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IBAR MAC RIANGABRA (ivar mok re-an-govra) See: RIANGABAR. IBERIANS Resemblance between Aquitani and Iberians. # 562 ICELAND This island was part of Arthur's empire. Layamon says its king was Aeleus.
He was married to the King of Russia's daughter and they had a son named
Escol. Aeleus voluntarily submitted to Arthur and gave him Escol to be his
man. Geoffrey gives Iceland a king called Malvasius. # 156 - 243 -
697 ID MAC RIANGABRA See: RIANGABAR. IDDAWG Before Arthur's final tragic battle with Mordred at Camlann, the king sent
Iddawg to Mordred with a message. However, Iddawg uttered it in such a way
that it angered its recipient and he was therefore known as the Embroiler of
Britain. # 156 - 346 IGRAINE IGERNE (in Welsh: Eigyr). 1. The mother of Arthur. She was the daughter of Amlawdd
and she married Gorlois, by whom she had a number of daughters. (This husband
is sometimes called Hoel.) Uther made her pregnant with Arthur while he was
under a spell which made him resemble her husband. Later, when Gorlois was
dead, Uther married her, although he was uncertain as to the fatherhood of
Arthur whom he put to fosterage with Ector of the Forest Sauvage. See:
GOLEUDDYDD, and RIEINGULID. 2. In the VULGATE MERLIN, the sister of Arthur
with whom he committed incest. # 156 - 346 - 418 ILAX See: EREC. ILDANACH (il'dan ah) ('The All-Craftsman', or 'The Many Gifted'). Surname conferred
upon Lugh Lamfada, the Sun-god. # 166 - 562 ILLAN Illan was a traditional king of Leinster (Ireland) who was thought to have
conducted raids in Britain. J. Morris argues that he would have been one of
the historical Arthur's enemies. The traditional regnal dates of Illan are AD
495- 511, but the history of Leinster at this period is obscure and Illan may
have reigned at an earlier period or not at all. # 156 -
403 ILLTYD, SAINT # 156: He founded the monastery at Llanilltud Fawr in Wales, the great
settlement of Illtyd (now Llantwit Major). He was said to have been related to
Arthur and to have served as a warrior under him. See: RIEINGULID. # 678: According to a Norman clerk who wrote from that place, Illtyd's name
comes from the Latin 'ille ab omni crimine tutus' ('the one safe from
all evil'). The Welsh tradition, based on an early life of Cadoc, describes
Illtyd's conversion as taking place when fifty soldiers under his command were
swallowed into the earth. Another tradition tells us that his conversion took
place after a hunting accident in which several of his friends were killed and
that it was Dyfrig who was responsible for bringing Illtyd into the church.
Like many other Celtic abbots, Illtyd withdrew from time to time from his
monastery, seeking out a cave by the banks of the Ewenny River, sleeping each
night on a cold stone and keeping himself alive by heaven-sent offerings of
barley loaves and fish. # 454: All texts agree that he was the most learned Briton of his day. He
was said to have been born in Brittany and his reputation credited him with
being a magician. Lindsay suggests that his disciples demanded the old druidic
right to exemption from taxes. He is remembered on 6 November. # 156 - 216 -
454 - 678 ILLYRIANS Towards the end of the fourth century the Celts overran Pannonia,
conquering the Illyrians. # 562 IMMORTALITY In Egypt the solar boat is sometimes represented as containing the solar
emblem alone, sometimes it contains the figure of a god with attendant
deities, sometimes it contains a crowd of passengers representing human souls,
and sometimes the figure of a single corpse on a bier. The megalithic carvings
also sometimes show the solar emblem and sometimes not; the boats are
sometimes filled with figures and are sometimes empty. When a symbol has once
been accepted and understood, any conventional or summary representation of it
is sufficient. Rolleston take it that the complete form of the megalithic
symbol is that of a boat with figures in it and with the solar emblem
overhead. These figures, assuming the foregoing interpretation of the design
to be correct, must clearly be taken for representations of the dead on their
way to the Otherworld. They cannot be deities, for representations of the
divine powers under human aspect were quite unknown to the Megalithic People,
even after the coming of the Celts - they first occur in Gaul under Roman
influence. But if these figures represent the dead, then we have clearly
before us the origin of the so-called 'Celtic' doctrine of immortality. The
carvings in question are pre-Celtic. They are found where no Celts ever
penetrated. Yet they point to the existence of just that Otherworld doctrine
which, from the time of Caesar downwards, has been associated with Celtic
Druidism, and this doctrine was distinctively Egyptian. #
562 IMMRAM Voyages to Otherworlds. The tradition of the Immram is based upon
certain fundamental understandings: the voyage enacts the passage into the
Otherworld, the testing of the soul, the passage into and beyond death and the
empowerment of the spiritual quest. Some of the best known Immrams's is
that of 'The voyage of Maelduin' (which is described in full in Chapter Two in
# 437.), and Voyage of St Brendan (AD 489-?583). Also the pilgrimage and
wandering mazes derives from the Immram. # 437 p 14
ff INBER AILBINE See: PLACE NAME STORIES. INCUBUS Technically, an 'Incubus' was a devil which assumed the appearance of a man
and lay with a woman, as a succubus or nightmare assumed the appearance of a
woman or Hagge to corrupt a man. Merlin was supposed to be the child of an
incubus, and almost every 16th-century book on witchcraft mentions the
Incubus. # 100 INDEG One of the mistresses of Arthur, according to TRIAD 57. She was the
daughter of Garwy the Tall. # 104 - 156 INDIA Dolmens found in India; symbol of the feet is found in India, as the print
of the foot of Buddha. A good example of this from Amaravati (after Fergusson)
is given by Bertrand in his 'La Religion des Gaulois.' The allusion to summer
and winter suggests the practice in Indian music of allotting certain musical
modes to the different seasons of the year (and even to different times of
day). Some scholars suggests that there might have been a close connection
between the Celtic peoples and India (see: GUNDESTRUP CAULDRON, THE # 354). #
562 INDRA Hindu sky-deity corresponding to Brown Bull of Quelgny. #
562 INDRAWING SEAS See: GROCLAND. INGCEL (ing'cel) One-eyed British chief-pirate, son of King of Great Britain, an
exile. He is associated with Conaire Mor's fosterbrothers in the sack of Da
Derga's hostel. # 166 - 562 INIS (in'ish) An island. # 166 INIS FAIL (in'ish fô il) An ancient poetic name for Ireland. See: FAL. #
166 INVASION MYTHS OF IRELAND See: MYTHS. INVASIONS, THE BOOK OF # 628: The Irish BOOK OF INVASIONS describes six waves of people or races
arriving in Ireland, and attempts to merge its pagan tradition, originally
derived from a lost Druidic mythical cycle of creation, with Christian
pseudo-history. The six races with the Gaels as the last one, can be seen as a
cosmic sequence of development or phases of the creation of the world,
typified by the land of Ireland. 1. Cessair 2. Partholon 3. Nemed 4. FirBolg
5. Tuatha De Danann, and 6. The Gaels. # 166: The narratives assembled under the title 'Book of Invasions (or
Occupations)' are the literary embodiment of Ireland's own impressions
regarding the history of her population. For the early Irish they served
somewhat the same functions as the accounts of the wanderings of Aeneas did
for the Romans. To say, as some have done, that the 'Book of Invasions' is a
collection of Irish mythology is to give an entirely wrong impression of its
contents. Some of the characters, it is true, may be rationalized gods, but
the stories as they now stand belong rather to pseudo-history than to
mythology. For example, Emer, Eber, and Eremon, though represented in the
narrative as ancient kings, are in fact merely fictitious personages with
names made up from the ancient name for Ireland, spelled in the earliest
manuscripts as ÉRIU. Modern students of early Irish history are inclined to
see underlying these obviously fictitious narratives a substratum of fact, and
to regard the account as reflecting in a general way an historical record of
early population groups. The version told in Cross and Slover's ANCIENT IRISH
TALES is preserved only in rather late manuscripts, but the ancient origin of
at least some parts of it is convincingly supported by comparison with the
early forms of the British-Latin 'History of the Britons' (HISTORIA BRITONUM).
