T, tinne, the holly. Tuesday. Truith, the starling; temen, deep grey; July 8 until August 4. TA, obs. water. Thus words such as tabach, marine. T-OSGAR, AN, the spirit of life; the life force. Men were thought born with a finite life-spirit, which could be replenished but not to the point of immortality. Death was the draining of the final dredges of this source of power. TABH, TAIBH, the sea, the ocean, from ON. haaf, the open sea as opposed to inland or enclosed seas. In Norse mythology mer-people are referred to as the haafmannr. See tabhs. TABH, TABHALL, a sling, EIr. taball, a casting device, root tab, to fire, to sling, Eng. stab. Note next. TÁBHALL-LORG. Tablet staff, the wooden repositories for records, poetry, genealogy and history. Similar to the ollamhs, which were kept on simple rods of wood. The lorg were distinguished as taibhli-filidh, “poet’s staffs;” tamlorga filidh, “death staffs,” and flesc filidh, “feathered staffs.” The Brehon Laws said that none but poets could carry such property. Made of birch or beech, these tablets could be opened in the fashion of a fan. In a few instances yew wood was preferred. See ogham. TABHS, TAIBHS, TAIBHSE, a ghost, or spirit, of the dead; a ghost of the living; the visible totem animal of an individual. OIr. taidbse, a vision, closely allied with the
Transcript
T, tinne, the holly. Tuesday. Truith, the starling; temen,deep grey; July 8 until August 4.
TA, obs. water. Thus words such as tabach, marine.
T-OSGAR, AN, the spirit of life; the life force. Men werethought born with a finite life-spirit, which could bereplenished but not to the point of immortality. Death wasthe draining of the final dredges of this source of power.
TABH, TAIBH, the sea, the ocean, from ON. haaf, the open seaas opposed to inland or enclosed seas. In Norse mythologymer-people are referred to as the haafmannr. See tabhs.
TABH, TABHALL, a sling, EIr. taball, a casting device, roottab, to fire, to sling, Eng. stab. Note next.
TÁBHALL-LORG. Tablet staff, the wooden repositories forrecords, poetry, genealogy and history. Similar to theollamhs, which were kept on simple rods of wood. The lorgwere distinguished as taibhli-filidh, “poet’s staffs;”tamlorga filidh, “death staffs,” and flesc filidh, “featheredstaffs.” The Brehon Laws said that none but poets couldcarry such property. Made of birch or beech, these tabletscould be opened in the fashion of a fan. In a few instancesyew wood was preferred. See ogham.
TABHS, TAIBHS, TAIBHSE, a ghost, or spirit, of the dead; aghost of the living; the visible totem animal of anindividual. OIr. taidbse, a vision, closely allied with the
English phantom. Men were believed accompaniedthroughout their lives by invisible external souls termedthe bafinne. At the approach of death these cowalkersappeared first to the victim and then approached hisrelatives to inform them of the passing. Eigheach taibhse annochd, the cry of a spiritual manifestation. Taibhsean an t-sleibh, the “ghosts of the moor.” Taibhseireireachd, theability to perceive the ghost world, “second-sight.” theobservation of the unseeen world. The warder of spirits ofthe dead was believed to be the detatched soul of the lastperson dead and buried in a given community. Guardianshipof this kind was never considered an enviable posting andwhen two men died at about the same time their relativesstruggled mightily to get their man or woman undergroundfirst. See fair’e chlaidh.
TABHSEAR, TAIBHSEAR, a person gifted with the two sights,taibhs, apparition; ear, eastern. See an dara selladh.Related to the English seer. Dr. Keith Norman Macdonaldspeaks of an example of the second sight on the Isle ofSkye: "At that time merry-making at harvest-homes wasmuch more common than at the present day. A veryhandsome and well known couple were entertaining theirworkers and friends and, and everybody was as happy aspossible. Among (the guests) was a well known taibhsear,or “second-sight seer,” who was noticed by a friend to turnghastly pale all of a sudden and left the room. His friendfollowed him and asked what was the matter. The seerreplied, "It does not concern you, but before long a tragicevent will take place in this house." He had seen thehostess in her shroud. A fortnight after this occurrence thehostess, who was apparently in the best of health, wasdressing to go out in a party when suddenly she droppeddown dead in the bedroom." (Celtic Magazine, 1901, p. 147).
TABHSEAR, TAIBHSEAR BREAMAS, the Brahan Seer; bra,mill-stone. Holed stones were often considered peep-holesinto the unseen world. Brahan Castle was long theresidence of the Mackenzies of Seaforth. Their doom wassaid predicted with uncanny accuracy by "Sallow" Kenneth,
"the Brahan Seer", who used his "long sight" to perceive theCount of Seaforth in bed with some French ladies. When herelayed this information to his mistress she reacted byhaving the soothsayer confined in a spiked barrel and rolleddown a hill. Her husband arrived too late to save themagician from cursing the family with his dying breath.This is a colourful but unlikely tale since there is record ofthe seer's execution before the Earldom was created: InJanuary 1577 a writ was issued to "apprehend, imprison andtry Kenneth, alias Kennoch Owir, principal or leader in theart of magic."
TABHSHEIS, the bull feast. A ceremony in which a highdruid would eat the flesh of a bull and drink its blood.Sleeping with indigestion, this individual dreamed of thenext high-king. It was thought that if he lied about thingsseen in the dream the gods would punish him. As part of therites the king-to-be bathed in bull’s blood and ate and drankits substance. The bull-god was Lugh. See tarbh.
TABHLEIS, TAIBHLEIS, obsolete form of taileasg, a boardgame, fidchell, similar to the English word tables.Literally, "nicked at the tables," or “Taken to the cleaners.”Having reference to its use as a tool of gaming.
TACHAIR, meet, happen. Manx taghyrt, an accident, ahappening, from to + car, “to turn.” See next.
TACHARAN, a ghost, the yelling of a ghost; an orphan, onealone in the world. Particularly the spiritual remnant, orunattached befinn, of an unbaptized child.
TACHARRA, changeling, a dwarf or pigmy.
TADG, TADHG MAC CIAN, (Teig), A Poet, Many-Layered. Deep.The son of Cian, king of Munster. He allied himself withCormac mac Art and was wounded in battle against theUlstermen. Cormac promised him whatever land he couldencircle with his chariot immediately after the battle.Cormac knew that Tadhg coveted Tara, which, at that time,
came complete with the high-kingship of Ireland. Since thehero was swooning from battle wounds, the king was able tobribe Tadhg’s charioteer to describe a path that would cutoff Tara. Angered by this duplicity Tadhg slew his driver.
As heir to a portion of Munster Tadhg made the roundsof his father’s kingdom, and happened to wander into Beiredo Bhunadas in the far west of that land when a Fomorianpirate named Cathmann surrounded his party and took hiswife Liban and his two brothers as slaves. Tadhg managedto cut himself free of his enemies and afterwards orderedthe building of a curragh suitable for a long ocean-voyageinto the western islands. “Very strong it was and had fortyox-hides on of red leather that had been soaked in bark. Itwas fitted with masts, and oars and pitch, and everythingthat was wanting. And they put every sort of meat and drinkand of clothes in it, that would last them through the lengthof as year. It is said that they sailed beyond sight of allland and then rowed westward through twenty days andnights and finally came “to high land having a smoothcoast.”
Here, Tadhg and thirty of his men scouted the land butfound vacant farms, wild sheep and a belligerent ram. Tadhgmade a lucky cast of his spear and impaled and killed theanimal. Afterwards “they found the bones of very big men onthe island but did not know if they had died of sickness orwere killed by the rams.” Leaving this island they sailed totwo other islands where they noted birds, somewhat likeblackbirds but the size of eagles “with red and greenheads.” Their nests contained eggs that were coloured blueand crimson, and when they ate some they were troubled byallergic skin reactions. The “foreigner” who was their pilotsaid that he had come this way before, but now the shipsturned into unknown waters through which they passed for aperiod of six weeks. When the wind rose the voyagers saidthat its sound was like that of many tramping feet, “and itpiles up in great mountains which were hard to climb.”
Finally, the curragh came into safer waters and
beached at a land where there was a beautiful inletsurrounded by green trees. It was said that the bottom ofthe estuary was of a glittering silvery sand. Two dozenexplorers set out for the hinterland where they foundfruiting apple trees, oak trees and hazels overburdened withnuts. Inland, they encountered three fortresses on hillsoverlooking a plain, and visited each in turn, where theyencountered Gaelic heroes long dead. They visited last withthe mythic Clidona and remained as her guests for a year.Afterwards they departed for Ireland led by a company ofmagical birds which guided them into the Atlantic. As theysailed away the Dead Isles became veiled in “druidic mistsand they were plunged into a deep sleep which continueduntil they arrived at the Fomorian island of Fresen, whichwas ruled by their enemy, the king called Cathmann. After ahard fight Tadg liberated his wife and brothers and allreturned safely to Ireland.
TADG MAC NUADA. A druid and the father of Murna of theWhite Neck. She was the mother of the famed Fionn macCumhail. See Cumhail and Murna.
TAGHAIRM, TAIGHAIRM, an echo, divination by listening tothe fall of water. Ir. toghairm, a summons or petition, fromOIr. togairm, an invocation addressed to the gods. From to +gairm, a call to the sky. Related is tagradh, a ghost.
Said to be "the most savage of all sorcery." Describedin A.J. Macdonald's book as "the most devastating andcertain but also the most difficult (magic)." He defines itas "the spirit-call". The story-teller, Gary Hugh of Uist,says that a prince of the islands divided his inheritancebetween two daughters. Olga received Griminish and thewest of Uist while Val was given Vallay and lands in thenorth. Olga, jealous of her sister on account of her greatbeauty, decided to eliminate her using sorcery. She madeenquiries of the greatest magicians and hired Grimm. WhileVal and her retainers were at sea in a longship, themagician called upon a taghairm of rats and these spiritsstirred up a violent storm that drowned all in the tidal
channel separating Rona and Grimsay. Val's nurse-maidbecame suspicious of the situation when Grimm was givenVal's inheritance as his sorcerer's fee. She led resistanceagainst Grimm and he and his forces were cut down at theRiver Bafinn. Olga was banished to a rocky ledge namedOlga's Chair looking out over Sgrifearnach, ironically theplace where the taghairm had been set in motion.
In his book, Occult Elements, the Rev. NormanMacDonald says that the last taghairm was performed on theIsle of Skye during the 1770's. "Obviously, the taghairm,some forms of which could be used to bring about therealization of evil wishes, was very strongly frowned uponby the Church... Carmichael provides a rather detaileddescription of consulting an invisible oracle, which includesthe taghairm of cats (1695).
Mr. Alexander Cooper was one of his informants aboutthe use of this rite as it occurred on the island ofLewis...the medium often reported severe after effects. Inthis taghairm, the medium was sometimes wrapped in afresh cow-hide and left all night in a solitary place wherehe was expected to receive a visit from invisible cat-spirits who would provide an answer to his question or giveother aid in achieving an evil wish. In the taghairm of cats,other activities were also involved...e.g. live cats would becontinuously roasted on a spit. A legion of devils wouldthen appear, in the guise of screeching black (spirit) catswith their master at the head." (The Hebridean Connection,p. 422).
The Camerons of Lochiel tell us that the “Yell ofCats” was last heard on the Isle of Mull in the seventeenthcentury. “After the completion of these rights the votarieswere entitled to demand two boons. A Cameron performedthe ceremony as instructed and was given a magical silvershoe with instructions to place it on the left foot of everyson born to the family. This custom was observed until the“fairy-shoe” was lost, and afterward Lochiel’s house wasconsumed by fire in 1747. It was said that the silver birth-
right invariably fit all of the children, except one, up untilthat time and that it protected them from premature death.The one child whose fit was a misfit turned his back on afoe at Sheriffmuir and was killed.
TAGRADH, a ghost, Sutherlandshire, Scotland. Confers withthe next.
TAIBHS, TAIBHSE, TAIBHSEACH, TABHS, (pronounced tav), anapparition or ghost, Ir. taibhse, a vision, ghost, MIr.taidhbais, OIr. taidbse, from to-ad-bat, that which “showsitself.” a thing that “speaks.” related is the Eng. phantasmand phantom, runners for the souls of men. Ghosts of livingmen. Middle Irish, tadhbais a phantom. Tais, moist, damp,dank, soft, untempered, faint-hearted, cold, without spirit.pitiful. Taisbean, vision, revelation, apparition, taisdealach,wanderer, person who scuds or vanishes, ghost, taise, deadbodies, relics of saints, taisal, a ghost. The root word istad, that which speaks or otherwise shows itself from theOld Irish togu, to taste strange things, to choose.
The equivalent of the English fetch, co-walker, runner,soul-shadow, guardian, guardian angel, or double. a geist;the ghost of a living or recently departed individual. TheNorse knew these as the fylgiar. More commonly, atpresent, an apparition or ghost, a vision. Confers with theEnglish, phantasm. Runners were gifted upon people by thecreator-god at birth, prominent individuals being givenmore than one protector. Taibhs acted as forerunners,making their human aware of future events; as backrunners,perceiving the past; and as spies on current events. Theypossessed ultra-sensitive vision, hearing, touch, taste andsmell and travelled as invisible heralds or followers oftheir ward, but could appear as a totem animal. Theysometimes materialized, leading to situations of bilocation.The runner appeared before each individual or his relativesas an omen of death, and they were then seen as fire-ballscalled corpse-candles or gophers.
At night, the spirits of men entered their runners and
travelled with these wraiths. Bad dreams were seen asreflections of quarrels between runners. The runner waslong absent in fevers and comas, and departed at death.People who could project themselves into their taibhs weresaid to have "an da shealladh", the two sights, and couldpredict the future. Those who lacked a guardian were knownlocally as jonahs, jinxers or "droch-chomhalaichean", rent-payers to hell, and suffered bad luck. Witches supposedlyexchanged their runners for an imp, which took the visibleform of a familiar. The equivalent of the English fetch, co-walker, soul-dancer, shadow-person, guardian or guardianangel. Runners were gifted upon people at birth, importantsouls receiving more than one protector. The taibh had thecapacity to view the past or future and to examine distantevents in the present.
They were said to house a supplementary soul andtravelled invisibly, or as a totem animal, with the person towhom they were assigned. They sometimes materializedgiving rise to stories of bilocation, a person being seen atwidely separated places at the same time. The taibhbecame a forerunner of death when it materialized face-to-face with its master. As corpse-candles, gophers orfetches, these runners took the form of fireballs whichwarned relatives that a death was imminent in their family.The taibh sometimes announced death by becoming aknocker. At night the human soul was believed allied withits cowalker and bad dreams were seen as reflections ofactually travels in some parallel world.
The runner, and its travelling companion, were longabsent in hallucinatory states, madness and comas, anddeparted together at death. The few Gaels who couldproject themselves into their taibh at will were said tohave "an da shelladh", or the two sights, an ability to seethe past and future. Those with no extra-sensoryperceptions were the "droch-chomhalaichean" and sufferedexceptionally bad luck. The boabh supposedly exchangedthese useful spirits for a imp of the Devil. Whether thetaibh was a normal runner, or a familiar of a witch, it
passed through the air in going about its business, andexisted at the sufferance of the god Kari and his kind. Aswe have previously noted, familiars frequently showed theirattachment to the wind-spirits by taking the form of crows,ravens, owls, eagles and other birds of the air.
Mary L. Fraser described the appearance of aforerunner as a sea bird. Two Nova Scotian girls saw it onthe beach. When one tried to approach it the other warned,"Leave it alone, don't touch it, it is a taibhs." "And what isa taibhs?" asked the second girl. "It's a spirit," she replied,"We're going to get some bad news." Discussing thisphenomena in 1652, Lord Larbolt noted: "there were menand women and children who had the second sight; therewere children who had it but not the parents; some peoplehad it when they were old who did not have it in their youth;none of them could tell how they came to have it; but allsaid it was a gift of which they would gladly rid themselvesif possible. They saw the vision only as long as they keptlooking at it steadily. Those who had a strong heart usuallytook a good look at it, and they could see it for a longertime than the weak and timid. Those of strong will did nothave visions of the dead, but saw the living, and had nodoubt as to what they saw them do, or that what they sawhappen to them would actually occur just as they saw it.They could not tell what time might intervene before theevents in question might take place; but those who wereaccustomed to seeing such things had special rules by whichthey could make a close guess. For example, they could tellpretty well how soon a person was going to die by notinghow much of his form was covered by a shroud. If the wholeform was covered, the person was on his death bed."
While visions were seen by sighted people, this wasnot a prerequisite; a man might be blind, but his second-soul, housed in the taibhs, would not be afflicted. Thus, atSaint John in 1777, a blind man, far distant from the scene,was party to a vision of a judicial hanging. When hereported the details to his family, they were able toconfirm that his description was complete and correct in
every detail.
While most of these phantoms reported to their hostby way of a vision, the other senses were sometimesinvolved; thus there are reports of men and women whotasted, touched, or smelled happenings from another timeand place, or by one means or another, observed events at adistance.
Mary L. Fraser noticed that many of her fellows inAntigonish County, Nova Scotia would not consider walkingin the centre of a road after dark "for fear of encounteringphantom funeral processions." Undertakers who workedwith the dead throughout the year, often found their horsedrawn hearses crowded about with a host of taibhs andwere jostled and felt the touch of these runners for thedead as they tried to harness their horses. Often, theperson gifted with one type of extra-sensory perceptionwould lack other extra-sensory perceptions. Fraser noted"the persistent tradition that the spirits of the living (butsoon to be dead) rehearse the making of coffins."
In English-speaking communities, this ability wasoften termed clair-audience (as contrasted withclairvoyance, or the ability to see hidden places and events.)In researching her books on folklore, Helen Creightondiscovered that, "Many people are deaf to forerunners (thatis, unable to detect them at any level). Of six people sittingin a room with the body of a man who had just died, onlythree heard him call out the name of his wife."
Speaking of the taibhs as represented in the sense oftouch Joe Neil MacNeil said: "Somebody (from thecommunity) would say, rubbing his lips, "Indeed I feel theitch of a kiss (or the itch of a dram) today," And somebodyelse would say. "Oh, there is an itch in the palm of my righthand." Or someone else would say, "Indeed I am going toshake the hand of a stranger today." "And how do you meanthat?" "Oh, there is an itch in the palm of my right hand."Or someone might say, "Surely I am going to receive money
in a short time. There is an itch in my left palm." Andanother man would say, "And what does it mean when aperson's eye is quivering?" It was good news if it was theright eye and it was poor news...if it was the left eye. Andanother might say, "Lord how hot my ear is! It's almost onfire with the warmth in it. Someone is talking about me."People would ask the man, "Is it your right ear or your leftear?" "Oh my left ear." "Oh, well then, that's good enough.""And what is the reason for that?"..."Well, when the heat isin your right ear, they are making a lot of talk about you,and indeed it is probably not very good. But when the greatheat is in your left ear, they are making excuses for you." Ineach of the above cases the taibhs would be considered theagency responsible for the physical sensation, which wasintended as a message or a warning.
Mary L. Fraser said that "All the findings of LordLarbolt hold good for the second-sight in Nova Scotia,where many people are endowed with the gift. Sometimeswhole families have it to a greater or lesser degree The oldpeople watched carefully the colours of the eyes of a childwhen it was born. If it had, say, one eye blue and the otherbrown, they were on the look-out for the second-sight; forif at the end of a certain number of weeks the colours hadblended so that they could not tell which eye had been blueand which brown, the child was sure to have the gift. If thecolours did not blend, the child was normal." HelenCreighton found that the forerunner "usually deals withsounds. Foresight, on the other hand is visual. On the islandof Cape Breton it is known as double vision or double sightand people who have the gift are said to be double sighted.It occurs here mostly among those of Scottish descentalthough there are isolated instances among othergroups...Perhaps the word gift...is inappropriate. For a giftis a pleasurable attribute. This is not, for the vision isusually that of a funeral..."
At that, it has to be remembered that the taibhs was aghost of the living thus Malcolm Campbell, of Cape Breton,contended that, "A forerunner can be when you see a living
person...A stranger was going to come. And you'd see aforerunner of a stranger. It might have no connection withdeath at all." Fraser commented that, "It was a popularbelief among the Celts that if you wished yourself anywhereat night you were sure to appear there (at least as aninvisible spirit). If harm befell these apparitions, the rashwisher was also harmed. The apparition could be (halted inmid-journey) if to the words "I wish from the bottom of myheart or soul I was there," there were added, "but not with(this) night's wish." Thus it is shown that the taibhs wasconsidered an invisible double, a projection of a livingperson. It was held that these spirits were gifted upon menby the pagan gods, but they were counted as angels inChristian times, and the Cape Breton historian A.A.Mackenzie, assured his readers that the second-sight "isfrom God. It is only he who can really know the future..."The taibhs might be considered in this light, but thesespirit was suspected to be something less worthy than aguardian angel.
A Shelburne man confronted by the "ghost" of a sister,who was still among the living, gave his opinion as follows:"I wouldn't tell about it (the sighting) for ten years (untilafter her death) because it was considered bad luck to see aperson who wasn't there." It used to be said that thementally handicapped had the ability to travel through theair "at will." These people also possessed runners, but theirnight-worlds were thought to be less organized than that ofnormal men. Thus, it is likely that their psychic-travel wasmore a matter of random process than "a night's wish."
Mary L. Fraser tells the tale of an East Bay, CapeBreton family, which possessed a set of hand-made horn-spoons of a distinctive design when they lived in Scotland.They were forced to leave the old country in hurriedcircumstances, and these spoons were left behind. In thenew land their handicapped son was often observed to fallinto a trance-like state, and the family considered he wasthen "on his travels." After one of these incidents, thehorn-spoons were found in his possession, and it was
assumed he had actually managed a passage to Scotland andback, without the aid of a sailing ship. When he was a youngboy, Cleve Townsend, of Louisbourg, Nova Scotia, says hewas twice warned away from dangerous situations by hisown forerunner, who came to him as a wraith-like boy. Inthe first case, he was about to go fishing alone on theharbourwhen the taibhs materialized from the floor boards of thewharf motioning him toreturn home. He refused, but on the water, found his footcaught up in the anchor rope and was hauled to the bottomwith it. On the way down, he saw the face of the ghost-boyfrowning his displeasure. This time, he escaped injury, butwhen he encountered the same apparition in the cellar of hisown home, he retreated back up the stairs and "Foreverafter that I never went against them."
The use of the word "them" in the above sentence isinformative for it was understood that the gifted individualcould often see much more than his or her personal runner.Townsend made this clear by saying, "My father, he'd gointo the forest...and he'd sit down and talk with his ownfather...people in that world...I never went with him (but) Ican still speak with my father...He's a young man now. Whenhe comes he comes first with his (familiar) beard andeverything as I knew him (in life). And then after Irecognize him, he changes to what he is...My mother, thesame." Usually messages of impending doom were left to thetaibhs, but while Townsend was working as a Cape Bretonsteel plant in 1955 his runner warned him of approachingdoom. When he failed to take heed his father's ghostapproached him in broad daylight and said, "You stay on(working in) that plant much longer, you'll be leaving yourbones there." After that, Townsend left steel-making forfaith healing. Commenting on his knowledge of unseenworlds, the Cape Breton native said, "I've lived in twoworlds for over seventy years...the spirit world and theearth plane. You don't see them unless God gives youclairvoyant sight. I can hear them...At the beginning theirwords are like listening to a mosquito, and after a time it
increases, until it's clear. And I can speak to them. Thatworld is not a different world than the world we see.Sometimes when death comes to the physical body, the manwill go over and that world is so much like this that hedoesn't know where he is. He doesn't know he's out of bodyand dead. The inner man will live on, a million years, ahundred million years. There's no death for the inner man.The inner man is what controls this body, not you...There'sno hell over there. But of course, if a man lives a prettygood life, why he's going to find over there it's really goodand beautiful. But if he lives a life of sin and likes to killor something like that, his home over there will be the sameas down here, black as Egypt. And he may get one hundredyears or three hundred years of that."
Because of his gift, Cleve Townsend had expectationsof disaster when he heard three solid knocks, and noted,"...when I was a boy, I wouldn't let anyone else go to the doorbut me. I knew there was nobody there they could see...therewas always someone there from the other world...It wouldbe like to bring a warning about a death...I'd receive thethoughts from their mind...I would see a form, see their facebefore someone was to die."
Dan MacNeil of Cape Breton, had this to say of anothergifted individual "the Mackenzie girl of Christmas Island.""... in the night-time there'd be a knock at the door and alittle hand would show on the wall. And she'd go in whatyou'd call a trance...she'd go across to the other side...whenshe'd wake up from that trance she'd tell her neighbours,"this person, or that person died just a few minutes ago. Isaw him entering into heaven." And by gosh the neighbourdied at that certain time... They took her to priests andbishops and everything, and it was no use...she used to belike that every night...this last time, she went in a tranceand this old lady that died up there rear of ChristmasIsland, she was in heaven. And she told her, she says, "Youtell your father to go to my son, and look in the old trunk inthe attic, and you'll find a ring there, "she says. "And getthat ring,and put it on your finger and this'll never happen to
you again." This amulet negated the unwanted gift ofprecognition. Another local psychic saw no visions butcould predict the future: "Before a death I feel somethingbeside me all day and I can't get rid of it."
Those that could not see or touch the intangible oftenheard sounds generated by the taibhs. Joe Neil MacNeil says:"And people might hear a sound as if somebody was on thethreshold. They weren't hitting the door at all, youunderstand, there was no knock on the door but you wouldhear the stamping as if somebody put his foot on thethreshold though no one was there. And they would say. "Itwon't be long before a stranger comes to the house."
When it was suspected that men were in danger on thesea, their relatives used to consult gifted individuals, whomight send their runners out looking for signs of their fate.Cleve Townsend was consulted by Mrs. Captain Dan Harris,who once piloted a coal boat between the Island and Halifax.After peering through the "eyes" of his informant, Townsendwas able to reassure her: "Mrs. Harris, I got them. They'reall right so far. But I can see them all working, cutting ice,and the boat is leaning over, top heavy...Tomorrow morning,ten o'clock, you look out the harbour and you'll see yourhusband bringing in the towboat."
Townsend was also able employ his taibhs moredirectly when he worked as a telegrapher aboard the ship"Troja," which once sailed from Louisbourg to Saint John.This craft was off Grand Manan when, "The engine room wasfirst to fill with water, the boiler room (went) dead, sothere couldn't be a message sent... (nevertheless) a messagewas received in New Brunswick giving the exact longitudeand latitude, our exact position." The "Troja" was rescued,and Mr. Townsend could only conclude that his cowalker hadsomehow managed to act on his behalf.
Gifted individuals were thought related to the eldergods of the sea, thus they were never allowed to drown ordie by fire. These "caul-bearers" or lucky individuals were
usually sought as ship-mates because it was believed thattheir protective spirit shielded any ship on which theindividual travelled. On the other hand, the old gods weresometimes held in contempt as devils and Townsend had toadmit that a sailor from Forchu, knowing his reputation as apsychic and faith-healer, refused to travel with him aboardship.
In the best situations, the taibhs was engaged at beinghelpful: Folklorist Mary L. Fraser claimed that her fatherhad had a vision of her mother as a bride, long before thecouple had met. She also noted that Bishop MacDonald, ofAntigonish Nova Scotia, had routinely had childhood visionsof his father returning from distant journeys accompaniedby his two black horses. Members of the family wereamazed when the eight-year-old's predictions alwaysproved correct.
The Nova Scotian writer Roland H. Sherwood claimedthat a guardian of an individual working in the United Statesspoke to his mother at home in Nova Scotia, reassuring herthat he had escaped death in the Spanish Flu of 1918.During the Halifax explosion, December 6, 1917, threechildren managed to avoid death by playing truant for thefirst time in their lives. Questioned about their actions,none of them could explain why they had stayed clear of aschool that was almost totally demolished in the blast. Allreferred to having vague feelings of unease at the idea ofgoing to school on that day, and one said simply "It didn'tfeel right!" There are many other instances of men andwomen who were warned, or even physically barred, fromdangerous situations. In the days of horse-and-wagon, theanimals often balked at bridges hidden by darkness andstorm. However, when men tried to lead their animals intowash-outs they often ran up against invisible walls, werewarned by seeming voices in the wind, or were met byapparitions which indicated that they should not continue onthe way.
At Antigonish, a runner provides provided light in one
such situation: "It looked like a great big star and was sobright that it lit up the bridge that was one thousand feetlong." At that, most of the reports concerning the taibhshave represented the spirit as a forerunner of death. HelenCreighton was told that, "If a person is dying and thinking ofsomeone (to whom he is attached), he can make his presenceknown (briefly, prior to death)."
Presumably, the taibhs first presented himself to hishost and then went travelling to inform the next of kin.Since the gifted regularly saw their own runners, this wasnot a matter for concern. Those who occasionally saw theirtaibhs as a retreating form were pleased as this was anomen of long life. "There (also) used to be a theory that ifyou saw a forerunner early in the morning it (death) wasgoing to take a long time (occur at a remote time), but ifyou saw it late in the evening it was going to happen verysoon." The main thing was that the taibhs should remain ata decent distance; when it approached for a face-to-faceconfrontation this was thought to spell immediate death.Sometimes the taibhs materialized in groups.
This was the case at Southern Point, near Scatarie,Nova Scotia: At a shore-camp, which was a temporary hometo a number of fisherman, the door suddenly opened at twoo'clock in the morning. "In walked eight or ten men in theiroilskins. And they sat around the fire. And after a while(the solitary resident) kind of rubbed his eyes and there wasno one there." Two days later nine men fishing from the"Ringhorn" were lost at sea and the ghostly figures weretaken to be forerunners of these men.
Very few individuals were naturally equipped to viewtheir own or other people's shades, and vague premonitionsof danger were not always understood by the uninitiated.Perhaps recognizing this, the taibhs often intruded upon thedreams of the common folk. On a March evening, GeorgeSalter of Avondale, Nova Scotia, dreamed of drownedlumbermen being washed ashore. The night before five suchmen had left the Avondale wharf to raft timber down the
river, March 28, 1889. According to numerous witnessesthey were heard the men singing a tune entitled "Drifting,drifting to our doom..." This was thought odd since it wasalways considered an ill-omen to sing songs of loss anddestruction on the rivers or at sea. A woman of the districtlater said that she heard cries of terror and panic from theriver at nine o'clock, but if so they were not heard byothers, perhaps because the death throes were masked bychivaree celebrations going on simultaneously. At exactlythis time, Della Sweet, the wife of John, one of the men onthe raft heard her name called out, apparently in herhusband's voice. It was five days before bodies recovered,and men agreed that they had witnessed the taibhs.
Again, not many men experienced dreams that were asliteral as that of George Salter. The taibhs was neverdeliberately vague, but the connections between his worldand that of human kind seem to have been indistinct formost men. A coffin, or a coffin-shaped object, seen in adream seemed to have a symbolism as direct as that of deadbodies; and funeral parties, hearses, and the like, seemedopen to easy interpretation. Clergymen were seen as badluck at sea, and in dreams, as they were funeral orators.Dreaming of fire, or of hell, was considered unlucky; butthere were more obscure symbols of death: A boat seenlanding might be considered innocuous, but people of earliertimes remembered that the death-god often travelled bysea. Seeing teeth in a dream was considered a bad matterand people did not like to view broken eggs. Interestinglydreaming of an undertaker was thought to presage a longlife.
Where the taibhs was unable to gather the forceneeded for a materialization or the creation of a "sensible"dream it might still act as a harbinger in the form of anelemental fire, sometimes termed the "dead-light" or"corpse-candle." Summing up the views of numerousinterviewees, Helen Creighton described this phenomena as,"a ball of light...with a tail. The corpse-candle might travelin either direction between the home and grave-site of one
destined for death."
Mary L. Fraser noted that, "A light seen going veryquickly towards the graveyard was regarded as a sure signof death. A clear round light indicated the death of a man; alight with little rays or sparks after it, that of a woman. Ifyou could see the house it started from, you would knowwhere the victim was." This form of taibhs was so fearedthat a new boat built at Broad Cove, Nova Scotia, wasabandoned to the shore after corpse-candles seen on board.
When Cape Breton resident Malcolm Campbell wasasked about the present seeming scarcity of spirits of theliving, he said: "When people stop fishing, there's no fishthere. I heard this now in 1937. They used to fish off PortHood Island and Henry Island. And there was an awful lot offish, everybody was fishing. And the reason somebody toldme that there's no fish is nobody is fishing, there's no baiton the grounds. So why were the fish going to congregatethere? It's the same with other things, like seeing things,like forerunners."
TAIBHSEAR, a visionary. One who possessed the two sights,a foreteller and hindteller. Taibsearhachd, the art of thetwo-sights, bewildered conduct. It has been observed thatduring the event gifted individualks stared without blinkingas long as the vision persisted. If a happening was observedin the morning it was considered to forecast events in theafternoon; if at noon, later in the day; if an nighht, beforedawn of the next day. A shroud seen in the vision predicteda death in the clan or family, the imminence of the eventbeing related to how much of the body of the person seenwas enshrouded. If the shroud was about the feet there waslittle immediate danger; if about the middle, death wasthought likely within twelve months; if it came as high asthe head death was considered certain within hours. Aspark observed falling upon a persons arm meant that thatindividual would soon cradle a dying child. Individual seerswere not privy tro the same “waking dreams” but if onetouched another while in the trance state the vision was
relayed.
“By pretension to second sight, no profit was eversought or gained. It is an involuntary affection, in whichneither hope nor fear are known to have any part. Those whoprofess to feel it do not boast of it as a privilge, nor areconsidered bby others to be adventageously distinguished.They have no temptation to feign and there hearers ahve nomotive to encourage an imposture.”
TAIGEIS, haggis, the human scotum, a big-bellied person,from Scot. haggis, OFr. hachis, Eng. hash, allied with theverb to hack. TAILCENN, the Irish talcánta, strong. “Adze-headed,” Thename given St. Patrick by the druids of Ireland. They hadprophesied to King Laoghaire (428-463 AD) that “TheTaillcenn will come over furious sea, his mantle head-holed(hooded) his staff crooked-headed. His dish shall be in theeast, and all his children will evermore answer - Amen,amen!” The converted said of him: “Now Talcenn, thePatrick, has come into the land and has preached to us theOne God and Christ His Son, by whose might the old days aredone with, Finn and his Fionn, their fasting and huntinggone! Their songs of war and love have no reverence amongus whose prayers instead go up to cleanse of sins and saveus from the fires of judgement.”
TAILEASG, a ghost,, sport, a game, mirth.
TAILGEAN, obs. offspring of a god, Holy offspring, a Soldierof God.
TAILTU. The daughter of a Firbolg king she was married toEochaid mac Erc (sometimes equated with Manann mac Ler).She was the foster-mother of the sun-god Lugh and gave hername to present-day Telltown, Ireland.
TAIMH, death, mortality, silence, fainting, EIr. tam, plague;confers with tamh, to rest. Skr. tamyati, choke.
