 4. Dublin, 1965. pp. 780–1.
- Stokes, Whitley (ed.). Three Irish Glossaries. London, 1862. pp. 44–5.
|- valign="top"
|M
|
- Leabhar Ua Maine = Dublin, RIA, MS D II 1 (MS 1225), pp. 177a-184a. Beginning, corresponding to YBL nos. 1–1224.
|
|
- Meyer, Kuno. "Cormacs Glossar nach der Handschrift des Buches der Uí Maine." Abhandlungen der Königlichen Preußischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Phil.-hist. Klasse (1919): 290–319.
|- valign="top"
|
|
- Dublin, RIA, MS 23 N 10: p. 74 ff. Entry for Prull.
|- valign="top"
|
|
- London, British Museum Library, Harleian 5280: f 75r-v. Entries for Mug Éme and Prull. Cormac describes a folk etymology surrounding the introduction of the first lap dog to Ireland. In parts, he epitomises the Book of Armagh, invoking the myth of Falinis. He describes how British law allowed for expropriation of criminals as chattels in compensation for a crime (i.e. law code of Æthelberht): therefore, when Coirpre caught the dog gnawing on his dagger, he claimed the dog for himself and brought it back to Ireland. The passage describes the claim of sovereignty by the Gaels over the whole of mainland Britain in the sub Roman period. and said ac Cain tonna etc. There is the head of Mug-éme, namely, the first lap-dog that ever was brought to Ireland.
