|
Nemain
In Irish mythology, Neman or Nemain (Modern Irish: Neamhan, Neamhain) is the spirit-woman or goddess who personifies the frenzied havoc of war. In the ancient texts where The Morrígan appears as a trio of goddesses — the three sisters who make up the ''Morrígna'' — include Macha and Badb; Nemain is strongly associated with Badb with whom she shares a husband, Neit. Nemain may be an aspect of Badb. Representation in literature In the grand Irish epic of the Tain Bo Cuailnge, Neman confounds armies, so that friendly bands fall in mutual slaughter. When the forces of Queen Medb arrive at Magh-Tregham, in the present county of Longford, on the way to Cuailnge, Nemain appears amongst them: “Then the Neman attacked them, and that was not the most comfortable night with them, from the uproar of the giant Dubtach through his sleep. The bands were immediately startled, and the army confounded, until Medb went to check the confusion.” Lebor na hUidhre, fol. 46, b1. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Morrígan
The Morrígan or Mórrígan, also known as Morrígu, is a figure from Irish mythology. The name is Mór-ríoghan in modern Irish before the spelling reform, and it has been translated as "great queen" or "phantom queen". The Morrígan is mainly associated with war and fate, especially with foretelling doom, death, or victory in battle. In this role she often appears as a crow, the '' badb''. She incites warriors to battle and can help bring about victory over their enemies. The Morrígan encourages warriors to do brave deeds, strikes fear into their enemies, and is portrayed washing the bloodstained clothes of those fated to die. She is most frequently seen as a goddess of battle and war and has also been seen as a manifestation of the earth- and sovereignty-goddess,Koch, John T. ''Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia''. ABC-CLIO, 2006. p.1622 chiefly representing the goddess's role as guardian of the territory and its people. The Morrígan is often described as a trio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neit
In Irish mythology Neit (Néit, Nét, Neith) was a god of war. He was the husband of Nemain and/or Fea, and sometimes of Badb. Also grandfather of Balor, he was killed at the legendary Second Battle of Moytura. Etymology The name probably derives from the proto-Celtic *''nei-t-'' meaning fighting or passion. A similarly named deity appears on two Celtiberian inscriptions, as a Romanized '' Mars Neto'' and as ''Neito''. Legacy Neit is described as the uncle of the Dagda, who gave him ''Ailech Neit'' (Neit's Stonehouse), which is elsewhere described as the grave of Ahd, son of the Dagda. ''Ailech Imchell,'' described as the "bright home of horses" and an envied stronghold, is another place where Aed is said to be buried and which is said to be in the "precinct where dwelt Nemain and Neit." Neit is described as "dangerous" and "son of Indui, king of the north country, lord of horse breeding peoples." Neit's sons include Delbáeth, the father of Elatha, and Esarg, the father ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elcmar
In Irish mythology, Elcmar or Ecmar (modern spelling: Ealcmhar) is the husband of Boann and belongs to the divine Tuatha Dé Danann. It has been suggested that he is Nuada under another name, and he is sometimes confused with Nechtan, Boann's usual husband. At first glance he appears to be associated with horses but there is also a school of thought that says his name means The Evil One. In the Dindsenchas, he is called "lord of horses" and is described as a judge. Elcmar is described as having a fork of white hazel, a gold brooch, and a cloak. Chief steward According to the Yellow Book of Lecan, Elcmar served as chief steward for Dagda, one of the most important and powerful of the Danann. His wife was Boann, goddess of the River Boyne, who developed a great passion for the Dagda. To consummate this union, Dagda sent Elcmar to High King Bres on an errand around the time of Imbolc. Boann, like her Greek counterpart Alcmene In Greek mythology, Alcmene ( ; ) or Alcmena ( ; ; ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Celtic Goddesses
The gods and goddesses of the pre-Christian Celtic peoples are known from a variety of sources, including ancient places of worship, statues, engravings, cult objects, and place or personal names. The ancient Celts appear to have had a pantheon of deities comparable to others in Indo-European religion, each linked to aspects of life and the natural world. By a process of syncretism, after the Roman conquest of Celtic areas, most of these became associated with their Roman equivalents, and their worship continued until Christianization. Epona was an exception and retained without association with any Roman deity. Pre-Roman Celtic art produced few images of deities, and these are hard to identify, lacking inscriptions, but in the post-conquest period many more images were made, some with inscriptions naming the deity. Most of the specific information we have therefore comes from Latin writers and the archaeology of the post-conquest period. More tentatively, links can be made b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Genitive
In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can also serve purposes indicating other relationships. For example, some verbs may feature arguments in the genitive case; and the genitive case may also have adverbial uses (see adverbial genitive). The genitive construction includes the genitive case, but is a broader category. Placing a modifying noun in the genitive case is one way of indicating that it is related to a head noun, in a genitive construction. However, there are other ways to indicate a genitive construction. For example, many Afroasiatic languages place the head noun (rather than the modifying noun) in the construct state. Possessive grammatical constructions, including the possessive case, may be regarded as subsets of the genitive construction. For example, the geni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ogma
Ogma () is a god from Irish mythology, Irish and Scottish mythology. A member of the Tuatha Dé Danann, he is often considered a deity and may be related to the Gauls, Gallic god Ogmios. According to the In Lebor Ogaim, Ogam Tract, he is the inventor of Ogham, the script in which Irish Gaelic was first written. Name and Epithets Etymology The name Ogma is believed to originate from the Proto-Indo-European root ''*ak-'' or ''*ag-'' meaning "to cut," which refers to the method in which ogham was incised into stone and wood. In Ogham, his name would be written . Epithets Ogma is given three epithets in Irish Gaelic tradition: ''Grianainech'' “sun-faced” or “shining, radiant countenance” on p. 303 of the ''Táin Bó Cúailnge'' (The Cattle Raid of Cooley) and p.187 of Lebor Gabála Érenn (Book of Invasions); ''Trenfher'' “Strongman” or “Champion” in sections 59 and 162 of the Do Cath Mag Tuired (Second Battle of Moytura); and ''Griain-éigis'' “Shining s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Proto-Celtic
Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, is the hypothetical ancestral proto-language of all known Celtic languages, and a descendant of Proto-Indo-European. It is not attested in writing but has been partly Linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed through the comparative method. Proto-Celtic is generally thought to have been spoken between 1300 and 800 BC, after which it began to split into different languages. Proto-Celtic is often associated with the Urnfield culture and particularly with the Hallstatt culture. Celtic languages share common features with Italic languages that are not found in other branches of Indo-European, suggesting the possibility of an earlier Italo-Celtic linguistic unity. Proto-Celtic is currently being reconstructed through the comparative method by relying on later Celtic languages. Though Continental Celtic presents much substantiation for Proto-Celtic phonology, and some for its morphology (linguistics), morphology, recorded material is too scanty to allow ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theonym
A theonym (from Greek (), 'god', attached to (), ) is a proper name of a deity. Theonymy, the study of divine proper names, is a branch of onomastics, the study of the etymology, history, and use of proper names. Theonymy helps develop an understanding of the function and societal views of particular gods and may help understand the origins of a society's language. Analysis of theonyms has been useful in understanding the connections of Indo-European languages and possibly their religion. In all languages, the analysis of the possible etymological origin of a theonym can serve as basis for theories of its historical origin. Metaphysical and mystical meanings are also discerned in theonyms, as in Kabbalah. Theonyms can also appear as all or part of a name for a human, animal, plant, thing or place. See also * -onym * Theo * Theology * Thealogy, similar origin as above, but female instead * God (word) * Names of God * Nomenclature * Onomastics Onomastics (or onomatolog ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Proto-Indo-European Root
The roots of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) are basic parts of words to carry a lexical meaning, so-called morphemes. PIE roots usually have verbal meaning like "to eat" or "to run". Roots never occurred alone in the language. Complete inflected verbs, nouns, and adjectives were formed by adding further morphemes to a root and potentially changing the root's vowel in a process called ablaut. A root consists of a central vowel that is preceded and followed by at least one consonant each. A number of rules have been determined to specify which consonants can occur together, and in which order. The modern understanding of these rules is that the consonants with the highest sonority () are nearest to the vowel, and the ones with the lowest sonority such as plosives are furthest away. There are some exceptions to these rules such as thorn clusters. Sometimes new roots were created in PIE or its early descendants by various processes such as root extensions ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Proto-Indo-European Language
Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. No direct record of Proto-Indo-European exists; its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. Far more work has gone into reconstructing PIE than any other proto-language, and it is the best understood of all proto-languages of its age. The majority of linguistic work during the 19th century was devoted to the reconstruction of PIE and its daughter languages, and many of the modern techniques of linguistic reconstruction (such as the comparative method) were developed as a result. PIE is hypothesized to have been spoken as a single language from approximately 4500 BCE to 2500 BCE during the Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age, though estimates vary by more than a thousand years. According to the prevailing Kurgan hypothesis, the original homeland of the Proto-Indo-Europeans may have been in the Pon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old Irish
Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic (, Ogham, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ; ; or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic languages, Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive written texts. It was used from 600 to 900. The main contemporary texts are dated 700–850; by 900 the language had already transitioned into early Middle Irish. Some Old Irish texts date from the 10th century, although these are presumably copies of texts written at an earlier time. Old Irish is forebear to Modern Irish, Manx language, Manx and Scottish Gaelic. Old Irish is known for having a particularly complex system of morphology (linguistics), morphology and especially of allomorphy (more or less unpredictable variations in stems and suffixes in differing circumstances), as well as a complex phonology, sound system involving grammatically significant Irish initial mutations, consonant mutations to the initial consonant of a word. Apparently,It is difficult to know for sure, giv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
River Boyne
The River Boyne ( or ''Abhainn na Bóinne'') is a river in Leinster, Ireland, the course of which is about long. It rises at Trinity Well, Newberry Hall, near Carbury, County Kildare, and flows north-east through County Meath to reach the Irish Sea between Mornington, County Meath, and Baltray, County Louth. Names and etymology This river has been known since ancient times. The Greek geographer Ptolemy drew a map of Ireland in the 2nd century that included the Boyne, which he called (''Bouwinda'') or (''Boubinda''), which in Celtic means "white cow" (). During the High Middle Ages, Giraldus Cambrensis called it the ''Boandus''. In Irish mythology it is said that the river was created by the goddess Boann and Boyne is an anglicised form of the name. In other legends, it was in this river where Fionn mac Cumhail captured Fiontán, the Salmon of Knowledge. The Meath section of the Boyne was also known as ''Smior Fionn Feidhlimthe'' (the 'marrow of Fionn Feilim'). T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
