The figures beneath each entry give reference numbers for the Bibliography
Next Section
Prev Section
Table Of Contents
Conor mav Nessa's physician; his pronouncement (re) Conall's 'brain ball' by which Ket has wounded the king.
# 562
The city of Finias. See: DANA, and FINDIAS.
# 562
(finn mac coo'al) (FIONN MAC CUMHAL or FINN MAC COOL)
# 100: Finn, find (fen), or fionn (f-yoon) Means: White, beautiful, a fair-haired person. The last and greatest leader of the Fianna. He was the son of Cumhal (coo-al) Mac Baiscne, who had been head of the Fianna of Ireland and had been killed by the sons of Morna who were contending against him for the headship. Finn's mother was Muirne, granddaughter of Nuada of the Tuatha De Danann, and of Ethlinn, the mother of Lugh of the Long Hand, so he was godlike and fairy race. After Cumhal was killed, Finn's mother sent him away to the care of a female Druid, for the sons of Morna were looking for him to kill him too. There he was trained, strenuously and in secret, and sent from place to place for safety and further education. He was trained in poetry, and he aquired two magical skills; whilst he was in training to the poet Finegas he accidentally tasted the salmon of knowledge and gained his magic tooth, and he drank a mouthful of water of the well of the moon which gave him the power of prophecy. At last his training was complete, and he went up at the time of Samhain (sow-in) to the High King's palace at Teamhair (Tara). The High King recognized him by his likeness to his father, and putting the smooth horn into his hand, which gave him immunity from attack, he asked him who he was. Finn told him his whole story and asked to be admitted to the Fianna; and the king granted it to him, for he was the son of a man whom he had trusted. Now every year at Samhain for the past nine years the Hall of Teamhair had been burned down by a fairy musician called Aillen Mac Midhna, who played so sweet an air that no one who heard it could help falling asleep, and while they slept he loosed a burst of flame against the place so that it was consumed. That night the king asked the Fianna if any man among them would attempt the watch, and Finn offered to do so. While he was going the round an old follower of his father offered him a magic spear of bitterness, which smelt so sharply that it would keep any man awake. By the use of this spear, Finn killed Aillen and rescued the Hall for ever. He was made leader of the Fianna, and Goll Mac Morna, his chief and most bitter enemy, made willing submission to him, and was ever after his true follower and friend, though he still picked quarrels with all his kinsmen.
Many stories of his adventures were told, of his hounds and cousins, Bran and Sceolan, of the birth of his son Oisin, the poet and warrior, of his old age, and the last sad moment when he let the saving water trickle through his fingers, leaving Diarmuid (Dermot with the Love Spot) to die in revenge for his unwilling abduction of Grania, Finn's young queen.
# 562: Fothad slain in a battle with FmC; Dermot of the Love Spot a follower of FmC; Osianic Cycle clusters round FmC; Oisin, son of FmC; the coming of FmC, his Danaan ancestry, Murna of the White Neck his mother, Cumhal his father; Demna his original name, but account of the whiteness of his skin and his golden hair the name Finn (Fair One) was his hereafter; he slays Lia; taught poetry and science by Druid Finegas; eats of the Salmon of Knowledge; slays goblin at Slieve Fuad; made captain of the Fianna of Erin; makes a covenant with Conan; Dermot of the Love Spot, friend of FmC; He weds Grania; Oisin, son of FmC; Geena mac Luga, one of his men; teaches the maxims of the Fianna to mac Luga; Murna, his mother; His hounds, Bran and Skolawn (Sceolan); He weds Sadbh; she is taken from him by enchantment; Niam of the Golden Hair comes to him; experience in the enchanted cave; He is rescued by Goll; 'The chase of Slievegallion' and Finn mac Cumhal; 'The Masque of Finn mac Cumhal' by Standish O'Grady, the Hard Gilly (Gilla Dacar and FmC; bewails Oscar's death; in all Ossianic literature no complete narrative of death of Finn mac Cumhal; tradition says he lies in trance in an enchanted cave, like Kaiser Barbarossa.
