Airmed is the daughter of the great Dé Danann physician, Dían Cécht, part of a family of healers. Together, they create the healing well of Sláine, which restores injured warriors at the Second Battle of Moytura. But do the meanings of their names tell a different story? In our revisit to what may seem at…
Search Results for: tocmarc étaíne
Texts of Ethliu
From Tocmarc Étaine, “The Wooing of Étain” Edited O. Bergin & R. I. Best, Translated with endnotes by Isolde Carmody. Terms with related notes are in bold. View Bergin & Best’s edition on CELT While this text is included here in relation to “Tales of Eithliu”, we dealt with the whole of Tocmarc Étaíne in 3 episodes in Series 3, “Dindshenchas…
Revisiting Mythical Women 3 – Revisiting Eithliu
Eithliu is a figure who seems to pop in and out of stories, taking no notice of traditional story cycles, or even how her name is spelt. Yet she rarely takes a leading role. In this “revisit”, we return to this enigmatic and sometimes troubling character from Irish mythology and folklore. With the benefit of…
Navan Fort – Stories and Archaeology
Emain Macha, known as Navan Fort, is one of the main settings for the great heroic tragedies of the Táin Bó Cullainge, as well as many other stories of great feats and tragic losses. Here we find Conchobar mac Nessa, the legendary king of Ulster, the poison-tongued Bricriu, Cathbad the druid who foretells the fate of Deirdre…
The Corlea Trackway
The Irish bog is a remarkable environment. Not only is there a wide diversity of flora and fauna to be found, but these wetlands also provide a rich resource for archaeological discoveries. Things survive under the bog. Materials that would generally perish , wood, leather, and even the soft tissue of a human body, may…
Brú na Bóinne and Cnogba – the Boyne Valley in the Metrical Dindshenchas
At the beginning of Tocmarc Étaíne, we have the tale of the conception and birth of Óengus Mac Ind Óc and his claiming of Brú na Bóinne (Newgrange) as his territory. We touched on this story back in Series 1, Episode 3, “Tales of Eithliu”, and compared it to the Metrical Dindshenchas poems on Bóand, the…
The Dindshenchas of Carn Hill, Co. Longford – Carn Furbaide
Carn Furbaide, the cairn of Furbaide Fer Benn son of Conchobar and Eithne Úathach, seems to be on Carn Hill in Co. Longford, a proverbial stone’s throw from Midir’s sid on Brí Leith / Ardagh Hill. (See Hogan’s Onomasticon Goedelicum, Letter C). As ever, terms with notes below are in bold, and the notes are…
The Dindshenchas of Knowth – Cnogba
From the Metrical Dindshenchas, Volume 3, poem 4, pp 40 – 46 Edited by Edward Gwynn; Translated by Isolde Carmody Notes to the text appear at the end. Terms with notes below are marked in bold. Cnogba Fland Mac Lonnán cecinit. Fland Mac Lonnán chants: 1. Búa, ingen Rúadrach rúaid Búa, daughter of…
Texts of Eithliu
From Tocmarc Étaine, “The Wooing of Étain” Edited O. Bergin & R. I. Best, Translated with endnotes by Isolde Carmody. Terms with related notes are in bold. View Bergin & Best’s edition on CELT While this text is included here in relation to “Tales of Eithliu”, we dealt with the whole of Tocmarc Étaíne in…
Celebrating Women in Irish Mythology – Who will you choose?
An Exciting new Project Socio-Physicist and comparative mythologist, Professor Ralph Kenna, with support from The Irish Post and Story Archaelogy, are launching an second nternational arts competition This exciting project, in parallel with a participatory research project, is designed to re-ignite awareness of inspirational female figures from Irish mythology and folklore who have all too…