Page:Chronicles of the Picts, chronicles of the Scots, and other early memorials of Scottish history.djvu/29

PEEFACE. xxi " sior totaliter est deleta." The tale is certainly an old one, as it is alluded to in the " Prophecy of St. " Berchan," and probajbly originally preceded the third division of the chronicle. The second and third divisions of this chronicle have obviously been translated into Latin from an Irish or old Gaelic original, as the translator has left some words untranslated, which he appears not to have understood. Thus, in the second division, he gives " Dadrest" as the name of a king who reigned one year ; but it is followed by " Drest " filius Girom et Drest filius Udrost 5 annis " conregnaverufit." It is plain that the syllable Ba is the Irish numeral Hvo, and the meaning is two Drests, viz., Drest son of Girom, and Drest son of Udrost, reigned five years together. Again, in the third division, under the reign of Constantine, son of Kenneth, he writes, " Occisi sunt Scoti co " Achcochlam," where co is the Irish preposition at, and the meaning is " at Achcochlam." Again, under the reign of Constantine, son of Ed, he men- tions the death of " Adhelstan filius Advar rig " Saxan," which is Irish for " king of the Saxons." Then in the following reign, he mentions that Malcolm plundered the English to the river Tees, and adds, " quam predam vocaverunt Scotti predam " albidosorum idem nainndisi." Na is the genitive plural of the Irish definite article ; Fionn is Irish for alhus or white, and forms fhinn, the / when aspirated being silent ; Dese is a mtdtitude or