TAIMH-LEAC, stones placeed where a person has died.
TAIMHALICH, the odd soundsd emitted by house spirits justbefore the dwelling is occupied by men.
TAIMTHIU, bed-death. Never the preferred ending for a life.
TÅIN, cattle, a drove, spoils (of a cattle raid). A plunderingexpedition. The most famous of these was the Táin BóCuailgne which led to war between Connacht and Ulster.
TÅIN Bó CUAILGNE, the “Cattle Raid of Cooley.” The mostfamous epic in Gaelic mythology. The first reference to it inwritten form is mentioned by Senchan Torpeist, the chiefpoet of Ireland, who died in the year 647 A.D. Survivingtexts date much later than this, perhaps as late as theeleventh or twelfth centuries, but essentially all describethe troubles that a Connaught queen named Mebd had whiletrying to capture the prized Brown Bull of Cuailgne, whichwas kept in Ulster province. She led a host of warriorsagainst Ulster, whose warriors were rendered useless by “astrange debility inflicted on them by the the Macha.” Onlythe youthful champion Cú chullain was unaffected by this“curse of child-bearing,”since he was in training in theLand of Shadows at the time of pronouncement. He defendedthe northern kingdom at the Ford of Ulster, until these menwere relieved and able to come to his aid.
TÅIN Bó FRAOCH, the “Cattle Raid of Fraoch,” which startswith Fraoch’s attempts to woo Findbhair, the beautiful
daughter of Mebd and Ailill. In this tale, the heroencountered and overcame a powerful sea-serpent.Professor C.W. von Sydow (1923) suggested acorrespondence between this story and the Anglo-SaxonBeowulf.
TAIRCHEADAL, a prophecy. Same as next.
TAIRGNEACHD, TAILGNEACHD, TAIRGIRE, a prophecy, Ir.tairrgire, a promise to be kept in the future, OIr. tairngire, apromise. Tairgreadh. obs. prophecying, a proverb.
TAIRM, necromancy. The art of raising the dead in seekingprophetic answers to questions. See taghairm.
TAIRNEANACH, thunder. See torrunn for root. Activitycreated by the actions of the god Tor. Tairneanaiche,thunderer. Tairn-thoirm, thundering noise.
TAISBEAN, to reveal secrets. This word has the same originas tabhs, which, see. Related to taisgeal, locating things,the finding of objects, taisgelach, a spy, betraying, from to-sgeul, to tell stories, and thus taisgealadh, news.
TAISBEAN, TAISBEIN, TAISBAN, vision, apparition.
TAISBEANADH. Revelation, showing, disclosing, show,pageant, The Wepipphany, Twelfth Day of Twelfth Night. Adwemonstartion, celebration, apparition.
TAISDEALACH, pilgrim, lounger, passenger, traveller,wanderer, hiker, person who passes quickly and is fleetinglyseen, vagabond, itinerant, contemptible, a ghost.
TAISEAL, ghost, any mysterious object of a fleeting,flitting kind.
TAISG-AODACH, winding-sheet for the dead.
TAISLEACH, TAISLICH, ghostly sounds heard from the dark.
TALADH, enticing, hushing, carressing, that which offersfascination, for example the solus an aigh, or “blesssedlight,” often seen above graves. This apparition had thetendancy to act as a leading light, sometimes with direresults. ON, tal, a device or entrapment, AS tal, calumny;Lat. dolus, the Eng. doleful.
TALADH NA MNA SITHE, the “Lullaby of the Fairy-Women.”According to folklore a fairy-woman appeared in thenursery of the MacLeod heir. The nurse was awe-struck asthe woman took the baby in her arms, wrapped him in ashimmering cloth and intoned: Behold this my child, limbedlike kid or fawn, smiting horses, grasping the harness ofshod horses, of spirited steeds, mo leasnabh bheag. Oh that Imight behold thy team, the men serving them, servingwomen returning home, the catanach sowing the corn... Notof Clan Mackenzie art thou, and not of Clan Conn: Bout of therace more esteemed, Leod of the swords and armour, whosefather’s native land was Lochlann.” So impressed werethese words on the nurse she never forgot them. When thefairy disappeared the servant hurried to the main-hall toshow the assembly the strange relic which had been leftbehind on the child.
For years after, all children were sung the croon ofthe fairy-woman as it was believed to be a seun whichwould protect the infant chieftains from evil. As for the“fairy-flag,” it was given to a custodian known as a duin-bratach, or “standard-bearer,” who was given freeholdlands near Bracadalke for guarding this relic. Afterwardsthe position became hereditary. There is a second version ofthis tale, in which it is claimed that the memento wasobtained by the Chieftain in the Holy Land after hesuccessfully “wrestled” with “an elfin adversary.”Afterwards this woman said that the Fair Flag might beunfurled three times, but no more, to the magical benefit of
Clann MacLeod. It was said that misuse of the flag wouldcarry away the luck of the Clan. A third tales says that aMacLeod chieftain had sex with a fay-woman, who presentedhim with the favour as she returned to the Otherworld. Theleave-taking place is still known as Drochaid nan tri Alli,the “Bridge of Brooks,” and is situated where the Portree,Dunvegan and Vaternish roads converge.
TALLAGHT. A mound near Dublin formerly called theTaimhleacht Muintor Partholain, the “Plague Mound of thePatholonians.” It is said that 9,000 of Partholan’s peopledied and were buried here.
TALAMH, earth; Lat. tellus, earth, flat, a board; Skr. talus,level ground. In times past men swore by the earth. When aGaelic hero required retribution, his companions lifted bitsof the ground and shouted “Vengeance!” In the OuterHebrides there was, in every township a constabal baile,who represented the crofter in all dealings with the laird.His oath of office consisted of standing barefoot on theearth as he made his promise to represent them. The earthwas formerly considered a living spirit the ultimatemother-symbol. At birth, Highland mid-wives traditionallygave new-born infants a small spoonful of earth as theirfirst food, and as we know, it is still customary to throw ahandful of earth on the breast of the dead. At the QuarterDays the earth was always given a libation of the food anddrink, things seen to be derived from the soil.
TAL-FURADHARC, foresight, the ability to perceive comingevents.
TALTIU, TELTA, a daughter/wife of Manan mac Ler. In someinstances she is given as the foster-mother of the sun godLugh. She was sometimes said to have married Eochy macErc, a king of the Firbolge. Taltiu's palace was at Tailtiu,now entitled Telltown. There she died and was buried, andher "son" is said to have created the great Lugnasad, orTelltown Fair in her honour.
TAIGH-FAIRE, the wake house, taig, a custom; faire, landscovered by the sea, "a hole". The Dead Lands, An Domhain.
TAIRGNEACHD, TAILGNEACHD, TAIRGIRE, prophecy, promise,tairm, necromancy. The raising of omens throughconsultation with the dead.
TAIRM, TAIRN, necromancy, superstition, enchantment,either Christian or non-Christian magic. See also taghairm.Specifically, the raising of the dead for purposes ofdivination.
TALADH, enticing, hushing, caressing, ON. tal, anenticement, bait or trap. “Nursey songs” employed by thesidhe to hush abandoned children prior to making achangeling exchange.
TAMH, rest, delay, sleep, dwelling, idleness, The Ocean,Plague, EIr. tam, rest, repose, plage, death, rooted in sta, tostand in one place, Eng. stand. Note taimh, death. Tamach,slow, dull.
TAMHASG, also TANNAS, TANNASG. TANNHASG, a bodach, abrownie, a human blockhead. See amhas for the first part ofthis word. The ending is confluent with uruisg and tannasg.These are creatures of the sithe, which is the phoneticequivalent. A individual sith, indentured to a humanhousehold. tamhasg, tannasg, possibly from the root-wordtann, long, thin, stretched out. A ghost of the departed asopposed to the "taibh" or ghost of the living; an apparition,wraith or spectre. Possibly confluent with the Brythonictann, the Breton tan, an oak tree, or the Cymric, tan, fire.The Celtic ending asg is a preposition, indicating "out of".The equivalent of the Anglo-Norman revanter. Contrastwith taibhs, immediately above. This invisible creatureusually made its presence known through poltergeisticactivity, but sometimes materialized in human form or thatof a totem animal. It was thought that the spirit of a deadperson usually combined with the spirit of his or her taibh,moving afterwards to reincarnation. It is uncertain
whether the "tannas" represented this combination in earth-bound form or was merely an unemployed taibh forced toremain behind because of the trauma of a violent death.Some of the tannas were known to have been deliberatelycreated to guard treasure, and these could only be unboundthrough the removal of their horde.
In Gaelic communities it used to be thought thatghosts had unfinished business, the fingering of a murderer,the settling of a debt, or the righting of a wrong whichoccurred while the spirit lived. Some returned to fulfil anoath made while alive or to see that alms were given ontheir behalf. This disembodied spirit was often suspectedof being malignant and it was sometimes thought wise topropitiate it, or exorcize it, through magical rites. TheCeltic eve of the Samhain (Oct. 31) was a time for lightingthe "samhnagan" or ritual fire, whose purpose was toscatter witches and other evil spirits. The souls of thedeparted hovered then, taking what comfort they could findbefore autumn to winter resigned the pale year. A ghost ofthe departed as opposed to a "taibh" which was a ghost of aliving person. This being took his name from "tan" a Celticword sometimes taken to mean fire, but also describing theoak tree and the colour imparted when people lie to long inthe sun. The ending "asg" is a preposition indicating a spiritthat "comes out of". The equivalent of the Anglo-Norman"revandir", which we commonly call a "ghost".
This creature usually made its presence knownthrough poltergeistic activity but sometimes materializedas the old totem animal of the dead person. Some tannaswere deliberately created to guard treasure and these couldonly be allowed to pass on when the horde had been removed.It used to be thought that ghost had unfinished earthlybusiness. Mary L. Fraser said, "It is a belief that the deadcannot rest easily if they have left debts unpaid, or wrongsdone and not righted. Sometimes too, they have come backin fulfilment of a promise, or to request almsgiving on theirbehalf." Creighton thought that ghosts should be carefullywatched: "Whether a ghost is coming towards you or
walking away is thought to determine the length of life ofthe person seeing the vision." The former indicated thatspirits of the hereafter would soon come looking for a soulamong the living; the speed of approach was thought relatedto the period of life remaining.
This folklorist had thoughts about eliminating abothersome spirit: "As to the way to lay a ghost, themethod is the same as that used in (against) witchcraft. Incomparing the two, it looks as if witches are more easilycontrolled than ghosts. Witches are always evil in theirintentions while ghosts may appear for a variety ofpurposes..."
The most persistent tannas in Celtic history was the"Rider" of Iona, Scotland, Ewan Maclain, of the Little Head.He fought in battle against his own father, Iain theToothless, and persisted afterwards as "the HeadlessHorsemen" whose ghost rides to presage the death of anyMaclaine of Lochbuie. His story is told in garbled fashion byCreighton, and with better understanding by Fraser. What isimportant here is the fact that this shade has been seen inMaritime Canada as well as in Scotland. In the battle,Ewans horse nearly threw a shoe and the haunt is invariablyheard by the clinking of this loose shoe before it is actuallyseen. Old Macclaine of Inverness County, Cape Breton wasstruggling against "bas" while a Macdougall watched hiswavering breath. Several times, the dying man was heard tosay, "I'm waiting...waiting..." All at once Macdougall heardthe rattling of a horse harness and looking from thewindow saw "a military man with a small head" ride to thefront door on a grey horse. At this the attendant turned tosee how the old man was faring and found him dead on hisbed. Looking back through the window he saw a headlessman riding away but he dissolved before reaching the forest.
Mary L. Fraser has said: "It is a belief confirmed bymany examples that the dead cannot rest easily if they haveleft debts unpaid, or wrongs done and not righted.Sometimes too, they have come back in fulfilment of a
promise, or to request almsgiving on their behalf."
Creighton's work in Lunenburg County suggests thatnecromancy was still a known art at the turn of thiscentury. At Madder's Cove, she encountered an individualwho insisted that "There was a man at Mader's Cove whoused to go to sea, and another fellow taught him how totalk to the dead. He used to do it, but he said that it was agreat strain upon him." Strain, or not, there were benefits inconversing with the dead. Aside from informationconcerning past or future events which might be obtainedfrom these shades there was a promise of longevity.
A Hubbard’s resident put it this way: "If you see aperson who isn't there it means you'll be a long liver."Opposing religions, supposing that the "other" had moreevils to undo invariably saw more ghosts in theircemeteries. Thus at Wasabuckt, on the Bras D'Or Lakes ofCape Breton, the Roman Catholics always said that"...theProtestant cemetery swarmed with ghosts...The immediateneighbourhood was not considered safe even in broaddaylight..." The reality of ghosts was also admitted in theProtestant camp.
The Reverend Rev. Dean Cooper, a one-time cleric atFredericton, New Brunswick, admitted "Yes I was called toperform the right of exorcism in Fredericton with theauthority of the Bishop and following the form prescribed inthe Church. The family concerned are very responsiblepeople...I became thoroughly convinced that...some kind of"other world" activity was taking place in (their) house..."Although Cooper followed prescribed form Helen Creightonmakes these suggestions concerning the tannas: "as to theway to lay a ghost, the method is often the same as thatused in witchcraft. In comparing the two...it looks asthough witches are more easily controlled thanghosts...Witches...are always evil in their intentionswhereas ghosts may appear for a variety of purposes..." TANAISTE, next heir, tanist, heir apparent, second in status.
OIr. tanaise. The headship (whether chief or king) washereditary only to the extent that the leaders were chosenfrom the righ-damna (king material). Beyond this, thetuatha, mortuatha, or tribe was free to elect the man (orwoman) who seemed to incorporate the greatest degree ofgod-spirit. In later centuries, to avoid quarrels betweenroyal relatives over succession, a king-elect, called thetanaiste was chosen, whenever a king was declared. Likethe king, he had to be without physical deformity and whenelected agreed to govern according to law and ancientcustom. At the inauguration by an ollam, he agreed in publicto abide by tradition, one foot being placed on the "home-stone" as he swore to the conditions of his oath. Kingsmade the same testament with both feet on a sacred-stone.Non-observance of the swearing-in promises constitutedgrounds for deposition. When the power of a king was seento flag, it was the duty of this individual to see that aging,or ailing king was “brought down.” In the earliest times thegod-king sometimes agreed to ritual suicide, but where hecould not be persuaded, he might be eliminated by one of hissuccessor in the heat of battle or a cattle raid.
TANNAS, TANNASG, apparition, ghost, from tana, thin,elongated, stretched out. Note that the Daoine sidh, or"little" people were never described as "small," the oppositeof "big," but as men and women who were tall and so thin asto be and almost “invisible.” Related to the A.S. tangey ortyangie. Dialectic English of Scandinavian origin. Conferswith the Danish tang, the Old Norse pang and the Englishword tangle. All refer to seaweeds of the geniiAscophyllum and Fucus, the species called Fucus vesiculosisbeing known as black tang. Tangy, or tangie, refers toeither the sharp, tart pinching taste of these seaweeds orthe spirit that resided in them on the island of Orkney. Likethe kelpie, who lived in the kelp beds, this creature couldtake the form of any marine plant or animal, an abilitygifted on it by the sea-giants. These sea-horses werecommonly referred to as the eich uisge in the Gaelic tongue.They often came ashore as young horses or ordinary men andwomen. In a playful mood, they often invited humans to
mount them and carried them on a ferocious ride that endedwith a ducking in some nearby fresh-water stream. Theyhad kin among certain clans and these they warned from thepossibility of drowning by setting up corpse-light over thewater or moaning after the fashion of a banshee. Thosewithout this useful connection were warned againstmounting this kind when they were at the seaside for theywere capable of rape and murder, the male tangie especiallyso since he had an oversized sexual apparatus. The sea-horses seemed maddened in sight of the deep sea andinvariably carried their victim to a drowning afterwardsconsuming every part of his body excepting the liver. Insome respects this creature corresponds with the neas,which sometimes shape-changed into a horse.
TAPAD, good luck, a clever feat.
TAR. TARR, TER, TEARR, THAR, TOR, TORR, TUR, TUIR, evoke,ON. Thor, Thunar, Thuner, Thunor or Donar, the Old Norse godof thunder. Particularly seen in those parts of the oldGaelic realms where the Norse were in occupation. Conferswith the continental Tyrr, a Germanic-Scandinavian god ofwar and agriculture and with the Gaulish Taranis. Probablyrelated to the Gaelic tarachair, an augur taraid, a truncheonor staff of authority, taran, the ghost of an unconsecratedinfant, tarabh, a bull, tarcuis, contempt, targadh, rulingbody, governing assembly, targair, to foretell, tarlaid, aslave, tormach, to grow ripe or increase, tarnach, athunderclap, tarsuinn, to traverse, to come across adistance, tartar, noise, tir, land, dry-land, torc, a boar,torchar, a fall usually resulting in death, torr, a conic hill, atower, torrach, pregnant from tor, belly; a belly-full.torradh, a burial ceremony or wake, torrunn, thunder, anygreat noise, tuireann, a spark of fire, tur, a crowd, turguin,destruction, turlach, a massive fire, also a squat person, around lump, turloch, a lake that dries in summer, turrag, asurprise, turradh, an accident, turram, a distantmummering, turus, a journey. AS. thunor, similar to theirthunian, to stretch, D. donder, G. donner, OHG. donder ON.thôrr, all meaning thunder and Thor. Skr. tan, to sound, stan,
to thunder, Eng. astonish, detonate, stun, Thursday, tornado,terra, the Gaelic tir. Also the source of many northernfamily names: eg. Torry, Torey, Tori, Torquill,Torcail,Torcull, Thorkell, Maccoruodale. F. Marian McNeill says thatthe northern Scottish town of Harwick has as its “ancientslogan:” Teribus ye Teri-Odin “which is held to indicate (asdoes the word burgh) the Scandinavian origin of thecommunity. Teri-Odin is believed to invoke two Norsedeities -one either Thor the god of thunder, or Tir (alsocalled Ti) the war god, the other Odin or Woden, the fatherof the gods.
Actually, the pagans were no less facile than theChristians at uniting disparate gods, and Odin is known tohave displaced the older Thor-Tyrr. The Harwick sloganseems to translate quite directly as “The land of Thor-Odin,” but Sir James Murray thinks it is a contraction of anearlier expression: Tyr haebbe us ge Tyr ge Odin, which is“Thor be with us, Thor and Odin (be with us).” Thor is theGermanic Donar , the son of Jörd, or Erda and Odin .Remarkable for his childhood rages he was fostered out toparents whose names are a personification of sheet-lightning. As one of these parents was Vingnir, the“Winged,” Thor is often referred to as Vingi-Thor. At theage of reason he was admitted to the Asgardr , the rulingfaction of the gods. He built the distant realm known asThrudheim where his palace, known as Bilskirnir(Lightning), was erected. It is noteworthy that this placewas “the most spacious in all Asgardr, the “Home of thegods.” All thralls, or common folk, went there after death,and got as good treatment as their masters received inOdin’s Valhalla.
Thor was the patron god of peasants and the lowerclasses. Note that he was always honoured as the first godof pagan Norway and elsewhere was referred to as “OldThor, ” because it was said that “he belonged to an olderdynasty of gods.” After he was displaced, Asa and his aideswould not allow him to pass over the bridge Bifröstostensibly “lest he set it aflame by the heat of his
presence.” This may be taken as representing a general fearthat the lower classes might arise against their rulers.Thor’s weapons included a magic “hammer”, the “Crusher”which he threw at enemies. Like the cnap-starradh of thehistoric Gaelic warrior, it had the property of “alwaysreturning to his hand, however far he might hurl it..” Thisdevice, the emblem of thunderbolts, was always red-hotand to catch it on return he wore an iron-gauntlet known asthe “Iron-gripper.”
When he wore the magical belt known as the Megin-giörd his already remarkable strength was doubled. Thorhas been described as somewhat Celtic in appearance: “aman in his prime, tall and well formed, with muscular limbsand bristling red hair and beard, from which, in moments ofanger, the sparks flew in showers. The first century Romanwriter named Lucan said that Taranis, the Celtic god ofthunder for Gaul (France) was one of three ruling gods, justas Thor was one of three similarly allied gods. Thisinterchangeable trio also included Æsus, the Gaelic Uis,Ugh, or Lugh and the Cymic Hu. The third member of thegroup was Teutates who is the northern god Tues or Tyrrwhose name is commemorated in Tues-dag. Therefore, seeAod, the day-god, who is the chief Gaelic side-form of Lugh.See entries immediately below. See Lugh, Uisdean, Aes, As-duinn.
TARACANDACHD, obscurantism, secretiveness, theprinciples of the black arts. Note the relationship with theprevious word.
TARACHAIR, augur, SIr for tarathar. See tora, from Thor, theTeutonic god of lightning. See thoir and related words.Particularly, prognostication through observation ofweather.
TARAID, the truncheon or staff of authority, a billy club.Various woods were thought empowered by magic accordingto their incarnate spirits.
TARAN, the ghost of an unchristened, or an otherwiseunprotected infant. From toranach, a grub-worm, borer,corn-maggot; relating directly to Taranis, the Gaulish godof thunder who is the Old Norse Thor. See tabhs, a ghost.Notice that the svartalfar (dark elfs) of Scandinavia weresaid derived from the body of "the giant" killed by Odin.Since Odin displaced Thor as the chief god in northwesternEurope, this prime "rime-frost" creature may be thought ofas the "dead" god personified. It is said that Odin "calledforth" all of the elfs from the decaying flesh and gave themhuman form, but they were never gifted with nornir(bafinne), the guardian spirits of men. The taran were saidto wander the waste-lands as "will o' the wisps" or"corpse-candles," disembodied spirits of the dead. Thebefinne were said to be tenuously attached to their humansin the first year after birth. Unable to provide muchprotection they sometimes went back to their source at thedeath of a child. Where this happened, the child was thoughtunable to reincarnate (or rejoin God or the gods) and thedetached soul was forced to hover "at the borders ofelfland, appearing as lightning before a storm. Many humansfind these lights hypnotizing and will follow them whereverthey lead, into bogs and marshes, and over cliffs." Theseare the "spunkies" of lowland Scotland and northern England,those that wander the world's oceans are entitled the thoir-clann.
TARBH, the bull, Cy. tarw, Cor, tarow, Bry. taro, Gaul.tarvos, Lat. tauris, perhaps from the root tu, in which casesteer is related. AS. styric, a young bull or heifer, an animalprior to sexual maturity, from which the Eng. sterile.Usually an animal in its second year, a stirk, also, a coarse,bumbling stupid person. The Gaelic tearc, scarce, rare fromthe root ters, dry. See tir, “dry land.” The totem animal ofthe moon-god Nuada, and his “twin-brother,” the sun-godLugh. In the Book of the Dun Cow it is said that the Irishkings were once selected as follows: "A white bull waskilled and the Samhain-priest ate his fill of the flesh anddrank its blood. A spell was chanted over him as he laybloated in the trance-state. In the “dream sphere” he could
see the shape and appearance of the next man who would beking." (Celtic Monthly. p. 14).
In 1678 a party gathered at Eilean Mourie (MourieIsland) in Loch Ewe, "for the purpose of sacrificing (a bull)in ane heathenish manner for recovering the health ofCirstane Mackenzie." She recovered. for she issubsequently described as, “formerly sick andvaletudinaire.” The island of Mo-Urie or Mourie on whichexercises of this sort took place was supposedly founded byMaol Rubha (640-722), an Irish monk, whose fame was onlysecond to that of Columba. Midway through his career thisChristian missionary built the monastery of Apurvhrosan(now called Applecross) on a sheltered part of the Rosshirecoast overlooking the islands of Skye and Raasay. Here hedied, and his grave is still sought out for magical purposes.The person who takes earth from above Maol Rubha issupposedly assured of safe travels. “The common oath ofthat country is by his name,” and he is remembered invarious Scottish place-names. The sacrifice of the bull andthe circumambulation of chapel’s associated with thissaint’s memory by moonlight have led McNeill to theconclusions that this saint is ”merged with the earliermoon-worship,” and Maol-rubha is himself a survival of anancient moon-deity.
“Drawings of salmon and serpents appear on many ofour sculptured stones (Scotland), and the bull is no lessprominent. At Burghead, in Moray, six stones have beenfound in different spots, each with an incised outline of abull, highly conventionalized, and ornamented with spiralcurves. The designs vary slightly but all the drawings arestrong and spirited. Similar stones have been discoverednear Inverness, and in 1920 another was unearthed in theparish of Falkland, in Fife.’ (The Silver Bough, Vol. 1, p. 76).
In 1695 the Presbytery of Dingwall reported that thepeople of Applecross "among their abominable and heathenpractises were accustomed to sacrifice bulls at Certainetime upon the 25th of August, which day they dedicate to S.
Maurie, as they call him." Anciently, the bull was said to beattached to solar-deities and bull figures are seen carvedon Pictish stones. At least seven representations wererecovered from Morayshire, Scotland, suggesting thatBurghead may be the site of Tarved (un)um, the “Bull Fort”mentioned in mythology. There is evidence for veneration ofthis beast in pre-Celtic Britain, when it may have beenworshipped in the context of a solar cult. In this case it isoften pictured along with swans, horses and stags. See Mo-Ùr.
TARBH BOIDRE, AOIDHRE, The “High Day Bull,” havingreference to the god Aod. The latter spelling appears innorthern Scotland. A monster, a demon, a god capable ofshape-shifting.
TARBH CHOINNLE, the “Candlemas Bull,” an element ofdivination at Hogmanay or Samhuinn. Watchers before dawnlooked for the first bull of winter in the western sky. If ithung there, dark and forbidding, it gave the same omen as acloudless sky, a year of death and want. Turning away fromthe dead lands, the diviner hoped that the “bull” would be inthe north. If it was seen here as a large definite black masswith a soft outline, then it was expected that a year ofplenty was forecast. If the cloud appeared frost- filled orhard-edged this was taken as bad news. A prominent cloudin the south indicated that the crop of straw would beadequate but the grains would be of poor quality. Theeastern sky harboured the bull when a fair crop year was onthe line. Many other things were determined from skyposition, direction of travel of the cloud and its time ofdisappearance.
TARBH, DUBH, the black-bull, the totem animal of ClanMacLeod. "A black bull is a very ancient symbol of royalty,and the presentation of a black bull's head symbolized thedeath of an enemy chief. A black bull's head was set beforethe young Douglas chief at the royal table in EdinburghCastle before his summary execution in 1440. A decade orso earlier, the Macintosh guests massacred the feasting
Cummins at the entry of a black bull's head...Thus theMacLeod crest is a very ancient royal emblem as befitsscions of the old pagan Norse sea-kings, and may wellrepresent their victory over a rival royal line." (TheHighland Clans, p. 66). Note that white bulls wereidentified with the sun god named Lugh who was sometimestermed Aod, the Day. These bulls were ritually killed at thetime of Samhuinn. The white bull was the bull of Lugh orthe summer sun; the black bull that of the Cailleach orWinter Hag.
TARBH EITGH, fierce bull, eitgh, fierce, dismal,abomination, not housebroken. Trabh eithre in Skye. Seeneighbouring entries. This animal is distinguished from theordinary variety by his short ears. The water-bull isfrequently represented as friendly to highlanders.
TARBH UISGE, tarbh (pronounced tar-ev), a bull; uisge,water. A water-bull similar to the Anglo-Teutonicbullerman. These confer with bull-beggar, bugleboo,bugaboo, bugbear and the Gaelic bogle (which, see). TheMacLeods had this animal as their totem, which may explaintheir name, derived from the Old Norse "liot", "an ugly one".The black bull was a very ancient symbol of Scottishroyalty and a beheaded bull was presented, as an explicitomen, on the table of a king whose powers were failing. TheScots were in the habit of transferring all the sins,diseases and guilt of their community to a king destined fordeath, thereby taking it to earth with his cremated corpse.
A black bull's head was set before a young Douglaschief just before his summary execution at Edinburgh in1440, and the Mackintosh used the entry of this dish as asignal to cut down their Cummins' guests. At a much earlierdate, the druids are said to have sacrificed bulls tounspecified sea-gods, a procedure that continued in thewest highlands of Scotland until well into the last century.Mannhardt supposed that human and animal sacrificesreleased god-spirits from their humanoid form, theirperiodic return to the earth being necessary to invigorate it
for crop growth and the health of animals that dependedupon vegetation for food. This seems supported by the factthat bull was named as one of the kern, or corn, spirits.When the grain crop was luxurious in a part of the field menwould say "the bull lies in the corn."
Diabolical possession and exorcism remain a part ofsome Christian traditions. In County Fermanagh, Ireland aCatholic priest made a notable effort to help to troubledyoung girls but they were not freed of evil spirits until thefamily "retreated to America". One Irish immigrant to CapeBreton learned that not all of the "ghaists and gobbles" werehalted thy the power of "the vast stream" (the Atlantic).After Old Man Riley was a few months in the New World herapproached his village priest at Saint Peters. He toldFather Henry McKeagney, that he was in "some trouble",having sold his soul to the Devil while still resident inIreland. Old Scratch had just appeared to him, he claimed,saying that the contract still had to be honoured. Heimplored the priest to help, and being a decent man, thefather put on his vestments, and "accompanied by aFrenchman carrying a blessed candle" marched out toRiley's place where he was met by "a great squall of wind."His Satanic Highness came down off the steep hill behindthe house "in guise of a big black bull." The priest was alittle surprised but held his ground, and after calling up theusual Christian god spells, demanded that Riley's soul besurrendered to God. At this the bull became "a great long-eared black dog", that argued the case with the priest. Thepriest won more points for the dog "took off over the bay".
The black bull was a very ancient symbol of Scottishroyalty and a beheaded bull was presented, as an explicitomen, on the table of a king whose powers were failing. TheScots were in the habit of transferring all the sins,diseases and guilt of their community to a king destined fordeath, thereby taking it to earth with his cremated corpse.A black bull's head was set before a young Douglas chiefjust before his summary execution at Edinburgh in 1440,and the Mackintosh used the entry of this dish as a signal to
cut down their Cummins' guests. At a much earlier date, thedruids are said to have sacrificed bulls to unspecified sea-gods, a procedure that continued in the west highlands ofScotland until well into the last century.
TARCHADAIR, TARACHAIR, necromancer, seer, auger. Onewho raises the dead to gain their foretelling powers.Taircadaireachd, the art of nrecromancy. Tar, to evoke.After Thor. See next.
TARGAIR. to foretell. See tairgneachd, taragaich, a presageor bodemont, targhail, to forebode, targradh, foretelling,prophecy, divination, predicting.
TARLAID, “Thor’s weak ones,” a slave, a thrall, the Eng.varlet.
TARAN, the spirit of an unbaptized child, taranch, spectral.
TARMACHADH, dwelling, producing, originating, the source,Ir. tormach, increasing, ripe with things, magnifying, OIr.tormach, increase, from Tor + mag, power, the latter part ofthe word having reference to the May queen.
TARRAGH, ingathering of crops at the harvest season.Harvest Home. Frequent movements to-and-fro.
TARRUINGEADAIR, an artist and a magician; tarruingeach, anallurement, that which attracts or draws.
TARSGAL. Monetary reward offered for the recovery ofstolen catt6le. In the past chieftains forced their vassals tohis their dirk promising not to accept such remunerationupon pain of death.
TARTAN. obs. hillock, clod. Surprisingly, the word arisesfrom the Spanish tiritana, a cloth anciently woven fromsilk. From the Celtiberian world the word may have passedin use to Gaul, thus the French tiretaine, which is thecoarser linsey-woolsey, a material made of a combination
of linen and wool. The word may have had original referenceto the twisted nature of the thread, thus the French tourte,twisted, and perhaps the Gaelic torc, clefted or notched (aneck-piece). The word may also relate to the ancient lostkingdom of Tartessos, which was destroyed in someunknown calamity in the fifth century B.C.
Their guardian god may confer with the continentalCeltic thunder-god Taranis, who is equated with the Gaelicgod Hu and the Norse Thor. Note the Gaelic Tartar, a side-form of his name. This word also identifies any loud noise.Tartan, the cloth of the old gods, was once widely usedacross Europe but is now thought of as a woolen materialmuch worn in the Scottish highlands, where every clan isperceived as having an individual pattern consisting ofchecks or cross-bands of various colours. Actually clantartans are a fairly modern invention created in theinterests of trade and commerce. Tartaned wearing apparelwas not a feature of British society until the time ofTighernmas ard righ , the seventh king in the Milesian line,which brought the weave from Spain. “To him, or hissuccessor Eochaid, is credited the ancient ordinance whichdistinguished the various classes and professions by thecolours of their dress: A king or queen might wear sevencolours; a poet six, a chieftain five, an army leader four, aland owner three, a rent-payer two, a serf one colour only.”See cadadh, tartan cloth.
TARTAR, noise; the replicated word tar or tor as seen intòirneanach, from the “Gaulish” god Taranis, said to conferwith the Gaelic Uisdean, the Roman Jove and the old NorseThor. May confer with Lat. Tartarus, the underworld andwith Tartessos, a Celtiberian kingdom anciently located insouth-western Spain. In Gaelic this place was Tarsus, seenote immediately below. This was the Biblical Tarhish,Jonah’s destination and perhaps a synonym for thePhoenician city of Tyre, for Isaiah, sermonizing about itsdestruction, advised, “Howl ye ships of Tarhish, for it isnow laid waste.” Tartessos was in the general vicinity ofmodern Cadiz, and its people were called the Turdetani or
Turduli. Their trade ships were referred to by theirneighbours as tarhish and this seems to survive in theItalio-French-Spanish tartana, a Mediterranean coastingvessel having one mast carrying a large lanteen sail, abowsprit and staysail or jib. This last word may also conferwith the Spanish tirtane, for which see tartan.
TARSUS, the Biblical Tarhish as represented in Gaelic. Seeabove entries. EIr. tarsnu, to traverse across (water), fromtar, across. A pre-historic trading destination for the Gaelsof Britain, believed to be Tartessos in Spain. There isreference in mythology to Longan Tharsuis, the “longshipsof Tarhish.” This name was eventually transferred to allships having first-rate fittings whatever their port oforigin. Thairis, over, across; thar, across, over, beyond, Lat.trans, terminus, Skr. tar, to pass through, bore, G. tarachair,an omen, torrach, fruitful (place), Taranis, the god ofthunder conferring with the Gaulish Iove better known asJove or Thor. Note the traditional tale which insists thatthe craftsman named Creidné, the chief smith to the Daoinesidh was drowned while “transporting gold ore from Spain.”
TASG, TAISG, to store away. A spirit bird, a harbinger ofdeath. Appears in different forms depending on thepersoanlity of the person at risk. An aged fisherman mightsee his forerunner as agray gull while a young lassie wouldobserve a pure white diove. Shooting an ill-omened birdcreated one’s tasg on the spot.