The selections presented in their work are not continuous, but they form
tolerably unified sections, describing the arrival of three different groups
of immigrants. The first of the divisions given is preceded in the complete
text by the account of the arrival of Partholon and his people. The account of
the Tuatha De Danann serves as a background for 'The Second Battle of Moytura'
and 'The Fate of the Children of Tuirenn'. # 166 - 628 p 126
ff INVERSKENA Ancient name of Kenmere River, so called after Skena. #
562 INVOLUTIONS Alwyn Rees and Brinley Rees in their CELTIC HERITAGE, states some
interesting aspects about the involutions concerning the correlation of the
provinces of Ireland (q.v). The correlations with functions and social
classes, they say, is of course, symbolical. They are not suggesting that all
the inhabitants of Connacht were druids, or that all the inhabitants of
Munster were minstrels! There are units within units. Thus, there is a story
of the division of Ireland into twentyfive parts among the children of Ugaine
Mór, a division which is said to have lasted for three hundred years. Whereas
the five peoples of Irish tradition symbolize the major functions in the
hierarchy, there are indications that each was also a complete society in
itself, a replica of the entire series. Kingship belonged pre-eminently to the
central province, but every province had a king of its own. If, in the larger
unity, the king of Munster's part was that of the 'Servant', in his own
province his role no doubt corresponded to that of the central king.
Similarly, each province had its druids, warriors, farmers and serfs.
Furthermore, the social classes themselves were not homogeneous groups. Each
had a structure which seems to have reproduced that of the larger society.
Just as there were high-kings, provincial kings and tribal kings, so were the
grades within the learned class. We hear of druids, Vates, and bards of
Celtic Gaul, of whom classical writers give somewhat confusing accounts. The
druids and the Vates were apparently closely related in function,
though the former seem to have been held in highest honour. Both were learned
philosophers, but whereas the druids, who apparently presided at sacrifices,
were judges in public and private disputes, the Vates were probably
seers who foretold the future by augury and the sacrifice or victims. We have
already noted that the name Druid probably comes from a root meaning
'to know'. On the other hand, words cognate with Vates in other
languages are connected with prophecy, inspiration and poetry. The third
class, the bards, accompanied their songs with instruments resembling lyres
and they praised some and reviled others, and so too in medieval Ireland,
praise poems (then composed by the Fili) were sung by the bard and
there was a harp accompaniment. Indeed the original meaning of the word
Bard appears to have been 'singer of praise'. The preoccupation of
Vates (and probably of Filid) with inspiration, with prophecy,
and with the temporal, seems to connect them with the function of the warrior
- Debordant, berserk - while the praises of the bard are analogous to
the food-gifts of the third function and the acclamation by which the third
estate confirms the actions and status of its rulers. Thus, within the learned
class there were grades corresponding to those of priest, warrior, and farmer
- and beneath them were disreputable entertainers such as the Crossain.
With the advent of Christianity such a pattern would inevitably become
blurred. The druid, as priest of the old religion, lost his function, and in
the Irish laws he is degraded to the subject Nemed class, while the
Fili, who seems to have inherited something of the druid's role, ranks
with the upper Nemed class. Later still, the role of the Fili
became assimilated to that of the bard, so that the thirteenth century Fili
was above all a composer of praise poetry. However, 'The Book of Rights',
compiled or edited in the eleventh century, states that 'knowledge about kings
and their privileges is proper to the Fili and not to the bard'.
According to other texts, the honour-price of a bard was but half that of a
Fili, and moreover, a bard could claim nothing on the ground of being a
man of learning but should be satisfied with what his native wit might win
him. The fact that every unit, however small, tends to have a structure which
mirrors that of the whole makes the over-all picture extremely complicated.
Personages and sub-groups can have associations with a function other than
their primary one. For example, the bard belongs to Function I, but in the
subdivision of that function he corresponds to Function III; the Fiana belong
to Function III, but in as much as they represent the military aspect of that
function they have affinities with Function II. All this offers unlimited
opportunities for confusion in the transmission and interpretation of a
tradition which has been only partially preserved. And there is yet another
complication to be noticed. Finn is associated chiefly with the southern half
of Ireland; his principal residence is said to be the Sidhe of Almu in
Leinster. His chief adversary, Goll mac Morna, on the other hand, is
represented as the leader of the Connacht Fiana. That is, in the
Lower cycle of stories, the oneeyed antagonist Within the Fiana
is located in the North of Ireland, the hero in the South. This inversion of
the relationship between North and South hitherto considered is in accord with
the belief that in the Otherworld everything is inverted. For example, we have
already noted, with regard to ghosts of the dead and other spirits, that our
day is their night. In Hindu belief '"left" on earth corresponds to "right" in
the beyond, while according to the Dyaks of Borneo, in heaven 'no means yes,
black becomes white'. Such inversions have to be borne in any attempt to
account for contradictionary beliefs concerning 'right' and 'left' as well as
'north' and 'south'. # 141 - 360 - 410 - 539 - 548 IOLLAN The son of Fergus mac Roigh. He went with his father to ask Deirdre and
Naoisi to return to Conchobar; but they were ignorant that this was a false
message, intended to entrap Deirdre and the sons of Usna. Although Iollan
defended them, Conchobar's champion, Conall Cernach, mortally wounded Iollan.
