ib.,  for  Idur.  The  old  dative  form  Idtir  is  found  in  ZT  alone,  while
all  the  other  mss.  have  the  later  form  lár.  Similarly,  in  §  2  A",  and
in  §  62,  B  alone  have  preserved  the  dative  form  Bratm.
ib.,  robdtar  ind  liss  dúntai.  The  plural  of  the  word  less^  which
generally  means  either  the  space  enclosed  by  earthen  ramparts,  or  the
buildings  in  the  centre  of  the  enclosure,  seems  here  to  be  used  of  the
ramparts  themselves.  That  this  may  have  been  the  original  meaning,
the  analogy  of  Ir.  ráith  and  Teutonic  Win  seems  to  show.
2.  ar  a  bittdi.  I  do  not  know  what  to  make  of  the  form  bindem  or
bindim  which  most  of  the  mss.  have.
ib.,  isin.     Most  of  the  mss.  leave  out  this  Old  Irish  form,
ib.,  cachain.     None  of  the  MSS.  have  preserved  the  Old  Irish  form
cechuin,

3.  This  quatrain  is  composed  in  the  metre  called  rannaigecht  cethar-
chubaid  recomarcach  (Thurneysen,  Mittelir.  Verslehren^  p.  143).
There  is  internal  assonance  in  Emain :  samail,  fora  :  glano.
ib.,  abaill.  It  is  possible  that  abaild  is  the  older  form  ;  at  least  this
may  be  concluded  from  abailt,  the  spelling  of  E,  and  apuillt^  that  of  H.
An  Old  Ir.  abald  would  agree  well  with  the  A.  S.  apuldr.
ib.,  dofed.  This  I  take  to  be  the  ist  sing,  of  the  present  indicative
0Í  dofedim,  '  I  bring,'  ex  to-ved-d.