TASGAIDH, taisg. a storage place, to deposit; a treasury. To-ad-sec, having the idea of “Put there in the remote past.”Roughly, the female name Tasha. Another name for theMhorrigan, who was the sovereign queen of the Gaels.
TASGAL, money offered for the recovery of cattle lifted byfreebooters.
TASLACH, premonition, the ghost of living human.
TASPAIR, a satirist, tasp. serious sarcasm intended to do
TATHA, the Eng. Tay, earlier G. Toe, “primarily the name of agoddess.” “the Silent One.” tathaich, having a frequenttendancy to vomit. Cy. Taw, silent, silence. A name givento several British rivers; tath, obs. lord, ruler, anger,slaughter, bail, security. See next.
TATHACH, guest, visitor, stranger. May confer withtuathanach.
TATHAICH. supernatural knowledge of the doings of folk whoare absent, ghost, apparition, tendancy to vomit, a craving.
TATHASG, a shade, a spirit, a demon. Particularly that of anorphaned child, supposedly protected by the shade of his orher mother. Scondary meaning: a demon.
TATH-BHEUM, a mortal blow, the effect of a well-cast stoneor dart from the crann-tabhuil. The Mhorrigan wassddispatched using this weapon.
TEA-MOR, gen. TARA, sometimes TEAMHAIR, (T’yower,Tavvir), Confers with tè or tèa, insipid, slightly fermented,from the root teas, which confers with Eng. tepid. The
wife of the Milesian king named Eremon, the first high-kingof all Ireland. He took possession of the Firbolge capitol onthree hills overlooking the River Boyne and they becameTara, a corruption of the genitive case of this compoundword. Teas, heat from teine, fire + mor, great, wide inexpanse, the ocean-sea. Sometimes identified as a goddessof the Tuatha daoine who married one of the human kind.
This fiery lady quarrelled with the wife of Eremon'sbrother, Eber, over possession of Tara. The war thatfollowed ended in Eber's death and Tea-mor took possessionof her heart's desire, which became the dun of the ard-righ.The greatest structure there was the Mi-Cuarta, orbanqueting hall, which was larger than The House of aThousand Soldiers. Each prince of the realm had a place onone of these hills, where he was in temporary residence atSamhain and Beltane. There too was erected the Grianan, orSun-house, made especially for the provincial queens andtheir attendants. The Stronghold of Hostages was anothernecessary building as was the Star of the Bards, built forthe poets, historians, judges and doctors of the land whenthey were called to assembly. During the early years ofChristianity King Diarmuid became the last high-king to sitat Tara.
In one of numerous quarrels with his provincialchieftains, the king commanded that all the duns shouldwiden their doorways so that the king's spear carriedhorizontally might pass. Diarmuid sent a sergeant-at-armsthroughout the countryside to see if this edict had beenobeyed. In the process of carrying out the king's command,this overzealous bureaucrat intruded upon the weddingceremony of King Aed of Connaught. In an understandablerage, Aed struck off the head of the intruder, and realizingthe identity of the man fled to the monastery of SaintRuadan of Lorra. Diarmuid was, in turn, angered by thepresumption of the churchmen in shielding Aed and violatedsanctuary to take him prisoner.
Following traditional procedures Saint Ruadan led a
group of Christians to Tara and began a "black-fast" againstthe high-king. The high-king started a starvation regime ofhis own, but being in the wrong, was the first to break fast.Seeing that he could not overcome the tinkling bells andincessant prayers of the monks, Diarmuid made to jointhem, reasoning with them following the daily prayermeeting. At length, aware that the clerics would not yieldto him, Diarmuid cursed Saint Ruardan. At this thechurchman retaliated, cursing the high-king’s person andhis dynasty, and promising that Tara would cease to existas the residence of kings. In the year 563, Diarmuid waskilled and the wild birds came to roost in the halls of Tara,the beasts of the field being the only residents of the placefor many years. This place was also known as Drumcain,which, see.
TE, TEA, a woman, a female, insipid, slightly fermented,tepid, after the mortal-goddess, the consort of the Milesianhigh-king Eremon. This monarch named his capital Tea-mhair, later Tara after her. Tebaid, a taunt, a repartee,teibidh, having a “cutting” tongue, the root be, to cut. Butnote also teamhaidh, pleasant, the Eir. temair, delightful.Also teas, heat, root tep, burn, Skr. tap, to be hot. Also fromthis root teine, fire and teasach, fever.
TEACH, TECH, a house, OIr. tech, teg, having the sense of“roofed over.” Thatched. Cf. with Lat. tego, to cover, theGerm. dach, the Skr. sthagati, cover. Tigh is the nominativecase. See tuath for more.
TEALL, metaphysics, philosophy, from teine, fire; lach,reckoning, the Scot. lauch, tavern talk.
TEALLAID, a bountiful and/or lusty woman, tea
TEARLACH, Thor the Flyer, less literally Charles. MIr.Toirrdhealbhach, anglicized as Tirlagh or Tourlough, Lat.Turrisformis, “built like a tower.” In Gaelic the relatedtear or tair, has the sense of superhuman. Hence M’Kerlie.
TEARMANN, a sanctuary, protection, possibly from Lat.termo, the Eng. terminus, the end of a race for life when onereaches church lands, i.e. the Termon landes. From thistearuinn, save, escape, the root rn, possibly the Eng. run.
TEASD, die, fail, literally “I am not.”
TECH DUIN, the House of Don, a gathering place for the dead,sometimes said to lie southwest of Ireland. A placepresided over by Don, the god of the dead.
TECH SCREPTA. The great Gaelic libraries dating from thesixth century B.C. Ireland was the seat of learning duringthe so-called Dark Ages, vast libraries being presided overby leabhar-coimdaech. Most of these were destroyed whenthe Old Norse went viking.
TEGHAIN, The places where the Daoine sidh lived wereteghain, lterally “thatched homes.” With a little twistingand turning through Gaelic the word teg can be shown torelate to tuath, the intermediate form being tugha. whichindicates a simple roof-covering, especially a “thatch.”The latter Ennglish form is essentiallty the same word andthey resemble the Latin tego, a “cover.” The root Gaelic isthought to be tog , “to raise up,” or possibly steg, which isalso written stig. This word is the verb “skulking” and isnot unlike the Old Norse stygr, “shy,” and their word stic,“ghastly.” This word appears in the Gaelic glastig, the“grey skulker,” a vampire-like sidh.
TEIDH, wild, fierce, wild fire, see Te and teine.
TEIDHM, Death, a curtain, a covering. Formerly, pestilence.Related to teididh, wild-fire.
TEIL, a name for the first of six planets which the druidsclaimed revolved about the sun. The others were: Riomhag,Saoghal, Corg, Bliugh, Rolag.
TEIRIG, to fail, be spent, die, EIr. tarnic, “It is ended.”
TELLTIN, stringed, a harp
TEOAS, the trade of the potter. One of the lesser magicalarts.
TEIDEACH. One of the two sons of the Dark Lord known asCromm the Crooked. He is sometimes represented as a godalthough he is also given as a pagan chieftain opposed bySaint Patrick. His brother was Clonach.
TEIN-AOIBHNEIS, a bonfire, a welcoming fire. A home- orhearth-fire. Aoibh, pleasant, comely, cheerful, after the godAod. The fire devoted to the sun-god Lugh, a smallpersonification of his being. The Old Norse, Loki, seen inEnglish medieval literature as the lob- or hob-lie-by-fire.The hobgolbin. The former sanctity of this fire is seen inthe fact that strangers were not invited to poke up theflame since this offered insult to the god of the hearth. InGaelic parts it is a common belief that a hearth-fire cannotbe lit if the fuel lies within a beam of sunlight. Presumablythe god of that larger orb resents the presumption?
TEIN-ATHAIR, the Allfather’s fire, fire from heaven,lightning. thunderbolt, fire-ball, luminous falling object.
TEINE, OIr. tene, Cym. tan, Bry. tan, the Celtic root te fromtep, hot. as in teas. The Celtic root is in the goddess Te, seeabove notation. “The curious fear of ill-luck with the givingor stealing of fire assuredly derives from the druidic fire-festivals.” On the eve of the Half Days all fire in thecommunity was “put down” and ritually rekindled to re-sanctify the hearth. Saining with fire was once a commonpractise accomplished by carrying a “live” peat thrice roundthe domicile. The Samhain fires were kindled at dusk andthose of the Beltane, at dawn. From the making of new fireflowed the tradition of throwing ashes and smoulderingpeat into the air, “always repeating a certain formula ofwords to bring luck. But the strictest secrecy is observed,lest the practise should reach the ears of the (Christian)minister.” There is a saying: “On the Quarter-Day, givenothing away!” and this was especially true of new fire (inthe shape of a smouldering flame or kindling). In Rosshire itwas said that even the youngest children were “well versedin fire lore.” The local baobhe often came begging wood, but
had to be refused at least three times or they might walkaway “with the luck of the house.” One young girl explained:“’gin the cailleach had gotten the kindling, my father wouldget no herring this year!” To prevent newborn children frombeing taken by the sidhe a burning peat was taken in theright hand and the mother and child encircled seven timesclockwise by the magician. This cermony was performed atsunrise and sunset until a child was baptized and themother churched. Frequently a “fire cord” of scarlet threadwas tied about the child’s wrist and a Bible placed besideit, with another volume placed beneath the mother’s pillow.
TEINE-A-BHAIS, flame of Death. The cold light emitted fromthe residence of a person presaged for death.
TEINE-DE, God’s-fire, Saint Anthony’s Fire, perceivedamidst the rigging on ships at sea. Considered a good omen,herpes, tetter, ring-worm (a visitation from the gods?)
TEINE-DREALLACH, uncontrollable wild-fire. The light givenoff by decaying wood or that emitted by marine organisms.
TEINE-EIGINN, fire of necessity, a "teine-iotoiche" kindledto meet a special crisis (famine, flood, destruction bystorm, or other willful maleficence of the gods or nature-spirits. Besides the Quarter-Days, the Gaels turned to theritual of fire in seasons of calamity. Throughout Europesuch lightings were termed "need fires,” although they weresometimes entitled "wild-fires" to indicate the drasticcharacter of the ritual. The Slavonic peoples frequentlyreferred to these very special fires as "the living fires." Theusual occasion for the teine-eiginn was an outbreak ofplague among cattle, the complete blighting of a crop, or avirulent attack of disease among men. As a preliminary tothe kindling of this fire, all the regular hearth fires weredampened, it being believed that any remnant spark woulddestroy the magic of the procedure. It was not unusual forthe prohibition against "old fire" to extend across a parishbetween two streams or rivers of running water, thesebeing considered the natural boundaries of magical practise.
The need fire was always "made" in the open air, thesite of fire-creation being a cross-road, or a hollow on ahighway. In wilder places the site was invariably an islandor the highest hill in the region. The fire was alwaysgenerated by friction, sometimes using a mechanical deviceknown as the axle-wheel. Various local rules governed thenumber and makeup of the teams that created the "new fire"the main prohibitions being against men who were thieves,boundary-stone movers or murderers.
Once alight, sick animals were driven through thesmoke, through the ashes, or between two fires, the pigsfirst, cows next and horses last. After that familymembers blackened the beasts, and one another, withcharcoal sticks from the spent fire. Finally this parade ofpeople and animals passed through the streets of thenearest village, and it is recorded that the folk did not washaway the blackening "for a very long time." Extinguishedbrands were laid in the cattle barns and put in mangerswhere the cattle fed. Ashes from the need-fire werestrewn on the fields to "chase away vermin."
Sometimes the ashes were sprinkled on the ailingparts of men and animals, or mixed with water to be takenas an internal tonic. The fires in domestic hearths wererekindled from the need-fire, the first pot of water boiledover it being used as a disinfectant. "In the Highlands ofScotland the need-fire was counted a sovereign remedyagainst witchcraft." (The Golden Bough, pp. 741-742). Lastkindled in Reay, 1830: North Uist, 1829; Arran, 1820 andHelmsdale, 1818. See acastair.
TEINE-FIONN, TEINE-SIONNACHAIN, a will o' the wisp;foxfire. any phosphorescent light of supernatural or naturalorigin. tiene, fire, the same word as the English tan. Fionn,white; sionnachain, fox. See teine-side. This is the haugaelldr, or tomb-fire, observed by the Old Norse.
"The northern nations always believed that the tombs
of their heroes emitted a kind of lambent light, which wasalways visible at night, and served to guard the ashes of thedead. It was supposed more particularly to surround suchtombs as contained hidden treasure.” One North AmericanIndian magician has explained that spirited objects, "hold alight" which may be felt on the palm of the hand in thedaylight. "This is the same light animals leave behind onthe stones along the river where they have passed thenight."
In Canadian legends of the white men and the Indians,natural night-lights were associated with the spirits of thedead. The Scandinavians referred to the light as "haugaelldr", or the sepulchral fire. All of our ancestors suggestedthat flame-spirits lingered at the burial site until thespirit of the dead moved on to another destination andeventual reincarnation. The Micmacs said that theskitekmuj provided faithful companionship after death justas it provided protection and advice during the life of theindividual.
In the Atlantic Provinces the flame carried by theguardian was referred to as a corpse-candle, since it wasoften observed marking the route that the burial partywould follow from the home to the grave. The "candle" wascalled a "fetch" when observed at sea. These flames werenot the elfs proper, but the the fires they carried. Thespirits were known as the will o' the wisps in our region,but they have many other names: In Scandinavia they werereferred to as the lyktgubbe or irrbloss and in Germany asthe huckepoten or irrlichter. In Wales they were theellylldan; in France, the Tan Noz (burnt nosed people),culards or loumerottes. The English once knew them as theelf-fire men, kit-wi'-canstick (candlestick), jacko'lanthorn, joan-in-the-wad, or hob-and-lanthorn (lantern).The English and Scottish spunkies were traditionallyassociated with the spirits of the unbaptized spirits ofdead children.
TEINE-GHEALAN. Phosphoric emission of light from decaying
wood.
TEINE-IOTOICHE, fire at night. In the Gaelic communitiesthe nights before the Quarter-Days were occasions forcreating bonfires, but at times of crisis, teine-eigin, orneed-fire, might be set "Tine or teind is the old Scots wordfor a spark of fire, and on the frolicsome eve - the nichto'tine - there was fire everywhere - in the kitchen grates,in the kitchen grates for the nuts, in the candles of theturnip lanterns, in the village street, on the neighbouringhill. It was the old Beltane fire of the Druid, the Baal-worshipper." .
Sir James George Fraser has said that the gatheringfirst prepared their foods and drink in the open air on someeminence. A pit was usually dug about the proposed fire-site to contain the blaze so that it might not becomeuncontrollable. When the meal was done, the assemblyentertained itself with "singing and dancing around theflame. Towards the close of the entertainment, the personwho officiated as master of the feast (a one-timerepresentative of the god Lugh or some local deity)produced a large cake baked with eggs and scalloped roundthe edge, called an bonnach beal-tine, i.e. the Beltane Cake.It was divided into a number of pieces, and distributed ingreat form to the company. There was one particular piecewhich whoever got it was termed Calleach beal-tine, theBeltane "carline," a term of great reproach.
Upon his being known, part of the company laid hold onhim and made a show of putting him into the fire (in pagantimes they succeeded); but part of the company(representing a late-developing humane aspect) imposed,and he was rescued. In some places they laid him flat onthe ground, making as if to quarter him (an completed act inearlier times). Afterwards he was pelted with egg shellsand retained the odious appellation (of winter-hag) duringthe whole year. And while the feast was fresh in people'smemory, they affected to speak of the Cailleach beal-tineas dead."
In "modern times" the old Cailleach was replaced atthe next Beltane by a new victim. In the elder days theashes of this dead fool-king were scattered upon theadjacent fields. The fire itself had the virtues of the sun-god, cleansing the land, cattle and people wherever its raysstruck. Created by friction from an axle-tree, the fireappeared almost magically as if derived from heaven. "Theyesteemed it to be a preservative against witchcraft, and asovereign remedy against malignant diseases both in thehuman species and in cattle; and by it the strongest poisonswere supposed to have their nature changed." It was notedthat the addition of human "potash" to the soil had abeneficent effect on crop growth. Dead Gaels were routinelyburned, the ashes being scattered on fields where cropswere due to be planted.
TEINE NUAD, new fire. In ancient Ireland all fires burninglocally were extinguished before "new fire" was created andcarried back to the individual households. It is known thatthe Celts dated their year from Samhuin day and that thefires were thought to have a protective influence againstwitchcraft wherever its rays happened to fall.
What is now Hallowe'en was also a festival for thedead when the souls of departed friends and relativesreturned briefly to the warmth of former hearths. But thesewere not the only visitors for the gods were all unbound atthis time as were the bhoabhs and the sidh; all visitors"when autumn to winter resigns the pale year." T h eplanting of the new grain came well before the first of May,but that was the time when the buds burst, and new lifewas seen to flourish. It is also the time when cattle arereintroduced to their highland meadows. In the Old Gaeliccalendar the first day of May was the end of winter and thelast day of April time for the Beultainn (Beltane) fires.These varied little from the fires of Samhuinn.
In western Perthshire the Beltane was still practisedin the last century with participants being invited to take
portions of "an bonnach beal-tine" (beltane bannoch bread)from a cap. One of these contained a portion that wasblackened with charcoal, and this was said the part of the"devoted person". Strangely he was not honoured but wassaid to be a sacrifice to "baal" (a general name for any localgod). In that day, this unfortunate was only required to leapthree times through the flames, but Fraser suggests "thereis little doubt of inhuman sacrifices having been onceoffered in this country..." and he saw this as a survivingrite. At both holidays, in more demanding times,participants are known to have gathered fuel for the firewhile chanting "Gie us peat to burn the bhoabhs". As withthe Samhuinn fire, new fire was set and cattle driven threetimes about the blaze with the expressed intention ofprotecting them from witchcraft and "murrain". Each mantook home fire to kindle his own blaze. Fraser has said thatthese customs persisted in Ireland "down to a time withinliving memory." (ca 1922).
While more publicity has been given the "witchfestival" of Beltane, the Gaels themselves describedSamhuinn or Hallowday as the time of their great "feis" orfeast. Originally "it lasted for three days before Samainand for three days after" and included a political assembly,fair, marriage brokerage and entertainment in addition tothe religious rites. A great assemblage for games andsports was held on the plains of Muiremne, in Louth duringthree of the days of samhuinn.
TEINE-SIDE, the sithe-fire, "fairy" fire.
TEINE SITHE, wild-fire. Fire burning without constraints;thought caused by the Daoine sidh.
TEINE-SIONNIC, SIONNACHAIN, fox-fire. luminiscence atsea. rainbow of light seen in spindrift, a whirlwind. will-o’-the-wisp. See also teine fionn, the sean na gelagie or Iiamna lasoige, “Jack of the Bright Light,” or William of theLittle Flame. Sometime interpreted as a dispossessedbafinn, or as a lost human soul. Its wanderings as anisolated sphere of light, or carrying a light, have warnedand terrified travellers. Called the fetch in many parts ofAtlantic Canada. See thoir.
TEIN’-OIDHCHE, “night-fire,” same as tein-athair.
TEINE-THALL, the tall-fire, a ghost "fire-ship." One of themost noted ships of this type is that seen periodically offthe Island of Eigg, Scotland. "The phantom ship careenswildly past the island at lightning speed, and on the deck isa long, lean black creature, with a fiddle in his hand,and heis ever playing and dancing and laughing...awful was thehowling from below (decks)...Doubtless the fire ship wasconveying the soul of some unrighteous Southern Lord..."(Kenneth MacLeod). The fire-ships were often said to bepiloted by Manann mac Ler, Lugh, or some other noted Gaelic
god.
TEINE THARA, The “will-o’-the-wisp; a haunt of the fensand moors.
TENED, genitive of tene or teine, fire, the Anglo-Saxontannal. Eng. tan, cf. with Gaelic goddesses Te who may belinguistically allied with Anu or Danu. A district fire asopposed to local bonfires. In the Orkneys the Lugnasad orLammas fires persisted as the great “tannel” of the year.Until the last century it was lit “on the last day of July, St.Margaret’s Day, or Lammas Eve,” according to localpreference. “Formerly,” said a writer of that time, “it wascustomary to do a reel about the tannel, but that has falleninto desuetude.”
TEIN-THARA, the will o’ the wisp in English folklore. Alsoentitled Dain Iain Ghobha.
TEINTIDH, “firey creature,” a dragon.
TEIRIDNEACH, having medicinal value, curative powers.
TERIRMEAG ORT! An infamous curse: “Mishap on you!” TEó, warm, a nickname for Lugh, god of the sun, a male formof Te, cf. deas, right, south, dia, a god. Same as the Eng.tepid. Matching the Gaullish god Teutates the “god of thepeople” mentioned by Lucan in the first century. Sacrificialvictims dedicated to him were drowned in a vat or cauldron.
TETHRA, teth, hot. A Fomorian warrior, “The Lord of theJoyous Otherworld,” therefore, a side-form of Manann macLer. He took part in the second battle of Magh Tuireadh andlost his magic sword Orna, which was subsequently foundand used by the god Ogma.
TEUD, string, cord, rope, stringed instument and byextension music, teudaiche, a harper.One of the magicalarts.
TEUMANNAN, magically inspired whims, temptations,inclinations, teum. a bite, a wound, sarcasm, a fit.
TEURMNASG, bandages tied to the thumbs and big toes of adead person to keep his spirit from harming his living foes.
THALL, Beyond, Over, abroad, the other side, the Otherworld.
THENEVA, te, she the patroness-saint of Glasgow, Scotland,possibly in remembrance of the pagan goddess Nemain orMacha. A princess of the Picts she defied her father byrefusing to marry Owen, prince of Cumbria. Driven fromhome she sheltered with a swineherd, who was a Christian,and taught her his faith. At some point Theneva becamepregnant, and the doubly enraged father commanded she bethrown from a cliff into the sea. Miraculously she survivedthis mishandling and escaped from the place by boat. Guidedby a shoal of fish she came to Culrose and there gave birthto a son. A hermit resident on the island, baptized motherand son, and afterwards Thevena moved to Glasgow. Her songrew up to be the famed Saint Mungo, and is currently co-patron of Glasgow. See Mungan, Neimhidh.
THOIR, a fetch, the "dead-light" seen at sea. After the ON.Thor, the Gaelic Tor, Tar or Taranis, a god of the upper airand the controller of thunder. Thoir-clann, a taran, theunconsecrated ghosts of the dead particularly when seenover the sea as “corpse-candles.” The equivalent of theland-based fear dreag (which, see). Based on the Irishtabhair (a "crushed" form of the word), give thou, fetchinformation. The early G. is toir, to pursue, perhaps basedon the English Tory. Related to G. torrunn, thunder and toThor, the Old Norse god who preceded Odin as the pre-eminent god of the north. See also tabsh, an apparition orghost. Lighting effects seen over the open ocean, the spiritof Thor incarnate, observed hovering as a globe of lightabove the waters. In later days, the "dragon-ships" of theOld Norse carried lights at their bows and these wereharbingers of death and destruction. The "fetch-light," or
"corpse-candle" had the appearance of a land-travelling"will o' the wisp, " or "jack wi’ lanthorn." As a rule itcommenced action as a pin-point of light which expanded tothe size of "a puncheon head." It behaved erratically overthe water, sometimes rising vertically "to the height oftwo vessel spars", and zig-zagging as it travelled.
In Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, it was termed "Jacob'sball," while those who lived in northeastern New Brunswickreferred to it as "John Craig's light." Some observersinsisted the light was carried across the waves by a ghost-figure, but whatever the format, the thoir was consideredto presage storms at sea, probably accompanied by loss oflife. It was sometimes thought that these "fetches"represented the bafinne of the living, spirits that travelledfrom the wreck of a ship, to land, to report the impendingdeath of the human who was their cowalker. Unemployedafter the death, some such spirits seem to have beencondemned to repeat these last actions although this wasnot invariably the case. At the entrance to AntigonishHarbour, Nova Scotia: "People saw it wend its way up thechannel and disappear. A strange boy was drowned justwhere the light appeared, and his body was taken up thechannel (by boat) for burial. It was believed that the lightwas the forerunner of this death, for it was never seenafterwards. (Folklore of Nova Scotia, p. 50).
TIACHAIR. perverse, ill-disposed, sick, a dwarf, MIr.troublesome.
TIADHAN, a little hill, a small stone, Ir. , a testicle.
TIADHLAIGEAN, TIADLAIGEAN a laoighcionn, calf, calf-skin,enclosing a tiadhan, testicle, a magic amulet, but also aplay on words, being also testicles in their scrotum. Acharm. “That which would make anyone who had them getanything he wished.”
TIBIRT, fountains (Uist). “The custom of visiting wells onthe Quarter Days, or days of the saints, may be traced to apagan water-cult of pre-Druidic origin.” See tobar.
TIDE, time, tide, from Icelandic tith, As. tid, Germ zeit, Eng.tide, as in Yuletide.
TIGH, for taigh, a house, a place in which the druids taughtclasses. The last of these was on North Uist in theHebrides. Missionaries and their adherents fired thesebuildings following the excesses of the Reformation (1618-1625) in Scotland. The form is properly taigh or teach, OIr.teg, covered over, the Eng. thatch, conferring with tuath,which see.
TIGHEARN, house-owner, Lord, chief ruler, baronet, master,superior, proprietor of an estate, today: any land-owner nomatter how insignificant. After an unfortunate Irish kingwhose people were largely destroyed by the god known asCromm.
TIGH DIOCUIL., astronomical observatory of the druids.
TIGH DO, TIGH DON, TIGH DOMH, the “House of Don,” Therewas a second branch of magic-makers aside from the HouseOf Lera. Not much is known of the antecedents of the Houseof Don: The patriarch is said to have been Mathgaman, frommath, a bear, good, forgiving, tame; combined withgamhainn, (the French gamin) a year old animal or stirk. Itis thought that the word may compare with the Welshmadawg, a fox, and that it may appear in the Gaullish namesMatugenos, Matuus and Teutomatus. Note that this lastinterpretation brings us full circle to the god Teus theGaelic Hu. This last word becomes the Welsh huan, the sun.Hence, mathgaman, the “bear-god.” The high-bear is ofcourse mathair, the Welsh modryb, the Latin mater, theNorse móthir, our word mother.
In Welsh myth the patriarch of all the land gods was
said to be Mathonwy. Please note the correspondingBrythonic “god” Artair who seems to derive from arto-s, abear. From him we have clann M’Artair, the Mac-arthurs.
This shadowy figure, who may be cognate with Donhimself, probably gave rise to the Gaelic goddess Danu, whothe Welsh labelled as Dòn. Her brother was named Math,creating another element of confusion with the parent-gods.Fortunately Math had no offspring of his own, but Danu,sometimes called Anu, Boann, Boyne or Dana married Beul,the Mouth (of Death) creating the hierarchy of land-gods forthe people known as the Tuatha daoine, literally, the folk ofDanu. Beul, whose holiday was the Beultuinne (fires ofBeul) was the son of Mangan, a “brother” to Mathgaman,since his name translates as “one born of the bear,” and isquite probably a side-form of Mathgamon. Beul (pronouncedbeahl), or Bile, or Bil, who the Welsh called Beli, and theGauls Bele, was informally the Dagda, the “daddy” or fatherof the deagh, the good ones, or the gods.
In Irish myths the sons of this Union were Ogma of theHoneyed Tongue, the god of politicians and tricksters;Aonghas Og, the Young and Choice One, the god of love; andLugh, god of the sun, and Nuada, god of the moon. A daughterwas Bridd, or Bride, who the Christians preferred to nameSaint Brigit or Brigid. There were, of course, many extra-marital children, the most fearsome the multi-headedMacha who had a heart made of ice.
In Welsh myth the genealogy is more complex, thechildren being noted as Gwydion, the slayer of Pryderi, thekeeper of the gates of the dark land; Arianrod, a dawn-goddess; Gilvaethwy; Ameethon, god of agriculture;Govannan, the smith-god (who is noted as the Goban saor inIrish myth); Nudd or Lludd, the sky-god; Pendaron, a goddessand the “twins” Nynniaw and Peibaw. within these lines,Gwydion the defender of men and the gods against the darklords married his sister Arianrod, giving us Nwyvre, Dylanand Llew or Llaw, the last being cognate with the Gaelicsun-god Lugh. This being the case, Lugh of The Long Arm is
a third generation god. The sun-god may correspondsomewhat with the second-generation Welsh Llud, who isalso a sky-god. His son was Gwy, warder of Hadessometimes called Avalon, an island of the west. To confusethe issue, Pendarun a sister to Lugh, married the god theWelsh called Llyr, giving rise to the House of Llyr or Ler.Thus it is clear that the sea gods and the land gods were onerace rather than separate entities as Tuathan mythologysometimes suggested. It is critical to note that Don is aninextricable mix of local gods including Ler, Manann macLer, and Beul (the continental Dis) in the Fomorian camp,and Dagda and Lugh in the Tuathan division. Within thegenealogical chart of the House of Don, the dark lord is seen“married” to Danu, the mother-goddess, but in a paralleldiagram of relationships for the House of Ler, this samelady (albeit given the name Domnu) is shown as the throne-mate of the sea-god. Things which are equal to the samething are equal to one another; Q.E.D. Danu is Domnu and Donor the Dagda or Beul is Ler.
The bear-god is, therefore, the representative of theultimate creator-god on earth, a single entity fractioned inthe memories of diverse peoples. He is man-god, born to diebecause of miscegenation, his immortal genes overcome bymating with lesser folk. This dawn-being (the Englishword confers) is a dual personality, with a summer and awinter face; having alter egos, symbolizing day and night,the sun and the moon, heat and cold, good and evil, male andfemale, the athair (father) and the nathair (snake, one whois not the father).
The same may be said for his mate, the goddess Danuof the House of Don, or Domnu of the House of Ler. In sumthey are the Daoine sidh, the “people of peace,” the light-bearers, who strove and defeated the Fomoraigh or undersea folk, creatures of ill and darkness. In a sense, theproblems between the land and sea-people are reflected inthe attempts of men to overcome their dark nature. TheGauls affirmed that they were descended from Dis, who theRomans called Dispater: “For this reason the determine all
periods of time by the number, not of days, but of nights,and their observance of birthdays and the beginning ofmonths and years always follows night.” The English term“fortnight” speaks of this older measurement of time
TIGH LEAR, the “House of Ler.” islands in the westernAtlantic, the great ocean proper.
TIGH SUNTAIS, a gymnasium, a place used in the evening forstory-telling, music, and dancing. Associated with thedruidic academies.
TIGHEARNA, AN, The Lord (God). The first bearing this namewas the son of Follach, “Lord of Death,” so called from hisworship of Cromm. In the king lists he is given as thetwenty-sixth high-king of Ireland, in the Milesiansuccession. He was the first to mine gold in Ireland,introduced tartans as symbols of rank, and created theworship of Cromm Cruach. He and most of his peoplemysteriously died during worship of that idol. Cognate withDon, the god of the Otherworld. This word was latterlyapplied to the Christian god. Also the Gaelic counterpart ofthe Middle English Allfather. Always referred to obliquelyfor fear of drawing his unwanted attention. Some called himAn Tigherarna (The Lord). Others identified him as AnOlathir (The Father of Drink). He was also Uil-athir, theAll-embracing Father). More often he was simply An Athir(The Father of All) or Ard Athir (The High Father). From thislast we have the English name Arthur. Be-al was anothername given the creator-god. Thomas Bulfinch says the nameis Druidic in origin and has translated it as "the life ofeverything," or "the source of all being." Bulfinch though itlikely that Be-al, sometimes given as Be-ul or Be-ol or Ba-il, had affinities with the Phoenician Baal: "Druids as wellas Phoenicians identified this (god), their supreme deity,with the Sun. Fire was regarded as a symbol of thedivinity..."1
TIGH MOR, the Lord's house, Heaven. Possibly conferringwith the earth- bound Tea Mor , “Great Tea,” or Tara. After
Eremon’s wife.
TINNEAS, illness, evil, distemper. Similar to the Englishattenuate. Tinneas-na-gealaich, lunacy, an eclipse, tinneas-na-Domhnullach, a pulmonary infection, also termedglacach. The Macdonalds possessed this remedy after savingand showing kindness to a shipwrecked foreign sailor. Thiswas managed by reciting a duan over the patient who wasthen touched with the right hand.
TINNSGEADAL, a bad omen, tinn + sgeach, sick + hawthorn.The hawthorn flowers were said to bring illness when takeninto the homes of men. This plant was said to grow at theentrances of the homes of the Daoine sidh and wasassociated with them and their magic. In general the fruitof this plant and the wood was considered beneficent.
TIOBART, obs., a well, OG. tiprat, Ir. tiobar, EIr. tipra, Celticverb bervo, to seethe, to boil over, Germ. brunnen, Eng. burn.Similar to G. tobar, which, see.
TIONNAIL, likeness of a person or thing. An object ofsympathetic magic.
TIOR, dry, kiln-dry, EIr. tir, to dry, see tir. Cf. tiorail, warm,cosy, sheltered, familiar, pleasant. Tiorc, to save, deliverfrom disaster.
TIR, TIRE, TIREAN, land, earth, country, region, shore,beach, coast, terra firma, The root appears to be ters, to bedry. Confers with tuatha, We have previously argued that theTuatha daoine were outlawed from Ireland to the north-western sea islands including those beyond the West Islesand the Hebrides, and their places of refuge are almostuniversally prefixed with the GaelicTir. This archaic wordis usually translated English as land, but is fairly certain tobe the name of the old northern god, who the English stillremember in Tues-day. As we have shown elsewhere thisword compares with Tuatha, “the people of Tua,” and theseall confer with the Gaelic tugha which is the English word
“tiled,” and the Middle-English Tyle. A similar Latin formis terra from ters, “dry,” buttressing out idea that theoriginal form of the word implied a surround of water. Seetuatha. Tireachadh, colony, the act of settlement on foreignshores, disembarkation. Tireanach, landsman, similar totuathanach.
TIR-A'-GHEALLAIDH, the Land of Promise. Hy-Breas-il or anassociated island.
TIR BREG, The names Bregon and Ith presumably originatedin the west (although the Milesians said otherwise) butMuster itself was sometimes entitled Tir Breg and itsinhabitants were referred to as Bregians. It was supposedlynamed after their place of origin, a far western land. Inlater days the Munstermen became associated with theCeltic redoubt known as Bregançon an island in the Bay ofHyéres, France, but this does not mean that this was theirold homeland. The Gaelic brèagh, passes into English as fineor bright. An earlier Middle English form of the word wasbreht; another was brig, conferring with the Gaelic brig, aheap, a pile, possibly suggesting an ocean-island. The Norseform of this is brik, from which “brick,” suggesting ablock-shaped place. The related brigh infers power, dignityor rank but bris, lively, brittle, or hasty suggests men of aquixotic nature, while bras is the Gaelic for rash. All ofthese words settle on Breas, the one-time High King ofIreland, who unknown to everyone but his mother, was half-Fomorian. It was his rejection by the Tuatha daoine that ledto the convulsive war between the “giants” and the “gods.”Tir Breg is probably the Hy Breasil to which thisunfortunate loser was banished. Something can also be madeof the name given his son Ith. As a verb the Gaelic ithmeans to eat, and what the islanders ate was ioth, or corn.We may presume that the Tir Breg was aiothlann, orcornland, as dead as it may have been in other respects. Seethe goddess Breg.
