“ On linguistic grounds, then, I should say that our collection was made some time during the second half of the ninth century. That it cannot be dated earlier is also apparent from another consideration. Professor Zimmer has taught us to search in every ancient Irish text for indications of its having been composed either before or after the Viking period. I find no words from the Norse language in the Triads, or, if there are any, they have escaped me; but there are two distinct references to the Viking age. ”

“ Three things to be distrusted: a cow's horn, a dog's tooth, and a horse's hoof.
Three disagreeable things at home: a scolding wife, a squalling child, and a smoky chimney.
The three finest sights in the world: a field of ripe wheat, a ship in full sail, and the wife of a Mac Donnell with child. [8]
[8] This triad comes from the Glynns of Antrim, the Mac Donnells' district. [Pg x]
In our collection an arrangement of the Triads in certain groups, according to their contents, is discernible. ”

“ Dún Sobairchi and Dún Cermna are, according to tradition, the oldest stone forts in Ireland, having been built by Sobairche and Cermna, who divided Ireland between them, about 1500 B.C., the former placing his dún in the extreme north, the latter in the extreme south on the Old Head of Kinsale. ”

“ Three causes that do not die with neglect: the causes of an imbecile, and of oppression, and of ignorance.
154. Three bloodsheds that need not be impugned: the bloodshed of battle, of jealousy, of mediating.
155. Three cohabitations [92] that do not pay a marriage-portion: taking her by force, outraging her without her knowledge through drunkenness, her being violated by a king.
[92] fuchacht, or fuichecht, usually means 'cuckoldry,' a meaning which does not seem to suit here.
156. Three that are not entitled to exemption: restoring a son, the tools of an artificer, hostageship. ”

“ Three lawful handbreadths: a handbreadth between shoes and hose, a handbreadth between ear and hair, a handbreadth between the fringe of the tunic and the knee.
223. What is worst in a household? Sons of a bawd, frequent feasts, numerous alliances in marriages, abundance of mead and wine. They waste you and do not profit.
224. Three illnesses that are better than health: the lying-in of a woman with a male child, the fever of an abdominal disease that clears the bowels, a feverish passion to check evil by its good (?) .
225. Three welcomes of an ale-house: plenty and kindliness and art. ”

“ Three that neither swear nor are sworn: a woman, a son who does not support his father, a dumb person.
160. Three that are not entitled to renunciation of authority: a son and his father, a wife and her husband, a serf and his lord.
161. Three who do not adjudicate though they are possessed of wisdom: a man who sues, a man who is being sued, a man who is bribed to give judgment.
162. Three on whom acknowledgment does not fall in its time: death, ignorance, carelessness. ”

“ The wittiest triads are undoubtedly those in which the third item contains an anticlimax. Two perfect examples of this kind were composed by Heine when he tells the foreigner visiting Germany that he need but know three words of the language: Brot, Kuss, Ehre; and in his often quoted witticism: Der Franzose liebt die Freiheit wie seine Braut, der Engländer wie seine Frau, der Deutsche wie seine alte Grossmutter. ”

“ Three things that constitute a carpenter: joining together without calculating (?) , without warping (?) ; agility with the compass; a well-measured stroke.
119. Three things that constitute a physician: a complete cure, leaving no blemish behind, a painless examination.
120. Three things that constitute a blacksmith: Nethin's spit, the cooking-hearth of the Morrigan, the Dagda's anvil. ”

“ Three things hard to guarantee and to become a hostage and to make a contract for: to go security for constructing the fort of a king, an oratory, and a caldron. For it is hard for a man of a family to be given with (?) ”

“ Three prohibitions of food: to eat it without giving thanks, to eat it before its proper time, to eat it after a guest.
251. Four elements [124] of wisdom: patience, docility, sobriety, well-spokenness; for every patient person is wise, and every docile person is a sage, every sober person is generous, every well-spoken person is tractable.
252. Four elements [124] of folly: silliness, bias, wrangling, foulmouthedness.
[124] Literally, 'alphabets.'
253. ”

“ They have all been used in constructing a critical text, the most important variants being given in the foot-notes. The order followed is in the main that of the Yellow Book of Lecan.
There are at least three other manuscripts containing copies of the Triads. One of them I discovered in the Stowe collection after the text had been printed off. It is a paper quarto now marked 23. N. 27, containing on fo. 1a-7b a copy of the Triads, followed on fo. 7b-19a by a glossed copy of the Tecosca Cormaic. It was written in 1714 by Domnall (or Daniel) O Duind mac Eimuinn. ”

“ Three things that ruin wisdom: ignorance, inaccurate knowledge, forgetfulness.
246. Three nurses of dignity: a fine figure, a good memory, piety.
247. Three nurses of high spirits: pride, wooing, drunkenness.
248. Four hatreds of a chief: a silly flighty man, a slavish useless man, a lying dishonourable man, a talkative man who has no story to tell. ”

