Myths and Legends of the Celts (Penguin Reference)

by James MacKillop

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  Gantz, Jeffrey, Early Irish Myths and Sagas. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1981.

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  Guyot, Charles, The Legend of the City of Ys, trans. Deirdre Cavanagh. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1979.

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  Hanes Taliesin. See Mabinogi, The, ed. and trans. Patrick K. Ford.

  Harrison, William, A Mona Miscellany: A Selection of Proverbs, Sayings, Ballads, Customs, Superstitions, and Legends Peculiar to the Isle of Man. Douglas, 1869.

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  Hunt, Robert, Popular Romances of the West of England; or, The Drolls, Traditions, and Superstitions of Old Cornwall. London: John Camden Hotten, 1865; 3rd edn, 1881, rpt New York: Benjamin Blom, 1968.

  Immram Brain: Bran’s Journey to the Land of the Women, ed. and trans. Séamus MacMathúna. Tubingen: Niemeyer, 1985.

  [Imran Curaig Maíle Dúin] The Voyage of the Máel Dúin: A Study, ed. and trans. H. P. A. Oskamp. Groningen: Wolters-Noordhoff, 1970.

  Judge, Roy, Jack-in-the-Green: A May Day Custom. Ipswich: D. S. Brewer, 1979; rpt London: FLS Books, 2000.

  Keating, Elizabeth Frances, Afinidades Culturais entre Galicia e Irlanda. Vigo, Spain: Editorial Galaxa, 1990.

  Keating, Geoffrey [Séathrún Céitinn], The History of Ireland. Foras Feasa ar Éirinn, 4 vols. Irish Texts Society, vols. 4, 8,9,15. Vol. I, ed. David Comyn, London: David Nutt, 1902. Vols. II, III, IV, ed. Patrick S. Dinneen, London: David Nutt, 1908–14. Rpt, ed. Breandán Ó Buachalla, London: Irish Texts Society, 1987.

  Kelly, Fergus, A Guide to Early Irish Law. Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1988.

  Koch, John T. and Carey, John, The Celtic Heroic Age: Literary Sources for Ancient Celtic Europe and Early Ireland and Wales. Malden, MA: Celtic Studies Publications, 1994, 1995; Andover, MA, Oakville, CT and Aberystwyth, Wales: Celtic Studies Publications, 2000, 2003.

  Krause, David, The Profane Book of Irish Comedy. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1982.

  La Villemarqué, Théodore Hersart de, Barzaz Breiz: chantes populaires de la Bretagne. Paris: Charpentier, 1839. Translated by Tom Taylor as Ballads and Songs of Brittany, London and Cambridge: Macmillan, 1865, 1907, 1978; rpt Norwood, PA: Norwood Editions, 1976; also Henry Carrington, Breton Ballads, Edinburgh: privately printed, 1886.

  Lebor Gabála Érenn: The Book of the Taking of Ireland, ed. R. A. S. Macalister, 4 vols. Irish Texts Society, vols. 34, 35, 41, 44. Dublin: The Educational Company of Ireland, 1938–56. Rpt, ed. John Carey. London: Irish Texts Society, 1993.

  Le Roux, Françoise and Guyonvarc’h, Christian-J., La Souverainté guerrière de l’Irlande: Mórrígan, Bodb, Macha. Rennes: Ogam-Celticum, 1983.

  Löffler, Christa Maria, The Voyage to the Otherworld Island in Early Irish Literature. Salzburg Studies in English Literature 103, Salzburg: Institut für Anglistik und Americanistik, Universität Salzburg, 1983.

  Longes mac nUislenn, ed. Vernam Hull. New York: Modern Language Association; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1949.

  Lucan [M. Annaeus Lucanus], The Civil War: Translated as Lucan’s Pharsalia, trans. Nicholas Rowe. London: Everyman, 1998.

  Mabinogi, The, and Other Medieval Welsh Tales, ed. and trans. Patrick K. Ford. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1977. Includes Hanes Taliesin (pp. 159–81).

  MacCana, Proinsias, Celtic Mythology. London: Hamlyn, 1970.

  MacCana, Proinsias, The Mabinogi. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1992.

  MacCana, Proinsias. See Celts, The, Opus Television S4C, 2000.

  McCone, Kim, Pagan Past and Christian Present in Early Irish Literature. Maynooth: An Sagart, 1990.

  MacDonell, Margaret, The Emigrant Experience: Songs of Highland Emi-grants in North America. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1982.

