Nochan fhitir mac duine...

Nochan fhitir mac duine
cuich dá ndénann sé cruinne;
in cruinne do fodéin é,
nó in cruinne do neach aile?

(not * knows * son * of man /
whom * to which * makes * he * accumulation /
is it * accumulation * for him * self * it /
or * is it * accumulation * for * someone * other)

Man doesn’t know
for whom he accumulates;
is it a hoard for himself,
or a hoard for someone else?

Note that while “cruinne” normally means “universe, world” in Modern Irish, in Medieval Irish it could also mean “thrift, hoarding, accumulation”.

This quatrain, conventionally attributed to Colum Cille, is found on page 318b of the Yellow Book of Lecan. (My thanks to Clodagh Downey for locating and reporting the text!) The irregular spelling of the MS has been normalized above. T. F. O’Rahilly gave a slightly different version of it as item # 44 in “Dánfhocail”:

Nochan fhidir mac duine
cia dá ndéanann a chruinne;
an cruinne dhó féin do-ní,
nó cruinne do neach eile.

Giolla Brighde Ó hEoghusa wrote this quatrain expressing the same idea, asking the man who plants an apple tree who will be there later to harvest the fruit:

A dhuine chuirios an crann
cía bhus beó ag búain a ubhall?
Ar bfás don chraoibh ghégaigh ghil,
ré a fhégoin dáoibh an deimhin?

See also “In bith-sa is bith cáich ar uair” in this collection.

Topics: Verse Maxims & Wise Counsel