“ Three women that are not entitled to a fine: a woman who does not care with whom she sleeps, a thievish woman, a sorceress.
186. Three things that ruin every chief: falsehood, overreaching, parricide. [103]
[103] Or rather 'murder of relations.'
187. Three things that characterise every chaste person: steadiness, modesty, sobriety.
188. Three things by which every angry person is known: an outburst of passion, trembling, growing pale.
189. Three things that characterise every patient person: repose, silence, blushing. ”

“ Three speeches that are better than silence: inciting a king to battle, spreading knowledge (?) , [75] praise after reward. [76]
[75] Sreth immais, which I have tentatively translated by 'spreading knowledge,' is used as a technical term in poetry for connecting all the words of a verse-line by alliteration, as e.g. slatt, sacc, socc, simend, saland. See Ir. Texte iii., p. 30.
[76] Cf. LL. 344a: Carpre asks Cormac what are the sweetest things he has heard, and Cormac answers: 'A shout of triumph after victory, praise after reward, the invitation of a fair woman to her pillow.'
113. ”

“ The language of the Triads may be described as late Old-Irish. Their verbal system indeed is on the whole that of the Continental glosses, [9] and would forbid us to put them later than the year 900. On the other hand, the following peculiarities in declension, in which all the manuscripts agree, make it impossible for us to put them much earlier than the second half of the ninth century.
[9] I may mention particularly the relative forms téite 167, bíte 127, ata 75, 76, 224, &c., berta (O. Ir. berte) 109, 110, fíchte (145) , coillte (166) , téite (167) , aragellat (sic leg. with N) 171 ”

“ Triads and Tetrads.
Proverb. 30: 15, Tria sunt insaturabilia, et quartum quod nunquam dicit: sufficit. 16 Inferuns, et os vulvae, et terra quae non satiatur aqua; ignis vero nunquam dicit: sufficit.
Ib. 30: 18, Tria sunt difficilia mihi, et quartum penitus ignoro: 19 viam aquilae in caelo, viam colubri super petram, viam navis in medio mari, et viam viri in adolescentia. ”

“ Three sisters of ill repute: inertness, grudging, closefistedness.
213. Three angry sisters: blasphemy, strife, foulmouthedness.
214. Three irreverent sisters: importunity, frivolity, flightiness.
215. Three reverent sisters: usefulness, an easy bearing, firmness.
216. Three woman-days: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. If women go to men on those days, the men will love them better than they the men, and the women will survive the men.
217. Three man-days: Thursday, Friday, Sunday. If women go to men on those days, they will not be loved, and their husbands will survive them. ”

“ Down is called unlucky or unfortunate, no doubt, as the gloss says, because of the repeated plunderings and destruction of its monastery by the Norse during the early part of the ninth century (a.d. 823, 824) . [Pg xii]
In endeavouring to trace the origin of the Triad as a form of literary composition among the Irish, one must remember that it is but one of several similar enumerative sayings common in Irish literature. Thus the collection here printed contains three duads (124. 133. 134) , seven tetrads (223. 230. 234. 244. 248. 251. 252) , and one heptad (235) . ”

“ Three sorrowful ones of an alehouse: the man who gives the feast, the man to whom it is given, the man who drinks without being satiated. [64]
[64] 'Who goes to it unsatiated,' M. i.e. who drinks on an empty stomach. ”

“ Three candles that illumine every darkness: truth, nature, knowledge.
202. Three things that constitute a king: a contract with (other) kings, the feast of Tara, abundance during his reign.
203. Three locks that lock up secrets: shame, silence, closeness.
204. Three keys that unlock thoughts: drunkenness, trustfulness, love.
205. Three inheritances that are divided in the presence of heirs: the inheritance of a jester, of a madman, and of an old man.
206. Three youthful sisters: desire, beauty, generosity.
207. Three aged sisters: groaning, chastity, ugliness. ”

“ Three tabus of a chief: an ale-house without story-telling, a troop without a herald, a great company without wolfhounds. [125]
[125] This triad has been wrongly read (faiscre instead of faisneis) and rendered by O'Grady in his Catalogue of Ir. mss. in the British Museum, p. 91.
254. Three indications of dignity in a person: a fine figure, a free bearing, eloquence.
255. Three coffers whose depth is not known: the coffer of a chieftain, of the Church, [126] of a privileged poet. ”

“ Three wonders of Connaught: the grave of Eothaile [119] on its strand. It is as high as the strand. When the sea rises, it is as high as the tide.
The stone of the Dagda. Though it be thrown into the sea, though it be put into a house under lock, ... ”

“ Three kinds of martyrdom that are counted as a cross to man, i.e. white martyrdom, green martyrdom, and red martyrdom.—The Cambray Homily (Thesaurus Palæohibernicus, II., p. 246) .
Three enemies of the soul: the world, the devil, and an impious teacher.—Colman maccu Beognae's Alphabet of Piety (Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie, III., p. 452) .
Three things whereby the devil shows himself in man: by his face, by his gait, by his speech.—Ib., p. 453.
Three profitable labours in the day: praying, working, reading.—Regula Choluimb Cille (Zeitschr., III., p. 29) . ”

