back  prev  next  Irish harp terms from Bunting 

Return to Clarsach.net Home

Ceirnin

from Edward Bunting, Ancient Music of Ireland (Dublin 1840)


Irish ceirnín spoken by Gráinne Yeats
Scottish Gaelic ceirnin spoken by Tony Dilworth

Click the play button to hear it spoken. help


Ceirnin - Supposed to be the portable harp, used by the priests and religious people

For ceirnín, an early word meaning 'dish, plate' (now used for a record disc). This might be taken to suggest that the harp concerned was round (somehow), but there is nothing to confirm that. On p.31 Ceirnín is said to mean 'A portable harp'; the Introduction to Bunting's 1809 collection (p.23) mentions 'Keirnine, or small Harp'.

Colm Ó Baoill 2002