# 454: Son of Cumhal and Muirne. He was fostered by a druidess, Bodhmall, and a woman-warrior, Liath Luachra, who taught him battleskills and the Arts. Calling himself Demne, he went to learn poetry of Finneces and obtained the thumb of knowledge; aquired by sucking his thumb when the salmon of knowledge was roasting for Finneces to consume. In following years, he had only to chew his thumb to have foreknowledge of events. His two hounds, Bran and Sceolan, were really his nephews in dog-form, because they had human knowledge they were wiser than all other dogs. He became head of the Fianna, fighting all the enemies of Ireland. He was father of Oisin by Sadbh. His attempt to marry Grainne failed because he was ageing and she eloped with Diarmuid. He pursued them both and brought about Diarmuid's death. He outlived his grandson Oscar and saw the slaughter of his Fianna at the Battle of Gabhra. He did not die but wasted away into the Otherworld where, like Arthur, he is said to sleep. He is credited with building the causeway between Ireland and Scotland, where he appears in many folk-stories as the ever-living and cunning hero. Mongan is said to be a later reincarnation of Fionn. His many adventures can be found in selective works.
# 100 - 166 - 267 - 454 - 467 - 504 - 562 - 583 - 654
A folktale version of the birth of Finn has a great deal in common with that of Lugh. It was prophesied that Cumhal mac Airt would be killed in the first battle he fought after he married, so he knew no woman for a long time. Eventually he secretly married the king's daughter, who was closely guarded from men because of a prophesy that her son would deprive the king of his kingdom. Before going to his fatal battle Cumhal told his mother that if a son were born she should hide him. A son was born and, at the king's command, he was thrown into the loch, but he came up holding a live salmon in his hand. His grandmother then disappeared with him and despite the king's orders that all male infants be killed she succeeded in rearing him in a chamber in a tree. When he was fifteen, the boy defeated the king's people at a game of hurley. Whereupon the king asked, 'Who is that Finn Cumhal (white cap)?' 'Finn will be his name, and Finn mac Cumhail he is,' exclaimed the grandmother. The king pursued them but succeeded only in slaying the grandmother.
# 270 - 548
This story gives the reasons for the long enmity between Finn and the sons of Urgriu, the tragic outcome of which is related in THE DEATH OF FINN. Stories of the boyhood of traditional characters, in Irish as well as in other heroic literature, are the natural result of the public demand for more material concerning favorite national heroes. THE BOYHOOD DEEDS OF FINN, unfortunately, comes down to us incomple-te. It contains a number of striking passages of nature poetry, done in the best bardic tradition of the second period (about 1200 to 1350), as yet unmarred by the exaggerated piling up of epithets that characterizes much later Irish poetry. The reader will notice some similarity between this story and THE BOYHOOD DEEDS OF CUCHULAIN. He will also observe that THE BOYHOOD DEEDS OF FINN differs in certain respects from the parallel account given in THE CAUSE OF THE BATTLE OF CNUCHA. The two represent two different streams of tradition, one older than the other.
# 166
(FINN MAC CUMHAL) No cycle of heroic tales in any country is regarded as complete with-out the story of the death of the central hero. All readers of epic literature recall the death of Beowulf, of Siegfried, and of Roland. In medieval Ireland the desire for harmony and system called into existence the death tales of not only the central heroes CuChulain and Finn, but also of other famous warriors and kings. The story of Finn's death no doubt belongs to an early and authentically Irish tradition. The date of composition of the piece in its present form has not been established, but it is comparatively late, probably of about the same period as THE COLLOQUY OF THE OLD MEN. The rhetoric is flamboyant and, at times, over-conventionalized, yet the narrative is direct, and proceeds inevitably to its conclusion without interruption. The final scene in which the fierce old warrior faces his lifelong enemies in his last battle is one of memorable tragic dignity. The story begins with a great boar-hunt held by Finn and his companions. During a pause in the activities there is told the story of the origin of Finn's magic horn, which bears a mysterious curse. Then the boar-hunt itself is resumed. Oscar kills a terrible boar that has long been feared by the people of Erin. Right there starts the selection brought by Cross and Slover in their ANCIENT IRISH TALES, but the actual death of Finn is not included, since the end of the story is lacking in the manuscript.
# 166
(Finn-AV-eer)
The arch-enemy of Donn Cuailgne. Finnbhenach had been through many incarnations, in many shapes, before he became a white bull. Together they were the cause of strife between Maeve and Ailill.
# 454
(Fin-ayk-us)
# 562: The Salmon of Knowledge, of which Finn eats.
# 454: Survivor of the Flood, father of Cessair. He hid in a cave in the form of a salmon. He passed through countless transformations, remembering all that had passed in Ireland. He appeared to later Irishmen who were disputing the ordering of Ireland and told them her entire history and the associations each place had had.