# 454 IOLO MORGANWG (ee-OLL-o mor-GAHN-ook) The Welsh editor, who in the late eighteenth
century rewrote many of the older triads in an expanded form, with the
introduction of some fresh material. See also: CRAIG-Y-DINAS. #
104 IRELAND # 156: Arthur is represented as having this country as part of his domains.
Geoffrey describes how Arthur defeated the king of the country whom he names
Gilmaurius. Elsewhere the king is represented as Anguish (the father of
Iseult), Elidus, Marhalt or Gurmun. DURMART features an Irish queen named
Fenise and informs us that the gonfalonier (royal standard-bearer) of Ireland
was Procides, castellan of Limerick. Arthur overcame the Scots (Scotti), who
were Irish invaders in Britain. In early Medieval Latin Scotus signifies an
Irishman and, in the fifth century, many Scots from Ireland were settling in
the country which today bears their name. They had also settled elsewhere in
Britain. As to the actual rulers of Ireland in the Arthurian period, at that
time the Irish kings of Tara had no effective, and perhaps even no theretical,
supremacy. They were Niall of the Nine Hostages (generally regarded as
historical), Nath I (perhaps legendary), Laoghaire, Ailill Molt and
Muircheartach I, with whom the eighteenth-century antiquary Keating, in some
respects the Irish equivalent of Geoffrey, says Arthur had a treaty. The names
Marhalt/Marhaus in the Tristan saga may preserve some memory of him. One of
the kings of the southern Irish kingdom of Munster at this period was called
Oengus - interestingly enough, probably a different form of the name Anguish,
borne by the King of Ireland in Malory. # 562: Unique historical position of
Ireland, which was never even visited, much less subjugated, by the Roman
legionaries, and maintained its independence against all comers nominally
until the close of the twelfth century, but for all practical purposes a good
three hundred years longer. Ireland has therefore this unique feature of
interest, that it carried an indigenous Celtic civilisation, Celtic
institutions, art, and literature, and the oldest surviving form of the Celtic
language (q.v.) right across the chasm which separates the antique from the
modern world, the pagan from the Christian world, and on into the full light
of modern history and observation. In the sixth century AD, a little over a
hundred years after the preaching of Christianity by St Patrick, a king named
Dermot mac Kerval ruled in Ireland. He was the Ard Righ, or High King, of that
country, whose seat of government was at Tara, in Meath, and whose office,
with its nominal and legal superiority to the five provincial kings,
represented the impulse which was moviing the Irish people towards a true
national unity. Name of Eriu (dative form Erinn), poetic name applied to Ireland. Children
of Miled enter upon sovereignty of, but henceforth there are two Irelands, the
spiritual, occupied by the Danaans, and the earthly, by the Milesians. Eremon,
was the first Milesian king of all Ireland. # 156 - 562 IRELAND, PROVINCES OF Modern Ireland comprises four great provinces, Connacht, Ulster, Leinster,
and Munster, whose origin lies beyond the beginning of recorded history. Yet,
the Irish word for 'province' is Cóiced, which means a 'fifth', not a
'fourth', and the expression 'five fifth of Ireland' is familiar to all who
speak the Gaelic tongue. The antiquity of this five-fold conception cannot be
doubted, but tradition is divided as to the identity of the fifth fifth.
Lebor Gabála Érenn attributes the original division into five provinces
to Fir Bolg. These settlers were led by five brothers and they shared Ireland
between them. The fifth province of that division consisted of a subdivision
of Munster, and in accordance with this, Ireland is represented throughout
most of the early literature as consisting of Connacht, Ulster, Leinster, and
'the two Munsters' (East Munster and West Munster). It was held that all five
provinces met at the Stone of Divisions on the Hill of Uisnech, which was
believed to be the midpoint of Ireland. The alternative tradition is that the
fifth province was Meath (Mide), 'the Middle'. This is a common belief among
present-day Irishmen who are unfamiliar with the historical literature, and it
is not a recent invention. A poem which is attributed to Mael Mura, a
ninthcentury poet, tells of a revolt of the vassal tribes of Ireland under the
kings of the four provinces, a revolt in which Fiachu, King of Tara,
was killed. After a period of misrule, the legitimate dynasty was restored in
the person of Fiachu's son, Tuathal Techtmar, who defeated the vassal tribes
in each of the four provinces - Connacht, Ulster, Leinster and Munster.
According to some medieval texts, it was Tuathal who created the central
province of Meath by taking a portion of each of the other provinces; Keating
states that before Tuathal's conquest Meath was but a minor kingdom (tuath)
around Uisnech. We must, however, consider a body of comparative evidence
before accepting the view that the central province, without which no province
could be called a 'fifth' in this scheme, was the result of a military
conquest in the second century AD. What we have to try to understand, as the
Rees' points out in their CELTIC HERITAGE, is the meaning of the subdivision
of an island into four parts each of which is called a fifth, and the
existence of two apparently incompatible traditions - neither of which can be
shown to be more authentic than the other - which, respectively, locate the
implicit fifth fifth at the centre and as an entity within one of the other
four. In the Middle Irish text called 'The Settling of the Manor of Tara',
which relates how the territorial divisions were confirmed at the beginning of
the Christian era by a supernatural authority, both these conceptions of the
five-fold structure of Ireland are re-authenticated, and there is no
indication that the writer of this remarkable document was aware that the one
is inconsistent with the other. The text relates that, in the reign of
Diarmait son of Cerball (AD 545-565), the nobles of Ireland protested against
the extent of the royal domain, and that Fintan son of Bóchra was summoned to
Tara, from his abode in Munster, to define its limits. Seated in the judge's
seat at Tara, Fintan reviewed the history of Ireland from Cessair to the Sons
of Mil, and told of a strange personage called Trefuilngid Tre-eochair who
suddenly appeared at a gathering of the men of Ireland on the day when Christ
was crucified. This stranger was fair and of gigantic stature, and it was he
who controlled the rising and the setting of the sun. In his left hand he
carried stone tablets and in his right a branch with three fruits, nuts,
apples, and acorns. He inquired about the chronicles of the men of Ireland,
and they replied that they had no old historians. 'Ye will have that from me,'
said he. 'I will establish for you the progression of the stories and
chronicles of the hearth of Tara itself with the four quarters of Ireland
round about; for I am the truly learned witness who explains to all everything
unknown.' And he continued: Bring to me then seven from every quarter of
Ireland, who are the wisest, the most prudent and most cunning also, and the
shanachies of the king himself who are of the hearth of Tara; for it is right
that the four quarters (should be present) at the partition of Tara and its
chronicles, that each may take its due share of the chronicles of Tara.' It
will be observed that the basic idea here is that Ireland consists of four
quarters and a centre - the provinces of Connacht, Ulster, Leinster, Munster,
and Meath. This arrangement was confirmed by Trefuilngid, and in leaving that
ordinance with the men of Ireland he gave Fintan some berries from his branch.
