opinion. Anyhow, O’R. is not to blame, for he did not assign this meaning to the word direccra. It is common enough in Middle Irish, and variously used as an intensive adjective. I shall quote a few instances of this varied application from L. Breac:—
(a) heavy, strong, of perfume [LB. 35 β 7]:
| in tan tucsam corp Stephain as in inad i mboi, dorala talam-chumscugud mor arm, ⁊ tanic bolad direccra de as in adnocul, co ro-lín in uli inud i mbamar: ro‑b ailgen tra in mbolad-sin. | when we took the body of Stephen from the place where it was, there happened a great earthquake, and there came a heavy perfume from it out of the grave, so that it filled the whole place where we were—pleasant in sooth was that perfume. |
(b) heavy, loud, anguished, of screaming [LB. 39 β 52]:—
| is ann-sin nach fil comdídnad no cumsanud na etarfuarad doib-sium, acht nuall tromm ⁊ diucaire dermair ra-mor ro-díreccra. | there is no consolation nor rest nor coolness for them, but heavy shouting, and mighty, vast, loud outcry. |
(c) heavy, thick, of darkness [LB. 118 α 27]:—
| in cet plaig tucad for in tir-sin .i. dorchatu díreccra. | the first plague that was brought on this land, viz. thick darkness. |
Cf. also 154 β 25, 41; 165 α 37, &c.
In his edition of Tochmarc Etaine, Ir. Texte, p. 129, we have a passage whose explanation escaped Windisch, viz.: “rotirmaiss écaine ocus mór olcc ocus imniuth duit bith i n‑ingnaiss do mna”. In his glossary the first word is divided, and placed under (ro) tirmaiss, but no meaning is attached to it. I believe it to be ro-t-irmaiss, “hath hit thee”, the word appearing under the forms ermaiss, urmaiss, and, as here, irmaiss [cf. forms like aurlam, urlam, erlam, irlam].
In Cormac’s Gloss., sub voce, ‘taurthait’ (‘random shot’), we have urchar …. do urmaise secip nach raeta, &c., which O’Donovan had rendered “a throw …. to hit anything whatsoever.” Upon this Stokes remarks:—“I rather think this (urmaise) means ‘to aim at’, and then ‘to purpose’”, quoting tuisled ho ermaissin firinne from Z² 1064. But surely the very quotation makes for O’Donovan’s translation. The full gloss is [Ml. 2d5] is fuasnad dutmenmainsiu tuisled ho-ermaissiu firinne trímrechtrad natintathach, i.e. “it is a disturbance to thy mind, thy failing to hit the truth through the variety of inter-
