Transcript

Ortha a chuir Muire ar shúil Cholm Cille, ar bhrobh nó ar bhraoinín, ar dhusta áithe nó ar cháithleach muilinn. Guidhim-sa Muire cé ar bith a bhíos insa tsúil sin go dtig sé isteach in mo bhéalsa le sochar don tsúil sin agus gan dochar do mo bhéalsa.

Translation

A blessing Mary put on the eye of Colm Cille, against(?) a blade of grass (?) or a little drop, dust from the fire (?) or the chaff from a mill. I pray to Mary that whatever is in that eye will go into my mouth to the benefit of the eye and not to the detriment of my mouth.

Commentary

Charms, particularly those involved in a ritual of healing, are commonplace in Irish tradition. A great many invlove invoking religious figures and saints, and this example seems to fit the pattern very well. They often employ obscure or archaic language, or reference some legend or tale that provides context or precedent for the healing the charm is supposed to effect. For examples from tradition see Áine Ní Chróinín, 'Orthaí agus paidreacha ón Rinn', Béaloideas 3:4 (1932), 427-31, and Seán Ó Súilleabháin, 'Cnuasacht orthaí agus paidreacha ó Chiarraí', Béaloideas 3:3 (1932), 356-8. The tradition goes very far back in Ireland, and examples of charms for removing splinters, thorns and other foreign bodies like the one above have been found in manuscripts such as the Codex Sangallensis and the Stowe Missal, dating from the early medieval period, before the tenth century. See Patrick Logan, Irish folk medicine (Belfast, 1981), 112.

This item is transcribed also in Heinrich Wagner and Colm Ó Baoill, Linguistic atlas and survey of Irish dialects (4 vols, Dublin, 1958-69), vol. 4, 291.