Lumman Tige Srafain

Lumman Tige Srafáin is a poem in Dinnsenchas Erann explaining the place legend of Straffan, a town and parish in County Kildare, Republic of Ireland situated on the banks of the River Liffey 25km upstream from the Irish capital Dublin, a place about which the author of the poem declares “a happy omen: this spur of land is a prosperous choice.”

The section of Dinnsenchas Érann containing this poem is found in the 12th-century Book of Leinster and was probably composed by Cináed Ua Hartacáin (d975). The legends mixed real and fictional events and people to create place legends for the names of about 300 locations in Ireland. Placenames are explained by reference to legends which are linked to them by means of pseudo-etymological techniques, where sometimes fictitious stories are adduced to explain the existing names, with the result that some of these legends are only to be found in the Dinnshenchas, where they serve their explanatory purpose. The dinnsenchas reflects a mentality in which the land of Ireland is perceived as being completely translated into story: each place has a history which is continuously retold. The dinnshenchas is the storehouse of this knowledge, but the mentality which it expresses is to be found throughout all phases of Irish literature. It was part of the body of knowledge medieval Irish poets were expected to master, and the importance attached to the material is reflected in its presence in many of the major manuscripts.

They are not to be taken literally. For example Dublin, a name derived from the Irish name Dubh Linn, literally the “black pool” where the Dodder meets the Liffey, is re-imagined through the guise of an elaborate legend about a princess who died at the spot where Dublin was built. Instead it reflects the literary, religious and political hierarchies of the time, a period the North Kildare dynasty, the Uí Dúnchada branch of the Uí Dúnlainge kindred were at their most powerful, and supplied ten kings of Leinster from their base on nearby Lyons Hill between 750-1050. In choosing the nearby Cnoch Liamhna for mention as one of the “assemblies and noted places in Ireland,” the poem is an indication of the political clout of the local ruling family. Unlike Lumman Tige Srafáin, Liamuin is a poem and part of the metrical dindsenchas.

...
Wikipedia