TIR FO-TONN. the Land Under the Wave, the UnderseaKingdom of the Fomorian giants. fo + tonn, “under a wave,”
EIr. tond, the root tu, boiling up, to swell to bursting, Lat.tumeo, Eng. thumb, AS. theótan, to howl, the ON. thjóta,howl, whistle (as the wind, etc.) Perhaps allied with theLat. tund, to beat, Skr. tud, to push, the dia. Eng. fuck. Fromthe same root, tón, the anus, the Eng. thigh. See G. famhair.A “fairyland” far out in the western Atlantic, which seemedto sink into the ocean as mariners approached. Actuallythere were a number of such hidden islands, in fact a fairnumber of European islands are said to have been reclaimedat the expense of Fomorian holdings. Among these are threeNorwegian islands said to have been former huldrelande, or“fairy-lands.” The derivation of this word is from the ONhulder, i.e. “holers” or “hellers,” those living in theUnderworld. The Gaelic toll, a hole, all after the famedgoddess Hel. Nansen says that hulder also means “hidden,”in which case reference is made to islands of a hiddenpeople or islands which are hidden. Notice that the Norsereferred to the early Scots as Hellr.
When Bran, the mariner, encountered Manann mac Leron the high sea, the lord of the dead, who was travellingeastward, paused to explain that Bran was voyaging aboveMagh Mell, the “Happy Plain (of the Ocean),”, where peoplewere sitting at their tables, catttle grazing, and greatforests growing all unperceived. This was the Gaelic Tirfo-Tonn. Nansen has noted that the way to these “hiddenlands” was always”through darkness and mist, or sea andwater. He also says: “A blending of the fairies (sid-people)and the inhabitants of these lands is particularly observablein the Irish legends. The people of the sid dwell partly inthe grave mounds (and are thus like our haugebonde ormound-elf), they also live in happy lands far west in the seaor under the sea, and are thus sea-elves.”
We are informed that Nordfuglöi, to the north ofKarlsöi was originally “troll-ridden, under the sea andinvisible to men, thus a “huldre” island. But certain troll-hags (witches) betook themselves to towing it to land; aLapp hag who happened to cast her eye through the door-opening saw them come rowing with the island, so that the
spray dashed over it, and cried, “Oh, what a good fertileland, we have now obtained..” And thereupon the islandstopped at the mouth of the sea, where it now stands(Nicolayssen, 1889). It is claimed that Buskholm at Sunnmörin Norway was similarly recovered and that Svinöiin theFaeroes was once a fay-island. The former was said once“inhabited by underground beings and protected, i.e.thoroughly overgrown with trees and bushes.” Legends of“floating” and “sinking” islands are legion throughout theAtlantic.
The foremost floating-island was perhaps Eiru or“Ireland,” which was said to be quite without roots at thetime of the great World Flood. Lucas Debes (1673) has saidthat “at various times a floating island is said to have beenseen among the Faroes; but no one can reach it. Theinhabitants also tell of Svinöe, “Swine Island,” how that inthe beginning it was a floating island; and they think that ifone could come to this island, which is often seen, andthrow steel upon it, it would stand still... Many things arerelated of such floating islands, and some think that theyexist in nature.” For his own part Debes concluded that suchislands were most likely icebergs calved off Greenland.Others thought they were constructions of the Devil or theSöe Draulen, or “sea-trows.” It is said that the Svinöi inthe Faeroes was brought to light “through a sow on whichsteel had been bound.”
If some islands have been rescued from the deep,others remain elusive as well as illusive: In 1125 A.D.Augustodunensis wrote concerning the Atlantic islands ofthe Hesperides, “that have the golden apples... To theseislands belonged the great island which according to thetale of Plato sank with its inhabitants, and which exceededAfrica and Europe in extent, (and which lies underwater)where the “curdled sea,” (the Arctic?) now is... There liesalso in this Ocean an island called the Lost (Perdita); incharm and all kinds of fertility it far surpasses every otherland, but is now unknown to men. Now and again it is foundby chance; but if one (actively) seeks it, it cannot be found,
and therefore is called “the Lost.” Men say that it is thisisland that Brandanus (Saint Brendan) came to.”
In a similar vein, Columbus says in his diary, thatthe inhabitants of the Canary Islands reported seeing land inthe west where none was to be detected. Expeditions weremounted to find this western mirage, which the Dutchmannamed Van Linschoten (1589) speaks of as the beautiful lostland of San Borondon (Saint Brendan). This he asserted wasa place “a hundred leagues (about 300 land miles) west ofthe Canaries. Its inhabitants are said to be Christians, butit is not known what nations they are, or what languagethey speak; certainly the Spaniards of the Canaries havemade many vain efforts to find it.
This same island, which sometimes shows itself, butwithdraws when one tries to approach it, still lives inSpanish folklore under the name “San Morondon.” Off thecoast of Britain one finds similar floating island; “Theyalways fly before ships and one can never land there. Theyare drawn along by the devil, who compels the souls ofdrowned men who have deserved Hell and are damned, rtostay in such places till the Judgement Day. On some of themthe roar of a terrible beast is heard; and sailors look uponthe meeting with such an island as a sinister warning.”
There are even North American floating islands, andthe Iroquois of the eastern coast imagined that the earthwas the creation of a god who ruled from an “island” inspace, a place surrounded by realms of eternal peace andsolitude, very like the Celtic An Domahin, where there was“no desire, no sorrow, no pain, and where Death had nopresence or dominion.”
This “Isle of the Blest,” was sometimes said to belocated in the Ocean east of Boston, “a green land; it flieswhen one approaches, and no white man can ever reach itsshores. According to Harriet Maxwell Conversly, this islandwas distantly perceived by an Indian who pursued it as hisDeath approached in 1886; “He disappeared (in a canoe) in a
storm the likes of which had never been known and afterthis the enchanted island was never seen again.”
The idea of a floating mirage is found embodied in theNorse word Villuland (from villa ; illusion, glamour).Interestingly, this name was applied to the mythic island ofFrisland (said to lie southwest of Iceland) which in onemanuscript is called Villi-Skotland. This might make it theequal of Irland it Mikla, “Ireland the Great,” anothersupposedly fabulous Atlantic island. Are Marsson supposedlytravelled to Villuland and remained a resident for a numberof years. Many of the undersea islands were abroad by nightbut had the habit of falling back into the sea at night. “Ifone could only bring fire, or steel, upon them, then the spellof submergence was broken and they remained up, but theUndersea folk avenged themselves on the people who causedsuch loss, and many humans were turned to stone.”
Because animals were often used to rescue sea-lands,some were afterwards named after the species to whichsteel was attached. Many of the lakes of Ireland andScotland contained mystery islands, but the ultimate GaelicIsland was Hy Breasil which Geraldus Cambrensis (12thcentury) said could be seen from western Irish shores onevery clear day, “but vanished when people approached it.”Many came within bowshot, and at least one sailor shot ared-hot iron arrow-head on its shores after which itbecame fixed for a time. Hy Breasil was reported to beabove water once in every seventh year. See separate entryunder this designation. The Land-Under-Waves was adesired haven for the drowned.
A Hebridean woman questioning the spirit of herdeparted husband asked if he were not “cold in your bed?”He responded: “Here it is neither too cold, nor too hot, butwhat a man might get if granted that which he wished.”Well she mused “It must be lonely, at least?” “Nae,” hesaid, “ the best heroes of Alba strand beside me, the bestbards of Ireland; and what they do not know the seals andswans tell us!” “Aye,” noted the woman, “are we not foolish
to weep after men-folk and they so happy!” It is said thatmore than one shade from the ocean has returned to theshore entreating a wife not to mourn and thus sully hishappiness in the Otherworld. In the islands it is guessedthat. “The sadest death ius the two-fold death. This comesto the man who drowns once in the Ocean and once in thesalt of a loved-onne’s tears.” The sea-sorrow is alsoconsidered a danger to the person who mourns. To sing adrowning-song more than twice , especially at sunset, notonly sorrows the dead but can anger them.
There are stories without number of dead who havecome back ashore to upbraid their women-folk. Excesses ofjoy and grief are thought to tempt any Providence in the oldgods. “Laughing ovrermuch is an omen for tears; but weepingoverly is tatramount to far greater evil.” On the whole, ifthere must be excess, the folk suggest equal parts oflaughter and tears, for that totally confused ocean-spirits.
TIR IATH, Tiree, “the land of Eth or Ith, Latin, Ethica Terra.Also seen as Heth, Heth regio, terra Heth. Later iath. ON.Tyrvist. Their form for Uist. See Ith.
TIR MÄG, MAGH, the “Lazy Bed Land,” or the “Fertile Land,”as a result of indolence? More directly, mäg, a paw, a hand,a ridge of arable land, EIr. mác from the root man, a hand,magh, a fertile plain or field. One of the lands in thewestern Atlantic.
TIR MÓR, the Great Land, which Nansen thinks may conferwith the ON. Vithland, better known in mythological historyas Vinland the Good. Another of the mythic Atlantic islands.
TIR-NAN-BAS, Land of the Dead. The people who travelledwith Lady Cassir, the daughter of Bith were spoken of as thedescendants of Nodha. Writers of the Christian era assumedthat they were the “sons of the Biblical “Noah.” Thisseemed to be reinforced by the myth that they came toIreland from a land named Tir-nan-Bas, which they took tomean “the Land of Basques.” They equated with modern
Spain. It was, therefore, supposed that the folk of thepatriarch named Bith or Ith must have sailed to Spain outof the Eastern Ocean, now known as the Mediterranean Sea.Nodha is, of course, a form of Nuada (pronounced nood-a),the “New-One,” the twin-brother of the creator god Lugh(pronounced look-a) and has no connections with Christianmythology. Bas is the Gaelic word for “death,” so theirorigin was in “The Land of the Dead,” which traditionallylay on an “island” somewhere in the Atlantic.
This interpretation makes their seven year journey toIreland more plausible. A cruise along the Mediterraneanwould hardly have required that length of time. The Bas-breton, or Basques, probably received their names fromtheir war-like habits, as well as from the fact that theyclaimed decent from the “Lords of Death.” The place whereFintann’s folk settled was ultimately named Munster and itbecame a province in the south. The name is an anglicizedform of the Gaelic Muhan with the Old Norse ster ending.Earlier forms were Mumu and Muma. The Munster kings onlygrudgingly admitted kinship with other people in Ireland,and only recognized the high-kingship at Tara in the ninthcentury A.D.
TIR N-AM-BUAIDH, Land of Virtue, or Victory, OIr. buaid,Eng. booty, ON. byta, exchange, barter, Eng. boot, formerlythat seized as plunder. One of the mythic Atlantic sea-lands in the western ocean. Notice that the “sea-masks” orrespirators worn by the sea-trows were sometimesreferred to as the “caps of virtue.” See cuhulann druidhean.
TIR-NA-FER, The Land of Men, comparable with Tir-na-m-ban. “It may further appear that there is some connectionbetween the ideas that appear in certain Irish legends ofthe land of virgins - where there are no men, and the virginsgo to the neighbouring land of men to be Married (Zimmer,1889). This is similar to the conception of the island ofSena, off the coast of France, where a group of “virgin”priestesses served prophets to seamen of that coast. As thepresence of men was thought to negate their powers of
prophecy, these “morgans” “had to visit men on theneighbouring coast, and return after having intercourse withthem.”
TIR-NA-FER-FIONN, the Land of White Men, another mythicoceanic place mentioned in Irish tales from the thirteenthand fourteenth centuries. The white men (fer fionn) seem toconfer with the L. albati, the white-robed men of theBritish Isles, the G. Alba.
This land may also be the Norse Hvitramannaland,“White-man’s Land,” supposedly sited somewhere in NorthAmerica. Nansen says that all these names are “directrenderings of the Latin Terra Albatorum, “the land of thebaptized who are dressed in white. Those so costumed worethe baptismal garb for a week after their plune, dip orsprinkling. Björn Asbrandsson appears in the Old NorseEyrbyggja Saga as the illicit lover of Snorre Gode’s sister,Thurid, the wife of Thorodd. By her Björn had an illegitimateson named Kjartan. Björn had to leave Iceland in a hurrybecause of this affair and made the error of leaving land inlate autumn with his lady-friend on board. “Afterwards theship was not heard of for many days.” Gudleif Gudlaugssonnow enters the story as a wealthy merchant trading out ofDublin in the last years of the reign of St. Olaf of Norway.He sailed westward making for Iceland and encounteredfierce north-east winds so that he was driven than hewished into unknown waters. Finally, his ship came upon agreat land previously unknown to the Norse.
Although no one knew any of these people it was soonobserved that they spoke Irish. Soon several hundred ofthese folk swarmed about their craft, seized and boundthem, and drove them into the interior of their country. Theywere brought before some kind of judicial forum and asentence, which they could not understand, was pronouncedon them. They did, however, understand that some of theassembly wished to have them killed, while otherssuggested they simply be utilized as slaves. While this wasgoing on, a great band of men on horseback approached, many
carrying banners. They were led by a stately man of greatage, and from his white hair, they guessed he might be theirchief. All those in attendance bowed to him, and he wentstraight to the Norsemen and addressed them fluently intheir own language. After he had heard that most of themwere Iceland, he began to talk knowingly of all theimportant men in that place, and he enquired particularlyafter various people in particular Kjartan, who was now aprincipal figure in Iceland. After this, the big man turned todiscuss the fate of the Norse with his countrymen, and thenhe turned and gave the Icelanders leave to depart.
Although the summer was almost over, this manadvised them to make their departure immediately as thetemper of the country could not be trusted. He would notreveal his name saying only that he had relatives in Icelandand did not wish them to undertake a long sea-voyage tofind him as he was elderly and probably would not be foundalive. Further, he noted, that without his presenceforeigners were likely to be treated with far less respect.After this their patron had a ship fitted out for them, andwhen a favourable wind arose bid them farewell at the quay.As they were about to part, he handed Gudleif a gold ringand a sword saying, “If chance allows you to return toIceland give the sword to Kjartan, and the ring to Thurid,his mother.” When Gudleif asked if there was any messageto accompany these gifts. The master of the far land saidenigmatically”: “Say to them that he who sent these goodswas more a friend of the mistress of Frotha than of the“gode” of Halgafell, her brother...”
Gudleif then put to sea and he and his men did makeIreland late that autumn. They stayed the winter at Dublin,and the following summer sailed to Iceland where theydelivered the gifts of Björn Asbrandsson. Norse historianssay that the leading character in this tale had adventuresvery like those of Are Mársson who appears in theLandnáma. In this book Are is said to have made a crossingfrom Iceland to Hvitramannaland, or “White man’s land,”“which some call Irland hit Mikla, or “Ireland the Great.”
This account tells us less than we would like, but does notethat it lay “near Winland,” somewhere in the western ocean,“six dœgr’s sail to the west of Ireland proper. Are, who wasalso an Icelandic chief was driven there by storms, but wasnever allowed to depart although he was baptized in thatcountry and held in great esteem by the populace.
The White man’s land is also mentioned in the Saga ofEric the Red, who said it lay “opposite Markland,” which ismost often taken to be present-day Quebec or Labrador.Finally in the Eyrbyggja Saga there is another tale of avoyage which had this same country as its object, althoughit was not mentioned using either name. It has been notedthat Thorkel Gellison is given as the source of informationabout this place in the Landnáma. As he lived at the close ofthe eleventh century, the tale could hardly be much youngerthan that date.
White man’s land might be thought to have areference to skin colour, a surprising anomaly in NorthAmerica at that century, but it might have otherconnotations as well: The Old Norse hwit , confers with theAnglo-Saxon wit , a “wise man,” the opposite of wit-les.These men were foregathered to create the witan, theAnglo-Saxon councils that advised the high-kings. The wordcan be show to derive from the Old Norse god Odin or Wodenand to have side forms as: wood, weather and witch. Thereis a Celtic form of this last word, probably derived fromEnglish, viz. buitseach. Related to this is buitseach, a“witches curse or a threat.” This is thought to lean on boid,a vow, hence, “those who have taken vows.” This takes usback to the ancient Irish Isles of the Blest, the Tuathadaoine and the druids. Tartaned wearing apparel was not afeature of British society until the time of Tighernmas ardrigh , the seventh king in the Milesian line, which broughtthe weave from Spain. “To him, or his successor Eochaid, iscredited the ancient ordinance which distinguished thevarious classes and professions by the colours of theirdress: A king or queen might wear seven colours; a poet six,a chieftain five, an army leader four, a land owner three, a
rent-payer two, a serf one colour only.”
Tradition says that the Milesians arrived in Irelandabout the year 1000 B.C. Before this time the entirepopulation, male and female, rich and poor, wore the high-necked, long-sleeved garment which the Romans termed analbus. They selected this word, which means “white,”because this belted shift was made of linen, which isnaturally brown in colour but bleaches in the sun to dazzlingwhiteness. From this, the Latin Albion, a name for all ofBritain, and from it the Gaelic Alba , which now applies toScotland alone. In some parts the chieftains distinguishedthemselves by wearing the orange kilts, which are stillseen in paraded of modern Irishmen. In later times woolsupplanted linen as the material of choice for the nobility.The Tuatha daoine, who were in power when the Milesiansarrived in Ireland never surrendered the traditional whitelinen albus and this was also true of the conservativedruidic class that managed religious rites.
When Christian missionaries came to Britain they hadthe smarts to make themselves indistinguishable from thevates by wearing white linen, and many Christian priestsstill wear this basic uniform beneath their black supplice.In the Navigatio Brandani the travellers landed on an InsulaViroum Fortium, an “Island of Virile and Strong” people. Inthat same tale this place is also referred to as “The Isle ofthe Anchorites.” It was said that three generations of mendwelt there. The youngest generation had “clothes as whiteas driven snow.” Their parents wore clothes the colour ofhyacinth, and the oldest generation wore clothes of purple.Notice the connotation of white with virginity andwholesomeness, one which has translated into the “WhiteChrist,” and white baptismal garments, the latter wastermed the albati.
Things get even stranger, for the Irish legends arefond of naked old men who wear nothing other than theirwhite hair. The old man who welcomed Brandon to hispromised land was one of anchorites, his body covered with
dazzling white feathers, like a dove or a gull.” In a Latinaccount of Brendon’s life this man is identified as Paulus,and again he has no clothes, but is here described as“covered with white hair.” In both cases the man is said tohave come to this remote oceanic island from Ireland.
In Maelduin’s voyage, which is older than the travelsof Brendon, the hero meets similar hermits, one on an islandwhich he shared with sheep, and another on “a rock in thesea.” These men were also Irish and used their body hair forclothing. On two other islands Maelduin encountered islandshaving “soil as white as feathers,” with naked men tomatch. Again in the Navigatio, Brendon meets an aged man“with hair the colour of snow with a shining whitecountenance. His head and hairs were white like wool, aswhite as snow; his eyes as flames of fire.”
Notice that the druidic bards who were at the head oftheir profession wore bird-feather cloaks but these wereparti-coloured, so the Christian motif may have been arejection of this style, a return to ultimate basics. Thecharacter mentioned above, who was found on the InsulaAlibius is understood to be Jesus Christ incarnate. Not allthe hairy creatures of western Europe were Christian, thuswe have the Germanic wildermann, the villemand or “wildman” of certain Norwegian tales. These are the woodwoseof England, the brownies of the Shetlands and the bodacheof Scotland and Ireland and there elders were alwaysdescribed as white-haired. Among the Gaels, in general,there was an attachment between whiteness andsupernatural beings. The national hero of the south wasFionn mac Cumhail , and while fionn is frequently translatedas “fair-haired” it actually indicates “white.” Bebhionn orVivienne the giantess who comes from the west seekingFionn’s help is characterizes as “the white woman,”because she had “dazzling white hair.”
The physician Labhra, at the court of Manann mac Ler,has three beautiful white-haired daughters, and the“billow-maidens” of the god himself show their hair in the
breaking waves. When Mider, the king of the side-hill triedto lure Etain away from her husband he says: “Oh, whitewoman, will you not go with me to the Land of Marvels?...thybody is one in beauty, whiteness to the very crown of yourhead.”
Again, Saint Brendon finds a corresponding sea-maiden, “whiter than snow or sea-spray.” Again, the womenof the Daoine sidh are frequently described as “the whitewomen,” and the ban-sithe; or “white sids,” are definitelyof this class, as are the fates, who are termed the bas-finne, the “death-women.” The Norse elfs of the upper worldare similarly identified as the liosalfar, the “light-elfs,”and they have their uncanny counterpart in the svartaffar or“dark elfs.” The elf-maidens of Sweden were said to be“slender as a lily and white as snow,” and are frequentlydesignated as albae nymphæ, “white nymphs.” During thetransformation on the mountain the Bible says that Jesus’face “did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as thelight.” In another place it says, “his raiment was as whiteas the light.”
This conference of pagan and Christian ideas led tothe concept that the world beyond the grave (in the west)was “a fair shining land.” Thus, in the Floamanna SagaThorgil’s wife saw in her dream “a fair country filled withmenn bjarta, “shining white men.” and her husband said thiswas “the other world” where one could expect help from“holy men.” In Eric the Red’s Saga the Hvitramanalandrs goabout in white clothes, carrying poles before them, cryingaloud as they proceed. As these are “poles to which stripsare attached,” there is a strong suggestion that the islandof “Greater Ireland” hosted holy day parades which nowcontinue as ecclesiastical processions. In earlier times,these may have arisen from pagan models just as the whitemitts out in the ocean appear to represent pagansupernaturals of an earlier age. The Gaelic fionn, “white,”has at its root the Celtic vid, “to see,” and a variantappears in the Gaelic word fion, which relates directlywith the Latin vinum, the English wine and the Old Norse
win or vin, “white or clear wine.”
This confluence explains the confusion of some of theplace names seen in medieval literature and on maps of theperiod: Hvitramanaland seems to be represented in RanulpHigden’s Polychronicon as Wyntlandia. In the variouseditions of Higden’s maps it is called Witland, Wintlandia,and Wineland, and this is the short list of variants. In thiswork the islands (bordering the Atlantic Ocean) are given asfollows; “Insulae Fortunatæ (furthest south), andimmediately after Dacia (Denmark), and to the west of thisisland Wyntlandia which stands beside Islandia (Iceland),which has Norway to the south and the Polar Sea to thenorth. Tile (Thule) is the extreme island on the north-west.”The description suggests that this White- or Wine-land maybe an oceanic island, but the fact that it is mentioned asneighbouring Dacia may mean it was confused withVendland. The Polychronicon was largely borrowed from anearlier English book, the Geographica Universalis, whichwas written in the thirteenth century. In it the inhabitantsof this particular Winlandia are represented as wizards whosell the wind to mariners. Further it is placed on thecontinent of Europe on the sea-coast bordering Norway onthe east. It is therefore Finnland, particularly the provinceof the Lapp wizards known as the Finnmark.
In the same way the Vinlandia mentioned in theLubeck manuscript of 1486-1488 and described as “anextensive island reaching as far as Livonia ,” appears to bethis same mainland. Having said this it is still true thatthe word Winland sometimes described an western oceaniclandfall, and this appears to be the case with the “fairy-tale land” of Hvittenland mentioned in Faroes lay Finnurhinn Frithi: In it the jarl’s son, Fionn the Fair, who has anotable correspondence with the Gaelic Fionn mac Cumhail,courts Ingesjörg, the daughter of an Irish king. She is asbeautiful as the sun, “the colour of her maiden cheeks asblood dropped upon snow.” This last is exactly thedescription given the crow-goddess Mhorrigan. When he asksfor her hand she insists that he first kill the three “Wine-
kings” who live in the western sea, and who are apparentlybothering the northern isles. Fionn conscripted his brotherHaldan to go an echtral and afterwards they hoisted theirsilken sails setting forth on the Winland Sea. At theirdestination Fionn killed Thorstein the first king who cameat him as a magical black horse, by slashing him across thenavel, a feat similar to the disembowelment of Don by theDagda. The second, tried a similar unsuccessful attack onthe hero, but the third shape-changed into a dragon. Heposed a much bigger problem and he shot venom from hismouth into Fionn’s coat-of-mail.
Thinking he was near death Fionn removed his goldenarm band and gave it to Halfdan instructing him to take itback to Ingebjörg bidding her to find some other mate. Atthis Halfdan “sprang into the air and seized the third Wine-king tearing him off at the navel.” After this he returned toIreland told the maiden of this unfortunate reversal andgave her the ring as he been instructed. To recompenseHalfdan, the girl slept with him for three nights, but findinghim unequal to her prince charming, died of grief. Halfdanerected a fortress in Ireland, but never ceased mourning theloss of his brother.
Nansen thinks that this solitary tale is “the last echoof the Irish mythological ideas from which the Wineland ofthe Icelanders arose.” Although some of the Old Norse talesconclude that the land was named after the grape vinesfound there it must be noticed that no notice is taken offinding grape-vines in the earliest versions of the discoveryof North America. Notice that Odin’s vines were thewitches’ brooms, the nether reaches of the white-beechtrees which were regarded as his places for rest andcontemplation, and this might be the source of the nameVinland.
TIR MÔR, The exchange name for Tir Fionne the NorseHvitramannaland in the sagas was Irland hit Mikla, “Irelandthe Great.” In Ireland itself Tir-nan-Iongnadh, the “Land ofWonders,” was often called Tir Mór, the “Great Land,”a
place stated to be “two or three times as large as Ireland.”This name confers with Tuatha Mór, “Northern Land.” Thename relates directly with the Old Norse Tile or “Thule,”and it is our guess that it was the home-away-from-homefor the banished Tuatha daoine, the fay-people of Ireland.Notice that iongnadh, “wonder,” is based on in-gnàth, “notcustomary,” “not traditional,””not usual,” “not a knownentity,” a weird place. Among its unusual features was theTrág Mór , which Nansen equates with the “Great Strands”seen by the Norsemen when they came to North America.This is a mistranslation of the Gaelic as tràigh is anyshore and not a sand beach. The ultimate root for the wordis troigh, to “draw down,” and it resembles traogh, to“ebb,” and trai, the “ebb-tide, hence traeth, a shore at ebbtide. This is, therefore, a name descriptive of a place wherethere were great expanses of shore exposed at the ebb-tide.
In North America only one place deserves this nameand that is the Bay of Fundy, which has the highest tidalranges in the world. By implication Nova Scotia and NewBrunswick may represent “Ireland the Great,” or the “Whiteman’s Land.” There is a seemingly inconsistent passage inthe Sturlubôk where Wineland and Ireland are both alludedto: There, Wineland seems to be called Irland et Goda ,“Ireland of the Gods,” or less closely “Ireland the Good.”
This is strange since the mention follows reference toIrland et Mikla. It will be remembered that Vinland ismentioned elsewhere as being close by “Ireland the Great,”which makes Ireland of the Gods confer with Vinland. Thisis generally supposed to be a doubling up of a single namedue to a copyist’s error, but this is a very rare error andNansen says “Nothing of the same sort occurs in thetransmission of other geographical names.” He suspectsthat Ireland of the Gods represents the original form forVinland, and says there may have been two places in thewest peopled by the Irish. In any instance he thinks that etgoda or hit gótha has a foreign ring in combination withNorse names. He notes that this combination only appears inthree other northern place name, “Landegode,” which was
originally “Landit Gotha.” One is a landfall located on anisland west of Bodö on the coast of Norway, Peter Clausenhas said that this name was a substitution for Jomfruland,a tabooed designation which fishermen would not use whenpassing this place. The hidden name has reference to a“Jonah’s wife,” a person possessed by demons and driven toconsistent bad luck. This “Land of the Gods,” or “Land of thegood-folk” is “a common superstition among sailors andfishermen that various things were not to be called by theirusual names while they were at sea, presumably a relic ofheathen belief in evil spirits, whose power it was hoped toavoid by not calling their attention by mentioningthemselves or objects with which their evil designs wereconnected. It was rather hoped to be able to conciliate themby using flattering words instead of the proper ones. Thethree islands in point were all so situated in the fairwaythat they must have been unusually dangerous for coastingtraffic in former times.” Other mythologists have suggestedthat the case is simpler and that Landegod in Sumnmör iscalled the “good land,” for being the first decent landfall intreacherous waters.
If Irland et Goda disguises a tabooed place, this is notwithout precedent for fairylands are universally referred toin English as the “Good Lands.” and in the Scandinaviancountries Landit Gotha was understood to be possessed bythe huldrefolk , or “cow-people,” the liosalfar of Sweden.Nansen has suggested that their lands were indeed “good”places since they were exceedingly fertile meadow-lands.The Germanic people, in general, whistle in the dark whenthey compliment the elfs as “good-fellows” or “god-fellows.” In Nordlands, the huldrefolk are in fact called thegodvetter, i.e the “good wights.” Among the Lapps these arethe güvitter , a name reserved for supernatural humanoidsliving underground or in the sea. The northern Swedessometimes speak of the goveiter. The Old Norse mound elfor haugbui (mound-bound one) is called in Nordlandgodbonden. The Icelandic underground folk are ljúflinger, theGerman equivalent is the guten Leute .
In English speaking places, they are “the good folk,”“the good neighbours,” or “the good people.” These answerto Daoine magh , the “great people,” in Gaelic places and todynion mad in the Welsh countryside. In Sweden andDenmark we also see house-spirits entitled nisse god dreng,the “niss good-boy,” or goda-nisse. In Norway the creatureis go-granne , the “god neighbour.” In Danish there is alsokære granne the “dear neighbour,” and in German guternachbar or gutgesell for a goblin. In Thuringia the correctparlance is gütchen or gütel and in England he is thegoodfellow, sometimes personalized as Robin Goodfellow orRobin Hood. The epithet “good” or god-like” was of courseapplied to the human dead as well as to supernatural beingsin the hopes that these spirits would interfere in the livesof men. Nicknames were thought preferable to the hiddennames of such spirits, since the naming of names wasthought to case these creatures to become incarnate. Fearwas the impetus for these pet names, the same principle asthat used when the Swedes refer to thunder as gobon orgodbonden rather than mention Torr , the name of the godthought responsible for generating the phenomenon. Thissimilie is like the Gaelic gobhal, “forked.” Hit Gotha has theconnotation of godlike, “the altogether good,” “perfect inevery respect.”
Here it must be remembered that most of the elfs,fairies and Daoine sidh abandoned Europe as it became clearthat Christianity was not a passing fancy with the humanpopulation. It is also necessary to remember that the “side-hill people,” were sometimes identified as the aes side oroes side , the “wise side-hill-dwellers” because of theirskills as craftsmen and magicians. The Milesians whobanished them remained aware of their superiority in thehealing arts and their gods were incorporated into the pagantheology of the sons of Mil without question. When theRomans discovered the religions of Britain they carriedthem back to Rome and there the Tuathan “gods” wereabsorbed as the dei terreni or “gods of the earth. Note thatthe Latin terra confers exactly with the Gaelic tir and withtuath , “a northern people,” people found to the “left” in the
Atlantic Ocean. These words are similar to the Latin toto,the “state, “ as well as to Teutonic , Deutsch and Dutch.
Notice, as well, that the Atlantic southwest of Irelandwas called the “Green Ocean,”in medieval times, whilewaters to the northwest were known as the OceanusDeucalidonius , the “Ocean of the Caledonian gods,” whowere, of course, the Daoine sidh, at first known as theTuatha daoine, their leaders being the reincarnate mortal-gods of the earth. This takes us full circle to the Irland hitgotha and the sister place which is called Vinland hitgotha, “Wineland the Good,” in some of the texts. Since thecombination of hit gotha with a proper name is not seen inScandinavia, Nansen thinks it was used to set aside any“fairyland” in the western ocean.
TIR N’ IONGNADH, the “Land of Wonder.” North America?
TIR MUCCE, the Land of Pigs, from Manann mac Ler’s magical“pigs of the sea.” muc, a pig, mucce, pigs, Cy. moch, pigs,Lat. muc, mucus, phlegm, also the G. mug, cloudiness, gloom,surliness, allied with Eng. mug, pug, bog, buck and pig andwith muggy and muddy. The Roman historian Tacitus, wholived in the first century A.D., produced a map showing thenations of northwestern Europe, and on it the Ocean of theCaledons is called Mare Pigrum, the portion between theOrkneys and Thule being given as Apertum Mare, the “OpenSea.” Pigrum is the Latin superlative of piger, “slow,reluctant, lazy, indolent, inactive, dull, sluggish, inactive,unfruitful,” all modifiers which apply to the arctic waters.But the word may have been intended for its connotations:hence the related pigneror, an (evil) omen, “to take apledge.” Those who were pledged or mortgaged to evil men(or gods) were termed the pigneratori (the pigs of Tor), andit will be recalled that the Tuatha daoine were indebted tothe sea-gods for their lands in the west and were in factreferred to as Aitchech tuatha, the “Rent-payers,” andsometimes as the “Rent-payers to Cromm, “ the Gaelicdeath-god. We also have the Latin piget, “it disgusts, itdispleases, it grieves, it pains one (to see such servitude).”
The Tuatha daoine pledged themselves before the sea-god, Manann mac Ler, and it will be remembered that theygot invisibility, homes, and virtual immortality for theirpart of the mortgage. The latter was made possible atyearly festivals where the fay people took part in “Feastsof Immortality,” at which they drank the wine and consumedthe flesh of the pigs of the sea, creatures that wereimmediately reincarnate on the following day. It is obviousthat these creatures represented the spirit of the ocean,and may be thought of as a god-sacrifice. In Gaelic the pigis referred to obliquely as a muc , the English “mucker”from its habit of drooling “mucus,” but in earlier times itmay have been identified using the more general name bòc,one having “swelled cheeks.”
This is the English “buck” a word now applied to themale of any kind of deer, goat, hare or antelope. Bòc andmuc may be dialectic forms of the same word, and theformer is the source of the Gaelic bòcan, “generated by abuck,” a hobgoblin or sith. This is also the origin of boc-sith, an apparition or ghost. There are all kinds of associatedwords, as: bochd, poor; bodach, a male member of theDaoine sidh and boabh, a female of this species. Thus, youare what you eat! Note also the connected Welsh, bwg andthe Cornish bucca, which are the English bug, pug, bugbear,bogie, boggle or boogey-man. These are all allied with theGaelic pucca, the Norse pukka, the English hobgoblin who iscalled a “puck.” Puck can be shown to confer with the godLokki. and he is derived from the Gaelic Lugh (or thereverse).
