Diarmait Ó Cobhthaigh was an Irish

Irish people

The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...

 poet

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

, fl. 1584.

Ó Cobhthaigh

Ó Cobhthaigh

-Overview:Ó Cobhthaigh was the name of an Irish Brehon family from what is now County Westmeath and County Longford.There were at least three other families of the name, located in the regions of Limerick-Kerry, Down, west Cork, and Galway....

 was a member of a hereditary bard

Bard

In medieval Gaelic and British culture a bard was a professional poet, employed by a patron, such as a monarch or nobleman, to commemorate the patron's ancestors and to praise the patron's own activities.Originally a specific class of poet, contrasting with another class known as fili in Ireland...

ic family, based in what is now County Westmeath

County Westmeath

-Economy:Westmeath has a strong agricultural economy. Initially, development occurred around the major market centres of Mullingar, Moate, and Kinnegad. Athlone developed due to its military significance, and its strategic location on the main Dublin–Galway route across the River Shannon. Mullingar...

 but was once the heartland of the original kingdom of Mide. The family were from the district known as Fir Thulach.

He was the author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

 of a penitential

Penitential

A penitential is a book or set of church rules concerning the Christian sacrament of penance, a "new manner of reconciliation with God" that was first developed by Celtic monks in Ireland in the sixth century AD.-Origin:...

 composition

Composition

Composition may refer to:* Composition , in which one assumes that a whole has a property solely because its various parts have that property* Compounding is also known as composition in linguistic literature* in computer science...

, Acht mar uisge d'éis a leata ("Just as water, after it has frozen"), which was a translation of the Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 poem Lympha coacta gelu ("Liquid, condensed by cold"). The translation survives only in a black half-column of Rawlinson B 505, on folio

Folio

Folio may refer to:* Folio , a book size* A particular edition of a book printed on folio pages, such as the First Folio of William Shakespeare's plays* A leaf of a book: see Recto and verso* Folio , a sans-serif typeface...

 89vb, a collection of Irish saint's lives now held by the Bodleian Library, Oxford.