An electronic dictionary of medieval Irish?? You've made my day, Sloeday, and probably written it off as a day when I do anything other than doing a Pangur Bán* through eDIL
Please stay in the Bluestocking and have a refreshing drink, served by one of our efficient and professional gerbil serving staff, and TELL ALL about EVERYTHING you know about medieval Irish.
(On reflection, that might sound like sarcasm! it absolutely is not, we like esoteric things like that in the Bluestocking.)
*Pangur Bán, White Pangur, is a poem written by an anonymous Irish monk in Reichenau in the 9th century.
Messe ocus Pangur Bán,
cechtar nathar fria saindán;
bíth a menma-sam fri seilgg,
mu menma céin im saincheirdd
Séamus Heaney translated it as
Pangur Bán and I at work,
Adepts, equals, cat and clerk:
His whole instinct is to hunt,
Mine to free the meaning pent.
More than loud acclaim, I love
Books, silence, thought, my alcove.
Happy for me, Pangur Bán
Child-plays round some mouse’s den.
Truth to tell, just being here,
Housed alone, housed together,
Adds up to its own reward:
Concentration, stealthy art.
Next thing an unwary mouse
Bares his flank: Pangur pounces.
Next thing lines that held and held
Meaning back begin to yield.
All the while, his round bright eye
Fixes on the wall, while I
Focus my less piercing gaze
On the challenge of the page.
With his unsheathed, perfect nails
Pangur springs, exults and kills.
When the longed-for, difficult
Answers come, I too exult.
So it goes. To each his own.
No vying. No vexation.
Taking pleasure, taking pains,
Kindred spirits, veterans.
Day and night, soft purr, soft pad,
Pangur Bán has learned his trade.
Day and night, my own hard work
Solves the cruxes, makes a mark.