Hiberno-Latin - Altus Prosator

On a much more intelligible level, the Abecedarian hymn Altus prosator, a sequence traditionally attributed to the 6th-century Irish mystic Saint Columba (but see Stevenson, below), shows many of the features of Hiberno-Latin; the word prosator, the "first sower" meaning creator, refers to God using an unusual neologism. The text of the poem also contains the word iduma, meaning "hands;" this is probably from Hebrew yadaim. The poem is also an extended alphabetical acrostic, another example of the wordplay typical of Hiberno-Latin The beginning of the poem:

Altus *prosator, *vetustus

dierum et ingenitus

erat absque origine

primordii et *crepidine

est et erit in sæcula

sæculorum infinita;

cui est unigenitus

Xristus et sanctus spiritus

coæternus in gloria

deitatis perpetua.

Non tres deos *depropimus

sed unum Deum dicimus,

salva fide in personis

tribus gloriosissimis.

High creator, Ancient of Days, and unbegotten, who was without origin at the beginning and foundation, who was and shall be in infinite ages of ages; to whom was only begotten Christ, and the Holy Ghost, co-eternal in the everlasting glory of Godhood. We do not propose three gods, but we speak of one God, saving faith in three most glorious Persons.

*Words marked with an asterisk in the Latin text are learned, neologisms, unusually spelled, or unusual in the context they stand.