Fintan planted them where he thought they would grow, and from them are the
five trees: the Ash of Tortu, the Bole of Ross (a comely yew), the Oak of
Mugna, the Bough of Dathi (an ash), and the Ash of populous Uisnech. Though
the location of most of these five places is uncertain, there can be no doubt
that the underlying idea is that the trees symbolize the four quarters around
the centre. The confirmation of this pattern by Fintan on Trefuilngid's
authority at Tara was not, however, the end of the matter. 'Then the nobles of
Ireland came...to accompany Fintan to Uisnech, and they took leave of one
another on the top of Uisnech. And he set up in their presence a pillar-stone
of five ridges on the summit of Uisnech. And he assigned a ridge of it to
every province in Ireland, for thus are Tara and Uisnech in Ireland, as its
two kidneys are in a beast. And he marked out a FORRACH there, that is, the
portion of each province in Uisnech, and Fintan made this lay after arranging
the pillar-stone.' In the lay Fintan defines the extent of each of
these five provinces of the Fir Bolg division - Connaht, Ulster,
Leinster, and the two Munsters. 'So Fintan then testified that it is
right to take the five provinces of Ireland from Tara and Uisnech, and
that it is right for them also to take them from each province in Ireland!'
Leaving the second Munster aside for the moment, it can be shown further that
the four great provinces and the centre constitute a hierarchic system which
corresponds to that of the invasions from Partholon to the Sons of Mil. When
the representatives of the four quarters and of the Manor of Tara had been
assembled together as we have just described, the supernatural Trefuilngid
asked: 'O Fintan, and Ireland, how has it been partioned, where have things
been therein?' 'Easy to say,' said Fintan, 'knowledge in the west, battle in
the north, prosperity in the east, music in the south, kingship in the
centre.' Then Trefuilngid proceeded to indicate in detail the attributes of
each quarter and the middle. There is some overlapping in these descriptions
which blurs the clear distinctions drawn by Fintan. The latter we will bring
here in full: West (Connacht): learning (Fis), teaching,
judgement, chronicles, counsels, stories, histories, science, eloquence.
North (Ulster) battle (Cath), contentions, hardihood, rough
places, strifes, haughtiness, unprofitableness, pride, captures, assaults,
hardness, wars, conflicts. East (Leinster) prosperity (Bláth),
supplies, bee-hives (? ceasa), householders, good custom, good manners,
splendour, abundance, dignity, wealth, householding, many arts, many
treasures, satin serge, silks, cloths (?), green spotted cloth (?),
hospitality. South (Munster) music (Séis), fairs (oenaigi),
reavers, musicianship, melody, minstrelry, music, fidchell-playing, retinue.
Centre (Meath) kingship, (not mentioned by Fintan) stewards,
dignity, primacy, stability, establishments, supports, destructions,
warriorship, charioteership, soldiery, principality, high-kingship,
ollaveship, mead, bounty, ale, renown, fame, prosperity. Learning and Battle
clearly refer to the aristocratic funtions of the druids and the warriors, and
their ascription to Connacht and Ulster fully accords with what we have said
about the superiority of Conn's Half. The Mythological Cycle of Tuatha De Danann was characterized by wizardry,
the CuChulain Cycle by heroism and the Fenian Cycle by romance. It remains to
add that Tuatha De Danann first appeared in Ireland on a mountain of Conmaicne
Réin in Connacht and that Mag Tuired, the scene of the great battles which
form the central theme of this cycle is also in Connacht. The warrior Cycle of
CuChulain is the Ulster Cycle, while the Fenian Cycle, the tales of the
ordinary people, are located mainly in the South of Ireland. The three
qualities which we have discerned in these three cycles thus have their
respective provenance - thinking in the West, willing in the North, feeling in
the South. The correlation of provinces with functions makes the great epic of the
CuChulain Cycle more intelligible. It commemorates a struggle between the two
aristocratic provinces of Connacht and Ulster, in which the protagonists are
Queen Medb of Connacht on the one hand, and King Conchobar and his nephew
CuChulain on the other. Tradition shows us that Medb personifies
'Sovereignty', and Professor Dumézil has singled that out in its magical and
judicial aspects as primary attribute of Function I. It is said that Conchobar
had been Medb's first husband, and her desertion of him against his will is
said to have been the first cause of the táin (cattle-raid). On the
other hand, the immediate cause of the táin was that Medb coveted
Ulster's great bull. The bull symbolizes the warrior function both in Rome and
India. Thus the táin appears as an example of the classic struggle
between the priestly and the warrior classes, each of which tends to usurp the
functions and privileges of the other. It may be compared with the First
Battle of Mag Tuired between the Tuatha wizards and the Fir Bolg warriors.
That battle belongs to the Mythological Cycle and in it the warriors are
defeated, but the warriors are victorious in the struggle of the warrior
Cycle. - Modern historians regard the allocation of two fifths to Munster as a
spurious tradition invented by the ancient historians, but we have already
suggested that the analogy between what may be called the 'central fifth' and
the 'outer fifth', on the one hand, and the invasions of the Sons of Mil and
of Cessair on the other, is a sufficient justification for considering both
traditions seriously. - Divided into two, one half of Munster symbolizes
serfs, the other the Other World. But as one province it is a land of
contradictions. In one of the earlier law tracts, its king is described as 'a
master (ollam) over kings'. After Tuatha De Danann have repaired to the sidhe,
leaving the daylight world to the Sons of Mil, it is Bodb of the Sid of
Munster they have as king. The visiting high-king who instructs their rulers
is not a king of Tara, but Manannan mac Lir, the god of the sea. In the
occult, Munster and the powers beyond it are supreme. There, the last IS
first. # 186 - 277 - 313 - 410 - 468 - 508 - 548 IRION A king, the father of Martha and father-in-law of Tristan's son Ysaie.
># 156 - 198 IRISH CALENDAR CUSTOMS Calendar Custom is deeply influenced by environment, by climate, by the
fertility of the soil, by the proximity of such geographical features as the
sea, rivers, lakes, mountains and moors. It is intimately connected with the
daily and yearly routine of work. It is associated with travel and trade. It
bears upon the social traditions of the community and upon the individual
lives of the community's members. It embodies devotional and religious
practices, divination, healing, mythology and magic. It abounds in explanatory
tale and legend, historical allusion and pious parable. It includes all manner
of amusements, sports and pastimes. Furthermore, it reaches back through time
into the remote and unknown depths of prehistory. It contains elements which
already were of vast antiquity when the first Christian missionaries came into
Ireland, as well as matter which recalls the flowering of early Irish
Christianity. It has features derived from the piety as well as from the
practicality of the Middle Ages. Every phase of our changing history has
effected it; every body of the people who came into Ireland has added
something to it; Scandinavian and Norman, English and Scots, all have left
some mark upon it. Above all, it shares largely in the common tradition of
Western Europe, so many of its elements being but Irish versions of practices
much more widely known. Irish Calendar Custom is a vast and complicated field,
how vast and complicated has been shown in the one comprehensive investigation
of an Irish folk festival which has hitherto appeared. Máire Mac Neill's
FESTIVAL OF LUGHNASA, a work which occupies almost 700 pages. The following is
a briefing of the well-known and for most part, still celebrated fiest-days.
