Aislingthe

[Aelfarh]

I meet this word in some readings, as far as I understand it's a "journey to the sky and the stars". But I have no more information about it

Do any of you have more information of the meaning and use of that word?

Thank you!!

[Beith]

Hi Aelfarh,

The word aislinge (later Irish aisling, pronounced like 'ashling' in English) means 'dream' or vision'.
Aislingthe is aislinge with an intrusive 'th' as far as I know.

The sense of it can be a literal dream or vision (occasionally used for 'nightmare' -depending on context of the sentence) and it is used in titles in the genre of Irish tales where someone has a vision of something, or a dream about something.eg. Aisling Meic Conglinne (The dream/vision of the son of Conglinne) or Aisling Óengusso "The dream of Aengus". It is also a girl's name in Irish.

In Irish mythology, the tales are grouped according to genre rather than by 'cycle' which is a relatively modern grouping of tales that fit together in a collection(eg. The Ulster cycle, the Fenian cycle etc) . But the older means of grouping is by the tale-type eg. Aislinge, Echtrai (adventure quests), Imrama (sea-Journeys), etc.

best wishes
Beith

[Oonagh]

Just thought I would add what is written in the glossary of Erynn Rowan Laurie's book Ogam: Weaving Word Wisdom ...

Aisling, aislinge: "dream(s), vision(s)." a dream or the class of Gaelic stories about dreams

whereas

Aislingthe: A class of vision-seeking rituals involving dreams or journeys into the realm of the sky.

[Aelfarh]

Hiyah Oonagh, actually it was on Erynn's book where I saw the word and I was wondering for more info.

Thanks to you and Beith

[Beith]

Hi Aelfarh,

I tried to source further for you but I can find no attestation to aislingthe as "a journey to the sky and the stars" as a group name-class for rituals of dreaming. I don't know from where that is derived that (if there is a specific attestation of such) or whether that's an inferred meaning. It may well be there is that word for a class-description but my Old Irish isn't good enough and I can find no reference for it (that may say more about my search-possibilities than its existence or lack of!) so maybe if Ms Rowan Laurie happens across this thread she can add to it.

Some adjectives can have a -the / - thae suffix in Old Irish eg. seanatharthae - 'grandfatherly' for sean-athardae(Milan glosses 99b8), corpthae/corpdae 'Bodily', but usually it's -de/-dae (eg. nemdae 'heavenly) but the word aislingthe would not be an adjective as in her book it's being used as a collective noun term for a group of rituals to do with dream. I don't know whether there is a direct source of that.

Collective nouns in old Irish are often formed from suffiexes like - red/rad, -er/-ar, -bad, -ten/-tan (or then/-than) (Ref. Grammar Old Irish, Rudolf Thurneysen sections 263-5.

The Dictionary of the Irish language (which is online at www.dil.ie) gives aislingthe as a later form of the nominative singular io-stem "aislinge" with intrusive -th-, ditto in the dative singular aislingthi . There are journal references to both occurrences of those forms so if your uni has a celtic studies section have a look at these:
ZCP viii 217 section 10 (Zeitschrift fuer Celtische Philologie
Ériu ii (1904) 204.2

If aislinge is originally an -io stem then the nominative plural noun I think would be expected to end in -i if masculine eg. aislingi or if neutral in -e just as the nominative singular. (modelling on masculine n.s céile and neuter n.s cride respectively).

Aislingthe is attested several times in Saltair na Rann, a long Middle Irish poem, but translation here is as nominative singular for dream (aislinge with intrusive th I guess) rather than a class of magical journies
(Translation by Prof David Greene available on DIAS link: http://www.celt.dias.ie/publications/on ... r_na_rann/ }

eg. Lines 3277/3278: Bae in rí fo glámaib gné / do dálaib a aislingthe
"The king was under appearance of censure/on account of his dream"

Lines 3349/3350: Cor fallaigder duit cen chess/ int aislingthe laind lán-des
"So that the pleasant beautiful dream may be made clear to you without trouble!

So a little more light on its forms in various uses but I cannot find anything to attest it as a group noun for rituals of dreaming involving visits to sky/stars. I see it mentioned as such in "Weaving Word Wisdom" (a very nice book) but no reference information for that derivation is supplied.

best wishes
Beith

[Oonagh]

Thanks Beith, I'm still learning Gaeilge so running it through all that is out of my capability. Though, it had not occurred to me to run this by Erynn. I'll email her today and ask if she can drop in on the topic