  [Macgnímartha Find] ‘Boyish Exploits of Finn’, trans. Kuno Meyer, Ériu, 1 (1904): 180–90.

  Mackenzie, Alexander, The Prophecies of the Brahan Seer, Coinneach Odhar Fiosaiche. Inverness, 1877; rpt London: Constable, 1977.

  MacKillop, James, Fionn mac Cumhaill: Celtic Myth in English Literature. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1986, 2001.

  MacKillop, James, Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.

  McMahon, Joanne and Roberts, Jack, The Divine Hag of the Christian Celts: An Illustrated Guide to the Sheela-na-Gigs of Britain and Ireland. Cork: Mercier Press, 2001.

  MacManus, Diarmuid, The Middle Kingdom: The Faerie World of Ireland. London: Parrish, 1959; rpt Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe, 1973.

  MacNeil, Joe Neil, Tales Until Dawn: The World of a Cape Breton StoryTeller, ed. and trans. John Shaw. Kingston and Montreal: McGill–Queen’s University Press, 1987.

  MacNeill, Eoin, Celtic Ireland. Dublin: Martin Lester; London: Leonard Parsons, 1921.

  MacNeill, Máire, The Feast of Lughnasa. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1962; rpt Dublin: Comhairle Bhéaloideas Éireann, 1982.

  Macpherson, James, The Poems of Ossian, Son of Fingal. London: W. Stachan and T. Becket, 1765; rpt Edinburgh: Patrick Geddes, 1896.

  Maier, Bernhard, Lexikon der keltischen Religion und Kultur. Stuttgart: Alfred Kröner, 1994. Dictionary of Celtic Religion and Culture, trans. Cyril Edwards. Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 1997.

  Marryat, Frederick, Peter Simple. London: R. Bentley, 1834.

  Marsh, Richard, The Legends and Lands of Ireland. New York: Sterling; Sayvon, Israel: Penn Publishing, 2004.

  Massey, Eithne, Legendary Ireland: A Journey through Celtic Places and Myths. Dublin: O’Brien Press; Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2004.

  Megaw, J. V. S., The Art of the European Iron Age. New York: Harper & Row, 1970.

  Megaw, Ruth and Megaw, J. V. S., Celtic Art. London: Thames & Hudson, 1989.

  Mercier, Vivian, The Irish Comic Tradition. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1962.

  Mesca Ulad, ed. J. Carmichael Watson. Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1941, 1983.

  Moore, Arthur W., Folk-Lore of the Isle of Man. Douglas, Isle of Man: Brown; London: David Nutt, 1891.

  Murphy, Gerard. See Duanaire Finn.

  Murphy, Gerard (ed.), Early Irish Lyrics: Eighth to Twelfth Century. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1956.

  Nagy, Joseph Falaky, The Wisdom of the Outlaw: The Boyhood Deeds of Finn in Gaelic Narrative Tradition. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985.

  Nagy, Joseph Falaky, Conversing with Angels and Ancients: Literary Myths of Medieval Ireland. Ithaca: Cornell University Press; Dublin: Four Courts, 1997.

  Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis: The Voyage of Saint Brendan, Journey to the Promised Land, trans. John J. O’Meara. Portlaoise: Dolmen Press, 1985.

  New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2nd edn. Detroit: Thomson/Gale; Washington: Catholic University of America, 2003.

  Ó Cróinín, Dáibhí, Early Medieval Ireland: 400–1200. London and New York: Longman, 1995.

  Ó Crualaoich, Gearóid, The Book of the Cailleach: Stories of the Wise-Woman Healer. Cork: Cork University Press, 2003.

  O’
Faoláin, Seán, ‘Ossian – the Sow’s Ear of Celtic Literature’, Modern Scot [Edinburgh], 6 (1935): 44–51.

  O’Grady, Standish James, History of Ireland: The Heroic Period. Dublin: Ponsonby, 1878.

  Ó hÓgáin, Dáithí, Fionn mac Cumhaill: Images of the Gaelic Hero. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan, 1988.

  Ó hÓgáin, Dáithí, Myth, Legend, and Romance: An Encyclopedia of Irish Folk Tradition. London: Ryan; New York: Prentice-Hall, 1991.

  Ó hÓgáin, Dáithí, The Sacred Isle: Belief and Religion in Pre-Christian Ireland. Woodbridge: Boydell Press; Doughcloyne: Collins Press, 1999.