SAINT BRIGHID'S DAY In Irish folk tradition St Brighid's Day, 1 February, is the first day of
Spring, and thus the farmer's year. It is the festival of Ireland's venerated
and much-loved second patron saint, who is also the patroness of cattle and of
dairy work. In the JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF IRELAND,
1945, Seán Ó Suilleabháin wrote: 'The main significance of the Feast of St
Brigid would seem to be that it was a christianization of one of the focal
points of the agricultural year in Ireland, the starting-point of preparations
for the spring sowing. Every manifestation of the cult of the saint (or of the
deity she replaced) is closely bound up in some way with foodproduction, and
this must be the chief line of approach to a study of this spring festival.' A
relaxation of the rigours of winter weather was expected at this time, for,
according to tradition, the saint had promised: Gach 're lá go maith Every second day fine CANDLEMAS A popular legend to explain why candlemas fell immediately after St
Brighid's Day. Because of Our Lady's diffidence in bringing the Infant Jesus
to the crowded Temple, St Brighid promised to help her by distracting the
attention of the multitude. This she did by appearing with a headdress bearing
many lighted candles, and Mary, in gratitude, decreed that St Brighid's
festival should be celebrated on the day before that of the Purification and
the Candles. Weather forecasts were made on Candlemas. A fine day was believed
to be a token of wintry weather during the rest of February. SHROVE TUESDAY In former times the austerities of Lent were observed with much more rigour
and much more devotion than more recently. The faithful were bound to abstain
not only from meat but also, even on Sundays, from eggs and from all milk
products - that is to say from milk either sweet or sour, butter, cheese,
curds and 'white meats', a very severe restriction on people a large part of
whose diet consisted of milk products. Nothing then, was more natural than the
desire to have a 'last fling' just before the beginning of Lent. On the
Continent of Europe this became a public, communal revel, the carnival, but
generally in Ireland the Shrove Tuesday celebration was a household festival
with the family and their friends gathered about the fire-side, when the
surplus eggs, milk and butter were used up in making pancakes, and even the
most thrifty housewife did not object, as otherwise these perishable
foodstuffs might go to waste. Some people kept the Christmas holly for the
fire which baked the pancakes. - There was a common belief that to lick a
lizard endowed the tongue with a cure for burns and scalds; this was
especially effective if the lizard was licked on Shrove Tuesday. ASH WEDNESDAY On this, the first day of Lent many people ate only one meal and drank only
water. At least one person from every household went to the church to have his or
her brow marked with the penitential ashes and to bring home a pinch of the
ash so that the rest of the family too could have their foreheads marked. In
many places there is a tradition that the people brought their own ashes -
usually a small quantity of turf ashes - to be blessed in the church. Some
burned the palm from last year's Palm Sunday to make ashes for Ash Wednesday.
Any unused portion of the ashes was carefully wrapped up and put away. LENT As mentioned above, the Lenten fast and abstinence were very strictly
observed in Ireland, and on all the days of Lent no animal products of any
kind were eaten or used in the preparation of food. For the average farming
family which enjoyed some degree of frugal comfort the Lenten fast meant a
small meal of bread, or porridge and black tea in the morning and again in the
evening, and a midday dinner of potatoes seasoned with fish or onions. On the
coast, shellfish and edible seaweed appeared as relish with the potato meal.
Instead of the usual sweet or sour milk, water, to which a handful of crushed
oats was added and left to stand until the fermentation of the grain gave the
beverage a sour taste, was drunk. - Children, if they were over seven years
old, got no milk, and even the younger ones were given it sparingly. 'The very
infant in the cradle was allowed to cry three times before he got milk on the
fast days', as tradition puts it. A curious sidelight on the Lenten fast is
the eating of the barnacle goose (branta leucopsis) and, possibly, the brent
goose (branta bernicla) as fish. This is first mentioned in Ireland by
Giraldus Cambrensis, who visited the country in 1183 and again in 1185. Having
described the wonderful way in which the geese came not from the eggs but from
shellfish (a common belief of the time) he goes on to say (Topography of
Ireland): 'Accordingly in some parts of Ireland bishops and religious men eat
them without sin during a fasting time, regarding them as being flesh, since
they were not born of flesh.' The tradition of the eating of these geese
during Lent is well known in many parts of the west of Ireland. In Tralee,
Count Kerry, it is related that the custom was kept up until quite recently,
and that a well-known hotel in the town made a point of serving brent goose
during Lent, mainly for the benefit of the clergy. As Edward Armstrong remarks
in THE FOLKLORE OF BIRDS,: 'Vincent of Beauvais (SPEC.ANIM. xvii,40) records
that at the General Lateran Council in 1215, Pope Innocent III forbade this
practice, but news of this does not seem to have yet reached the west of
Ireland.' SAINT PATRICK'S DAY That day is now one of Ireland's most important festivals, a national as
well as a church holiday. It is celebrated with ceremonies, parades, sports,
exhibitions and entertainments of many kinds, most of them having a distinctly
national or 'Irish' flavour. All this is relatively new, for, when compared to
the numerous and varied traditional customs and practices associated with
other great festivals such as May Day or Christmas those belonging to St
Patrick's Day appearfew and meagre. There are, indeed, associated with the
festival of the national patron only two main customs which appear to derive
from older tradition, namely, the wearing of an emblem or symbol, and the
'drowning of the shamrock'. The first of these, the wearing of an emblem in honour of the saint and of
his day is first noted by an English traveller in Ireland, Thomas Dinely, in
his Journal which appears to have been written in 1681. He says: 'The
17th day of March yeerly is St Patrick's, an immoveable feast when the Irish
of all stations and condicions wore crosses in their hats, some of pins, some
of green ribbon, and the vulgar superstitiously wear shamroges, 3-leaved
grass, which they likewise eat (they say) to cause a sweet breath. The common
people and servants also demand their Patrick's groat of their masters, which
they goe expressly to town, though half a dozen miles off, to spend, where
sometimes it amounts to a piece of 8 or cobb a piece, and very few of the
zealous are found sober at night.' He does not explain why he regards the
wearing of the shamrock as superstitious while inferring that the displaying
of the cross is not, but he does seem to indicate some kind of social
distinction between the two emblems - people of 'all stations' wear crosses,
while only the 'vulgar' sport the shamrock. In 1908 we learn from the Journal of the Kildare Archaeological
Society, that only girls and small children still wore the crosses in
Dublin and Kildare. LADY DAY 25 March, the feast of the Annunciation, was a Holiday of Obligation on
which the Lenten fast was relaxed although there was in Ireland no extensive
merry-making as on St Patrick's Day. It had some legal significance for ,
until Britain belatedly accepted Pope Gregory's calendar in 1752, the year
began officially on 25 March, which was thus of importance as regards
contracts, leases, rents and so on. Apart, however, from its religious and
legal significance, it had little effect on popular tradition. High winds were
expected on this day, and if it coincided with Easter Sunday people feared
that the following harvest would be poor, with consequent of food. THE BORROWED DAYS According to the old story AN tSEAN-BHó RIABHACH, the old Brindled Cow,
boasted that even the rigours of March could not kill her, whereupon March
borrowed three days from April, and, using these with redoubled fury, killed
and skinned the poor old cow. Henceforth the first three days of April
traditionally bring very bad weather and are known as Laethanta na
Riabhaiche, 'The Reehy Days,' 'the Borrowed (or Borrowing) Days', the
Skinning Days' and other names. Some people reckoned the days in the Old
Style, thus Amhlaoibh O Súilleabháin in 1827: 'This, the twelfth day of April,
is the first of the three days of the old brindled cow, namely three days
which the weather of Old March took from the beginning of Old April.' In parts
of the north of Ireland the story was more elaborate, with nine borrowed days
instead of three: TRI LÁ LOMARTHA AN LOINN (Three days for fleecing the black-bird, 'The first nine days of April are called the "borrowing days". The old
legend relates that the black-bird, the stone-chatter, and the grey cow bid
defiance to March after his days were over; and that, to punish their
insolence, he begged of April nine of his days, three for each of them, for
which he repaid nine of his own.' (Ulster Journal of Archaeology, 1861
-2). MAY DAY May Day, the first day of Summer, was a most important landmark in the
Irish countryman's year. It was a 'gale day', when his tenancy began or ended,
on which a half-year's rent must be paid to the landlord; The letting and
grazing and meadowing usually dated from 1 May, and farm servants and workmen
were hired at this time. Signs of the weather, the appearance of the sky and
of the May moon, the strength and direction of the wind, the amount of rain,
were all carefully noted on May Day as indications of the coming summer's
weather. In different parts of the country it was held that one should not
dig, whitewash, bathe or sail on May Day, the various explanations given for these prohibitions indicate on
the one hand a reluctance to engage in any activity which might seem to have a
magical purpose and on the other a feeling that danger was to be avoided at a
time when ill-luck or evil influence might prevail. In Ireland the principal
customs and ceremonies of Maytime were those which welcomed the Summer.