# 454 - 469 - 548 - 562
(fin'tan moc nâ'll) In 'The Intoxication of the Ulstermen,' the ruler over a third of Ulster along with CuChulain and Conchobar.
# 166
See: FINN.
(Fin-ah-hi)
(fee-un-oo'la) Daughter of Lir and step-daughter of Aoife; Aoife's transformation into swans of Fionuala and her brothers. See: CHILDREN OF LIR.
# 562
(fir vulag) See: FIRBOLGS.
The Nimble Men or Merry Dancers were the names given by Highlanders to the Aurora Borealis. In SCOTTISH FOLK LORE AND FOLK LIFE, by Mackenzie, gives a good account of the tradition about the Fir Chlis, distinguishing their 'everlasting battle' from the more hurtful activities of the Sluagh. He himself was told of the 'Nimble Men' engaging in fights between the clans of two chiefs, rivals for the possession of a fairy lady. The bright red sky sometimes seen beneath the moving lights of the aurora is sometimes called 'the pool of blood'. J. G. Campbell, in his SUPERSTITIONS OF THE HIGHLANDS, says that the blood of the wounded, falling to the earth and becoming congealed, forms the coloured stones called 'blood stones', known in the Hebrides also by the name of FUIL SIOCHAIRE 'fairy blood'. In Ireland, according to William Allingham's poem 'The Fairies', the spirits composing the aurora are more truly 'Merry Dancers', for the old fairy king is decribed as:
Going up with music on cold starry nights To feast with the Queen of the gay Northern Lights.According to Lewis Spence in THE FAIRY TRADITION, the Fir Chlis were supposed to be those fallen angels whose fall was arrested before they reached the earth. This Christian theory of the Origin of Fairies was particularly prevalent in the Highlands, for almost every Highlander was a theologian. The Suffolk name for the Northern Lights is Perry Dancers.
# 12 - 100 - 131 - 415 - 609
(fir yaraga) (FIR DARRIG) In his IRISH FAIRY AND FOLK TALES, Yeats says about the Fir Darrig:
The FAR DARRIG (fear dearg), which means the Red Man, for he wears a red cap and coat, busies himself with practical joking, especially with gruesome joking. This he does and nothing else.
The example he gives is 'The Far Darrig in Donegal', which is a version of 'The Story-Teller at a Loss', in which a man who fails to produce a story on request suffers a succession of macabre experiences which prove to be illusions designed to provide him with material for a story. The Far Darrig in this story is described as the big man, 'a gigantic fellow, the tallest of the four'. The Fear Dearg of Munster was, according to Crofton Croker, a little old man, about two and a half feet in height, wearing a scarlet sugar-loaf hat and a long scarlet coat, with long grey hair and a wrinkled face. He would come in and ask to warm himself by the fire. It was very unlucky to refuse him. The Cluricaune in his account was only six inches high, thus rather devaluated. There is, however, another Fir Darrig, a red-headed man, who occurs in stories of humans trapped in Fairyland. He is generally taken to be a human captive in Fairyland, and it is his advice and help which enables the human visitor to escape. Examples are to be found in Lady Wilde's ANCIENT LEGENDS OF IRELAND, VOL. I, 'Fairy Music' and 'Fairy Justice', and the same character occurs in many Scottish stories.
# 100 - 165 - 728 - 756
(fir fôl'ga) Probably the Manxmen.
# 166
# 562: (fir vulag) Nemedian survivors who return to Ireland; name signifies 'Men of the Bags'; the FirBolg, FirDomnan, and Galionin races generally designated as the Firbolgs; the Danaan's and the Firbolgs.
# 100: The first inhabitants of Ireland, according to ancient traditions, were the Firbolgs, who were conquered and driven into the Western Islands by the Tuatha De Danann. The Firbolgs became the first Fairies of Ireland, Giant-like, grotesque creatures. They and the Tuatha De Danann may be compared with the Titans and the Olympic gods of Greece.
# 454: They settled in Ireland, fleeing Greece where they had been enslaved and made to carry earth in bags. They afterwards made ships out of these bags and sailed to Spain. They held Ireland after the death of Nemed until the coming of the Tuatha de Danaan.
# 100 - 454 - 469 - 562
See: FIRBOLGS.