“ Three things for which an enemy is loved: wealth, beauty, worth. [54]
[54] 'distinction,' B. 'familiarity, fame (leg. allad) , speech,' H.
81. Three things for which a friend is hated: trespassing, [55] keeping aloof, [56] fecklessness.
[55] Or 'encroaching.'
[56] Literally, 'unfamiliarity.'
82. Three rude ones of the world: a youngster mocking an old man, a healthy person mocking an invalid, a wise man mocking a fool.
83. Three deaf ones of the world: warning to a doomed man, mocking [57] a beggar, keeping a loose woman from lust.
[57] 'pitying,' L.
84. ”

“ Three unfortunate things of husbandry: a dirty field, leavings of the hurdle, a house full of sparks.
66. Three forbidden things of a church: a nun as bellringer, a veteran in the abbotship, a drop upon the altar.
67. Three rejoicings followed by sorrow: a wooer's, a thief's, a tale-bearer's.
68. Three sorrows that are better than joy: the heaviness of a herd feeding on mast, the heaviness of a ripe field, [49] the heaviness of a wood under mast.
[49] 'Of a ripening field,' BM.
69. ”

“ Comard hé frisin trácht. Intan atraig in muir, comard hé fria lán. Dirna (.i. cloch) in Dagdai, cia fochertar im-muir, cia berthair hi tech fo glass, dodeime a tiprait oca mbí. In dá chorr i n-Inis Cathaig, nocha légat corra aili leo inna n-insi ⁊ téit in banchorr isin fairrgi síar do duth, co tóet cona heisínib essi ⁊ nocon fagbat curaig eolus cia airm in doithi.
comaird i frisin lan N focerda a muir no cia bertar N no do deime no dogeibter a tibraid oca mbid N do nó todeime L corr N chuirr L Ceitig N leigitt N do doich N heisenaib eisib ⁊ nochan fagbuid N eolus om. ”

“ Three deaths that are better than life: the death of a salmon, the death of a fat pig, the death of a robber. [62]
[62] 'Of a criminal,' B.
93. Three fewnesses that are better than plenty: a fewness of fine words, a fewness of cows in grass, a fewness of friends around ale. [63]
[63] 'good ale,' MB.
94. ”

“ Three services the worst that a man can serve: serving a bad woman, a bad lord, and a bad smith. [109]
[109] 'bad land,' N.
227. Three things that are best in a house: oxen, [110] men, axes.
[110] 'an ox,' N.
228. Three that are worst in a house: boys, women, lewdness. [111]
[111] 'Or, perhaps, as in § 223, 'sons of a lewd woman,' only in that case we have no triad.
229. Three signs of boorishness: strife, and contention, and mistaking a person for another (?) [112]
[112] Or, perhaps, 'slight or superficial knowledge.'
230. ”

“ Three wonders concerning the Táin Bó Cúailnge; that the cuilmen came to Ireland in its stead; the dead relating it to the living, viz. Fergus mac Róig reciting it to Ninníne the poet in the time of Cormac mac Fáeláin; one year's protection to him to whom it is recited.
63. The three halidoms of the men of Ireland: breast, cheek, knee.
64. Three unfortunate things for a man: a scant drink of water, thirst in an ale-house, a narrow seat upon a field. ”

“ Woe to the three folk in horrid hell of great blasts: folk who practise poetry, folk who violate their orders, mercenaries. [6]
[6] LB., p. 236, marg. inf.:
Mairg na trí lucht a n-iffirn úathmar anside:
óes dogní dán, óes choilles grád, óes amsaine.
Three things there are which do not behove the poor of living God: ingratitude for his life whatever it be, grumbling, and flattery. [7]
[7] LB., p. 238, marg. inf.:
Fuil trí ní ná dlegair do bocht Dé bí:
dimmda da bethaid cipé, cesacht ocus aibéle.
The following modern triads I owe to a communication from Dr. ”

“ Imnedach dano cach ráth, ar is écen dí díanapud im cach ngell dobeir, aill riam, aill íarum.
nemi N it lethai L lethe N aidbriu N tulaing N glinde N acht nech laisimbiad N fo mammi N cimbidheacht acht nech lasambiad mogh daor diles N dasachtaig N imnedach dono cech raith N imni dano L dianapad N dobeir N
236. Trí hamra Glinne Dalláin i tír Eogain: torcc Dromma Leithe, is ass rochin ⁊ is dó-side forḟéimid Finn ní, co torchair im Maig Lii la aithech búi hic tírad, ut dixit Finn:
Ní mad biadsam ar cono. ”

“ It is a complete copy beginning on p. 183b: 'Ceand erenn Ardmacha,' and ending on p. 184b: 'ceitheora aipgitri baisi baig connailbi gell imreasain.' [1] N, i.e. 23. N. 10, a paper ms. written in the year 1575, [2] pp. 98-101. A complete copy, the gap between pp. 100 and 106 being made up by pp. 7a-10b of the vellum portion of the manuscript.
[1] By an oversight I have referred to this ms. sometimes by Lec and sometimes by H. In some cases both Lec and H will be found quoted in the variants. The same ms. is always meant. ”