Thus, the sun-god Lugh is the ultimate source ofsustenance for the Daoine sidh. While he is the lord of life,his dark side is seen in Cromm an’ Cam , “Cromm theCrooked,” the lord of death, and god of the night. The pigwas the totem of all the Firbolg people of Ireland, and whenthe Milesians invaded they referred to that place as “thesow-backed country,” a pointed reference to the continuedexistence and power of the Firbolgs. The Tuathan god Manann
mac Ler had constant problems with “wild pigs” and theirplace at his annual banquets may point to their finalsubmission to him. Pigs seem to be unconnected with theconcept of lands of the gods, but the Middle English pigge isthe Danish bigge, a “swine.”
Sir Thomas Palgrave notes a host of related words:the Anglo-Saxon pœcan, to seduce or deceive; the Low Saxonpicken, to play in the fields, to gambol; pickeln, to play thefool; pukra, the Icelandic for a murmuring noise, also tosteal away in secret; pukka, the Danish verb to steal. Hefurther adds that the Swedish poika, is an “endearing” termfor a “boy,” and says that the Anglo-Saxon and Swedishpiga, and the Danish pige stand for “girl.” Thomas Keightleyis sure that these words all connect with the Slavonic bog,which is another form of the English word “god.” Notice, aswell, that the Gaelic and Gael, the name of the language andpeople of the highlands of Scotland, both confer with theEnglish “good,” the German gut, and other expressions of“goodness” or “god-hood” mentioned above. The Welsh foran Irishman is Gwyddel and it compares with the GaulishGeidumni which is very likely the Latin hoedus, a goat; thus,“goat-men,”” good-men,” or “god-men.” The Gaelic root-word appears to be ghadh from which their word gabhar andgabhlan, a wandering man, one devoid of care.
Thus, the prohibition against seamen speaking theword “pig” at sea. Doing this draws the undesirableattentions of a god known for his warped senses of humour.As we have seen, “pig” once had the force of an oathagainst “god,” and saying the word suggested that one mightbe ready to take an oath of allegiance to these old sea-gods.Hy na-Beatha, the “Land of (Eternal) Life;” Trág Mór, the“Great Ebb-tide (Place),” the “Great Strand;” Tir nIongnadh ,the “Land of Wonder;” and Tir fo-Tonn, the “land UnderWaves.”
TIR-NA-M-BAN, usually given as the Land of “Females” or“Women,” but equally valid as bàn, in which case, the Landof “Whites.” or Whiteness. Hence, a cloudy place. The root
bhâ, to shine, Skr. bhânù, light, The Eng. bale, as in bale-fire.A mythic Atlantic Island, later represented as the Island ofVirgins; first noted in the seventh century Echtra Brainmaic Febail. This was a place where thousands of amorouswomen were assembled, all ladies “without care, withoutdeath and without sickness or infirmity.” Bran and his menlived there for some time “each living sumptuously” with awoman of his choice. Ordinarily, these perpetual virginstravelled to Tir -na-Fer, the “Island of Men,” to obtain sexand reproduce their kind. In historic times there have beentales of similar islands west of Scotland where men wouldexpire after a short residence.
TIR NA-M-BUADHA, BUIDHE, the Land of “Virtues,” Land ofthe Yellow (Plants), buidhe, yellow, Lat. badius, Eng. bay;hence perhaps also the Land of Embayments. Buidheachas,gladness, thanks, “a safe place.” Note also the conferringAS. béodan, the Eng. bidden as in for-bid. Also referred toas Hy-na-Beatha. A mythic Atlantic “island.”
TIR NAN-INGHEAN, INGNAD, INGEN, the Land of “Daughters,”or “Young Women,” and not necessarily “Virgins,” as someauthors suggest. The word may have something of the senseof the Latin indigena, the Eng. indigenous, hence a place of“native” peoples. The root is gen, to beget. Looselytranslated as the Land of “Marvels.” One of the mythicAtlantic sea “islands.” Confers with Tir na-m ban.
TIR NAN-IONGNADH. INGNAD, TIRIB IGNAD, the Land ofWonder, OIr. ingnád, the negative prefix ion + gnàth,customary, usual, the root gen, to beget, to know. Notnatural, an “unkind” place. A dwelling place of the Fomors.
TIR-NAN-OG (teer nanh ock). Land of Youth. After the godAonghas Og who may confer with Ogma. Hy-Breas-il or anassociated island-kingdom in the Atlantic. Osygia or Ogygiawas the Grecian flood-survivor. Homer said that the islandnamed after him was located upon the “Boundless Sea,” andthat the place was ruled in the latter days by Calypso, thesea-nymph who tried to detain both Odysseus and his son
Telemachus. Plutarch (d. 120 A.D.) reported this island as areal place within the Atlantic, located five days sail duewest of Britain. The Gaelic Tir nan Og was named forAonghas Óg , Angus Young; also entitled mhac Óg, theyounger son (of Dagda). His “brothers” were stated to beOgma, the god of eloquence and Midir , the god of theunderworld. He has an extremely close correspondence withthe sun-god, Lugh, who is sometimes given as his father orbrother.
This was a land where folk drank the waters of tobarn’og, the well of youth and thus lived healthy lives, theirpersons being virtually indestructible except throughaccident. It was not until the mainland of North Americawas encountered in 1513, that the Legend of the Fountain ofYouth became a subject of conversation and astonishment atthe Spanish court. The peninsula of Florida is clearlymarked on the de Cosa map of 1502, but it was theexperiences of Ponce de León that eventually led to the ideathat there was very possibly a continent in the westernocean. Earlier visitors to that general region had heard theIndians say that there was a fountain that could restore thedead and reverse the aging process on an island namedBimini. Juan Dias de Solis, among others, was said to havestumbled upon it “at a distance of 325 leagues fromHispanola (Spain).” Writing of similar discoveries Italianhistorian Peter Martyr d-Anghiera said, “those who haveexplored ann island which is called Boyuca or Ananeo, havefound there a fountain which has the virtue that by drinkingits water, old men are rejuvenated.”
Somewhat later, this coast was identified with thatexplored by de León. Running into the land at the placewhere he thought this island might be located, the latterexplorer named the northern part of the peninsula Florida,allegedly because he arrived at Pascua florida, or EasterSunday. The southern part, which he interpreted as anisland, he called Bimini, a name now applied to a differentplace in the Bahamas. Ponce de León did not discourage therumour that there was a fountain of regeneration as he
needed all the backing he could get to get royal permissionto found a colony in Florida.
His story was upheld when Peter Martyr met a LucayoIndian, who attested to the fact that his elderly father hadgone to Florida and come away a new man. This Indian, thecaptured by Spanish slave-raiders was taken to Spain,learned Spanish and was baptized Andres Barbudo, a namederived from the unusual fact that he was bearded, unlikemost southern Indians.This story was backed by otherreputable men including Vázquez de Ayllón, a high officialin the Spanish court. Most of these witnesses attested thatthey had been prevented from actually seeing the spring bythe ferocity of the Indians, who had effectively beaten offseveral packs of Spanish “tourists.” De Ayllón managed tocontact an Indian captured in a raid in southern Georgia.
“This man, named Chicorano is by no means stupid,”wrote Peter Martyr,”and was able to learn Spanish withrelative ease.” Clever or not, Chicorano told a number of“tall-tales” to anyone who would listen. His repertoire ofmythic places and peoples included a place he called Duharewhere the residents were all white-skinned and had redhair. Their king was a giant named Datha, and their queen ofalmost equal stature, had five sons, all nearly their equal inheight. Near this kingdom was Xapida, where pearls weretaken in great quantity and where more giants tended herdsof domesticated deer, which they milked, using the productin cheese-making. He identified a third mainland kingdomcalled Inzingnanin. Long ago, he said, a people had comethere by sea. This race had inflexible tails, like crocodiles.In order to sit in comfort they constructed chairs with ahole in the middle. A sea-people, like the Fomors, they ateraw-fish, but because this product was lacking in their newlocale they quickly died of a deficiency disease. It was inDuhare, however, that Chicorano said that the Spaniardswould find the fountain they sought. Here all men were ofthe same age, and were continually renewed from drinkingthe water. See Coire na Dagda .
TIR-NAN-SMEAR. the “Fat Land,” smeur, smiar, anoint,smear, Ir. sméaraim, fat, grease, to smear with grease,smeur also identifies the black-berry from its tendency tostain; from the root smior, marrow, Cy. mer, AS. smeoru,lard, the ON. smjörr, butter. “Butter-land.” A Norsefairyland off the coast of Scandinavia was namedSmjörrland or alternately Flajgland, the “Flying Land,” orSjóhaj. a “Mirage on the Ocean.” The first name wastendered because the place was exceptionally fertile. AllNorwegian names bearing the prefix smjörr have thislaudatory implication. “Similarly, in the place names ofShetland we note: Smeerin (smjörr + vin, “fertile pasture);Smernadal (valley with a fat pasture), de Smerwel-parkand de Smerr-meadow, all derived from the Old Norsetongue; “Even in early times the word “smör” was used todenote a fat land, as when Thorolf in the saga said, “itdripped butter from every blade of grass in the land theyhad found (in this case Iceland).” A general name visited onmythic lands located westward in the Atlantic.
TIR NA T’SAMHRAIDH, the earth goddesses of the Brugh naBoyne, had this place as their ultimate death-world, Tir nat’Samharaidh, the “Land of Summer,” was a place closer Tirnan Óg than the dreary northern nether lands usuallyassociated with An Domhain. The dead lands generallyincluded the Fomorian “winter-islands” of Dun Sgiath, the“Fortress of Shadows,” and Hy-Falga, the “Hidden Place.”Summer Land was, or lay close by Magh Mell, the “Plain ofHappiness,” and Tir na mBeo, the “Land of the Living.” Samhwas the goddess of the easy season, the ritual bride to thekings of Tara, one of the Daoine sidh, who came annually outof the Brugh na Boann to celebrate beultainn, the “Fires ofBeul.”
Her name, like that of her male associate Beul , hasgathered about it the characteristics of numerous localdeities such as the bas-finne, the “death-maidens” who theNorse called the valkyra. Particularly allied with Samh isthe Fomorian sea-goddess known as the Mhorrigan, theyouthful form of Mebd and Macha. She is often also seen as
affiliated with Aoine and the matriarch of the Daoine sidh,the deity called Anu or Danu, who is ultimately Domnu, thecreator-goddess equivalent of the male Don. Her over-wintering form, the Macha was most often referred to, lessformally as the Cailleach bheurr, or “Winter Hag,” althoughshe was sometimes designated as Cailleach beara, the “BearWoman.” She was also called Bui, the “Pale Yellow One,”goddess of the winter son, the half-year mate of theenfeebled and white-haired Lugh, in his guise as the god ofthe dead lands.
Because she controlled the winds of winter thisgoddess was alternately called Fea the Hateful, from theGaelic ve, the verb “to blow.” Bui is obviously Búanann, alsoseen as Boann or Boyne, the Mother of Heroes. In some tales.she is spoken of as “the lady who taught martial arts andran a school for warriors. The name signifies ‘lasting one, ’“ but she is more obviously Boanu or Anu, the “Cow-fire”goddess. Also associated was Cathubodua, the “Warriorcow-person.”
TIR-TAIRNIGRI, literally the “Land of Thor’s Daughter;” theLand of the Dead. Tairneanach, thunder, relating directly tothe Teutonic god Thor, G. Tar or Tor. tir, land; tair, I arriveat, come to; nigh, probably from the ON Nissa, the sea-namefor Odin. From this also the Eng. Old Nick and Ness, a sea-serpent. In modern Gaelic nigh, to wash clean, nighean,daughter Confers with the Latin nigri, black, and the Eng.negro. The land of Manann mac Ler, the ferryman of thedead, in which was located Emain Ablach, the “Place ofMangled Carcases.” This land was said to be located at therim of the western ocean. Corresponds with Hy- Breas-il.
TIR-TUATH. Land of the Northerners. At various timesnorthern Ireland, northern Scotland and islands in thewestern ocean. See tuatha and tigh.
TIR-UAINE, “ Terra, or Land (which is) Green.” T h edesignation “Greenland” has troubled historians who notethat land mass is not particularly verdant, but
climatologists have noted that the place was moretemperate when the Norse settled there. On the other handthere is a minority opinion that the name derives from OldGermanic models and ”comes from the inhabitants beingbluish-green in colour.”
This is interesting because of reports suggesting thatsome of the Daoine sidh were of exactly this complexion.Nansen has said that “the Skraelings (natives) of Greenlandare called troll or trollknour in the Icelandic narratives.”These are the trows of northern Scotland, corresponding inmost details with the sithe. Professor Torp, a consultant toNansen noticed that the trolls, like the black elfs, werespoken of as svart , or “black” in complexion and character.But the word svart really implies something which is “blue-black,” and this is “an uncanny colour, a common Germanictrait; cf. Rolf Blue-beard (an infamous murderer andmagician).” Here again the blue means green.
In the mid-sixteenth century, Green Island(sometimes entitled Grass Island) started to appear oncharts and maps. Several historians suggest that thedesignation is interchangeable with Hy Breasil, in whichcase it may confer ultimately with present-day Cape BretonIsland or mainland Nova Scotia. On the Gestaldi map of 1548it is represented as ye verdi and is positioned due south ofor bellandi and the Labrador coast, somewhat west of ascattering of islands which seem to represent a fragmentedNewfoundland. In 1564 we see it as y da grasa and thistime it is southwest of Newfoundland on the Grand Banks.Eleven years later, Zalterrius has it as verde and hastucked it into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence betweenNewfoundland and Cape Breton Island. By the followingcentury this mythological island was a non-entity.
There is evidence that Greenland proper had a Celticpast. In the summer of 981 Erik went to Greenland “to see itthere was any habitable place.” Erik’s landfall is given asMidjokul . “middle Glacier,” suggesting preconceived Norseknowledge of the coast. Some authors have said that he
searched the east coasts, others the west. Mowat says thereis no chance that he would have found any thing of the sorton the “inhospitable eastern coast.” We pass this questionfor the moment, but note that the Olaus Magnus map of 1557shows a monastic community far up the eastern coast. Inany event, Erik cruised southward until he came to Hvitserk,or “Whiteshirt,” presumably the southern glacier.Somewhere nearby, apparently around the western cornerfrom the most southern extremity, he located and settledEriksfjord.
During the 1920’s Scandinavian archaeologistsexcavated one of his supposed buildings at Brattalid, “theearliest house known in Greenland.” This place is not atthe site of the multi-roomed ruins ascribed to Erik’s tribe,and it has some features that are not characteristicallyNorse. The entryway is that side,forming a typically Gaelic“half-house.” The hearth is centred in line with the door,rather than in the central location preferred by Norsebuilders. The ratio of length to width and the very thickstone walls are more Irish or Scottish than Norse, Therewas a system for conveying running water, which involveda subterranean conduit from an outside spring, an interiorholding basin and a drainage ditch leading out through thedoorway. Excavations of another local ruin show Norseadditions to a much older core-home which archaeologistsdate from the turn of tenth century. Again, this place isnarrow like Irish homes of the period and the house wallsare a full six feet in width. It also has internal “plumbing.”The rune-sticks recovered here show that there were Norsetenants, but no stratification was established at this siteand none of the other relics are exclusively Norse in designor function. Mowat has suggested that thick walls had aprotective function, and thinks they originally housed theCeltic Westmen who logically feared the Norse settlers whowere nipping at their heels. It is said that there are churchdocuments suggesting a Celtic Christian missionarypresence in Greenland.
Lewis the Pious, the Pope of the day, is said to have
taken a special interest in the work of two Benedictinesnamed Witmar and Ansgar. They had been preaching theirGospel in the north prior to 831 A.D. and apparently did abang-up job for Ansgar was appointed archbishop of all thenorthern countries. The appointment edict gave him care andcontrol of “Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the Faeroes,Cronland, Helsingoland, Island and Scritfinnland.” Island is“Iceland” and Cronland, “Greenland,” so it can only beassumed that there was some European presence in bothplaces at this date, long before Norse interests developed inthese places. It was 846 by the time Ansgar had a papalbull in hand. In 858 Pope Nicholas renewed his charge andover the following sixty years four other decrees confirmedthe authority of his successors as archbishop of the north.Over the years the spelling Cronland evolved throughGronland to Groenland or “Greenland.”
As noted earlier, Cronland seems to confer with theGreek Cronusland and the Cronian Sea mentioned byclassical writers. It is also noteworthy that Pope Nicholas(1448) refers to Greenland as a country of Christians “forsix centuries past.” This would place the conversion ofthat land two hundred years before Norse settlement.Nicholas also credited the evangelization of Greenland to St.Olaf, who was born at the millennium. Nordic scholarsppicked on this as proof that Nicholas either erred inspeaking of the date of the establishment of Christianity, orthought that the Nordic element must have been present twocenturies before it was generally supposed.
The more logical supposition is that Nicholas wishedto remember this Nordic Christian saint rather than the nowdefunct Celtic missionaries, whose occupation of Greenlandwas extremely tenuous. By the middle of the tenth centurythe viking “dogs” were no longer biting, and it is guessedthat many Celtic clerics went back to Ireland or Scotland onthe trading ships which must have occasionally run betweenwestern and eastern ports.
There may have been a Celtic presence in Greenland as
late as the fourteenth century, if we can believe the Zenonarratives: It is said that Nicolo Zeno, living in Iceland orShetland, heard of Engroneland, “The Green Land,” fromfishermen and sailed there in 1393 or 1394. His three smallbarks set sail in July and on the east coast he found amonastery of “Friar Preachers.” and a church which he saidwas dedicated to Saint Thomas. It stood “hard by a hillwhich vomited fire after the fashion of Versuvius or Etna.”
TITHINN, obs. the sun, tit, the earth; ann, living.
TIU, TIUGH, thick rather than slender, frequent, coarse,corpulent, hazy, foggy. Possibly a characterization of thegod Hu, the Tiu of Tues-day. Also a foggy land. See theabove. Corresponds with tir, land.
TLACHTGA. A goddess, the daughter of the druid named MugRuith, a resident of West Munster. She was raped by thesons of Simon Magus and gave birth to triplets from theseeds of three different fathers. She died in childbirth butleft her name on the Hill of Tlachtga. The hill, now known asthe Hill of Ward, is located near Athboy, County Meath,twelve miles from Tara, and was particularly associatedwith Samhain rites.
TO. TOE, “As a river name it was doubtless primarily thename of a goddess.” (Watson, p. 51). It means silence,stillness, earlier “The Silent One.” Converted into Tatha inmodern Gaelic. Eng. Tay. The Amra Coluim Cille mentionsthe Tuatha Toi, or “People of Tay” saying that they livednear a river of this name in Alba. In another place mentionis made of a high-king with this name, a personage defeatedby the Romans. A Latin tract of the twelfth century givesthe sppelling as Tae (nominative case). Cy. Tawy. At leastone saiint of the Christian church bore the adjecvtive tua,“the silent one.”
TOBAN, cowl, hood, wreath. The dress of the fay-folk.
TOBAR, well. From the roots To, see above and , bhurr or
bhur, to well up, to boil, to seethe, the Skr. bhur, to movequickly. Associated is tibirt, a fountain. In Celtic societies,the mortal god-king, and his queen, were seen as the“fountain” and the “well” of regenerative spirit, thus theirplace at the centre of the community, within a holy circlewhich conferred with “The Cauldron of the Dagda.”
Mrs Macleod Banks says that “wells, springs streamsand pools have all been accredited with healing powerswherever man has had ailments to cure and Scotland withits numerous mountains and glens was famed for healingwaters. Long before the Christian era, springs endowed withmagical virtues were regarded as bringers of health fromthe heart of the earth, or as forces able to work destructionin overflow and flood; both hope and dread urged theadoption of ceremonial visiting rites.” Thus the Gaelicnotion of wells as doors to the Otherworld and the habit ofvisitations to them at the Quarter Days.
Even at present it is said that there are up to 600known “holy wells” in Scotland alone, and they are certainlynot unknown in the rest of Britain and North America. Inearlier times each well was considered a local deity, ornature spirit, which could incarnate itself as a guardian.Sometimes the genius of the well was seen as beingresident in animal form. The Well of Kilbride contained asingle trout and it was treated with extreme respect. At theWell of Kilmore, in Lorne, there were a pair of iasg sianta,holy fish that were left undisturbed. Most of the wellspirits were thought beneficent but some were baneful inspite of attempted exorcisms by druids.
In the sixth century the Picts were glad to have St.Columba work his magic against one of their more fearfulspirits, for they noted that even touching this watercreated illness. Columba after an invocation washed hishands and feet in the well and drank the water, showingthat the demon of the well had passed on. The well atYelaburn, in the Shetlands, was said to be that of a WaterTrow (Troll) a species of very quixotic temperament.
The reconsecration of pagan wells to Christianity is amatter of record: On the Isle of Eigg there is now SaintCatherine’s Well which was rededicated by Father Hugh, “aPopish priest.” In that process, the priest demanded that allthe local residents of the community gather at the well. Hethen required them to create a great cairn at the head of thewell by way of penance for their past use of heathenpowers. This done, he said a mass at the well, andconsecrated it to Christ. He gave each person present awaxed candle, which they lighted and carried “all the waysun-ways, round the well.” From that time it wasconsidered unlawful to use the water of this well foranything other than the curing of injuries. “The nativesobserve St. Catherine’s Anniversary: all come to the well,drink of it, and pass dessil round it sunwise; this always onthe 15th day of April.”
The potency of wells was considered strongest at theQuarter Days, but they were not often visited in the wintermonths due to cold weather. By tradition some of the wellswere visited on the first day of the Quarter Week,elsewhere it was on the first Sunday, which was dedicatedto the sun-god Lugh or on Monday which was the day of themoon-goddess Samh. In many places the pilgrimages towells became commercially important and were attached to“holy fair.” It was considered good form to arrive at thewell after dusk and before dawn since wells wereconsidered the province of the Samh: “Above all thesuppliant had to perform the ceremonies in strict silenceand in the absence of the sun - indeed the pilgrim wascareful to be out of sight of the well before sunrise.” Someof those who came to well rites were perfectly healthy andbent on revelry, the fair being a good excuse forentertainments that ranged from simple greetings throughbadinage and gossip to drinking, fornication andprostitution.
These “relics of the old nature festivals” were notappreciated by clerics of the Christian Church but were hard
to eradicate. The rites performed by those who soughthealth or good fortune are well known, having persisted in afew places to the present time: The pilgrim first walkedthree times around the well (sunwise in Christian versionsof reality). He then “silvered” the water by throwing in afew silver coins to draw the attention of the water-spirit.In later days a bent coin did duty. Drinking the water, thesuppliant made his wish. Before his departure he pinned hisattendant evil spirits to a tree or some other associatedrelic, catching in up in a bit of his own used clothing. Bythis act he passed the evil forces into the cloth and anyonewho stole or removed these rags automatically acquired thetroubles of the original owner. The wells are oftenassociated with particular antique trees or standing stones.At Loch Shiant in Skye the well spirit is though partiallyresident in a coppice rather than a tree, and no one willventure to cut a branch from it for fear of “some signaljudgement.”
In Easter Ross, one well is known as the Well of theYew, but that tree is long gone from the place. The HealingWell on Isle Maree has as its tree a venerable oak, which isitself labelled the Wishing Tree. Before landing on the Isleof Maree, where the tree and the well are located, the boatbearing pilgrims encircles the island three times. At eachround the patient (with safety rope attached) is thrown intothe Loch and retrieved. After he drinks the healing waterfrom the well the sufferer leaves his ills behind by placingsome “offering” on the tree, either a rag nailed to it or acoin driven edgeways into bark. The decoration of a nearbytree with clouts , or rags, explains why so many are knownas the “Cloutie Wells.”
Within Gaeldom there are many Tobar Mhoirean orwells dedicated to St. Mary, and these hold special appealfor those having “female complaints” or troubles due tochildbirth or barrenness. Since Saint Mary’s Day (August 15)nearly coincides with the old Quarter Day known as theLugnasad pilgrimages were made in that month. John R.Allen claimed to have spied on women and their rites: “The
auld wife gave them the sign to step around her and awaythey went, one after another, wi’ the sun, round the spring,each holding up her coats like she was holding herself to thesun. As each came anent her, the auld wife took up thewater in her hands and threw it on their wames (wombs).Never one cried out at the cold o’ the water...Three timesround they went. The old wife made a sign at them and theydropped their coats to their feet...so that their paps(breasts) sprang out...They doiun on their knees before her,across the spring, she took up water in her hands, skripit ontheir paps, three times the three. Then the auld wife roseand the three barren women rose. They put on their claesand drew their shawls and left the hollow without a wordspoken.” Soon afterwards all became pregnant.
Similarly, there are a few wells which were said tobe useful against leprosy. One in the Border Country isspecifically named the Leper’s Well, and it lies in darkwoods near Earlston. The spring near Ayr is said to havecured Robert Bruce of this disease. Very few wells beartheir old pagan names but the goddess Bridd continues toexist in Saint Bride and there are a number of wells bearingthis name especially in the region between Wigton andAberdeen on the western coast of Scotland. St. Bride’s Wellat Piltlorchy was a famous retreat for consumptives.
The various Wells dedicated to Nine Maidens haveobvious connections with this goddess. In pre-Reformationtimes it was common to “dress” these female wells. On St.Margaret’s Day (July 20) the well at Dunfermline, wasdecorated with greenery and flowers, and in the Christianera a procession of monks and nuns visited the well,entertaining it with praise and song. Other wells were doneup on the saint’s days and visited by hundreds of peopleseeking help for their ills.
Many of the wells were considered to haveprecognitive as well as healing powers. The Dripping Well atAvoch, in Ross, was sought to counter deafness: “Whosoeverdrink of these waters shall be placing two straws of wood
on the surface, ascertain whether he shall recover or no. Ifhe recover the straws will rotate in opposite directions,but if he is to die soon, will lie motionless in the water.”St. Andrew’s Well, in Lewis, is consulted less directly; “Atub full of water is brought from the well to the patient’sroom, care being taken not to let it touch the ground on theway. A wooden bowl is set afloat in it. If the bowl movessun-ways, the omen is favourable...” The Well of Beothaig,the “Living Reaper,”on the Isle of Gigha, off Kintyre, wasalone in commanding the winds. It was built up on all sideswith stones, and when a fair wind was needed marinerswent there and cleaned the well with a wooden bowl or aclamshell. Water from the well was thrown, three -by-threetimes, in the direction from which it was desired the windshould blow. “
It was customary,” says one contemporary, “for greatnumbers of persons to go on a pilgrimage, bare-footed, toChristie’s Well in Menteith and there perform certainsuperstitious ceremonies to the great offense of God andscandal of the true religion.” The position of the common-folk was represented by Jock Forsyth, who addressing God,said, “”O Lord, Thou knowest that well it would be for methis day an I had stooped my knees and heart before Thee inspirit and truth as often as I hae stoopit them afore thiswell.” Nevertheless he continued the pagan process affixingan offering to a nearby briar bush as was the tradition. InMay 1624 the Privy Council went after his kind appointing anumber of gentlemen in each district to stand near thewells to “apprehend all such superstitious persons and putthem in the castle of Doune.” Notwithstanding, the ritescontinued until 1649 when the kirk sessions interfered withthese “holywell annuals.”
TOBAR CHALUIM CHILLE, “Saint Columba’s Well,” near LochSaint Clair on the island of Barra. It is said that Columbaplaced a spell on this well. Fishermen refer to this as St.Clair’s Well, and at one time they used to drink from it onSundays supposing that the amount they consumed wouldrelate to the size of their herring catches in the coming
week. In pre-Reformation days people of this islandstravelling to the only Christian church at Eoligarry hedgedtheir bets by taking drinks of water from this well.
TOBAR CLÙD, “Cloutie’s Well, the “Well of Old Rags,”Munlochy, Scotland. Also known as St. Boniface’s Well. Sickpeople visiting this well look for a cure by leaving behind arag from one of their older garments. The rag is rubbed onthe afflicted part before being hung on a bush near the well.As the rag decays it is believed that the spirit of diseasecrumbles. Anyone destroying a rag or removing one takes upthe donor’s illness. It is estimated that there are currentlyfifty thousand rags at this site.
TOBAR BHAN, the “White Well, flowing into a burn at GlenElg, Scotland. A healing well which once contained a sacredtrout. Nearby the water-cress and a plant locally termed“the flower of the three mountains” was gathered formedicinal uses. Another well bearing this name is found atBernera, in Glen Elg. An elderly woman named Anne MacRaewas for a time responsible for cleaning this well. She alsosprinkled the approaches with gravel “to keep it pure.” Thesacred trout contained here disappeared at the death of thiscustodian.
TOBAR BRIGHDE, Brigit’s Well, near Moore, Ireland. “Wherethe multitudes assembled to celebrate what they termedpatterns... when I pressed a very old man to state whatpossible advantage he expected to derive from the singularcustom of frequenting in particular such wells as werecontiguous to an old blasted oak, or an upright ubnhewnstone, and what the meaning was of sticking rags on thebranches of such trees, and the spitting on them - hisanswer was that his ancestors did it - and that it waspreservative against Geasa-Draoidacht, i.e. The sorceries ofthe Druids, that their cattle were preserved by it frominfections and disorders; that the daoine maethe, i.e. Thefairies, were kept in good humour by it; and so thoroughlypersuaded were they of the sanctity of those paganpeactises, that they would travel bare-headed and bare-
footed, from ten to twenty miles, for the purpose ofcrawling on their hands and knees round these wells, andupright stones, and oaktrees...” (Philip Dixon Hardy, The HolyWells of Ireland, 1840, p. 100).
TOBAR MOR, The “Great Well,” located on the Isle of Gighain the Western Highlands. The MacNeil pirates used to put inthere when wind-bound, and there they stirred the waterwith a stick in order to raise the wind so that they could goon their way. The well was covered with a flat stone andthis was always carefully replaced from a fear that theland might be inundated. The captains of foreign vesselsmade no direct use of the well, but used to pay locals toconsult the guardian of the well making a request for windor calm as it suited them. All strangers passing the wellwere expected to leave a coin or a pin as oblation to thespirits of the well.
TOBAR NA BREAC, “Well of the Trout.” In the south of Skye.It contained a solitary trout sometimes accidentallyremoved in a bucketful of water, but always replaced withextreme care.
TOBAR NAM BUAIDH, the “Well of Virtues.” located on theisland of St. Kilda. Earlier it was known as Tou-bir-nimbuey. St. Martin wrote of this as a place of “excellentfountains and springs.” In 1746 Rev. Kenneth MacAuley notedthat “the water here was a sovereign cure for a greatvariety of distempers, deafness particularly, and everynervous disease.” On an altar, not far off, visitors leftofferings.
TOBAR NA CATHE, the “Well of Battles.” near Kilbar, at thenorth of Barra, Scotland. An ancient writer has said thatthere was a spring associated with it and noted that onelocal insisted that it predicted the coming of war at whichtime “certaine drops of blood hath oftymes bein sein in it.”Rory MacNeil, the chief of that region, added thatappearance of”little bitts of Peitts” in the water indicatedthe coming of peace.
TOBAR NA CHINN, the “Well of the Head,” located in thatpart of Skye known as Strath. Here Lauchlan MacKinnonavenged himself on Donald Mor, beheading him and washingthe head in this well. See each-ursainn.
TOBAR NA CILLE, “Well of the Church,” alternately calledSaint Brendon’s Well. On the mainland near St. Kilda’s. If thewinds for reaching the island wells, people who were illselected this as their alternative. Men putting out to seacame here regularly to stand astride it for a few seconds,and thus ensure safe return to the land.
TOBAR NAN FION, the “Well of Wine,” among trees at theparish church of Glen Elg. It has a three-cornerconfiguration, now said to honour the Holy Trinity.
TOBAR NAN GAM, Gam’s Well, beneath Sliab Gam, Ireland. Ayoung man named Gam was decapitated and his head throwninto the local well. At this desecration, the waters reactedmagically, running sweet for half the year but having ataste of death in the other part. This phenomena wasregarded as one of the wonders of Old Ireland.
TOBAR NAN CEANN, Well of the Heads. In 1660 seven menwere beheaded for murder and their heads washed in thisspring near Invergarry, Scotland. Following this event, thiswell was named, and in 1812 a distinctive monument andfountain was erected featuring the seven severed heads.There is another “Well of the Heads” on the island ofVatersay, near Barra in the Outer Hebrides. Here threebrothers were murdered and their heads thrown into thewater. The father of the men removed the heads from thewell and carried them home for burial. On the journey one ofthe heads, upon passing a standing stone, spoke to his fatherexplaining that he had recently fathered a child who wouldexact revenge. This accomplished, the fourteen year-oldthrew the head of the murderer into another well causing itto be renamed Tobar a’ Chinn, the “Well of the Head.” Noticethat the ancient Celts placed severed heads upon standing-
stones, when they wished to communicate with it. In thisplace severed heads were observed to sing and talk and evenmove about. Some will recall that the demented Suibhnewas actually pursued by five bristling grey heads whichcame down the road after him.
A monument, inscribed in Gaelic, commemorates thisunusual happening: Erected at Loch Oich, the Gaelic pillar issurmounted by seven “tetes coupees.” Seven wells on Skyehave names of heads associated with them and a story tomatch. One of these located in the moorland known as DruimGhiurain was the site of the murder of a young girl who hadmoney hidden in her hair. She was robbed and murdered byMacRaing, a celebrated brigand. When MacRaing’s sonattempted to denounce him, the father cut off his own son’shead and threw it into one of these wells creating a localhaunt. Notice that one of the Irish wells is called Tobar nanCeann, and this last word has special reference to a headsevered in battle. The cult wells have, surprisingly, givenway to legends and pseudo-history, stories used by thelocals to explain supernormal incidents which are nototherwise comprehensible. “This aspect of the Celtic cultof the head, allied with the veneration of wells and springs,is one of the most convincing features of native cults,where an unbroken continuity can be adequatelydemonstrated.” - Anne Ross.
TOBAR NA H’OIGE, the “Well of Youth,” located on the Isle ofIona. The American equivalent was Le Grand Source, whichused to be located near Charlottetown, Prince EdwardIsland. A second well of this name was located on theslopes on Connchair, Scotland. An aged St. KIldan supposedlyfound this well and drinking it found his energies restored.As he was carrying a sheep on his shoulders, he staked it atthe place as a marker, and hurried to the village to tellothers of his find. A crowd of villagers came back with him,but neither sheep or well was located and this well is nowentitled the “Lost Well of Youth.” It is noted that thisunfortunate happening could have been avoided had thediscoverer had the foresight to leave a bit of iron by the
well: “The Little Folk would have been unable to reclaim thewell that had the power of restoring youth and vigour (inthis instance).”
TOBAR TIPTRA SEN-GARMAN, A woman named Sen-Garmanwas killed at this place in Ireland. Her body was thrown intothe water and her head erected on a post in approved Gaelicfashion. This head was intended to have a magical as wellas a psychological effect on her clansmen. The magicaleffect of a severed head in a well is illustrated by anexample from the Dindshenchas: In a fight between opposingIrishmen three heads were removed and thrown into a well.A man named Riach was the only survivor among themilitary and realizing that the well now contained an evilspirit he sought to contain it by building a wooden structureover it. In spite of his efforts, the well boiled up in fury andoverflowed drowning a thousand dwellers in the nearby glen.Note also Loch Cend.
