Talk:Finghin O Mathghamhna

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This article claims that Finghin O Mathghamhna translated the the book of Marco Polo into Irish. The sources listed are Whitley Stokes' edition in ZCP i. (1897). I have this book in front of me at the moment and at no point does it mention Finghin O Mathghamhna. Looking into this deeper, I see that one of the patrons (commissioners) of the Book of Lismore, the manuscript in which the Irish version of Marco Polo is found, was Finghin Mac Carthaigh - this may have been the cause of confusion. In any case, I am deleting the reference to Marco Polo in this article. While Liam Mac Mathúna's article (referenced below) also claims that Finghin O Mathghamhna translated this work, I do not feel that this is sufficient evidence, since Mac Mathúna also references Stokes' 1897 edition, in which there is no mention of this scribe. Further reasons for this are found in Caoimhín Breatnach's article (Referenced below) on the Book of Lismore. Here Breatnach says that the translation was probably done around 1320 or 1325 - this is far too early for Finghin O Mathghamhna to have anything to do with it. This accords well with what the language itself shows us (although, this can't be used as evidence, as none of these sources speak directly about the language). However, while the Irish Maundeville is clearly Early Modern Irish and is certainly ascribed to Finghin O Mathghamhna, the Irish Marco Polo is actually quite a bit earlier in language, somewhat like Late Middle Irish - and is not at all cerstainly ascribed to Finghin O Mathghamhna. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Erelion12 (talk • contribs) 22:44, 23 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

These are the references:

Breatnach, C. (2006) Medieval Ireland: an Encyclopedia, Book of Lismore. New York: Encyclopedia Entry. pp.279-280

Liam Mac Mathúna (2007) The Growth of Irish (L1)/English (L2) Literary Code-mixing, 1600-1900: Contexts, Genres and Realisations . In: Hildegard L.C. Tristram eds. The Celtic Languages in Contact. Papers from the Workshop within the Framework of the XIII International Congress of Celtic Studies, Bonn, 26-27 July 2007 Potsdam, , pp.217-234

Last edited at 22:52, 23 April 2009 (UTC). Substituted at 15:08, 29 April 2016 (UTC)