  Ó hÓgáin, Dáithí, The Celts: A History. London: Collins, 2004.

  [Oided Mac nUisnig] ‘The Death of the Sons of Uisnech’, trans. Whitley Stokes. Irische Texte, ser. 2, 2. Leipzig: S. Hirzel, 1887, pp. 109–84.

  [Oidheadh Chlainne Lir] Oidhe Chloinne Lir: The Fate of the Children of Lir, ed. and trans. Richard J. O’Duffy. Dublin: Gill, 1883, 1905, etc.

  [Oidheadh Chlainne Tuireann] ‘The Fate of the Children of Tuirenn’, ed. and trans. Eugene O’Curry, The Atlantis [London], 4 (1863): 157–240.

  O’Leary, Philip, ‘The Honour of Women in Early Irish Literature’, Ériu, 38 (1987): 27–44.

  Olmstead, Garrett S., The Gods of the Celts and the Indo-Europeans. Innsbruck: Verlag des Instituts für Sprachwissenschaft der Universität Innsbruck; Budapest: Alaptvány, 1994.

  Ong, Walter J. SJ, Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word. New York: Methuen, 1982.

  O’Rahilly, Thomas Francis, Early Irish History and Mythology. Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1946.

  Patai, Raphael, Myth and Modern Man. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1972.

  Patterson, Nerys T., Cattle-Lords and Clansmen: Kingship and Rank in Early Ireland. New York: Garland Press, 1992.

  Posidonius, ‘The Celtic Ethnology of Posidonius’, ed. J. J. Tierney, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. 60, sec. C, no. 5 (1960); rpt Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 1985.

  ‘Quarrel Between Finn and Oisín, The’, Fianaigecht, Being a Collection of Hitherto Inedited Irish Poems and Tales, etc., ed. and trans. Kuno Meyer. Royal Irish Academy, Todd Lecture Series, vol. XVI, Dublin: Hodges, Figgis, 1910, pp. 22–7.

  Rees, Alwyn and Rees, Brinley, Celtic Heritage. London: Thames & Hudson, 1961.

  Ross, Anne, Pagan Celtic Britain: Studies in Iconography and Tradition. London: Routledge; New York: Columbia University Press, 1967.

  Scéla mucce Meic Dathó, ed. Rudolf Thurneysen. Dublin: Stationery Office, 1935; rpt Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1975.

  Serglige con Culainn, ed. Myles Dillon. Mediaeval and Modern Irish Series, vol. XIV, Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1953.

  Shaw, John, ‘A Gaelic Tale of the Milky Way’, recited by Joe Neil MacNeil, Cape Breton’s Magazine, 19 (June, 1978): 31.

  Sims-Williams, Patrick, ‘Some Celtic Otherworldly Terms’, Celtic Language, Celtic Literature: A Festschrift for Eric P. Hamp, ed. A. T. E. Matonis and Daniel F. Melia. Van Nuys, CA: Ford & Baillie, 1990, pp. 57–81.

  Stephens, James, Irish Fairy Tales. London and New York: Macmillan, 1920; rpt New York: Abaris, 1978.

  Strabo, Geography, trans. Horace L. Jones. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1969.

  Sutherland, Elizabeth, Ravens and Black Rain: The Story of Highland Second Sight, Including a New Collection of Prophecies of the Brahan Seer. London: Constable, 1985.

  [Táin Bó Cuailnge] Táin, The: Translated from the Irish Epic Táin Bó Cuailnge, Thomas Kinsella. Dublin: Dolmen Press; London: Oxford University Press, 1969.

  Thompson, Stith, Motif-Index of Folk-Literature: A Classification of Narrative Elements in Folktales, Ballads, Myths, Fables, Medieval Romances, Exempla, Jest-Books and Local Legends, rev. edn. (6 vols). Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1975, 1989.

  Thurneysen, Rudolf, Die irishe Helden- und Königsage bis zum siebsehnten Jahrhundert. Halle: Niemeyer, 1921.

  ‘Tochmarc Étaíne’, ed. Osborn Bergin and R. I. Best, Ériu, 12 (1938): 137–96.

  Togail bruidne [sic] Da Derga, ed. Eleanor Knott. Dublin: The Stationery Office, 1936; rpt Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1963, 1975.

  Tóraigheacht Dhiarmada agus Ghráinne: The Pursuit of Diarmaid and Gráinne, ed. and trans. Nessa Ní Shéaghdha. Irish Texts Society, vol. 47, Dublin: Educational Company of Ireland, 1967.