TOCMARC, wooing. A class of prime-tale.
TOGAIRT, the act of directed desire, often thought to endwith wish fulfillment to the disadvantage of the wisher.
TOICHE, Fate, destiny, obs. wall-eyed.
TOINEAL, in a trance.
TOINNEAMH, toinn, to twist, twine, spinn, wreathe, plait +neamh, the skies, heaven, the abode of all bliss. In the past,Death. The befinde or Fates were known to weave their“cloth” as clouds in the sky. Toinnte, thread of yarn,possession of one’s faculties; toinnteau, a filament or longthread developed through spinning. These magical arts werethose of the boabhe.
TOIRM, a noise, after Thor, the ON. god of thunder. Toirn, agreat noise, toirt, giving.
pusuit, pursued, pursuers, persecution, help, enough. Conferswith the Norse god Thor. Confers with toireann, thunder,toireannach, impetuous, boisterous, toireis, anxiety,toirmrich, noise of thunder or of a marching army,toirneamh, punishment, toirteachd, fruitful.
TOISEACCH, a beginning, a chieftain, Ir., a captain, a leader,from OIr., “I lead.” Toisg, an occasion, a state visit,journey, business.
TOISGEAL, the left, unlucky, also a reward given for findinga lost object.
TOLA, a dining table in the Land under Waves.
TOLL, a hole, Bry. toull, the root being the Celtic tuk, topierce or punch, hence that which is holed with tools. Allopenings were considered passageways to the Otherworld.Confers with Hel, the Norse goddess of the Underworld.
TOLL DRAGON, Dragon Hole. A hole on the “front” of Kinnoulhill, which stands above the Tay at Perth, Scotland. Thishole, now about ten feet deep, was said to have been muchlarger in times past, but is still capable of holding a dozenpeople. Of extremely difficult access it was the site ofBeltane rites until the end of the seventeenth century.
TOLL-DUIN, a man living in a toll or tolg, a hole or hollow,in the earth cf. the goddess Hel. Collectively the Daoinesidh. See this entry for the linguistic connections. These arethe ON. huldufólk, hul + dul + folk, the “hole + mystery +folk.” They were led by the hulidsverur or “elementalbeings.” They were said to resemble men, “being of thesame size, eating the same foods, enjoying fishing and berrypicking, and raising cattle or sheep like their visibleneighbours. Considerate farmers have been known to leavefields intact because huldufólk also needed hay for invisiblelivestock. Skilled midwives have been called upon to helpdeliver huldufólk babies some of whom have only onenostril. When interviewed a few years ago, only 10% of
Icelanders thought that the existence of these folk was animpossibility and 55% insisted they were a fact of life. Fivepercent admitted seeing these mound-dwellers. Folklorecollector Jón Aranson has quoted these “hole-dwellers” intheir denial that they are alfar, or “elves.”
TOLL-SITH, the "elf-bore" of lowland Scotland, any smallopening in wood through which one may peer to see theworld of the Daoine sidh. Not a recommended practise sinceobservers have seen things better left undisclosed. Menhave been blinded by "elf-arrows" shot out through theseholes from Never-Land.
TOLL TUINDE. “Hole in the Wave.” Forty days after LadyCassair’s landing in Ireland, Finntann, her husband (or son,or both) fled to Toll Tuinde. Here he survived the Great Floodin a flood-barrel, a cavern, or perhaps shape-changed as asalmon.
TOM (towm), a hillock, English tomb, Latin tumulus.
TOM AN IONGHNAIDH, the “wonder-tuft.” An animal foundamidst the grain, a shape-changer typically seen as a graystone. When met in harvesting, the “corn” around thiscreature was left standing so as not to antagonize it. Thiscreature was credited with human rapes and abductionswhen annoyed.
TOM-CNOC, tom, tufted; + cnoc, hill, such as that favouredby the Daoine sidh (which, see). The first word has comeinto the Scottish vernacular as toom, conferring with tomb,a hollow place. Hence the knockers that dwell in mines andcaverns. Similar to the house-dwelling knowie-booh, orknocky-booh. The English word tommy was applied tosoldiers in both World Wars had reference to their toom-shaped helmets. By association, a tommy came to berecognized as any individual who offered his labour inexchange for little more than food or clothing.
In Gaelic lands, he was called the bodach na' cnoc, orbodach of the hollow-hills. The local tommy knockers
correspond with the wichtlein (little wights) of SouthernGermany. Keightley says they were "about three-quarters ofan ell (33") high. Their appearance is that of old men withlong beards. They haunt the mines, and are dressed likeminers, with a white hood to their shirts and leatheraprons, and are provided with lanterns, mallets andhammers. They amuse themselves by pelting the workmenwith small stones but do them no injury, except when theyare abused and cursed at. They show themselves especiallywhere there is an abundance of ore, and then the miners areglad to see them; they flit about in pits and shafts andappear to work very hard, though they in reality do nothing.sometimes they are seen as if working a vein, at othertimes putting the ore into buckets, at other times workingat a windlass, but all is show. They frequently call, butwhen one comes there is no one there.
At Kattenburg, in Bavaria, they are very common andthey announce the death of a miner by knocking three times,and also knock three times when any misfortune is about tohappen." These spirits are mentioned briefly in BluenoseMagic:,
A miner at Springhill told Helen Creighton, "I've heardof Tommy Knockers having been heard before an accident.Men have often seen lights before an accident and theywould quit and come up." Again at Stellarton, Nova Scotia,a resident suggested, "If miners heard a certain tapping inthe mine they would close it down and stop work for theday." A third respondent from Port Mounton said that the"knockers" were known in Queens County mines. Completelytypical is a tale that came from the Mount Pleasant tin minein Charlotte County, a hard rock mine that is now closed.Igneous rock mines are generally less susceptible to cave-in than coal mines, but this one was penetrated by verticalcracks filled with white clay and fluorine crystals. Whensurface water created a washout of this material there wassome danger than a miner might be buried or drowned. Inthis instance, two miners were working at reinforcing thetimbered roof of a kaolin "plug" when three determined
tapping noises were heard. Since the incident took place in"modern times", these fellows were not superstitious andprobably knew nothing of tommy-knockers. They wouldprobably have ignored this warning if they had not beenpelted with rock shards. Thinking that other miners were"having their fun" they charged up the tunnel to do battle,but found nothing in the darkness. Behind them they heardthe swoosh of water as an underground lake emptied intothe portion of the mine where they had stood.
A less usual tale was that of Lazy Lew and the "Devil'simps". This miner was employed in the Maccan coal minewhich used to be found a mile west of Maccan River. Thismine was opened in eighteen sixty one and extracted abouttwenty tons of coal each day. While working undergroundLew claimed he had contracted with a devil, perhaps theDevil, to exchange his soul for help at work. Lew's co-workers thought this a pitiful tale but were surprised whenthe miner commenced to send up twelve carts of ore per daywhere his former record had been four. It was evident thatsomething was helping Lew as ordinary men were only ableto produce six in a working day. A burly miner agreed to spyout the situation and arrived at the "front" to find Lew lyingat ease, his hands behind his head, while the eerie sound ofseveral picks was heard knocking away the coal. After coalwas slid down the balance into the level, Lew moved to helpin filling the cart, but other invisible shovels were heard inthe piles of coal. Lew's life style changed for the better buton one shift no cars came up from "the devil's workshop".Fearing the worst, men rushed to the rescue and found asolid wall of coal filled in across the mouth of the level.They dug in it and rescued Lew, who followinghospitalization, quit the mine. The bodachs of the mine, heexplained, had become frantic workaholics and hemmed himin with coal, almost claiming his soul.
Creighton reveals the fact that, "Tommy Knockersused to be heard in the mines in Queen's County (NovaScotia)..." In the Springhill coal mines they were routinelyheard before disasters. "Men have often seen lights before
an accident and they would quit and come up. BeforeChristmas if one were killed there seemed to be three...InStellarton (Pictou County, N.S.) if miners heard a certaintapping in the mine they would come up and stop work forthat day." In his History of the Great Disaster
At Springhill Mines, R.A.H. Morrow adds that "Distantrumblings, sepulchral voices, human beings with flamingfire-heads and spectre-like visages, clattering hoofs andother unique surroundings, are more than convincing that ifthis place is not the abode of "the angels which kept nottheir first estate, " it is certainly not the paradise of therighteous..." In the Cumberland coal mines a mine horsenamed Spot hauled thirteen coal cars up and down the slopein one of the seams. Encountering invisible tommy-knockers the animal refused to move forward and the roofcaved in trapping the unfortunate animal but saving thelives of those who tried to get him to move. After that themine manager found himself paced by footsteps whenever heentered the mine. When he stopped in his tracks, thefollowing steps ceased and when he took up he was certainhe was paced by an unseen being. For their part, the minersinsisted that they saw a recurring ghost of the old horsecomplete with boxcars.
TOM CHALLTUINN, the Hazel mound. Site of the great sitheannear Aberfeldy. Associated with the fairy mounds of Cnocforbaidh and Craig Scriadhlain. It is said that visitsbetween the mounds took place triennially.
TOM NA-H IUBHRAICH, hillock of the Yew wood. Also knownas Tomnahurich Hill. A noted sidh-hill in Inverness,Scotland. See iubhar, yew. A fiddler who fell asleep on thissummit was invited to play for the Daoine sidh. Shouting outa Christian holy name he found himself returned to theUpper World, but several hundred years had passed while heentertained residents of the Otherworld. The 13th-centurypoet, Thomas the Rhymer is said buried in the hill alongwith his men and a white steed. Like King Arthur he is saidto be on call, to return to Scotland in a time of future need.
TOM NA SHIRICH, the “Hill of the Sidh,” near Inverness,Scotland.
TONAG, a clew of yarn; the basic tool of witchcraft. Ton, therear end, the buns, the anus. Therefore, tonag alsodescribes a broad-beamed lady. Tonair, a broad-assed man.Tonasg, a ball of yarn.
TOR, TORR, TAR, the Old Norse god Thor or Thorr, Germ.Donar, cf. AS. Thur, as seen in Thurs-day, the god of Thunder.Also, a conical hill or castle, a heap. In Norway, Iceland andnorthern Scotland he was preferred over Odin beingconceived as the chief helpmate in war. He was seen ashealing disease, warding off demonic forces, and was thegod approached in contracting marriages. His name is seenin the Gaelic torr, a conic hill or tower. Note also torrach,pregnant, fruitful and torradh, the wake, funeralsolemnities; also torrunn, a great noise, thunder. In Gaul thegod was called Taranis and in Italy Jove. There are manyother related words (see below).
Thor, or Donar, is known to have ruled the north beforeOdin, and he was always personified in sheet lightning,which was supposed to represent his rage. The god ofthunder he was always honoured as the ultimate god ofNorway, and everywhere he was called, “old Thor.” InSweden it was rumoured that he often wore Odin’s broad-brimmed hat, under which storm clouds gathered, and Thor’shat was a name given one of the tallest peaks in Norway.The roar and the rumble of thunder used to be attributed toThor’s goat-drawn chariot moving across the skies. AsThor’s control diminished, the southern Germans picturedhim as a travelling tin-smith, the noise in the sky being thesounds of pots and pans clanging against the sides of hispeddlar’s wagon. It was said that Thor married twice,initially to the goddess Iaranasaxa, the matriarch of theAnglo-Saxons, and later to Sif.
He wore three silver stars in his deep steel-blue head
circlet, and it is no surprise to find these represented inthe heraldry of the Royal Scottish House of Moray. Thehouse of Moray were, literally, “The Kings of the Sea,” andthus the three “stars of the north” are a Fomorian device.He is given as the son of Jörd (also called Erda) of thegiant-kind. Even as a child he was of remarkable size andstrength and capable of terrible rage. His mother unable tocontrol him fostered him out to Vingnir and Hlora, whotaught him restraint. It would not be difficult to give theHost to Tyr, and even earlier god who was once the mostwidely worshipped metaphor for war and agriculture.
In the newer order he ranked below Odin and Thor inthe gatherings of the twelve principal deities of Asgard.Tyr is identical with the Saxon god Saxnot (from sax, asword) and is therefore the male form of Irenasaxa, andcoherent with various sword-gods including Twe, Er, Heru,Cherrui, Cheruski, and the more distant Gaelic deities Huand Aod. In some countries he was considered a god of thesun, his shining sword blade being pictured as the emblemof its rays. Like many of the northern Scots Tyr was left-handed, and like Odin, one-eyed. The various sword dancesof Europe all spring from rites associated with thissomewhat blood-thirsty god. The sword is, of course, apowerful phallic symbol, the counterpart of the womb,referred to as the Cauldron of the Deep. According to legendthe sword of Tyr was fashioned by the same dwarfs asthose that fashioned Odin’s spear, and it was said thatthose who held this talisman were certain of victory in war.When it was stolen from a grove in northern Europe the Vala(Valkyra) who guarded it predicted that its power wouldcontinue but those who held it would eventually die by it.Not long after the weapon was found being carried byVitellius, a Roman prefect, who was eventually hailed asemperor. The new ruler was however addicted to food anddrink, and carelessly left the sword in an antechamber.
A German soldier, replaced the magic blade with hisown rusty one without the emperor noticing the exchange.Later, defending his rights, Vitellus did discover the
substitution, and overcome by fear attempted to escape hisfate. He eventually came face-to-face with the Germanthief who cut off his head using the scared sword. TheGerman knowing the dangers in holding the sword used it fora time but buried it on a riverbank before it could live outits promise of death. The next individual to appear beforehis troops with this ancient sword was Attila the Hun. Thesword-god was considered dead by his time, but the northAsia tribesman claimed to have received it as a revelationof his promise as a world-conqueror. Attila was secretiveabout the source of this finely crafted weapon, but it waswhispered that a herdsman, travelling in the wildernessfound one of his animals wounded by something sharp in theearth.
Seeing, and fearing, the Spirit of Death which he hadrecovered, the peasant took it to Attila, who had no fear ofit. He was helped in his wars by the reputation of thismagical piece but should have taken more notice of thecurse that went with it. The Burgundian princess namedIdico, wishing to avenge her dead kin, used it to despatchAttila.
Again, this dangerous toy disappeared for a time butwas used by the Duke of Alva in defense of Charlemagne’sinterests. After the victorious battle of Mühlberg in 1547,the Franks used the gleaming blade as a symbol for theiryearly martial games. When these people renounced theheathen gods the weapon was supposedly given (for safe-keeping) to the archangel named St. Michael, whopresumable still carries it in defense of Christendom. Thesingle-eyed, single-handed condition of the sword-godsharks back to the sea-people, and this orb was known torepresent the sun at its blighting best.
In some parts of German, all these old gods werepreempted by the Saxon god Irmin. He also possessed aponderous brazen chariot in which he rode the skies withthe expected sound effects.! It was said that he rode uponthe path we call the Milky Way, which was once known as
Irmin’s Way (or as Vrou-elden-strat, the Street of the Oldones). This thunder-chariot never left the skies and wassaid seen in the constellation of the Great Bear, where itused to be known as Irmin, Odin or Charles’ Wain (wagon). Inthe Middle Ages, when even the names of the gods wasforgotten by most men, the leader of the Raging Host wasguessed to be other noteworthy heroes or devils, amongthem, King Arthur, Frederick Barbarossa, Charlemagne, theSquire of Rodenstein, Hans von Hackelberg, or somenoteworthy local Sabbath-breaker.
In the Christian world, folklore had it that the Hostwas condemned to ride the winter sky in punishment forsins. For a while the Host of England was known as theHerlathing after the semi-mythic King Herla. In northernFrance the term Mesnée de Hellequin was preferred, inhonour of the goddess Hel.
In the Celtic world, the gatherer of souls was alwaysthe Cailleach bheurr, or Winter Hag, the game-keeper of thenorth, the patroness of all wild things. Fleeing Scandinaviathis alter-ego of the youthful winter- goddess Skadi,created Scotland for her animals by carrying earth acrossthe North Sea from Lochlann. A giantess, with a single eye,she accidently spilled earth from her creel, thus creatingthe western isles. She also inadvertently carried some ofthe troublesome human-kind across from the continent.Unfortunately, from her point of view, these little verminflourished, but wherever she could she blasted them withlightning from her staff (some say from her hammer, thusallying her with Thor). A frosty character, befitting adeath-goddess she shed snow wherever she travelled and asa grey mare (symbolizing storm clouds) hopped from onemountain top to another. The sight of her was said topresage storm and men were careful not to mock herpassage by imitating the sounds of her ever-circling host.Those who shouted to the skies with genuine enthusiasmwere not likely to be troubled and she always fancied alittle graio left standing in the winter fields.
Those who were of the sea-blood of Mhorrigan were inless fear of seeing crows flying the cold steel-grey skies,but even they hated to be gifted with the small black dogwhich the Host sometimes boarded upon people. This curwhimpered away the entire year unless it could befrightened or exorcised away. The winter-deity and all his(or her) spectral kind hunted, raped and pillaged the earth,the object of their fury being principally the god or goddesswho represented the summer sun. In some cases the animalthat was chased is thought to have been a horse or a boar,but in some cases the victims were the white-breastedMoss Maidens, wood-nymphs, thought to represent the lastleaves of autumn. Wherever in Europe men stood, the folkbelieved that winter-storms represented something moresinister than the interaction of the elements and theyespecially feared the howling of a dog upon the wind, forUller and Cromm the Crooked were invariable accompaniedby at least two fierce black, bloodthirsty dogs, who were asapt to carry off the living as the souls of those whose timehad come. TORA, an augur. The Ir. tarachair;$Lat. terebra, the rootbeing the Gaelic thar, across, from beyond, from times past.The Lat. trans; OIr. ter, to pass through or bore. See entriesbelow for comparable words.
TORADHAIR, a monster, a dwarf.
TOR BEALLTUINN, the Beltane Hill when sited on a torr, aconic hill. The Norse god Thor has his name on this form ofhill.
TORC, hog, a boar. Obs. Lord, Sovereign, the heart, the face, atorque or collar. One of the totems of the god Lugh.Reference is made in the Leabor Gaballa to “Brigit, thepoetess, a daughter of Dagda , she who possessed Fea andFemen, the two oxen of Dill.. With them was Triath, king ofall swine, for who is named Treitherne . Among theseanimals was an outcry of three demon voices, whistling andgroaning and seeking the plunder of Ireland.” Another
mighty boar is mentioned in the Fenian tales. This animalwas Formael who once killed fifty hounds and dispatched anequal number of warriors. This was “a black, shapely, duskyswine.” He was further characterized as blue-black incolour, earless, tailless and without testicles, “his teethstanding out long and horrid from his big head...his maneraised so high and rigid that apples might have been impaledon the rough bristles.” See mucca. And next.
TORCHOS-BREIGE, the fabulous moon-calf.
TORCRAD, torc, boar; rad, collective, feminine, folk. AncientGaelic name for a sept or clan of the region.
TORCULL, Torcall, Torquil from ON. Thorkell, a shortenedform of Thorketill, Thor’s kettle. Also Corquodale.
TORMADH, pregnant, growing big. Torr, the womb, conicalhill or mountain. Torraich, to make pregnant.
TORMOID, Tòrmod, dial. Tormailt, earlier Tormond andTormode from the ON Thórmóthr, the “wrath of Thor,” moreliterally the mother of Thor, Norman. Eng. mood. The namehas the sense of “under Thor’s protection.” Confers withGerm. Gearmailt.
TORRACH, “struck by Thor,” pregnant woman, fruitful,related to toradh. fruit. Note tor, a heap, belly.
TORRADH, the charming away of milk from cows; also thewaking of the dead, funeral solemnities, EIr. torroma,standing by, watching, attending; to-rad, to give, to producefruit. The continuance of this evil over a long periodtypically led to the death of the animal. See thoir. Apractise associated with northern wizards, adherents ofThor. Because of the value of cows to the Gaelic economy,this was the most feared of evil influences. Note that itwas directed against a "blessed" animal, under thepatronage of the pagan goddess Boanne.
The devices used to part a cow from its milk wereextremely varied. On Eriskay an owner noticed that his cowgave little milk, and examining the milking-station found,just below the ground, a magical "vessel" woven from thehair of various others cows in the neighbourhood. It wassupposed that in milking the milk passed into this reservoirrather than the usual milking pail, being retrieved by thebaobh in the dead of night. Another man who knew his cowswere being "troubled" went to the home of the person hesuspected. Finding only a child at home he asked, "Wheredoes your mother get the milk she gives you to drink?"Without hesitation she pointed out the cauldron chain justunder the smoke hole in the centre of the room: "Out of thechain!" "Come, little one, show me how she gets it." "Likethis," said the child, and as she drew down the chain milkflowed readily from it. Seeing this, the visitor tore downthe chain in spite of prohibitions against even touching it.After that the milk returned to his cows. Fortunately thereare as many cures for the torradh as there are means ofextracting milk illegally. Some cow-herds attached thebuarach (which, see) to their animal just prior to milking,but were careful to put it away afterwards supposing thatloss of it would give the finder permanent control over theflow of milk. The simple act of publicly rebuking a milk-pirate was often enough to bring the stealing to an end. "Ifa person is very much afflicted in regard to the "torradh" heis wise to adopt the following remedy. Whenever one of hiscows has a calf. to take it away before any milk is drawn.Then taking a bottle he is to draw milk from the four teats,this to be done kneeling. The bottle is then tightly corked;this is important, for carelessness in this respect mightgive access to the torradh and upset everything. Anothermethod is for a man - a woman won't do - to go to the houseof the suspected person and pull off from the roof as muchthatch and divots as his two hands will hold, and over thisto boil what little milk is left until it dries up. Anotherinformant advised burning the thatch under the churn,instead of under the milk. Another means of removing thisblight from one's cattle is to bury the carcass of one of thevictims by a boundary stream. Similarly you may transfer
it (the curse) to your neighbour by burying the corpse on hisland."
In the most extreme case where cows were milked todeath by wandering spirits during the night it wassuggested that the hide of the most recent victim should beplaced on the thatch of one's house. Invariably the totembird of the baobh would be drawn to, and perch upon, thisremain. The next calf to be born was then named after thisbird, thus ending the "murrain" for the entire herd.
TORRANAN, the figwort (Scrophularia), G. Torr, ON. Thor;annamh, rare, not-tamed. A species found in rocky places inthe uplands of Scotland. The flower is white and forms acuach or cup which is breast-shaped. It is said that thispart fills with dew on increase of the tide, but dries on theebb. To obtain the significant virtues of this plant it had tobe picked at the time of high-water, or at least on thegathering of the tide. There are pagan and Christianincantations associated!with taking this plant (See theSilver Bough p. 24). The torranan, once obtained is placedunder the milk pail and circled three times while repeatingan appropriate eolas or spell. This act was said to insurethe free flow of milk as well as proper maturation of milkand cheese. The leaf was applied “to cuts and bruises tosores and tumours,” supposedly with good effect. In thewestern isles of Scotland the plant was placed over animalbyres for general protection and “to ensure milk in thecows.” A charm for plucking the figwort translates intoEnglish as follows: “I pluck the figwort with the fruitage ofsea and land. It is the plant of joy and gladness, of richmilk, as the lord of heaven ordained. It puts milk in breastand testicle, places substance in udder and kidney. It iswith milk, with milkiness, with buttermilk, in produce,whisky whey, in milk-product. I pluck for the spottedfemale calves, those without male calves. It brings progeny,joy, fruitage, love, charity and bounty.”
TORRDARROCH, Hill of the oak. In Shaw country. The locationof a ring-cairn that”marks the mid-summer moon-set.”
Nearby at Daviot there is an oval-shaped ring-cairn “said toindicate the path of Venus at the four quarters of the year.”
TORRUNN, thunder, EIr. torand, related to Gaul god. Taranisas well as the Teutonic Thor. G. Tor or Tar. See thoir.
TORMAS GOBHA, literally Thor of the huge buttocks (readgenitals), the Wayland Smith of English mythology. Conferswith Culann or Manann mac Ler.
TOR MOR, great tower, tor, Thor; mor, great; great tower,great Thor. See thoi. This place, said to concentrate theforces of the sun, was located on Torrry Island, northwestof Ireland. Balor of the Evil Eye, the chief Fomorian at thisplace, may correspond with Thor. The former god-giantstruck at men with "a single glance from his venomous eye,"while Thor killed men with lightning bolts. On theContinent, Thor predated Tyrr and Odin as the penultimatemortal god. His name is recalled in the families namedTormoid, Tormod, Tormailt (Thor's protection) and Torquil,Torcull, or Torcall, from the Norse Thorkill a shortenedform of Thorketill (Thor's kettle) elaborated in Gaelic asCorgitill, Mhac Corcadail and anglicized as Maccorquodale.
TORA, augur, prognostication, divine wind, Ir. tarachair, EIr.tarathar, Cy taradr, Br. tarazr. Latin terebra, from ter, topass through. From the god Tor or Thor.
TORC, a torque. An ornament of twisted metal worn on thearm or at the throat. “They have a religious connotation andare often seen on the necks of gods as well as heroes.” TheOld Irish word torc, in fact, signifies a chieftain or hero.
TORMAN MULAD, murmur of sadness. The bittersweet cry ofthe banshee, announcing the death of any of the Firbolge.
TORTHAIR, monster, dwarf.
TOSCAIREAN DOISGEUL, a propagandistic or revisionisthistorian, an indoctrinator, a proselytizer, in particular, a
Jesuit missionary
TOUTA, adjectival, tout-s, left-handed, good, good-omened,see tuathal, Tuatha daoine, etc. The “flitting-time” forfarm workers and “fairies,” i..e. the Quarter-Days.
TRASG-DUBH, the black fast. An attempt to obtain justiceby fasting on the doorstep of an individual wrong-doer. Theoffensive party could mount his own fast and the survivorwas considered the offended party.
TRAOGH-CHAIRN, the shore of the cairn-stones, conferringwith the Norse Helluland. Ciabhan was exiled here after hisunfortunate affair with the Fomorian princess namedCliodhna.. In historic times this land was located in NorthAmerica, often being associated with Baffin Island.
TRAOGH MÓR, properly traeth, shore (and not necessarily“strand” as some authors suggest). Mór, great. Root of theformer is trag, to leap or draw, having special reference tothe ebb-tide. A mythic Atlantic land, also termed Tir namBeo. Quite possibly within the Bay of Fundy, in MaritimeCanada, since this is the only North American coastallocation having extreme tides.
TREANADH, lamentation, wailing. Also the Gaelic name forWhitsuntide, the week from Thursday to Thurdayimmediately following Whit Sunday. Treann, field-rites.
TREN FHER, strong man; a champion of a principality orcountry. Required to answer all challenges to single combat,appearing as a substitute for his leader. An avenger ofinsults. The name is anglicized as Traynor.
TREOGH DUBH, the black shore. The upper intertidal zone,where seaweeds are deposited by the tide, the boundarybeyond which supernaturals of the land dared not pass.Similarly they could not pass over a flowing stream.
TREUN-DHAN, an epic or heroic poem.
TREORAICH, soul blessing at death.
TRI, three, triad, etc. The gods and goddess of the Gaeliclands were frequently represented as trinities. It was notuncommon for Celtic artists to represent their deities andheroes as three-headed. See entries below.
TRIALL, going, journey; originally two parts, tri-all, goingthrough. The migration to and from the hill-pastures at thetime of Beltane and Samhain. The removal took place on thefirst day of May, the triall being led by sheep, cattlefollowing according to their age, goats similarly arrayed,with horses positioned at the rear. When different clansmet, great courtesy was demanded: they were all requiredto bless the passing procession wishing luck and prosperityeven to enemies. In the upper hills families went to theirtraditional hill-crofts where a male lamb without blemishwas killed and eaten. See Samhuinn for an explanation ofthis latter-day activity. Until this century, “ThroughoutLewis the crofters of the town-lands go to the sheiling(countryside) on the same date each year, and they return toit the same date each year. the sheep and cattle know theirday as well as do the men and women, and on that day...allthe ni’ flocks are astir and restless to be off.”
TRI-AN, the third part. In the lowlands, this was a portionof land known as the “Gudeman’s Croft,” “Halyman’s Rig,”“Cloutie’s Croft,” the “Black Faulie,” or the “Devil’s HalfAcre” It was variously deeded to the gods, earth spirits,the side, witches or the “Goodman,” the Devil of the witchfraternity. No spade or plough was permitted to touch thisland which was often smaller than the name might suggest.There were “crofts” associated with large estates and thesmallest peasant holdings. The procedure was to enclose aselected spot, repeating words that deeded it to whateverdevil the land owner feared. In token of the promise, stoneswere cast over the enclosing dyke built around the land.This procedure of dedicating land to the old gods continuedinto the last century and was intended to placate an evil
inherent in the land. Obsolete, the Christian Triune.
TRIAN-RI-TRIAN, “third-against-third,” the peculiar cry ofthe bird known as the corn-crake. This was a bird of illomen, not to be harmed.
TRIATH, lord, chief, Lat. tritavus, any ancestor as far backas the sixth degree.
TRID, a rag, a clout, to pass through. A means of eliminatingevil spirits by attaching them to a rag of clothing onceworn by the victim. Anyone contacting this bit of materialwas thought to acquire this unwanted “ghost.”
TRI DE DAOINE, “The Three gods of the People,” “The Threegods of Danu.” See Daoine sidh and Lugh.
TRIDUAN, the “three poems.” Also the fasting for three dayswhich went with this ritual. Fasting and chanting was themeans to attaining shamanistic “madness” and thefollowing enlightenment. Three days and nights was thetime allowed this procedure.
TRILIS, locks of hair in bunches of three, cf. Eng. tress, fromLat. tricia, a plait. Thus braided hair, in three parts, fromthe root tri. Honouring the tripartite goddess Mhorrigan.
TRI PEATHRAICHEAN COIMHEAC, the “Three Weird Sisters,”the Fates, the Bafinn; individually, Mhorrigan, governess ofpast events; Badb or Mebd, the present; and Macha, thefuture crone. The suppliers of individual befinds to men andthe gods. Those that govern men for good or ill. This is thetriad which the southern Irish hero Fionn perceived in adream: They came as three black birds, like eagles orvultures. They settled beside him and he saw that they hadbecome women, but the ugliest he had ever seen:"terrorlike, disgusting, screeching, destructive, clawing,lashing (all of these words are alliterative in Gaelic andthus are hallowed in use). They had straggly black hairdown to their loins and it badly needed combing. They were
goggle-eyed. They had long wrinkled, corrugated faces thatneeded washing. the look of unhappiness was on their faces.They had bent noses like a sickle. Their nails were as longas a rooster's spurs and as bent. They wore short outlandishdresses all in tatters and it would have been better had theybeen longer...their voices were high and piping."
While they had formal names, the three sisters, whothe Anglo-Saxons called the Wyrds, were known in Gaelicfolklore as Gorag (Foolish), Grodag (Rotten) and Robag(Filthy), and this was particularly the case with the adventof Christianity. Notice that these three are the models forthe witches in Shakespeare's Macbeth.
The following story involving these ladies isrecounted by J.G. Campbell: Fionn was supposedly encampedwith his men at the Hill of Howth, in Alba, when they saw aboat emerging from the west “with all the blackness of ashower.” While they watched the ship was drawn ashore toseven times its length and a sheiling built at the sea-side.Observing that the building which was put up was of a muchfiner craftsmanship than was general for Ireland, Fionnwent down to see what was afoot, and was surprised to findthree Fomors. When he asked about their mission in Irelandthey openly replied that the King of the West had sent themto do open combat with the Fionn. Mac Cumhail wassurprised to hear this since he had parted from the westleaving those people as allies. When the giants asked ifFionn was in the region, he said “Probably not!” and retiredleaving the big fellows pinned down by an enchantmentwhich prevented them from leaving the general area untilthey saw him a second time.
Thinking it best to check matters with Abartach theking of the Undersea Kingdom, Fionn launched his one-mancoracle on the sea and hoisted “the spotted towering sails”to the wind. After landing in the far country, Fionn waspicked up by a man questing after a dwarf for the king. Atthe court incognito , he and his dog Bran made spectacularentertainment, but came to be most appreciated by the king
for overcoming “a great Monster who wants my daughter andhalf my kingdom to himself.” The creature that was takendown was much like the Anglo-Saxon Grendel, destroyed byBeowulf, but in this version of the tale, it was the dog andhis “venomous boots,” that did in the sea-creature. “Hestruck the monster on his breast bone and took the heart andlungs out of him.” The father of this creature showed up forbattle on a subsequent night, and this time Bran was a morereluctant ally, but he did accomplish what Fionn was unableto do in single combat.
On a third night, the “mother of all evil” appearedlooking for satisfaction, but this hag was put down withpoison. The king recognizing the fact that he hosted a greateastern hero asked the name of his guest and was pleased tohear that he entertained the renowned Fionn mac Cumhal.For his part Fionn was surprised that no mention was madeof any vendetta, and when he asked why he was pursued bythree Fomorian warriors, the king of the west explainedthat these “heroes” were not his men, but those of threesith (the Bas-finne). Although the King of the Big Men couldnot recall these warriors he was able to tell Fionn that thethree women had given their lovers shirts which gave themthe strength of a hundred men, and that it would beadvisable to approach them at night when their shirts wereremoved.
Fionn was now given every honour and allowed todepart. Just as he was pulling away, three sith men seekingwork appeared at the quay, and they were hired to relievethe problems in managing an ocean-going coracle single-handed. Back in Ireland, Fionn was able to make immediateuse of the individual skills of these men, for the soothsayerwas able to tell him when the Fomorian giants were beddeddown for the night, while the thief was able to relieve themof their magic-shirts. At first light Fionn appeared at thedoor of the Fomorians, beating on his shield for attentionand as a challenge. Seeing that they were not outfitted tobeat down their opponent, the Fomorians admitted theirinability to do combat and their connection with the
Mhorrigan and begged forgiveness. Fionn swore them tothe cause of the Féinn and they proved faithful to his causefrom that time on.
TRIONAID (tree-ahn-ahj), OIr. tridoit, from Latin, trinitas,from tre, three. The old pagan trinities of gods andgoddesses. See entry immediately above; also, Bafinn. Theconcept of triads is prominent in Celtic rites. Diogenes (2ndcentury B.C.) mentioned that the druids imparted theirknowledge in lessons which were parcelled in threes. Thenumbers three, and three times three, permeate Gaelicphilosophy and art. Hilary, Bishop of Portiers in 350 A.D.,the first Celt to become a force in the Christian movement,wrote Di Trinitate in defense of a tripartate Christian God.Hilary was imbued with the tradition of his people and theconcept of a Holy Trinity probably owes more to paganismthan to Judaeo-Grecian ideas. In earlier times the trinitieswere honoured by the creation of pleated wreaths made ofivy, woodbine and rowen. These were placed on the lintelsof buildings to safeguard against the evil eye and murrain.Not that druidic ranns were also triads:
Strength in our hands,Truth on our lips,Purity in our hearts.
