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The Historical Present in Medieval Irish Narrative

The Historical Present in Medieval Irish Narrative The apparently random alternation between present and preterite verb tense in Medieval Irish narrative is matched by similar alternations in many modern Indo-European languages, and most older ones, including Hittite, Greek, Latin, Old Icelandic, Old French, and Middle English. An Irish example, from Togail Bruidne Da Derga, will suffice to illustrate: Do-ber [pres.] Cormac iarum arisi an mnai .i. Stain, 7 ba [pret.] si a riarside ingen na mna ro loigead [perf.] rempe do marbad. Nis-leicide [pres.] Cormac dia mathair di altromm. Nos-berait [pres.] iarum a da mogaidseom dochum chuithi 7 tibidsi [pres.] gen gaire friu oca tabairt isin chuithi. Do-luid [pret.] a ngus n-airriu iarum. Nos-berad [pres.] i llias ngamna buachaille nEterscole meic .h. lair, righ Temrach, 7 ros n-altarside [perf.] co mbo [pret.] druinech maith, 7 ni bid [pret.] i nHerind ingen rig bad [pret.] chaimiu oldas.1 Explanations for the Irish alternation have been offered along two very different lines, the stylistic and the syntactic: Togail Bruidne Da Derga, ed. Eleanor Knott (1936; rpt. Dublin: Institute for Advanced Studies, 1963), § 5.71-9. I hope for patience with the gracelessness of the following translation and those in the subsequent notes - it will prove useful to be http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie (ZcP) de Gruyter

The Historical Present in Medieval Irish Narrative

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Publisher
de Gruyter
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 Walter de Gruyter
ISSN
0084-5302
eISSN
1865-889X
DOI
10.1515/zcph.1987.42.1.330
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

The apparently random alternation between present and preterite verb tense in Medieval Irish narrative is matched by similar alternations in many modern Indo-European languages, and most older ones, including Hittite, Greek, Latin, Old Icelandic, Old French, and Middle English. An Irish example, from Togail Bruidne Da Derga, will suffice to illustrate: Do-ber [pres.] Cormac iarum arisi an mnai .i. Stain, 7 ba [pret.] si a riarside ingen na mna ro loigead [perf.] rempe do marbad. Nis-leicide [pres.] Cormac dia mathair di altromm. Nos-berait [pres.] iarum a da mogaidseom dochum chuithi 7 tibidsi [pres.] gen gaire friu oca tabairt isin chuithi. Do-luid [pret.] a ngus n-airriu iarum. Nos-berad [pres.] i llias ngamna buachaille nEterscole meic .h. lair, righ Temrach, 7 ros n-altarside [perf.] co mbo [pret.] druinech maith, 7 ni bid [pret.] i nHerind ingen rig bad [pret.] chaimiu oldas.1 Explanations for the Irish alternation have been offered along two very different lines, the stylistic and the syntactic: Togail Bruidne Da Derga, ed. Eleanor Knott (1936; rpt. Dublin: Institute for Advanced Studies, 1963), § 5.71-9. I hope for patience with the gracelessness of the following translation and those in the subsequent notes - it will prove useful to be

Journal

Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie (ZcP) – de Gruyter

Published: Jan 1, 1987

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