  Triads, Trioedd Ynys Prydain. See Bromwich, Rachel.

  Tymoczko, Maria (trans.), Two Death Tales from the Ulster Cycle: The Death of Cú Roi and the Death of Cú Chulainn. Dublin: Dolmen Press; Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press, 1981.

  Vendryes, Joseph, La Religion des Celtes, in ‘Mana’: introduction à l’historie des religions, II, Les religions de l’Europe ancienne, pt. 3. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1948, pp. 237–330.

  Vouga, Paul, La Tène. Leipzig: Hiersemann, 1923.

  Wilde, Sir William R., Irish Popular Superstitions. Dublin: McGlashan, 1852; rpt Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 1979.

  Williams, Ifor, ‘Rhagymadrodd [Introduction]’, Pedeir Keinc y Mabinogi. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1951, pp. vii–lvi.

  Wooding, Jonathan M. (ed.), The Otherworldly Voyage in Early Irish Literature. Dublin: Four Courts, 2000.

  Yeats, William Butler, The Celtic Twilight: Men and Women, Dhouls and Faeries. London: Lawrence & Bullen, 1893.

  Yeats, William Butler, The Variorum Edition of the Poems of W. B. Yeats, ed. Peter Allt and Russell K. Alspach. New York: Macmillan, 1957.

  Leading Names and Terms in Celtic Mythology

  PRONUNCIATION, A CAUTION

  As with many languages, English speakers cannot expect to pronounce Celtic words and names without the extensive assistance of a tutor. It is much the same as with the French r, notoriously difficult for us to master. Our usual anglicized pronunciation of hors d’oeuvres as ‘ohr durvz’, for example, is likely to meet with incomprehension or derision from a native speaker of French. In the same way, most English speakers do not appreciate that Irish, Welsh and Breton present many greater challenges than does French, such as palatal and non-palatal (velar) consonants, broad and slender vowels, and an array of sounds not found in English, beginning with the velar fricative, the Welsh -ll- and the Welsh trilled r. Additionally, Modern Irish survives in three dialects; there is not a Standard Irish as there is a Standard English. Many names and terms survive in a wide variety of variant spellings. Scottish Gaelic, with different sound patterns, ranks almost as a fourth dialect. Complicating matters, some commentators prefer the uncertain pronunciations of Old Irish, Middle Irish and Classical Modern Irish (until the mid-seventeenth century). Thus the much-cited name of Ulster king Conchobar may be sounded in different contexts as ‘kun-ko-var’, ‘kun-nă-khoor’, ‘kon-khor’, ‘kru-hoor’ and ‘kru-hoor’. The pronunciation of the hero Fionn’s name, whose stories are more widely known, survives in even more variants. It is more than a matter of ‘to-mah-toh’ vs. ‘to-may-toh’; pronunciation will be contentious for some readers. Suggestions given here are approximate and should not be considered sufficient for use in broadcasts or in addresses before learned bodies. Consult the Pronunciation Key at the end of this Appendix (pp. 348–9).

  A handful of names, such as Deirdre, Fionn, Oscar, Suibne, are often cited with anglicized pronunciations while retaining their original spellings.

  Classical Modern Irish spellings are preferred for most names here; other sources may employ Modern Irish or even anglicized spellings.

  Abaris (ă-bahr-ĭs) Known as the ‘Hyperborean’, i.e. from beyond the north wind. Sixth-century BC figure who conversed with Pythagoras; may have been first known druid.

  Áeb (ayv) Foster-daughter of Bodb Derg, wife of Lir, and mother of the swan children.

  Áebhric (ayv-rik) Young, well-born hermit, perhaps a cleric, who records the story of the children of Lir.

  Aed (ith) Twin brother of Finnguala among the swan children of Lir.

 
Aichlech mac Dubdrenn (ahkh-lekh mahk duv-dren) One of several possible assassins of Fionn mac Cumhaill.

  Aífe (1) (eef-ě) Cruel stepmother of the swan children of Lir.

  Aífe (2) (eef-ě) Amazonian warrior of the Isle of Skye, mother by Cúchulainn of Connla.

  Ailbe (I) (alv-ě) Daughter of Cormac mac Airt.

  Ailbe (2) (alv-ě) Large, ferocious hound owned by Mac Da Thó.

  Ailech (al-yakh, Il-yakh) Prehistoric stone fortress of Co. Derry.