Whereas Tara is the seat of kingship, several considerations associate Uisnech with the druids. It was at Uisnech that Mide (eponym of Meath), chief druid of the people of Nemed, lit the first fire. The fire blazed for seven years, 'so that he shed the fierceness of the fire for a time over the four quarters of Ireland'. From that fire were kindled every chief fire and every chief hearth in Ireland. 'Wherefore Mide's successor is entitled to a sack (of corn) with a pig from every house-top in Ireland.' And the indigenous druids said: 'Evil (MI-Dé, a pun) to us is the fire that has been kindled in the land.' On Mide's instructions, these druids were marshalled into a house and their tongues were cut out. He buried the tongues in the ground of Uisnech and sat upon them. Another story of the lightning of a symbolical fire is linked with the neighbourhood of Uisnech. It is told to explain how Delbaeth got his name. Banished with his five sons from Munster 'he went to the cairn of Fiachu and kindled there a druidical fire, out of which burst five streams of flame. And he set him a son to each stream. From these descend the five Delbnas. Hence the name Delbaed, "shape-fire", clung to him.' The lightning of a fire as a ritual proclamation of the ascendancy of the one who lights it occurs in several other Celtic stories. For example, St David on taking possession of the land which bears his name lit a fire, to the dismay of the local chieftain - 'the kindler of that fire shall excel all in powers and renown in every part that the smoke of his sacrifice has covered, even to the end of the world'. Similarly St Patrick, through lighting the Pashcal fire, usurped the privileges of the druids who were preparing a fire at Tara. The story of the founding of the monastery of Loch Ree by St Ciar n recalls Nemed's company of eight. 'With eight upon the Loch Ciar n travelled but with twelve hundred on land....A fire was lit by the clergy.... Said his wizards to Diarmait: "The purpose for which yon fire is kindled tonight is such that it will never be put out." ' According to the Welsh laws, the right to enter and occupy land which one's father occupied until his death was the right to uncover the fire Datanhud. Mention may also be made of the firm tradition that a humble squatter who builds a house on the waste during the course of one night, and has smoke rising from the chimney by the dawn of a new day, gains possession of the site and the land around to the distance to which he can throw an axe from his cabin door. In Irish tradition, Partholon, Tuatha De Danann, and the Sons of Mil are all said to have struck the land of Ireland at Beltaine, the beginning of a new summer, the time of year when it is the custom to rise early to see dawn breaking - and when 'ship-processions' used to form a part of the folk-ritual in several of the coastal districts of Britain. It is said that the Great Assembly of Uisnech used to be held at Beltaine, and though we are not told at what time of the year the people of Nemed landed, it is a safe presumption that Mide's fire is the archetypal Beltaine fire. Cormac's Glossary, as well as Keating's History, states that Beltaine fires served to preserve cattle from disease throughout the following year, and the Glossary also says that the druids chanted spells over the fires. The custom of kindling them with a fire-drill survived in some districts until modern times, and Beltaine continued to be THE occasion when the lighting of the fire on the hearth of every home was charged with danger and significance.
# 548
A strange fish monster which looked like a mounted knight. Arthur fought it in order to release a fairy called the Lady of the Fair Hair.
# 156
# 156: A king encountered during the Grail Quest. He is sometimes, but not always, identified with the Maimed King. He is called Pelles in the VULGATE VERSION, in which the Maimed King is named Parlan or Pellam. In Manessier's Continuation we are told he was wounded by fragments of a sword which had killed his brother, Goon Desert. By Chrétien we are told he could not ride as a result of his infirmity, so he took to fishing as a pastime. Robert de Boron gives his name as Bron and tells us he earned his title by providing fish for Joseph of Arima-thea. In SONE DE NAUSAY he is identified with Joseph of Arimathea himself. By Wolfram he is called Anfortas.
# 454: The name given to the Grail King after he fed a multitude of followers from a single fish. The name may have arisen from a play on the French terms 'pêcheur' (fisherman) and 'pécheur' (sinner), since the Wasteland is caused by the king's sin or blemish. See: WOUNDED KING.
# 30 - 156 - 451 - 454 - 461
This name is what the Goddess of Sovereignty calls herself when she meets Niall. It means 'lordship' or 'sovereignty'. Frequently, in Irish tradition, candidate kings are offered a cup to drink from which is called the dergflaith or 'cup of red lordship', which denotes their acceptability to the goddess.
# 438 - 454
Next Section
Prev Section
Table Of Contents