TROISGEUL, ill-omened, general intelligence, ill-omened ornot.
TRIOCHILEAN. A dwarf, the Willow Wren.
TROISGEUL, ill-omened augury, unlucky news. Beforedelivering such information of death, destruction or ill-willit is best to preface it with: “Away with this ill-news!”Otherwise it is implicit that bad luck will fall within thehouse where this news is revealled.
TRIPLEAG, a “fairy” spell.
TRITHEANN, obs. The Holy Trinity.
TRIUCAIR, a rascal,, from Scot. truker, a deceitful person,OF. tricher, to trick.
TROICH, TROICHILEAN, a dwarf, the willow wren; see droichof which this is a dialectic form. See trow.
TROM-LIGHE, nightmare, trom. heavy; lighe, flood. Alsoknown as the "alp" or ailp (which, see). Those who sleptunder the weight of this sigh often reported sensations ofrape, suffocation or drowning.
TROMAN, dwarf, elder, OIr. tromm, also troww and droman(which, see). The sea-going water troll. Related to MiddleEnglish troll from the Old Norse trold. A dialectic formused in northern Scotland, confers with trough, anycontainer hollowed from wood, for example a butter bowl.From this we have trow, a boat carved from wood andtrough, the hollow of a wave. The word troll from theGerman trollen, to wander in far places, is confluent. TheScottish word trow has been used to identify devils and the
Devil, but it is properly applied to the more or lessmalignant spirits of the northern Scottish islands. Thetrows of the sea are known as haafs in continental Europe.Those of the land are, "of diminutive stature, and usuallydressed in gay green garments...They inhabit the interior ofthe green hills...They marry and have children (and) are fondof music and dancing...The trows are not free from diseasebut they are possessed of infallible remedies, which theysometimes bestow on their (human) favourites...When theywant beef...they betake themselves to the Shetlandersscatholds, or townmails, and with elf-arrows bring downtheir game. On these occasions they delude the eyes of theowner with the appearance of something exactly resemblingthe animal whom they have carried off, and by its apparentdeath by some accident...Lying-in women and bairns theyconsidered a lawful prize. The former they employ as awet-nurse, the latter they rear as their own. In case ofparalysis Shetlanders hold that the trows have taken awaythe sound member. They even sometimes sear the afflictedpart, and for want of sensation in it boast of thecorrectness of this opinion."
TROSCAD, a “hunger strike.” The black-fast. Men who feltoffended fasted on the doorstep of the offender. Thisindividual could mount his own fast and the survivor wasconsidered to be the offended party.
TROST. a sturdy little human, a dwarf, the clank of things incontact, particularly metals. Confers with the next word.
TROW, TROWW, dwarf from Sc. trold, one of the little peopleof the earth. Malformed individuals, as opposed to thesvartalfar, or dark elfs, who were bound to the Underground.In most parts of Gaeldom the under-hill people were knownas the Daoine sidh, an exception being northern Scotland andthe Isles where they were called the trow, ON. troll.
On the Shetlands it was said: "The trows are ofdiminutive stature, and they are usually dressed in gaygreen garments. When travelling from one place to another
they may be seen mounted on bulrushes and flying throughthe air. If a person should happen to meet them he should ifhe has not a bible in his pocket, draw a circle round him onthe ground, and in God's name forbid their approach. Theyare fond of music and dancing...they are free from diseasebecause they possess infallible remedies (against disease)...They have all the picking and thieving propensities of theScandinavian trolls. The dairy-maid sometimes detects atrow-woman secretly milking the cows...she sains herselfand the thief takes to flight leaving behind a copper pan of akind not often seen. When they want beef or mutton, thetrows betake themselves to the Shetlanders' "scatholds"(towns) carrying their elf-arrows to bring down "game." Onthese occasions they delude the eyes of the owner with theappearance of something exactly resembling the animalwhom they have carried off, and by its apparent violentdeath by some accident...It is on this account that the fleshof such animals is regarded as improper food. A Shetlanderwho is yet alive (1880) affirms he was once taken into ahill by the trows. Here one of the first objects he met washis own cow, that was brought in to furnish for a banquet...On returning home he learned, to his great surprise, that atthe very moment he saw his cow brought into the hill,others had seen her falling over the rocks." "Lying-in womenand unchristened bairns they regarded as lawful prize. Theformer they employ as wet-nurses, the latter they rear upas their own. Nothing will induce parents to show anyattention to a child they suspect of being a changeling.There have been persons who undertook to enter the hills toregain a lost child. In cases of paralysis (the islanders)believe the trows have taken away the solid member andleft a log behind. They sometimes even scar the part, andfrom the want of sensation boast of the correctness of thisopinion." (Gnomes Fairies Elves and Other Little People, p.166). See also trow n' muir, for an account of the sea-trows.
TROW NA' MUIR, the “sea trow, or troll.” "With respect tothe sea-trows, it is the belief of the Shetlanders that theyinhabit a region of their own at the bottom of the sea. They
require a peculiar atmosphere and live in habitationsconstructed of the choicest submarine productions. Whenthey visit the upper world on matters of business orcuriosity, they are obliged to enter the skin of some animalcapable of respiring the water. One of the shapes theyassume is that commonly called a merman or mermaid. Butthere most favourite vehicle is the skin of the larger sealfor this animal is amphibious and can land on some rock.There they can cast off their sea-dress, and amusethemselves as they will in the upper world. They must,however, take especial care of their skins, as each has butone, and if it should be lost, the owner can never re-descend(to the deep). (Gnomes Fairies Elves and Other LittlePeople, pp. 166-167).
TRUAILL. a sheath, the foreskin, from the Celtic root trod,to push, Lat. trudo, Eng. thrust, trod, trom. As a verb, topollute, violate, OIr. druailnithe, to corrupt or spoil. Thusthe modern druis, lust, and druiseach, lecherous. Conferswith draoi, a magician, a druid.
TUAGE. A mortal love interest of Manann mac Ler. He sentthe druid named Fer Ferdiad to fetch her from Ireland. Thedruid lulled her to sleep with music and led her, in a trance,to Ibhear Glas on the western coast of Ireland. While hesought a ship to transport her to the Otherworld the tidecame ashore and drowned Tuage. For this dereliction Manannmac Ler slew the magician.
TUAICHEAL, dizziness, tuachioll, winding about, eddying,moving widdershins, i.e. against the course of the sun,“left=about, “ Ir. tuachail, going about in a confused state,tuath + cell, left (north) going. Compares with tuaineal,.dizziness, stupor, Ir. toineall, a fay-induced trance, aswoon. Cf. tuaitheal, wrong, left-wise, Ir. tuathal, the lefthand, awkward. See tuatha.
TUAITH, inflection of tuath, lordship, territory, sagacity,skil l .
TUAM, TUAMA, a tomb, Lat. tumulus.
TUAN MAC CAIRELL. The tale of Tuan which was preservedin The Book of the Dun Cow a manuscript from about theyear 1100 A.D. This Farlander was the son of Starn whowas the son of Sera and the brother to Partholon. After thegreat pestilence this sole survivor wandered about from onevacant settlement to the next, but saw nothing exceptwolves. For twenty-two years it is said that he livedwithout comfort or company, until at last he fell “into thedecrepitude of old age.” He was apprently unaware of thepresence of a parallel character, the flood survivorFinntann. Speaking of the Partholons this character says, inthe 1913 ballad:
Again, when death seized on thesestrangers
I roamed the land merry and free,Both careless and fearless of dangersTil Blithe Nemid came over the sea.
According to Tuan the new arrivals were relatives led byNemed the son of Agnoman, another brother to Partholon.We are not told how Finntann greeted these folk, but Tuankept his own company As Tuan approached old age, heenacted no magic but was spontaneously transformed into adeer and regained his youth following a full cycle for thisanimal he was again reborn as a black boar. After a timethe old Farlander began to suspect that some powerful forcewas responsible for his rejuvenation, and having time forthought recalled that in old age he had always sought out acave in Ulster. The next time he became aged, Tuan testedthis theory and found himself reborn in another animal body.The place of rebirth was obviously a “kettle ofregeneration” some reflection of the Fomorian “womb of allthings” which the land people had not yet pirated from the
sea-folk. Our ballad has this to say of the next wave ofvisitors to Ireland:
The Firbolgs and roving FirgallionsCame next like the waves in their flow;
The Firdonnans arrived in battalionsAnd landed in Erris - Mayo.
Then came the wise Tuatha de Danaans,Concealed in black clouds from their foe;
I feasted them near the ShannonThough that was a long time ago.After them came the Children of MilFrom Spain, o’er the southern waves;I lived with the tribes as their Filea (poet)And chanted the deeds of their braves...
His final demise is not recounted.
TUAR, hue, appearance, but in MIr. an omen or foretelling, apresage, root ver as in fuathair. See fuath.
TUASGART, obs. north. Still seen: tuaisgeart, The High North.Same as tuath.
TUATH, people, tenants, tenantry, rustics, north,northerners, OIr. left, north, the Hebrides. Possibly rootedin tu, to grow large, to increase, to be powerful; taugh.Dominion; tuathach, lord, ruler; tuir, lord, general, leader;tura, much, plenty, abundance; tormach, an increase; andtuirean, a troop or multitude. Note the related adj. touto,left-handed, "good", "well omened." The root-word may besu, "turning toward", to twist. Cf. OIr. tuath, populace, Cy.tud, country, nation, Cor. tus, Br. tud, Gaul. nation; Onewordsmith has it that he is “one of the Germanic races,adherents of this god of war and agriculture. Teo, an oldGaulic name for “god,” is also Teutates, the name of aGaullish deity. The root is found in Teutomatus, the name of
a king of the Nitibriges, and in Teutobodiaci, the name of apeople of Galatia..” This is probably too specific the godbeing rather more generally known as Tout, Teuto, Due, Tue,Tyrr, Thor, the Gaelic god Hues. Latin toto, the state, alsothat for the Germanic Deutsch as well as the people of theneighbouring low country, the Dutch. See Aog. Confers withME. tyle, tile and thule. Applied variously to northernIreland, northern Scotland, to Greenland and to the mysteryislands of the Atlantic. These were the Tuatha daoine,people of the goddess Danu, residents of Ireland with seatsat Tara and Armagh. Defeated by the Milesians they weredriven to the offshore islands and into the Underworldwhere they were slightingly called the Daoine sidh, orpeople of the side-hills. The "wee-folk", the "little people"corresponding with the Teutonic "elfs" and the British"fayries."
TUATHA CRUITHNE, the Picts, Northern Britons, seeCruithne.
TUATHA DAOINE (tootha donnu) Ir. TUATHA DANANN (toothadah-nan), the Northern People. “People of the goddess Danu.”Also called the Firdonnans.
In the myths it was held that they lived originally “in thenorthern isles of the world learning lore and magic anddruidism and wizardry and all cunning until they surpassedthe sages of heathendom. They came from four cities,somewhere in the north, to wit Falias, Gorias, Murias andFindias. Here they supposedly learned their arts and crafts,their science and the diabolic business. Out of the firstisland-kingdom came the Stone of Fal, which was in Tara.It used to roar under every (legitimate) king that would takethe realm of Ireland. Out of Gorias was brought the spearthat Lugh had. Out of Findias was brought the Sword ofNuada. Out of Murias was brought the Dagda’s cauldron.”What is not mentioned is that all of these magical deviceswere booty from An Domhain.
Gerald Hawkins has identified these "northern isles"
as belonging to the Greecian landfall, rather than the farnorth of Scandinavia. In addition to their lore, magic,druidism, wisdom and cunning, the Tuathans came to Irelandas possessors of "the diabolic arts" and were practitionersof "every sort of paganism". Their magic included arts ofconciliation, for it is recorded that they "travelled betweenthe Athenians and Philistines", apparently as mediators.
According to one legend, the Tuatha daoine weredescendants of a few Nemedians who had returned to Greeceafter their abortive settlement of Ireland. The oldhomeland was not forgotten and they sailed away "in greatspeckled ships" to reclaim the land of their forefathers. Itis said that they came specifically "to take the land fromthe Firbolg". They landed on the first day of May, which theyperceived as the annual time for the final battle betweenwinter and summer. They equated themselves with the godsof light and the Firbolgs with those of darkness, thus thisaugured well for the beginning of combat.
In putting down the Firbolgs, the Tuathans hadassistance from the Fomorians, the alliance being firmed upby marriage between the two tribes. Among theirchampions, the warrior-magicians numbered Breas, whosemother was a Tuathan princess, while his father Elatha waschieftain of Fomorian sea-pirates from the Hebrides. Unlikemost of his Fomorian kin, Breas was a handsome youth andcompletely without blemish. When King Nuada lost his handand throne, the Tuathans assembled and elected this youngman as his successor.
Breas managed to keep Ireland for seven years. TheTuatha daoine expected him to show favouritism toward hisfathers race, but were incensed when he refused to takeaction against the Fomorians who raided their villages. Hewas not, however, deposed for mismanagement as much asmeaness. In those days an open hand was more importantthan a open heart, patronage being expected of the high king."The knives of his people", it was noted, "were not greasedat his table, nor did their breath smell of ale at the banquet.
Neither their poets, nor their bards, nor their satirists, northeir harpers, nor their pipers, nor their trumpeters, northeir jugglers, nor their buffons, were ever seen engaged inamusing them in assembly at his court." As a consequencethere was constant grumbling among his retainers for theking represented the collective spirit of his people andmeaness was considered a disgrace. To compound hisniggarliness, Breas committed the unforgivable sin ofinsulting Cairbre, the greatest poet and songsmith in theland.
The poets required a minimum of twelve years ofapprenticeship. The lowest grade of bard had mastery ofsixteen of the three hundred and fifty different metres ofpoetry. The king-bard had mastered all of these forms andcould compose impromtu shorter poems on any subjectwhich happened to be suggested. The poet-ollam was,additionally, a master of history, the antiquities andgenealogies of the leading families of the land, and couldrecount them on request.
Although poets were attached to certainprincipalities, they frequently went on circuit, visitingminor and major kings, chanting their praises in directproportion to the patronage they received. Every poettravelled with a retinue of from ten to twenty-fourattendants, but the most famous travelled with three orfour times this prescribed number. All courts andresidences were thrown open to a visit from the ollamwhich was usually restricted to a single night. In laterdays, poets sometimes imposed themselves on a particularprince for days, weeks, months or even years, his companybeing supported by the host. The tongues of the poets werefeared because of their ability with satire, and the feesthey received were usually voluntary and generous.
Breas may have been unfamiliar with the customs ofthe Tuatha daoine respecting their poets. Cairbre expecteda lavish banquet and quarters, but the King placed him in abare cold apartment and presented him with a few dried
oat-cakes on a small platter. The ollam said nothing butdeparted with unusual haste and composed a witheringsatire, which was repeated throughout the land. Incensed bythis final evidence of avarice, the people rose and drovethis boorish Fomorian from the throne of Tara. Theyrecalled King Nuada Airgead Lam (of the Silver Hand) andrestated him as king in spite of his "blemish".
Breas fled to the Hebrides, where he complained to hisfather Elatha. The latter collected a mighty sea-fleet andsoon filled the ocean from Scotland to Eirinn with a host ofFomorians. Among these was Balor Beimann, a chieftainwhose people occupied Tory Island, off the northwesterncoast of the Tuathan island.
Balor was reputed to live in a "crystal" palace whichhad the ability to collect, focus and direct sunlight withdevastating effect against distant targets. It may berelevant that the Gaelic verb "bailim" still means "to gatheror collect". This "bal-or", or "god of the sun" has beenrepresented not as a technologist but as "Balor of the EvilEye" or "Balor of the Piercing Eye" in Celtic myth: "His oneeye was never opened but on the battlefield, when four menthrust a polished handle throught the lid to lift it. Thenmen died by the thousands from the venomous fumed thatemanated from it."1
The palace of Balor was constructed by the Goban Saor(Gaelic, "mouthy sawyer, or carpenter). He and his sonfinished their construction for the this Fomorian but, "hedid not wish to let them go back (to Eirinn), for fear theyshould make for another man a palace as good as his." Whilethe builders were on the topmost scaffolds, Balor orderedthe lower parts taken away, "for he wanted to let them dieon the top of the building." This might have been the end ofboth carpenters, but the younger sawyer had developed afriendship with a girl of the clan, and passing, shesuggested, "...It is easier to throw seven stones down than
1 Scherman, Ibid, p. 56.
to put one up..." The young man was able to reasonthis out,and soon he and his father began throwing stones to theground. Hearing their fall, Balor rushed out and ordered thescaffolding replaced.
Knowing they were not out of danger, the Goban Saornoted, "there is a crookedness in your work, and had I threetools left at home, I would straighten this wall, so thattheir would be no palace in the world comparable with this!My tools are: Crooked against crooked; corner againstcorner; and engine against deceit, and no man can bring themback but your son!"
Hearing this, Balor allowed his son to voyage to Eirinnwhere he approached the wife of Goban Saor with the key-words. She immediately recognized them as a plea for helpand led the Fomorian lad to a deep carpenter's chest. Sheasked the boy to retrieve the tools, and while he was bentover, pushed him in and locked the chest. She then sentword to Balor that his son was a hostage until young Gobanand old Goban arrived safely home.
The two sawyers were released with full pay, andBalor's son returned. Surprisingly, the Fomorian asked hisdeparting guests to recommend a blacksmith "for puttingirons on his palace, except the Gloss (champion cow)." 2
The two departing "guests" suggested Gavidjeen Go.When they arrived back in Eirinn, the Saors strongly urgedGavidjeen Go to be careful in contracting with BalorBeimann and accept nothing less than the Gloss ascompensation for his work. It was generally known thatthis cow could fill twenty barrels with milk in a single day,so the man who possessed her would be wealthy. Balorconsented to this agreement, knowing that the Gloss wouldonly follow where the magical bye-rope was given. Since hedid not give the rope to Mr. Go, Balor knew that thechampion would eventually return to his own barns.
2 Colum, Ibid, p. 535.
Gavidjen Go was a practised blacksmith so he wasable to promise swords to those who minded his new cow.One of these was Kian, son of Contje, who pledged his headagainst the loss of the animal. Kian managed this for thefull day, but that evening, on returning her, was met by theLaughing Knight, who ran out to Kian and said, "The smith isabout to temper your sword, and unless you are there to holdit, there will be no power with it when you weild it."
Hearing this, Kian complied, but inside the smitheryhe was asked, "Where is the Gloss?" Kian thought she stoodjust outside the door, but rushing there he found the"Knight" and the Gloss gone.
"Then you have forfeited your head! Lay it upon theanvil that I may cut it off," demanded Go.
"Give me three days and it will be returned."
"I will allow that," said his adversary.
Kian afterwrds tracked the Gloss to the northwesterncorner of the land. Losing the trail at the edge of the ocean,"he wandered up and down the shore, plucking his hair fromhis head, in trouble after the Gloss."3
Entirely at a loss, he noticed a man travelling on thesea in a currach (half spherical hide-covered boat). Kiancalled to him, and was soon confronted by Manaun MacLir,one of the gods of the sea. Manaun was one of twoimmortals in the Fomorian host, the other his father Ler,the supreme god of the sea. The former god lived in thedeeps off the shores of the Isle of Man, but also had a landresidence on the island itself. It was said that hesometimes harassed the Irish countryside, coming ashore onfoggy nights in the form of an animated triskelion. Thetriskelion was three bent legs radiating from a common
3 Colum, Ibid, p. 536.
centre; it became a three-armed swastika, the currentsymbol of the Isle of Man.
Fortunately for Kian, Manaun was allied with theTuathans and had little sympathy for Balor. When the questwas explained, the sea-god offered transportation to ToryIsland in return for half of anything taken from the island,excepting the Gavidjeen Gloss. Although he travelled in asimple currach Kian found himself instantly transported tohis destination.
On the far shore he found the Fomorians eating rawfood, and being a culinary expert he welcomed them to hisfire and a new taste experience. These individuals went toBalor Beimann, who hired Kian as tender of fire, cook andstory-teller to his court.
The two sons of Balor, in training as druid on anotherisland, had warned his father that his destiny was to bekilled by a son of his own daughter. As a consequence, Balorhad isolated her, and personally attended to providing herwith food. Since she was always in the presence of aguardian woman, the Fomorian chieftain felt certain shewould never become impregnated. In his own interest,Manaun had gifted Kian with an enchantment that allowedhim to open locks and shut them behind himself, knowingthis would give him access to the hidden treasure of hisrival. Noticing Balors unusal food delivery schedule, Kianfollowed him and unlocked a door in the inner keep where hefound the two woman. He introduced them to his cookeryand even if the elder woman had not been mute, sheafterwards favoured the stranger. This was even more trueof Balor's daughter for in nine months "a child happened toher." Discovering this Kian thought it might be wise toresign from service. When asked why he was leaving Kianwould only admit: "It is because accidents have happened tome since I came to this island." Not content with this,Balor consulted one of his sons who was home on leave. Thelad was not certain what Kian meant but suggested, "yourstory-teller, cook and fireman will give you sufficiency oftrouble."
Overhearing them, Kian decided on an early departureand went to his girl-friend, who agreed that he had littlechoice. As a parting gift she gave him the byre-rope whichmagically drew the Gloss after it as well as charge of theirinfant son. THe Tuathan went immediately to the placewhere Manaun had deposited him on the shoreline andwhistled down the wind, after which the god came "in aninstant". Balor was not far behind and Manaun advised,"Make haste for Balor will try to drown us. Nevertheless,have little fear for my magic is greater than his!"
Kian jumped into the currach, and the gloss followedthe rope. Bal;or used his eye to raise the sea behind them,but Manaun countered by raising a hand which immedistelycalmed the sea before them. In his wrath Balor set fire tothe sea, but Manuaun threw asingle magical stone into thewaters and the fires went out.
On the Irish shore the sea god turned to Kian son ofContje for half of the "treasure" of Tory Island. "I havenothing but this boy," admitted the Tuathan, "and him I willnot divide but give to you entirely." "For this, thanks,"returned Manaun, "this is a prize. Here is the champion whowill be known as Dul Dauna (Gaelic, the one who will causeanother to fall), and he will defeat Balor of the Evil Eye.Among the Tuathans, this god-giant was later called Lugh.Presumably he was about sixteen feet at maturity for thiswas a later meaning of the word "lug". This word alsodescribed a powerful but clumsy individual but the godsonof Manaun MacLir was hardly a clumsy oaf, this connotationhaving arisen after the worshippers of Lugh were defeatedby a race known as the Anglo-Saxons.
These events seem to have occurred while Kian wasspying in Ireland on behalf of the Tuatha daoine. Lugh wasnot only the foster-son of a god, but possessed many of the"mortal powers", or magic, of his birth-father's people.Because of this he was also named Sab Ildanach (Gaelic, thestem of all arts). When the Tuatha daoine contemplated anactual invasion they sent Lugh ahead as a scout. He went
the court of KIng Eochais at Tara, supposedly seekingemployment. In those days foreigners were not excluded,but no one was admitted membership in the inner circleunless he could add a unique skill to the court. Thedoorkeeper, who barred Lugh's way asked the ground for hisadmission. Lugh noted that he was a saer (Gaelic, sawyer orcarpenter), but the guardian assured him they had one inresidence. Well, suggested Lugh "I am a very good goban(smith)." They also had an able goban. "A champion?" Thatpost was also filled. In turn Lugh offered to serve as a filid(bard), baobh (magician), cupbearer, goldsmith, or cupbearer.Told that the Firbolgs had an expert in all these formsa ofmagic, Lugh responded finallyu with these words: "Go then,warden to your king. Ask him if any stands within thesewalls who is master of all these arts, for they are myprofession. If there is my equal, I will not insist onadmittance to Tara."
King Eochaid was overjoyed to add this well-favouredman-god to his court, and afterwards created the post ofard-ollam (chief poet) for him, declaring Lugh the chiefprofessor of all arts and sciences. Unfortunately, Lughafterwards abandoned this tribe and assisted the Tuathadaoine.
In the legends, Lugh has been particularly noted as abuilder of chariots, a worker in metals, a medicine-man, apoet and a composer of novel magical spells. He was laterdeclared the god of music since he was able to charm peopleinto sleep when he played on his harp. Among warriors hewas termed Lugh of the Long Arm because of his proficiencywith the spear and the sling, and it was rumoured that hecould defeat an entire army without assistance. He wasnamed the father of the mortal gods, in particularCuchulainn, who shared this last attribute. It may berecalled that it was Lugh who carried a flesh-seekingmagic spear with him to Ireland from the islands of thenorth.
These abilities were useful in the conquest of the
Firbolgs and their confrontation with the Fomorians. Thelatter situation seemed to have been regarded veryseriously, for legend says that the Tuatha daoine "summonedevery man, from the chief sorcerer and the cupbearer to thesmith and the charioteer, to contribute his special talent tothe confounding of the enemy." The druids assured thechieftains that they would cast the twelve mountains ofIreland against the enemy "and roll their summits againstthe ground." Others of their profession said they wouldarrange "three showers of sky-fire to rain upon the faces ofthe Fomorian host," an act guaranteed to rob them of "two-thirds of their strength". This battle also marked the firstuse of the witch-bottle, which is still a tool of that craft.This required obtaining urine, hair and nail-parings from theenemy. These were placed in bottles and heated to causeevaporation of the liquid. All during the process it wasconsidered that this act would "bind urine in their ownbodies" and terminate in the death of the giants when thesubstance was entirely gone. The druids arranged a similarfate for the horses of the enemy.
The first meeting of the Tuatha daoine and theFomorians was in the western sea off Ireland. The DulDauna and his mentor, Manaun MacLir were at sea when theysaw the fleet of Balor Beimann sailing in their direction.Lugh put a "ring" (the precursor of the telescope) to his eyeand saw his grandfather pacing the deck of his ship.According to some accounts, Balor was killed on thisoccassion when Lugh shot a "dart" into his eye.4
Others say he survived to participate in the landsbattle at Sligo. This is probably the case, as he is known tohave felled King Nuada with his venomous eye. Thiseffective weapon of war was in part matched by the magic"cauldron of the deep" which the Tuatha daoine had stolenfrom Ler himself. It was employed by the "leech", ormedicine-man, named Diancecht who was said to have usedit to make fighting men of the dead, provided their heads
4 Padraic Colum, Ibid, p. 538.
were intact and their spinal cords unsevered. Unfortunatelythis process did not restore the souls of men, and thousandswere lost before Balor confronted Lugh. Challenged by "thelight and fearless one" Beimann opened his single giganticeye, "to look upon this babbler who converses with me." Inthat instant a stone entered his eye with such force itcarried the organ through the back of Balor's skull." Lughseems to have been unaware that this act killed hisgrandfather and fulfilled a druidic prophecy.
After that, the slaying of the giants was likened tothe fall of stars "as many as are in the heaven...as flakes ofsnow, as the blades of grass beneath the herds."5 THeFomorians were then beaten back into the sea, "from whichthey never again emerged." In truth, they never did return inforce, and their passing is marked on the plain of Sligo bynumerous rock cairns and pillars. The plain itself is evennow referred to in Gaelic as "the Plain of the Pillars of theFomorians."
It will be recalled that Lugh and Nuada were not only thecreators of the world of men, but the boys who slew theirfather and despoiled his undersea kingdom, transferring thespirit of that land to the navel of Ireland. There is noquestion that these lads and their kin were at the very leastclose relatives of the Fomorians. They never liked toemphasize this relationship. They claimed that theirprogenitors were the Dagda and his wife Danu, or Danasometimes called Anu, Boann or Boyne. These actuallyseem to have been the thinly-disguised matriarch andpatriarch of the Firbolgs, the god Don and the goddessDomnu. Peter Ellis notes that Domnu name suggests a“womb” or an “abyss of the sea,”and that “through thevarious sagas and tales an eternal struggle is seen betweenthe Children of Domnu, representing darkness and evil, andthe Children of Danu, representing light and goodness.” The
5 Katherine Scherman,Ibid, p. 56 quoting The Second Battle of MagTured from Ancient Irish Tales.
undersea island of An Domhain was said to contain not onlythe Cauldron of Regeneration, but also Tech Duinn, “TheArrival Place for (Dead) Men.” Under these circumstances itis not surprising that the sea god Domh is often “equatedwith the Dagda and Bilé.” The latter land god is of coursecognate with the Brythonic Bel or Belinos, and he isfrequently referred to as “the Father of the (land) Gods andMen and a husband to Dana.” All of these seems to have beena deliberate snow job and the Tuathans did what they couldto further distance themselves from the shape-changingsea-people by stating that the latter were actually of theHouse of Ler, which was ruled by the only remainingimmortal among the sea-gods with the help of his sonManann mac Ler. The latter is often spoken of as theboatman of Tech Duinn, the one responsible for ferrying menin both directions to and from Ireland. In the old days, thedeath-god was also seen as a life-god, whose charge was tomaintain a balance in the weight of souls inhabiting lands inthe east and the west. Those who died went west; thoseslated for reincarnation were carried eastward on Manan’sship. Interestingly Bile is sometimes given Manan’s dutiesespecially with respect to the continental Gauls. All thisleads to the strong suspicion that the Dagda and Domh arenothing more than alter-egos, a good and an evil face for thecreator-god. It is also true that Lugh is frequently picturedas the boatman between the lands of men and theOtherworld. Representations of him aboard a sailing ship,with a sun orb leading his self-propelled craft, are amongthe most frequent in Gaelic art. In the event that he isgiven this role his antagonist, or altered form, is usuallyidentified as Cromm dubh, “the Bent Black One.”
It is said that the new invaders were called theTuatha daoine, because they were the “people of Danu.”More exactly they were those”of” the goddess Aione orAine. In the Irish dialect these people were the Tuathadanann, the folk of Ann, both variants of Danu. In the MiddleIrish tongue she was entitled Dan, and her name harks backto da, the verb “to give.” Like the Dagda, the “giver of theday,” she had an opponent in Domnu, whose descendant was
the Black Dannis, or Annis, a witch-like hag feared insouthern England. Her particular land residence was thePaps of Anu, two breast-shaped mountains in County Kerry,which point to her fecundity and position as the mother-goddess and a fertility figure.
Any king of the northern Irish had to be rituallymarried to this sovereign-goddess before he could claimlegitimacy. She had a number of local named as Danubrighida, “the firey one,” and thus was sometimes calledbridd, “the bride,” or Brigit (in the latter days she wascanonized as Saint Brigid). She was also entitled the Bas-finne indicating her role as a dark lady,the consort of Don,and a part-time resident of the Otherworld. In this formshe was the triune goddess whose parts were Mhorrigan,Badb or Mebd, and Macha. Like the Norse goddess Hel shewas often referred to as the “parti-coloured goddess.” Inearlier times, before the word tartan was available, thisterm was the one most often used to describe the colourfulwearing apparel of the Celtic upper classes. She is alsoSkadi, the Old Norse goddess of winter, who just might havegiven her name to Skadilande, which the English calledScotland. The Scandinavians suggested that Skadi was theform assumed by Hel when she snowshoed the earthaccompanied by her vicious winter-wolves. Here it isnecessary to recall that the Norse often referred to theScots as the Hellr, “Hellers,” or “people of the goddessHel.”
There are as many Gaulish as Gaelic references to thislady, but she is most often given as Brigando, from whichour word brigand. Among the Britons she was Brigantia andthere was a race of Celts named the Brigantines, situated inthe north of England and in east central Ireland, whoworshipped her as the goddess of love, hearth and home. Inthis incarnation she was often spoken of as the daughter ofDagda, but the fact of incest was never considered a crimein royal families. It is said that the lady had three sons.They in turn “had but one son among them,” whose name wasEcne, “Poetic Knowledge.” It was the long-lived Tuan who
described the Daoine sidh as “gods,” and they might haveseemed so to the unfortunate Firbolgs.. Tuan said that theycame to Ireland “out of heaven,” bringing with them thefour treasures of their race. They were supposedly waftedout of a cloud onto a stretch of land in western Connaught,and when the vapours cleared, scouts from Tara discoveredthem comfortably encamped at Moytura.
We are fairly confident they did not come down fromthe North Star, in fact the name Tuatha and the fact thatthey landed on the western coast of Ireland tells us almosteverything about their origin: In the Old Irish tongue tuathmeant a populace. This word is also seen in Welsh, tud, acountry or nation, in the Cornish tongue, tus, and in theBrythonic dialect, tud. This form was also used by theGauls and indicated a nation. It is also a word related tothe Gaelic tir, land, which is the Latin terra, having thesame meaning. There is also the Gaelic adjective tuto ,“well omened”, or “good,” or “left-handed,” turning in acounter-clockwise direction. Think of Ireland, consider acounterclockwise sailing from its shores, and you willfinish in the Labrador Basin. No other route is reallyfeasible since the Gulf Stream and the prevailing winds oflower latitudes prevent any westward movement withoutgreat manipulation of the sails. Finally the modern wordtuath is still connected with “people,” but now has specialreference to tenant farmers, rustics and “northerners.”
Further Tuath is the Anglo-Latin Tyle or Thule, a“hidden place,” a name often visited upon mythic islands inthe Atlantic. In the years of post-medieval exploration theUltima Thule was Iceland, but it was never suggested thatthis was the only “secret place” in the ocean. In the firstdays the Tuatha daoine were routinely described as“warrior-magicians,” but they were eventually defeated andreduced to farming the most distant of the rockiest mostfen-ridden barrens in Ireland and Scotland.
Some researchers have connected the Tuatha daoine,or danann, with the “Beaker People,” who arrived about the
year 2000 B.C., precisely fitting the mythological time-frame. The big drinking pots, which they made, have beenfound widely spread throughout Europe and these finds ledto the conclusion that they came to Britain out of one of thecontinental Low Countries. Whatever their source thenewcomers brought a revolution in field monuments. Likethose before them, the Beaker Folk buried their dead, butwhere the earlier islanders had preferred communal graves,these people laid each individual in a solitary place andraised perfectly circular barrows over the bodies. In reallystony country these round soil-covered barrows becamecairns.
These monuments are still discernible at 20,000 sitesthroughout Britain, and clustered on the brows of a hill,they are the most commanding feature in many parts of thecountry. The skeletons of the invaders show that they weretaller, more round-headed, and possessed more sharplydefined features than the Firbolgs, who were a smaller,more slender, somewhat “Mediterranean”type. As theBeaker Folk were found buried with the equipment ofbowmen and with flint, copper or bronze daggers and stonebattle-axes, it has to assumed that they were a populationof warriors.
