Primary Sources
C1 Fhailte dhuitt Ion Cheir C1.64: 135
R Mac Dougal of Lorn’s Lament R.30: 23r
KB Failte an t-Siosalaich / Chisholm’s Salute KB.16: 41 (first note missing)
Dj Chisholm Dj.15: 12 (title in pencil)
K1 Cumha Iain Cheir (McDougall) / Gray John’s Lament K1.97: 223
K2 Cumha Iain Cheir / Lament for John Kear Chief of the Mac Dougalls. Index: John of Dunolles Lament K2.5: 11 (first note missing)
Notes on Gaelic Titles
Fàilte dhuit, Iain Ciar Fhailte dhuitt Ion Cheir C1; Cumha Iain Cheire / Gray John’s Lament K1, with later addition ‘Lament for John Ciar Chief of MacDougall’; Cumha Iain Cheir / Lament for John Kear K2; John of Dunolles Lament K2 index. Welcome to you, Iain Ciar, or Lament for Iain Ciar. A fragment of song set to the tune in K1 reads ‘O Eain Cheir dhuibh slan gun till thu O Eain Cheir dhuibh slan gum bith thu slan gun dig thu slan gum bith thu &c’. The same sentiment occurs in the words to Failte Uilleim Dhuibh Mhic Coinnich (243). In K1, Angus MacKay notes his source, ‘M.Dll’, i.e. Ranald MacDougall, the blind piper who gave him several tunes and other information. Iain Ciar, chief of the MacDougalls of Dunolly, fought at Sherrifmuir in 1715 and seems to have died about 1737. He was remembered in Gaelic tradition as a very romantic hero and his name became attached to events from long before his time. See T. McCaughey, “Cumha la Iain Ciar Dhùn Ollaidh”, Scottish Gaelic Studies, vol. XVII (1996), pp. 213-220. See also Fàilte an t-Siosalach (250).