A friend of mine sent me a stanza from a bardic poem and a question: what is the significance of "red," which is used twice in that stanza?

The problem is, the poem has long-since been translated, and I don't have the original, so I can't be certain what the actual wording is (and, if it's "bardic," it's probably Old or Middle Irish anyway), but I was wondering if "red" is one of those colors that has significance in Irish beyond the obvious. Here's the stanza:

... O choice instrument of the smooth, gentle curve,
thou that criest under red fingers,
musician that hast enchanted us,
red harp, high-souled, perfect in melody...

The only thing I could come up with is that the first "red" might refer to fingers raw from playing, though Ireland's early harpers tended to use their nails to play, which makes much bleeding unlikely!

Any thoughts? Does anyone know the original Irish version of the poem?

Redwolf

I'll try to find it, I have a few volumes of Bardic poetry at home.

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The dialect I use is Cork Irish.
Ar sgáth a chéile a mhairid na daoine, lag agus láidir, uasal is íseal

Red due to the red (pink) fingernails, I would say.

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Táim ag foghlaim fós. Fáilte roimh gach aon cheartúchán.

If it is bardic poetry, the word(s) for "red" in Middle Irish or Early Modern Irish (ruaḋ and dearg?) might have been chosen for their vowels since the "rhyming" in the poetry of the period employed assonance, i.e., matching shifts in vowel patterns like:

v v v v v v ó
v v v ó v v é
v v v v v v a
v v v v a v é

We'd have to see the original, but the first might be dearg (of course, any stringed instrument player would know about getting red fingers ), and the second might be ruaḋ for the reddish-brown hue of the wood?

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Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect, but I can also speak Ulster and Munster Irish with native-level pronunciation.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), Gaeilic Uladh (GU), Gaelainn na Mumhan (GM), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).

The reality, though, is you DON'T get red fingers from playing the harp...especially not the traditional wire-strung harp, which is played with the nails. It's very different from fretted instruments, where your fingers get raw from pressing the string against a board. I've been playing both nylon and wire-strung harps for years, and have yet to get so much as a blister.

We don't go through strings very quickly either. It's altogether different from the guitar or violin in those respects.

Also, traditional Irish harps were made of willow, which isn't particularly ruddy (they were also usually painted and highly decorated), so I doubt they would have been thought of as "rua."

Redwolf

Perhaps. This one seems close enough to rua, even without allowing for poetic license, though it might have been closer to buí when it was new.



Same for the one on this page:

http://www.earlygaelicharp.info/harps/lamont.htm

Dearg, on the other hand, is sometimes simply used to imply intensity.

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Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect, but I can also speak Ulster and Munster Irish with native-level pronunciation.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), Gaeilic Uladh (GU), Gaelainn na Mumhan (GM), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).

It was probably actually painted when it was new. Nowadays we're accustomed to thinking of such instruments as displaying natural wood, but indications are that wasn't the case fadó.

Redwolf

White animals with red ears are significant in Irish myths (they usually lead the person who sees them into an adventure), but I'm not aware of any significance for red fingers! Unless nail polish is older than I thought... maybe the fingers are raw or brownish red from work. Is there any more to the poem that would tell us more about the person playing the harp? Or maybe it refers to the pink portion of the nail (the quick).

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賢いふくろぐま
Seans Eile - free software to help you practice your Irish
Scéala na Wombait - Muddle-headed Memes and Musings

It could be blood (from battle).

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It is recommended that you always wait for three to agree on a translation.
I speak Connemara Irish, and my input will often reflect that.
I will do an mp3 file on request for short translations.
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I wouldn't have thought that harpers went to battle - that would have been for the warrior class - na laochra - láech in Old Irish. (Mind you, Sileas did have a CD called Beating Harps)