One archaeologist has said that “until, they becamemerged with the islanders, had formed an élite and had aninfluence out of proportion to their numbers.” It was neverclaimed that the newcomers invented the cromleage or“stone-henges,” but they did have a part in theirdevelopment. They were engaged in the second phase of thedevelopment at Stonehenge, where they set up the famedbluestone circles. They were also present during the mainperiod of construction as Avebury, where Beaker-styleburials have been found at the base of individual stones.Most scientific researchers consider generalizations aboutneolithic religions rash, but there is some suggestion thatthe Firbolgs were mainly concerned with worshipping earthand fertility deities while the Tuathans became moreinvolved with celestial divinities, “in particular with the
cult of the sun.” Stonehenge and Avebury stand in Wessexbut there are equally imposing circles in Brittany andScotland, although they were never very numerous, or aselaborate, in Ireland.
In these places, pottery associated with the Beakerpeople has also been found, although it is admitted thatmany of these structures predate the usually datings atabout 1800 B.C. Wherever these newcomers set up camp,their descendants were able to develop societies in whichbronze had little real utility. The warrior-magicians madelittle use of copper and bronze, and it was they who tookthe lead in developing the Cornish and Irish tin mines whichwere fully operational by 1600 B.C. The main source oftheir wealth was cattle, but they were also involved intrading the metals they smelted, and Irish gold, on thecontinent. By the beginning of the last millennium B.C.bronze was freely available, and the whole appearance ofthe countryside had altered from a wilderness with thespread of villages and regular fields, cultivated withploughs rather than the wooden hoes and crooked sticks ofthe past. After their defeat by the Milesians, about theyear 1000 B.C., they were renamed the Daoine sidh (which,see), or “Side-hill people.” The Tuatha daoine wereafterwards legally restricted to the side-hills, forbiddentravel except at the Quarter, or Rent-paying Days, and werenot permitted to act as professionals or hold positions ofpower.
MacManus has noted that they were not a single racein historic times, but remnants of the Fomors, the Firbolgs,and the Tuathans, "all ground down by rents and compulsorytoil." In the first century after the advent of Christ theyoverthrew their bondage to the Milesians under theleadership of Cabri Cinn Cait (the Cat-headed), a chiefliving in Leinster. He managed to promote a secretconspiracy that ended when the Aithech Tuatha, “GiantTuathans,” invited all of the Milesian royal family to agreat feast on a plain in County Galway. There the hostsfell upon their guests and killed everyone present. Since
that time this place has born the name Magh Cro, the BloodyPlain. From that time the "side-hill folk" ruled for fiveyears with Cinn Cait as their ard righ.
The Milesians later said of this period: "Evil was thestate of Ireland; fruitless her corn, fruitless her rivers,milkless her cattle, penniless her fruit, for there grew inthose years but one acorn on the stalk." On the death ofCabri, his son Morann the Just refused the crown andsuggested it be given to the Milesian heir. Feradach Finn-feactnach, the “Fair-righteous one,” was thus recalledfrom exile in Pictland, but his reign was as unhappy as thatof Caibri. Having tasted revolution and power the AithechTuatha were unwilling to settle down and even the restoredchieftains were unhappy with their positions.
Under the next monarch, Fioacha of the White Cows,some of the Milesian princes and the leaders of theTuathans banded together and overturned the throne,replacing the monarch with Elim of Ulster, who bysupporting the working-class, held power for twenty years.Eventually the Milesians recalled the son of Fiacha fromexile in Britain, rallied to him and killed Elim. Ironically,the new king was entitled Tuathal Feachtmar, the“Desired,” for it was he who fought 133 battles against theTuathans. In the end, he broke these tribes and scatteredthem so widely they were never again a force in Gaelichistory. "These fugitive hill-dwellers, caught in twilightand moonlight, by succeeding generations of Milesians,coupled with the seemingly magical skills they exercised,gave foundation for the later stories of enchanted folk,fairies, living under the Irish hills."
T.W. Rolleston thinks that "Christian" historians havebeen embarassed by the fact that Ireland was traditionallyconquered, and held by the overtly pagan Tuatha daoine.Katherine Scherman represents this point of view:"Between the Fir Bolg and Milesian (invasions) somehistorians have inserted the invasion of the wholly mythicalTuatha De Danann, investing the old Celtic gods with human
form and slotting them neatly into synchronized (andpresumably legitimate) history. Besides their conquest ofIreland and the magic-ridden battles this gives rise to, theDe Danann participated in a series of romantic and heroicadventures in which there was no dividing line between thesupernatural and the erathly, and in which unrealityapproaches the absurd."2
Rolleston explains that such a race could not beconsidered as progenitors of Christian Ireland: "They had tobe got rid of, and a race of less embarassing antecedentssubstituted for them. So the Milesians were fetched (again)from "Spain" (our italics) and endowed with the maincharacteristics, only more humanized, of the people ofDana."3 The sons of Miled were considered as "an entirelyhuman race" yet their origin was as problematical as that ofthe Tutha daoine. They were led by King Miled, or Milus(confering with the Gaelic "milidh", a champion), who isrepresented as a god in inscriptions from ancient Hungary.There he is said to be the son of Bile (the Gaelic "bil" or"bile", the lips of the mouth, a good politician) and Bile isidentified as the god of Death. His counterpart in Gaul(France) was Dis, corresponding with the Anglo-Saxon Teus,whose name appears in Tuesday. The Romans identified Disas Dispater (the Father Dis) and Julius Caesar said this wasthe god from whom all Gauls claimed descent. His name isembodied in a number of compound words which suggest hischaracter, viz. disturbance, disaster, disapproval, dislike.In some respects Nuada may be considered a death god, withLugh representing the life force, But Balor, the Lord of the"ord", or hammer, is more closely identified with chaos andthe Land of the Dead.
TUATHAL, TUAITHAEL , from tuath + seal (from deiseil,left-handed), left, northward, indicating misfortune; afterthe fay-people known as the Tuatha daoine, originally theword meant "good." A root may be su, turning toward theleft, following the left-handed path; wrong, awkward. "It isnot right to come to a house "tuathal", i.e. northward. Herethe word is used as the reverse of "deiseil" or sunward.
Witches come that way. It is a good rule to keep on thewest side of the road, and at all times to keep sunward ofunlucky people." In taking a drink when the liquid goestuathal this indicates that it enters the windpipe causingchoking, (Celtic Monthly, p. 163). See above entries forassociated words.
TUATHAL TEACHTMHAIR. Tuathal the “Legitimate,” HighKing from 130 to 160 A,D, The father of Fithair and Dairine,married to the bigamous Eochaid of Leinster. Theirpredicament led finally to the infamous Boru Tribute.Tuathal was a Connaughtman and during a rebellion hismother fled to Britain where he was born. Returning toIreland he rose through the ranks to high-kingship andcreated the new province of Meath, which became thepersonal estate of the high-kings. Present day Meath andWestmeath together make up about half of the former landsof ancient Meath. The name has been suggested as derivedfrom the earlier Teuto-valos, “Ruler of the People.” Theconquests of this king have been equated with those of MugNuadat who established rule over southern Ireland, and washimself connected with the earlier god Nuada. In each casethe king was of divine origin, an eponymous deity of thedistrict he conquered. Rice says that Tuathal is ”one of thelegendary Goidelic conquerors of Ireland.” She suggests thathe “bears a name which is from the earlier Teuto-valos, the“Ruler of the People.” The god Teus or Teutates was betterknown in Gaul than in Britain leading to the theory that hemay be equated with the Romano-Gaullish Mars Toutates.There is an inscription on Roman artifacts from Old Carlisleequating this god with the semi-Brythonic Cocidius. All thissuggests that he is “one of the oldest and most powerfulCeltic deities,” who may have arisen on the Continent. He isconsidered “the god of soldiers,” and was particularlyknown in the northwest of Britain. “that he may have hadother names must not be overlooked... so Vitris andBelatucadros may have been other names for this tribal god,especially as dedications to these three deities largelycoincide (geographically).” He more certainly matches the
Gaelic ‘Ues or Hues, who was also entitled Hu.
TUATHANACH, farmer, rustic, peasant, husbandman,agriculturalist, layman; tuathanacas, farming, tuath, thecommon-folk, tuathlach, unlucky, left-handed. The Firbolgancestors of the Scots lived at Tara, in ancient Hibernia, aplace with associations that gave its kings prestige.MacManus says this is location on the River Boyne is whereone finds, "the great mounds that had been the burialchambers and temples for a Bronze Age People." Inparticular he has noted the Brugh na Angus, or Dwelling-place of the god Angus, patron of youth and free-love. He hassaid that the early kings of Tara "were representatives ofthe divinity that brought about agricultural increase (likeOdin and Aod), and their proper office was the performanceof rites that promoted fertility. The divine folk lived in theBrugh. From it came the brides for the king's ritualmarriages..."
TUATH GAOTH. The North Wind, often regarded as a deity.
TUATHLACH, ominous, unlucky, awkward, left-handed.Tuathach, a northern Highlander (and many were left-handed).
TUATHROINN, Norway.
TUGHA, thatch, covering, Ir. tuighe, EIr. tuga, to cover. Seetigh, tuatha. Although there are now few remains of shrinesto tribal gods there are a few remains which suggest thatthey were built to house idols and were placed amidstgroves of trees, near wells, sacred springs or the deathmounds of god-heroes. Traces of wickerwork were found atBallachulish, Argyllshire, Scotland. Popular traditionsuggests that these framing members were thatched. Thebiennial thatching and un-thatching of shrines continueduntil the present century. If a woman dropped her load ofroofing material this was considered unlucky and all thathad been done was torn down so that the shrine could be
rebuilt from scratch. In an early Irish tale feathers servedfor thatch and the shrine was described as an entrance tothe Otherworld.
TUIGIN, TUGEN, tuig, to understand, the English gusto. Thepoetic laurels, the poet's many-coloured mantle made of theskins and wings of birds. This material was used as birdswere observed to be masters of cadence; thus it wassupposed that men gained the power to sing like birds. “Mogruith’s skin of the bull was brought to him and also hisenchennach (bird-dress) with it’s flying-wings. Then herose up, in company with the fire of the earth and flew intothe air and the heavens.”
TUIL, a flood, OIr. tuile, from the root tu, to swell, Eng.thumb, tumid etc. OIr. ool, to abound, to flood, all, ale, EIr.oll, great, thus tuille, more, t + oln, “much more.”
TUIL, AN, the World-Flood. The Cin na Drom-Snechta whichno longer exists, but is quoted in the Book of Balleymote,tells us that Hibernia, or Ireland, was approached byintending colonists just prior to the great World Flood.
The leader of the expedition was a remarkable womanwhose maiden name is given as h’Erni , and this is perhapsthe source of Eriu, the early Irish name for Ireland. Hermarried name seems to have been Banbha Cass-ir , orCesair often translated as the “Lady Caesar.” She was thedaughter of Bith, who is sometimes described as “a son ofNodha.” It is said that Bith, Finntan and Ladra built an idolin the form of a standing stone. This structure spoke tothem warning them that the land of their birth would besubmerged by a deluge and strongly suggested that theyconstruct a ship and sail away if they hoped to escape theirfate. The cromlech was unable to say exactly whencatastrophe might fall upon them so they sailed into theocean as soon as they could gather an expedition.
The planning may have been a little too hurried for itis noted that “Bith’s venturesome daughter” left land with
“fifty fair damsels to solace her warriors three.” Ladhraserved as pilot to the ship which spent seven years on theopen sea before arriving in Ireland. Cassir’s chief advisorwas another lady named Barran, whose name is sometimesgiven as Barrfhind, the “leader of the white-ones(women).” Once landed, the expedition broke into threecamps each “serviced” by one of the three younger men.Ladra was at first hurt by an unequal division which lefthim with only seventeen “soul-mates,” but these provedmore than equal to his sexuality and he was soon reported“dead from a surfeit of women,” the first man so recordedin Irish history. The amazonian leader attached herself toFinntann but a ballad-sheet (1913) tells us that thesepeople were ill-fated:
Bith died at the foot of his mountain,And Ladra on the top of his height;And Cassir by Boyle’s limpid fountain,Ere rushed down the Flood in its might.
The spirit of the drowned men passed into themountains that now bear their name, but that of Cassir,being most potent, became the astral-genius for the entireisland. In later mythology Banbha, literally, the “fat pig,”is a name given to the land to suggest its productivity. Theuncapitalized Gaelic word also cites “land left fallow for ayear.” Note also that this “goddess” was, from time-to-time, reincarnate as one or more of a triune, the other twobeing Folta and Éiru. With her sisters this queen ofsovereignty met the Milesian invaders of Ireland and eachasked that her name be attached to the country, Each namehas been used in Irish literature but it is Éiru that wasfinally adopted as the political name. Finntann was notcaught by the flood waters. A cautious man, he secretlyconstructed and provisioned a tul-tunna or “flood-barrel”which he anchored at the crest of the Irish mountain whichstill bears that name. When he saw the waters closingabout him this “gentleman” quietly stole away from his“wife” and...
For a year, while the waters encumberThe Earth, at Tul-tunna of strength,I slept, none enjoyed such sweet slumberAs that which I woke from at length.
In an alternate myth, Finntann shape-changed himselfinto s salmon and so remained until the skies cleared.However he managed survival, duplicity had its rewards, andFinntann, the grandson of Nodha, having escaped his fate,lived afterward, as a virtual immortal, at Dun Tulcha , insouthwestern Kerry. He lived for a very long time, oncecommenting that he had passed one day through the woodsof west Munster and brought home the red berry from a yewtree. He planted it and saw it grow to a size which allowed“a hundred champions to recline beneath its foliage.” Whenit died he had seven huge vats made from its wood. Whenthe hoops of the vats decayed from old age he made otherobjects from the wood, until all was finally reduced to asingle wooden cup. At that, he outlived the cup which fellinto dust while he continued in ruddy good health.
Thousands of years later, Fintann was called to courtby Diarmuid mac Carroll to solve a question of the limits ofthe Royal properties. When he travelled he brought with himnine companies of direct descendants, and nine additionalcompanies of his close kin. Incidentally the name Finn-tanntranslates as “the slender white one,” and this may bedescriptive of his condition on emerging from his long sleepat sea.
Because these people were spoken of as thedescendants of Nodha, the writers of the Christian eraassumed that they were the “sons of the Biblical “Noah.”These seemed to be reinforced by the myth that they cameto Ireland from a land named Tir-nan-Bas, which they tookto mean “the Land of Basques,” more-or-less equated withmodern Spain. It was, therefore, supposed that the folk ofthe patriarch named Bith or Ith must have sailed out of theEastern Ocean, now known as the Mediterranean Sea. Nodhais, of course, a form of Nuada (pronounced nood-a), the
twin-brother of the creator god Lugh (pronounced look-a)and has no connections with Christian mythology. Bas is theGaelic word for “death,” so their origin was in “The Land ofthe Dead, ” which traditionally lay on an “island”somewhere in the Atlantic.
This interpretation makes their seven year journey toIreland more plausible than a cruise along the length ofMediterranean. The Bas-breton, or Basques, probablyreceived their names from their war-like habits, as well asfrom the fact that they claimed decent from the “Lords ofDeath.” The place where Fintann’s folk settled wasultimately named Munster and, as we have said, it was aprovince in the south. The name is an englished form of theGaelic Muhan with the Old Norse ster ending. Earlier formswere Mumu and Muma. The Munster kings only grudginglyadmitted to kinship with other people and only recognizedthe high-kingship at Tara in the ninth century A.D. Munsterwas itself divided into five principalities, reflecting theancient political divisions of the entire countryside. Laterit had two major divisions. There are several things thatseparate Munster from all other places in Britain. First, ithad a proud association with the Bas-finn, or Bafinn, thetriune goddess of fate, who the Norse called the Val-kyra,or the Nornr. Second , they had off their shores an islandnamed Tech Duinn, the staging ground of the dead, where allthe shades of the dead supposedly gathered before beingshipped out to the Otherword in the west. Finally, theruling house of Munster was Taigh Domh. “The House ofDon,” or “Doom.” In the ancient tales it is always Munsterthat is represented as the primal world or place of origins.
Because it had this reputation every invader tried tolegitimize his landing by sending some part of his fleet tothese shores. Although the northerners said otherwise, thekings of Munster always traced their descent from Lugaidson of Ith a mariner who is said to have sailed to Irelandeastward out of the Atlantic Ocean.
TUINNEASACH, deathful, based on tuinneamh, death, cf.tuinnidh, firm, hard, immovable, fixed in place.
TUIREADH, a dirge, a lamentation in song and verse, Ir.tuireamh, dirge, a druid, the clergy. The root is tuirse,sadness. ON. god Thor.
TUIREANN, “Tower of Angles.” This god, usually identifiedas the son of Ogma and Etain, had children by the goddessBridd: viz. Brian, Iuchar and Iucharbha. His Clann Tuireann isclearly identified as some foreign brood, for their veryname says, “people of Thor.” These are the out-dwellerswho occupied Eilean Tuir, or Thor’s Island, which is TorryIsland, northwest of Ireland. As this was the main Irishredoubt of the bloodthirsty Fomorians they may equate withearly Norse pirates. Note also Turdulian or Turdentalian, aresident of the old region of Tartessos in southern Spain.This Celt-iberian area was said to be located about theBaetis River immediately northwest of the Straits ofGibraltar. These people were reputed to live beyond thecentury mark and to be so wealthy they “used silver feedingtroughs and wine jars.” They may have been done in by theCarthaginians or by some natural disaster.
In any event, the trading city of Tartessos disappearedunder circumstances reminiscent of Atlantis. His Irishoffspring, represented in the Clan Tuireann, was at oddswith Clan Cian. In the tale of which we speak, Lugh, the godof the sun, is represented as the son of Cian Contje (theHandy One). At that time in Irish history, Lugh had justfinished off his training under his foster-father Manan macLer, and had returned from the western Land of the Livingwith the Boat of Manan, which could travel anywhere on landor sea, following the helmsman’s thoughts, and the magicalsword Fragarach, which could cut through any mail. Feelingwell-equipped to face the Fomorians he appeared before the
Tuatha daoine as “the rising of a sun on a summer’s day.”At the next tribute-paying time, under Lugh’s leadership,the Tuatahans attacked the tax-gatherers and sent theirheads back to the sea kingdom. Balor of the Evil Eye thenmade ready his fleets, instructing his captains to make fastto the island with cables, so that it could be towed into thefar north as soon as the Irish were defeated. Lugh was by nomeans certain that he could prevail and lusted after“certain magical instruments,” which he knew could helphis cause.
Nevertheless, the story says that Lugh sent his fatherCian into the northern lands to summon what allied might befound. On his way into Ulster, near Dundalk, he met thethree brothers Brian, Iuchar and Iucharba, the children ofTuireann. Knowing there was some antagonism with thisclan, Cian sensibly converted himself into a pig and joined awild herd rooting on the plain. The brothers, however,recognized the father of Luigh, and Brian wounded him witha cast of his spear. At that Cian changed back into humanform. Brian was pleased, saying, “I would liefer kill a manthan a pig,” But the mortally wounded god smiled in returnnoting: “Better for you if you had slain a pig, for thatrequires no payment of blood-money, and now you must paythe eric demanded for the death of a man. Never shallgreater eric be demanded than that you will be asked to payby the avenger of my blood.” Thus the start of the life anddeath cycle among men. Hoping to avoid the charge that theyhad killed the god-giant with weapons, Brian and his kinstoned Cian to death.
Shortly after Lugh passed across the plain where hisfather lay dead, and the death-head cried out demandingrevenge. Lugh raised a cairn above the body and then wentto the High King demanding justice. The king agreed thatLugh could have the three executed or demand an eric as hepleased, and Lugh chose the latter, asking the sons of Thorto bring back from distant lands seemingly commonobjects: three apples from the Orient; the healing pig-skinof King Tuis (the god Tyr); the spear of King Piscar; the
horses of King Dobhar; the magic pigs ofKing Easal of theGolden Pillars (Gibraltar); the whelp of the king of Ioruaidh(the Red Island); and the cooking spit of three women fromFianchuibhe. Finally the three were to give three victoryshouts from the Hill of Miodchaoin in their own country.
The brothers bound themselves by oath to make thisrestitution in order to clear themselves of guilt and avoidthe penalty promised by Cian. With infinite daring the threeadventurers went to the Mediterranean and eventually sailedback to their homeland with everything needed except thecooking-spit. It gradually became apprent that Fianchuibhewas no normal island, but one beneath the western sea. Toget there Brian had to “borrow” one of the sea-helmets ofthe Daoine mara. Once equipped he was able to descend tothe land of “thrice fifty sea-women,” and there seized thegolden spit that rotated over the fires of the sea. Theordeal of the hill came last. Here the travellers encounteredthe property owner, the giant Miodchaoin, who they had tokil l .
Mortally wounded by him, they gave their cries ofvictory, but with these sounds surrendered their life-spirits to Bile, the death-god, the alter-ego of Lugh.Although dead, they returned to their father’s house wherethe aged man-god pleaded for the loan of the rejuvenatingpig-skin (which represents the “pig-god” Cian) to restorethem. The implacable Lugh refused and all four of theseancient “gods” perished.
TUIRGEIS, “Thor’s magic.” In latter day viking attacks,the Norse had a great pirate-chief in Tuirgeis, who thoughtof himself as the restorer of paganism, and potential lord ofthe Irish. He came to the region with 120 warships, and tento twelve thousand warriors. To help deface Christianity hetook possession of Armagh, which had become SaintPatrick’s See, and converted his church into a pagan temple,making himself the high priest of the reinstated worship ofOdin and the Aesir. He further enraged the locals by makinghis wife Otta, the enthroned “goddess” of the church at
Clommacnois, the second most holy site in ChristianIreland. The foreigners who resided in Ireland regardedTuirgeis as their sovereign although he was hardly a king ofthe Irish. His ablest Irish opponent was Niall the provincialking of Ulster. About the year 845, he was taken prisonerby the king of Meath, and afterward accidently (orotherwise) drowned in Lake Owel. After his death theNorsemen fought their way out of Ireland eventually exitingin their longships from the old Fomorian campgrounds atSligo. After this the Danes became a force in the North Sea,and in the words of the annalist (847 A.D.), these people andthe Old Norse “disturbed Ireland between them.”
TULACH, a hillock, from tu, to swell, Lat. tumor, tuber, aswelling, Eng. thumb, a “swollen” finger.
TULACH BEALLTUINN, the Beltane Hill. The seats of festivaland fire in Scotland are well known, the best publicizedbeing Arthur’s Seat near Edinburgh, Kinnoul Hill, Perth;Tulleybelton, the Tulach Beltane proper also in Perth. Thereis Tinto near Lanark. Iona and Balquidder have such hills asdoes Killin. There is Belling in Jed Water and Bellscairnbetween Gala and Leader. Needslaw is on tableland betweenTeviotdale and Liddesdale, while Tarbolton is situated inAyrshire.
TUR, a tower, anciently The Earth, sense, understanding,intelligence, sagacity, genius, Ir. tur, a turret, MEng. tour,the Lat. turris. the symbol of many of the northern clans inScotland. The god the Scandinavians called Tyr who likelycorresponds with the Gaelic Torr or Thor.
As we have noted the Island of Samme lies east ofJutland, and may have been named for its location. On theother hand it may have housed shamans, for the infamousTeutonic Sword of Tyr has a connection with the place. Tyr,or Tue, has his name preserved in the English day known asTuesday, and was the northern god of war, one whosepersonality is embedded in our word tyranny. Tyr is thoughtto have been omnipotent in the remote past, his throne
taken first by Thor, then by Odin, Niord and Frey. He was thegod of all left-handed men, having lost his right arm whilehelping to chain the Fenris wolf within Hel's kingdom ofNifhelheim.
Tyr's sword, entitled Tyrfing, or Tyr's finger,
supposedly fell into his hand from the sky. This is probablya loose interpretation of actual events, since men areknown to have fashioned weapons from meteoric iron. Someclaim a dwarf was strong-armed into forging this weaponwhich never rusted, cut through iron and stone, fought of itsown accord, and could not be sheathed until it tasted blood.The maker was the first victim of this sword, but beforehis death he declared that it would become "the bane ofmen". Tyr bore the weapon until his death, and knowing itsdangers, had it buried with him on the island of Samme.Unfortunately it was recovered from his sepulchre by LadyHervor a descendent of the "god" Odin. After several"unfortunate" incidents, Tirfing came into the possession ofHerdreker, who unsheathed it without cause on threeoccasions, and watched in horror as the weapon guided hishand in cutting down his brother, King Harold of the Danesand his own foster son. The interesting point here is thatthe sword-bearer was "murdered by Scottish slaves whocarried off Tirfing (presumably to their own country)." Itwas later returned to continental Europe where it wasincorporated into an altar dedicated to Tyr. Here it wasguarded by the female prophetesses known as the Norn, andwas hung so that the blade reflected the first rays of themorning sun.
During the Roman conquest of Germany and Denmark,the sword was taken by Roman soldiers who made a gift ofit to the prefect Vitellus, who was elected Emperor of Romeon the weight of myth that surrounded the weapon. Theweapon was stolen from him by a German mercenary whoused it to kill Vitellus and win distinction for his legion.Afterwards it was possessed by Attila the Hun, whowielded it with terrible effectiveness. The Burgundianprincess Ildico slew Attila using Tirfing while he lay
intoxicated in his bed. After that the magical sworddisappeared for a long time, but was recovered by the Dukeof Alva, who used it to advance the military interests ofCharles V at Muuhlberg in 1547. The Franks afterwardscelebrated annual martial gameswith the sword as a symbol of their paganism. but whenthey accepted Christianity it was given for safe-keeping tothe archangel known as Saint Michael, who supposedlycarries it to this day.
Tyr was not the only "sword-god", Frey, the god of thesun, had a similar weapon which fought of its own accord,as did Irmin, the god of winter, and the Teutonic god knownvariously as Er, Heru or Cheru. Frey was sometimesreferred to as Ingvi-Frey, or English Frey. This ancestor ofthe Anglo-Saxon tribesman, who took a large part ofBritannia from the Celts, was said to be closely related totheir god Saxnot (from "sax", a sword) and identical withTyr. As Frey possessed a sister-consort called Freya,Saxnot had a sister-goddess entitled Irena Saxa, literallythe Iron Sword.
The Celtic sword-god was Nuada, the king of theHibernian (Irish) race of warrior-magicians known as theTuatha daoine (pronounced tootha dannan). It is conceivablethat he may have carried Tyrfing home to the British Isles,for it is said that, "the Tuatha De Danaan lived in thenorthern isles of the world learning lore and magic anddruidism and wizardry and cunning until they surpassed thesages of the arts of heathendom. There were four cities inwhich they learned lore and science and diabolic arts, towit, Falias and Gorias, Murias and Findias. Out of Findiaswas brought the Stone of fal, which was in Tara...Out ofGorias the Spear that Lugh had...Out of Findias came theSword of Nuada. When it was drawn from its deadly sheathno one ever escaped from it, and it was irresistible. Out ofMurias was brought Dagda's Cauldron. No company ever wentaway from it unthankful (it supplied endless quantities ofporridge and ale).
Nuada was very like Tyr having lost the use of hissword hand when it was struck off in battle by the giant-warrior Sreng. This left-handed god was deposed from thekingship because "blemished" individuals were excluded bylaw. He was restored to power when the white-smithnamed Creidne fashioned an artificial hand for him. Thisarticulated device was constructed of silver and led toNuada's nickname, Nuada Airgead Lam, Nuada of the SilverHand.
Tyr was known as Ziu among the Saubians of Germany,and their capital was at Ziusburg, the current city ofAugsburg. This people venerating a sword-god held greatsword-dances in his honour: "Sometimes the participants,forming two long lines, crossed their swords, pointsupward, and challenged the boldest among their number totake a flying leap over them..." The sword-dances of theScots had similar intent.
Tyr or Irmin is, of course, the evil twin of the godOdin, a deity sometimes identified as Uller, or with Odin'stwin-brother's Vili and Ve. While the kings of the gods wason a long visit to earth, the winter-king, or kings, usurpedhis throne in Asgard and even took liberties with his wifeFrigga. When Odin returned, order was re-established in thechaotic kingdom, and the northern pagans equated thisvictory with the annual conquest of summer over winter.Until the last century, Sweden held grand processions,known as the May Ride, in which a flower-decked May King(Odin) pelted a fur-enveloped Winter King (Uller) until thelatter was put to flight. The first day of May is, of course,the Celtic Beltane, a time still marked in a few places byMaypole dances and the appearance of Odinesque figuressuch as Green George, Jack-In-The-Green, the May King, aswell as Friggan "disguisers", for example the May Queen andMaid Marion. The return of the parsimonious winter-god isas certain as his annual defeat, and Uller invariably regainsfull control of both heaven and earth at the time the Celtscalled Samhuin.
In passing, note that the Anglo-Saxon god Uller wasalso known as Vulder, which corresponds with the GermanHoller, a god who was the husband of the goddess Holda, whoowned the fields of earth, and covered them with thicksnows so that they would yield better crops with thecoming of spring. She corresponds with the Scandinaviangiantess Skadi, the former wife of Niord (north), and theperfect mate for Uller, since she personified the cold ofwinter.
The winter-death-war-sword gods were all alter egosof Odin, Woden or Wuotan. Further, Odin was a mortal-god,supposedly reincarnated in several semi-historical kings ofthe north. According to one legend he led his people out ofAsia Minor in 70 B.C. when his country was severely pressedby the Romans. As he migrated westward across Europe heinadvertently conquered Russia, Germany, Denmark, Norwayand Sweden leaving a trail of progeny, and a son on thethrone of each new-found country. Arriving in Denmark heestablished his capital city of Odensoe (Odin's Island),which persists. He was more or less "welcomed" to Swedenby King Gylfi, who allowed him to found the city calledSigtuna. He established his major temple there, and wasworshipped as a god well into his old age. In his infirmity,he assembled his followers and cutting his chest in nineplaces, committed ritual suicide, which allowed him todepart the earth and return to his native land, Asgard,where he promised to await the coming of true believers inhis god-hood.
This tale is very close to that of the Celtic god-heroHu Gardarn (Hugh the Mighty). This Cymric deity came froma place the Welsh referred to as Gwlad yr Haf, or summercountry, "a certain region of the east, perhaps Crimea."According to George Borrow, Hu had to leave the Near Eastbecause of overpopulation and the possibility of widespreadfamine. After leading his race across many lands, thisCeltic god brought them at last to the islands of Britain, "acountry of forests in which bears, wolves and bisonswandered, and of morasses and pools full of dreadful efync
or crocodiles (not an impossibility since the climate wasmuch warmer at the Thermal Maximum, 6,000 years in thepast)..." Hu found that the land was inhabited by "a fewsavage Gauls" (the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languagegroup, also known as Britons). He subdued them and quicklybegan real-estate development: "...shortly after the arrivalof Hu and his people the land became a smiling region,forests being thinned, bears and wolves hunted down, efyncannihilated, bulls and bisons tamed, corn planted andpleasant cottages erected. After his death he wasworshipped as the God of agriculture and war by the Cumryand the Gauls. The Germans paid him divine honours underthe name of Heus, from which name the province of Hesse,in which there was a mighty temple devoted to him... TheScandinavians worshipped him under the name of Odin andGautr, the latter word a modification of Gardarn, or mighty.The wild Finns feared him as a wizard and honoured him as amusician under the name Wainoemoinen...Till a late periodthe word Hu amongst the Cumry (Welsh) was used to expressGod- Gwr Hu, God knows being a common saying. Many Welshpoets have called the creator by the name of this creature,amongst others Iolo Goch:
The mighty Hu who lives for ever,Of mead and wine to men the giver,The emperor of land and sea,And of all things that living be,Did hold a plough with his good hand,Soon as the Deluge left the land,To show to men both strong and weak,The haughty-hearted and the meek,Of all the arts, the heaven belowThe noblest is to guide the plough.
Our writer has said that Hu Gardarn reminded him ofthe Arabian creator-god Al Kader Hu, but George Borrow wasof Anglo-Saxon heritage, and Gaels are more likely to thinkof their ancient "fire-god" Aod, Cei or Kay. Linguistically,Aod and Hu are exact counterparts, variants within theCeltic tongue. The ancient word "aod" is identified with
fire, perhaps because the chief magic of the northern godswas their ability to produce swords such as the Tirfing. HuGardarn is credited with teaching the native Celts thevarious "arts of civilized life" including house construction,the sowing and reaping of grains, the taming of animals, theconstruction of wicker and hide boats, bee-keeping, wine-making, swamp-drainage, the making of lutes and pipes, andwith introducing them to rhyme and verse, but he waselevated to godhood for possessing the knowledge needed tofuse metals. This allowed him to create tools foragriculture and weapons of war, which combined with hisabilities at "moving armies in masses", made him anunbeatable opponent.
Hu was a proper name taken up by many Welshmen as atestimonial to the old pagan god. As a surname it waswritten as Huon, a word used elsewhere when the Cymric-speakers referred to the sun. Aod has similar variations,thus men were once given names such as Aod Mac Aoid, theequivalent of Hu ap Huon, either of which can be translatedinto English as Hugh Machugh or Hugh Hughsson. The WelshHu has a close counterpart in the Anglo-Norman (Old French)Hue, which is the nominative case of Huon. The modernFrench equivalent is Hugues and the German, Hugo. Themodern Italian form is Ugo, derived from the Latin Odo.
The name Aod has been described by R.R. MacIan as one"so peculiarly Celtic as to have greatly puzzledorthographers, who anciently were accustomed to use theletter Y as best indicating the sound." The issue ofpronunciation has never been resolved, which explains thegreat variety of "englished" spellings for Mhac Aoid orMacAoidh: Maccaa, Maccaw, Maccay, Macgaaa, Macgaw,Macgee, Macghee, Mackee, Mackie, Macque, Macquey,Macquoid, and of course, the most usual form Mackay.
There is no question that the original Aod was a"druidh", or magician, one of the ancient "samans". When theworld was new, men supposed that the creator-god was adisinterested party, who had set the spheres in motion, and
then gone on his way. They occasionally attempted to getthe attention of this Oolaithir, or Allfather, through acts ofsimple magic, for example, shooting flaming arrows intothe sky to gain an extra ration of heat and light from thesun. Again, they might flap a wet rag in the air hoping togenerate a larger storm, or perform some other sympatheticact, but usually with indifferent results. It was observedthat the king of the universe was fickle, rationing the sunaccording to his own timetable, and delivering up storms ofwater and wind according to unpredictable whims.
TURADH, dry weather, food without condiment, related totir, dry land. See various entries under Tir.
TURLACH, an extensive fire, a round lump, a squat person,see torr. Turlock, a lake that dries in the summer season.
TURRABAN, TURRAMAN, the rocking of the body followingsome metaphysical internal rhythm, nodding, grief. Thusturra-chadal, a “nodding sleep,” drowsiness at the point ofslumber.
TURRAG, an accident, turradh, surprise, being takenunawares,
TURRAM, a soft sound, a murmur, cf. toirm, torrunn.
TURUS-CUAIN, ocean voyage. One of the chief forms of oldGaelic literature.
TUS. the beginning of space and time. Tus-gag, the BeginningGap.