Whatever the origin of these, they were in recent centuries mainly of festive
character, an opportunity for merrymaking and holiday fun. Nevertheless there
lay behind them a slight element of the magical. The children set up their May
bush in the same spirit in which the grown ups hang out our flags on a
national holiday, to celebrate an occasion, but some, at least, of their
parents were glad of the feeling of protection against unseen forces which the
May bush gave. WHITSUNTIDE In the Irish tradition Whit Sunday (Pentecost) is a very unlucky day, a day
on which all precautions must be taken against accident and ill fortune.
Nobody should engage in any dangerous occupation nor should anyone set out on
a journey. People, especially children, who are ill, are more likely to die at
this time than at others. In parts of the midlands a counter-charm to this
evil influence was the laying of a green sod on the head of the sufferer; by
this mimicry of burial it was hoped that ultimely death was warded off. MIDSUMMER The midsummer ceremonies were almost all connected with the Midsummer fire,
and in the greater part of Ireland were observed on 23 June, the eve of the
feast of St John the Baptist. In several parts of north Connaught and west
Ulster the story is told that St John was martyred by being burned alive, and
that the Midsummer fires lighted on St John's Eve, are in pious commemoration
of the saint's death. See also: MIDSUMMER. THE FIRST OF THE HARVEST This was a favourite time for patterns at blessed wells and other local
shrines. In this it resembles other great festivals, but a number of these,
held upon heights, are apparently connected with the hill gatherings. In THE
FESTIVAL OF LUGHNASA, Máire Mac Neill lists and describes thirteen of these,
as well as eighty blessed wells venerated at this time; See also: LUGHNASAD. #
174 IRISH CELTIC MAGICAL TRADITION, THE There is a wealth of written material still available today which is equal
in its spiritual content to the well-known works of the East such as the
UPANISHADS, the TAO TE CHING, the BHAGAVAD GITA, the Egyptian BOOK OF THE DEAD
and the plethora of other such works very mush in vogue among today's students
of things spiritual and magical. The difference is that whereas most Eastern
philosophies are nowadays easily accessible - mainly as a result of the wealth
of books written about them which explain their more subtle points - their
Western equivalents are couched in the form of stories and legends which, on
the surface, appear to be no more than barbaric and fantastic accounts of
rather brutal battles and the goings-on of extremely dubious characters.
Consequently such works have been largely ignored by those on magical or
spiritual quests, and it is very difficult to obtain any form of instruction
or interpretation concerning these legends, either in written or oral form.
This situation has been changing in recent years, however. There has been an
upsurge of interest in the Arthuriad, the Welsh Mabinogi legends and the
Matter of Britain generally. The term 'Western Mystery Tradition' has been coined to cover these areas
of native research and study, and readers of Steve Blamires' book: THE IRISH
CELTIC MAGICAL TRADITION will in its Bibliography find a huge list of
recommended works, which have been written by authors who have not only deeply
studied the Western Mystery Tradition but are also active practitioners of it.
There is, however, another even more ancient and powerful system still extant
in the West; details of it are to be found in the surviving legends of the
Irish Celts, legends which have been preserved in ancient manuscripts and, to
a certain extent, in the living oral tradition of Ireland and the West of
Scotland. Several such Irish Celtic legends contain within them the seeds of
the whole Celtic philosophy in general, and each individual legend
demonstrates specific points and aspects of this Irish tradition in detail.
Blamires' book concentrate on an examination of the ancient Irish legend of
THE BATTLE OF MOYTURA. This legend contains within it the essence of the Irish
Celtic spiritual and magical system as well as a great deal of practical
instruction and information on the various techniques and attitudes needed to
live successfully both in this world and in the Otherworld. In order to
understand and appreciate fully the contents of this ancient Irish allegory it
is necessary to put aside temporarily one's modern way of thinking and outlook
on life and to adopt, as far as possible, the same way of thinking and
understanding as was used by the ancient Irish Celts, who put this unique
system together originally over two thousand years ago. To do this, two main
changes in attitude have to be adopted which will help to open up a deeper
understanding of the incredible of this seemingly simple tale of battles and
magical feats. The first major change necessary is to do away with one's
normal concept of linear time, the neat and orderly flow of events, one after
the other, in a straightforward and to a certain extent predictable manner.
The events described in THE BATTLE OF MOYTURA seem to the modern mind to jump
forwards and backwards in time and, in some places, to be outside the effect
of time altogether. This does not matter. Simply accept such passages as they
are and do not try to fit them into our modern concept of time which dictates
that everything must follow the neat order of Start - Middle - End. Our modern
concept of linear time is very inaccurate; once this is understood and
accepted a great deal of apparently puzzling or meaningless information
becomes very clear and valuable. The second change in thinking, and probably
the most important, is to look upon everything, absolutely everything, as
existing on three distinct yet interlocking levels. These levels, for ease of
reference, is called the physical level the mental level, and
the spiritual level. This tripartite outlook on life is crucial to a
true understanding of the Celtic philosophy and magical system, and if one can
adopt this attitude initially without questioning it, then it will soon become
obvious why it is necessary, and why it is in fact the most accurate way to
view this world, the Otherworld, and all that both contain. The truth behind
this, according to Steve Blamires, will become apparent as the inner meanings
of the text are explained. See also: BATTLE OF MOYTURA, THE. #
75 IRISH ELK Fossil remains of the 'Irish Elk' from prehistoric times portray an animal
six feet high with horns that sometimes measured eleven feet between the tips.
