Library: Ancient Civilizations by Credo Reference: Celtic Mythology

Gaelic Deities

Brigid
From Bloomsbury Dictionary of Myth
Brigid ('high one'), in Celtic myth, was the name given to all three daughters of the sky-god Dagda and his queen Dana.
Dagda
From The Bloomsbury Dictionary of Myth
The Dagda ('good god'), in Celtic myth, was the son of Eladu, god of knowledge, and chief of the original supernatural inhabitants of Ireland, the people of light.
Danu
From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
In Celtic mythology, the mother-goddess and land-goddess.
Ethlinn
From Brewer's Dictionary of Irish Phrase and Fable
(also Ethniu or Eithne). In Irish mythology, the daughter of Balor of the Evil Eye, who is kept from the sight of men shut up in a crystal tower on Tory Island by her father to prevent the fulfilment of a prophecy that he would die at the hands of his grandson.
Manannan Mac Lir
From Bloomsbury Dictionary of Myth
Manannan MacLir ('Manannan son of Lir'), or Manawydan ab Llyr, in Celtic myth, was the god of the sea. He ruled either from an underwater palace or from the heart of a beautiful magic island, Tir Tairnigiri ('land of promise') or the Isle named Man after him.
Morrigan
From Bloomsbury Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
The Morrigan ('great queen'), in Celtic myth, was one of three supernatural sisters: the others were Badb and Macha.
Oisin
From Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
The son of the hero Fionn Mac Cumhail. The name signifies ‘fawn’, a reminder that his mother Sadb was for a time a deer. He marries a fair-haired stranger called Eibhir.

Welsh Deities

Branwen Ferch Llyr
From The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales
The story of Branwen, daughter of Llŷr, in the second branch of the Mabinogi (see Mabinogion, The), relates that by consent of her brother Bendigeidfran, king of the Isle of the Mighty, she is given in marriage to Matholwch.
Ceridwen
From Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
The Welsh goddess of poetic inspiration.
Llyr
From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
In Celtic religion, the leader of one of the two warring families of the gods.
Myrddin
From The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales
Legendary material about Merlin, or rather, Myrddin, has been preserved in a series of vaticinatory, or prophetic, poems attributed to him in The Black Book of Carmarthen.
Rhiannon
From The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales
A character in the first and third branches of the Mabinogi (see Mabinogion, The) whose name derives from the Celtic Rīgantōna (Divine Queen). In the first branch, Rhiannon becomes the wife of Pwyll, prince of Dyfed.
Taliesin
From Bloomsbury Dictionary of Myth
Taliesin ('shining brow'), in Celtic myth, was a powerful wizard and bard. He was born as Gwion, a humble farm-boy, without inspiration.

Terms & Concepts

Cormac Mac Art
From Brewer's Dictionary of Irish Phrase and Fable
A semi-historical high king who probably reigned in the 3rd century and about whom many myths accreted. In these he is a patron of the Fianna and the father of Grainne.
Cu Chulainn
From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
In ancient Irish Gaelic literature, a powerful warrior and the central character in the Ulster cycle.
Fenian Cycle
From The Macmillan Encyclopedia
Irish Gaelic tales and ballads of the Fianna, a legendary band of warrior-poets named after their leader, Finn MacCool.
Fianna
From Brewer's Dictionary of Irish Phrase and Fable
In Irish mythology, a band of superlative warriors led by FIONN MAC CUMHAIL and said to date from 300 bc.
Finn Mac Cumhaill
From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
Legendary Irish hero, the best-known character in the hero-tales of Ireland, identified with a general who organized an Irish regular army in the 3rd century.
Geis
From Brewer's Dictionary of Irish Phrase and Fable
In Irish mythology, a magical obligation superseding all other laws and moral imperatives.
Mabinogion: Topic Page
Title given to a collection of medieval Welsh stories. Scholars differ as to the meaning of the word mabinogion.
Sidhe
From Brewer's Dictionary of Irish Phrase and Fable
The inhabitants of the fairy OTHERWORLD, who in Irish folklore have frequent congress with mortal man. They were also called the Good or Gentle Folk.
Tir Na Nog
From Brewer's Britain and Ireland
The best of the otherworlds in Irish mythology, where the gods of the Tuatha Dé Danann (the Sidhe or fairies) and the most blessed of mortals stay for ever young.
Tuatha de Danann
From Myths and Legends of the Celts
Compilers of the Lebor Gabála are characteristically precise in dating the arrival of the Tuatha Dé Danann as thirty-seven years after the Fir Bolg, whom they displace, and 297 years before the Milesians, mortal equivalents of the Irish people.

Gaulish Celtic Deities

Cernunnos
From Bloomsbury Dictionary of Myth
Cernunnos ('horned one'), in Celtic myth, was a fertility god, ruler of wild beasts. He lived in the forests, where he either sat cross-legged in state, surrounded by his creatures.
Epona
From Bloomsbury Dictionary of Myth
Epona, in Celtic myth, was the strength of the Earth made manifest as a horse.
Lugus
From The Macmillan Encyclopedia
One of the principal Celtic gods. In Ireland he was called Lug and was skilled in many fields.
Rosmerta
From Bloomsbury Dictionary of Myth
Rosmerta ('great provider'), in Celtic myth, was the goddess of plenty.
Taranis
From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
In Celtic mythology, god of the sky and thunder. His emblems are lightning and the wheel.

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