The Irish book-shrine — the ornamented case made for a book already sacred; it honors the text and never speaks over it. In the Sanctuary: the shell that wraps a living thing without ever being the thing. Irish joins the naming strata beside sruth, ceilidh, seanchaí, and éist.
Irish cumdach (covering, case, shrine), related to cumhdaigh (to cover, protect, preserve); the ornamented case made to hold a book already considered sacred, honoring it by covering rather than by speaking over it.
The shell that wraps a living thing without ever becoming the thing itself. Irish joins the naming strata here beside sruth, ceilidh, seanchaí, and éist.