The belief has persisted that this creature became extinct because its antlers
were so cumbersome. This is not true. It died out because of the climate.
Furthermore the Irish elk was not an elk but a species of deer. It lived not
only in Ireland, but in Great Britain, northern and central Europe, and
western Asia. # 118 IRISH KINGS, TALES OF THE TRADITIONAL Many of the most interesting early Irish tales deal, not with Finn and his
companions, the Ulster heroes, or Ireland's early settlers, but with
traditional kings of Ireland or with persons connected with them. These kings
are by no means all fictitious. The existence of many of them is duly attested
by historical evidence. Upon their historical deeds there has, however, often
been engrafted such a mass of legend that truth is hardly distinguishable from
fiction. Though these stories do not fall into any one of the main cycles of
early Irish literature, we should recall that some of them come from an
authentically ancient period and may originally have formed parts of other
cycles that have now all but disappeared. Certainly Irish literature would be
much the poorer without the spirited accounts of the Lepracaun king and of the
king cured of his gluttony by the ruse of a wandering cleric. #
166 IRISH LANGUAGE, THE Documents in Irish using the normal Roman alphabet do not begin until after
Christianity had been accepted by the greater part of the people of Ireland.
Omitting ogham inscriptions, the earliest contemporary records to survive are
glosses and marginalia in manuscripts which have been preserved on the
Continent. The most important of these are the mid-eight-century
glosses, or annotations, on a text of the Epistles of Paul in the Codex
Paulinus at Würzburg, and the ninth century glosses on a commentary on the
Psalms in the Codex Ambrosianus at Milan. This fairly substantial body of
writing is the product of a culture which Christianity and Latin learning have
permeated: (i) although some native terms were available from the ogham
tradition, a whole new vocabulary relating to literacy had been introduced
into Irish from Latin; (ii) religious and ecclesiastical terms had, of course,
been freely adopted; (iii) furthermore Irish society had been introduced to
ideas and artefacts well removed from the core of Christian concepts and
organisation (see Table below). As in modern literary English, all the words
in an Irish sentence in these texts may be of Latin derivation: ro-légsat
canóin fetarlaici 'they have read the Old Testament text'; lég- from
the Latin lego; canóin from Latin canon, fetarlaic- from an
inflicted form (e.g. veteri legi) of the phrase vetus lex 'old
law'. On the other hand, the traditional vocabulary may be entirely adequate
for the expression of some concepts associated with the new learning:
ar-ecar a n-ainm i ndiúitius ocus ni arecar in Briathar acht i
gcomsuiddigud 'The noun is found in simplex, and the verb is found only in
compound'. TABLE: A sample of words of Latin origin in Old Irish (Old Irish
spelling)
The monks who wrote the glosses sometimes disgressed from their study and
annotation of texts to pen verses which they had either composed themselves,
or were part of their contemporary literary repertoire: Dom-Farcai Fidbaide
Fál, Fom-chain Loid Luin - Lúad Nád Cél éas mo Lebrán, ind Linech, Fom-chain
Trirech inna n-én. - 'A screen of woodland overlooks me, a blackbird's lay
sings to me - I will not decline to mention it - above my little book, the
lined one, the twittering of the birds sings to me'. The fact is that these scholars were not succumbing to another, more
powerful, culture. They were, on the contrary, the confident bearers of a
vigorous tradition which, as they saw it, was through their mediation being
enriched by the new religion and new learning. They were proud of the victory
of Christianity and, with Oengus writing in the year 800 or so, could
boast: Ro-milled in genntlecht ciarbo ligdae lethan 'Paganism has been
destroyed though it was splendid and widespread'. They did evidently regard the native cultural heritage as worthy of
interest and, as many of them were no doubt direct heirs to the traditional
learning, it is not surprising that they devoted some of their new literary
scholarship to making a record of the secular literature. The result is that
Ireland possesses in the Irish language, as N. K. Chadwick, the well-known
English scholar, says, 'a greater wealth of carefully preserved oral tradition
from the earliest period of our era than any other people in Europe north of
the Alps. For this reason the foundation of her early history from traditional
materials is of general interest far beyond her geographical and political
area, and second only to that of the ancient Greek and Roman world'. #
488 IRNAN Lays Finn under geise to engage in single combat; She was one of three
magical hag sisters who sought to enchant the Fianna. Irnan changed into the
shape of a monster and challenged any of the troop to fight with her. Fionn
accepted but Goll intervened and killed her. # 454 - 562 IRON, COLD A knife, or a cross of iron, are sovereign protections against witchcraft
and evil magic of all kinds. A pair of open scissors hung above a child's
cradle is said to protect it from being carried off by the fairies. It is a
dual protection because it is in the form of a cross, and is also made of
steel. See also: PROTECTION AGAINST FAIRIES. # 100 IRON-AGE SHIP The ship a well-recognised form of sepulchral enclosure in cemeteries of
the Iron-age. # 562 IRONSIDE The name of the Red Knight of the Red Lands, defeated by Gareth. He became
a Knight of the Round Table and was father of Sir Raynbrown. # 156 -
418 ISCA LEGIONIS (Isca Legionum). See: CITY OF THE LEGION. ISEO In Spanish romance, the daughter of Tristan who married King Juan of
Castile. See: TRISTAN THE YOUNGER. # 156 - 210 ISEULT 1. The daughter of King Anguish of Ireland who was married to King Mark of
Cornwall, but also, as the result of drinking a love potion, hopelessly
enamoured of Tristan. When she heard of Tristan's death, she died of a broken
heart. Her name is not Irish, but derived from Ancient British Adsiltia
(she who is gazed on). Attempts to associate her with Chapelizod, Dublin,
are due to a false derivation of that place name. 2. Tristan's wife, whom he married when he had parted with Iseult of
Ireland, was called Iseult of the White Hands. She is variously called the
daughter of Hoel of Brittany and Jovelin, Duke of Aroundel. Tristan had
nothing to do with her, as he still loved Iseult of Ireland, a fact she
naturally resented. When Tristan was fatally wounded, he sent for Iseult of
Ireland, hoping she could heal him. The ship sent for her was to have white
sails if she were aboard on its return, but black sails if she had declined to
come. Iseult of the White Hands, seeing the ship had white sails, lied about
them to Tristan who died before his beloved's arrival, as a result of hearing
the falsehood. There seem to be classical influences here - the stories of
Paris and Oenone and of Theseus and Aegeus. The Icelandic version of the story
says the second Iseult was Spanish and claims she was given to Tristan when he
defeated the King of Spain. 3. The name of Tristan's god-daughter. 4. The Queen of Ireland, mother of Iseult, wife of Mark. # 61 - 104 - 156 - 204 - 217 - 256 ISLAND The western paradise island had many names: Isles of the Blest, Fortunate
Isles, or Avalon, the Celts' Apple Isle that supported the Tree of Life.
Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote: 'The Isle of Apples was also called Fortunate
Isle, because all the vegetation grew there naturally with no need of
cultivation... nine sisters ruled over it... and one of them surpassed all the
others in beauty and power. Her name was Morgan and she taught how plants
could be used to cure illness. She knew the art of changing her outward form
and could fly through the air.' The GESTE REGUM BRITANNIAE said it was an
island in the midst of the ocean, where people were always young, and there
was no sickness, crime, war, or uncomfortable weather. 'A royal virgin, fairer
than the fairest, governed that island.' Celtic island paradises were always
ruled by women. The island's Cauldron of Regeneration was sought, in Celtic
lore, by the god Bran or Maelduin, who went on a voyage to the western land of
immortality, known as the Land of Women. He was later restyled by the Irish
church into a mythical Saint Brendan, abbot of Clonfert. A spurious life of
the saint was produced in the tenth century, five hundred years after his
purported lifetime. There he was said to have voyaged westward in search of a
magic Land of Promise. Where the earlier heroes went in search of the Land of
Women, Saint Brendan went in search of paradise, showing that the land of
Women is the Celtic conception of heaven. Such was the perception of sexuality
as a regenerative, divine force to be channeled through women - until ascetic
patriarchy relegated all such ideas to the realm of heresy and witchcraft. It
is interesting to note that the semipagan ballads of the folksingers named
Fairyland as neither heaven nor hell in the Christian sense, but a different
place altogether. # 701 p 341 ff ISLAND OF THE EAGLE Voyage of Maelduin. Island 29. Commentary. This island brings the
experience of complete renewal. The ancient eagle is restored to full vigour and is able to fly away as
strong as any young bird. Diurán shares in the healing bounty of the
berry-reddened lake and proclaims his experience to all people he meets
thereafter by the amazing youthfullness of his form. It is often remarked that
those who engage in spiritual pursuits remain miraculously youthful in
appearance. This is part of the otherworldly exchange: those who uphold the
harmony of the inner realms are themselves upheld by otherworldly powers in
the mundane realm. # 437 p 55 ISLANDS - VOYAGE OF MAELDUIN Voyage of Maelduin. Strange adventures of Maelduin and his companions on
wonderful Islands; Island of the Slayer; of the Ants; of the Great Birds; of
the Fierce Beast; of the Giant Horses; of the Stone Door; of the Apples; of
the Wondrous Beast; of the Biting Horses; of the Fiery Swine; of the Little
Cat; of the Black and White Sheep; of the Giant Cattle; of the Mill; of the
Black Mourners; of the Four Fences; of the Glass Bridge; of the Shouting
Birds; of the Anchorite; of the Miraculous Fountain; of the Smithy; of the Sea
of Clear Glass; of the Undersea; of the Prophesy; of the Spouting Water; of
the Silvern Column; of the Pedestal; of the Women; of the Red Berries; of the
Eagle; of the Laughing Folk; of the Flaming Rampart; of the Monk of Tory; of
the Falcon. # 562 ISLANDS OF THE DEAD See: MANANAN. ISLE OF LIFE A place, possibly identical with the Isle of Wight, where the ancient
British kings Gaddifer and Perceforest enjoyed a prolonged existence. # 156 -
198 ISLE OF MAN Supposed throne of Mananan. # 562 ITALY, NORTHERN Celts conquer Northern Italy from Etruscans; Murgen and Eimena sent to
Northern Italy by Sanchan Torpest, to discover the 'Tain'. #
562 ITH # 562: Son of Bregon, grandfather of Miled; shores of Ireland perceived by
Ith from Tower of Bregon; learns of Neit's slaying; welcomed by Mac Cuill and
his brothers; put to death by the three Danaan Kings. # 454: He sailed from
Spain to arbitrate in a quarrel about the division of Ireland between three
kings of the Tuatha de Danaan. So eloquent was his speech, that they feared he
might seek to be king himself, and so he was killed. Miled set out to avenge
his uncle. # 454 - 469 - 562 ITHER Arthur's cousin, the son of Uther's sister, he had been raised by his uncle
and became the King of Kukumarlant. He claimed Arthur's throne and stole a
golden cup from him. He was killed by Perceval. # 156 -
748 ITONJE A sister of Gawain who married King Gramoflanz. # 156 -
748 IUBAR MAC RIANGABRA See: RIANGABAR. IUBDAN (youb-dan). King of the Wee Folk; Bebo, wife of Iubdan; Bebo and Iubdan
visit King Fergus in Ulster. # 562 IUCHABAR (yew-ha-var) One of three sons of Turenn; Brigit, mother of Iucharba.
Brother of Brian mac Tuirenn, who slew Cian, Lugh's father. # 454 -
562 IUCHAR ( ew-har) One of three sons of Turenn; Brigit, mother of Iuchar. Brother of
Brian mac Tuirenn, who slew Cian, Lugh's father. # 454 -
562 IVOINE The original name, in French romance, of Moine (Constans). #
156 IVOIRE The sister of Ban who married King Constantine of Britain. They had three
children: Ivoine (Constans), Pandragon (Ambrosius) and Uther. #
156 IVOR A huntsman who raised Meriadoc. # 156 IWERET The father of Iblis, wife of Lancelot, in Ulrich. He was the lord of
Beforet. He raided the territory of Mabuz, Lancelot's foster-brother, and
Lancelot subsequently killed him. He may be of Celtic origin, from Ywerit, the
father of Bran, or is possibly identical with Ibert. # 156 -
686
Ó'm lá-sa amach
agus leath mo lae féinigh
from my day onward
and half of my own
day.
TRI LÁ SGIUTHANTA AN CHLAIBHREÁIN,
AGUS TRI
LÁ NA BÓ RIABHAIGHTE.
Three days of punishment for
the stone-chatter,
And three days for the grey cow.)
Irish
Latin
English
(i) terms related to literacy
lebor
liber
book
légaid
legit
reads
line
linea
line
litir
litera
letter
scribaid
scribit
writes
(ii) religious and ecclesiastical terms
aingel
angelus
angel
altóir
altaria
altar
bendacht
benedictio
blessing
caindleóir
candelarius
candle-stand
demon
daemon
demon
eclais
vespor
vesper
grád
gradus
order
ifern
infernus
hell
maldacht
maledictio
curse
oróit
oratio
prayer
peccad
peccatum
sin
relic
reliquiae
cemetery
riagol
regula
rule
sacart
sacerdos
priest
umaldóit
humilitas (-atis)
humility
(iii) various other terms
bárc
barca
boat
cathair
cathedra
chair
cucann
cocina
kitchen
metur
metrium
wooden vessel
muilenn
molinum
mill
saiget
sagitta
arrow
sorn
furnus
furnace
ungae
uncia
ounce