E, edad, the aspen of the Oghamic alphabet.

The bird totem

of this letter is ela, the whistling swan, the colour erc or
red. Associated with the autumnal equinox.

EACH, a horse, anciently, the month of May, “the time for

horse-riding.” OIr. ech, Cy. ebol, a colt, Br. ebeul, Gaul. Epo-,
the Lat. equus, AS. eoh, Skr. acva-s. Note the god Eochaid,
the “Horseman of the Heavens.” echtra, adventures,
echdaran, a foreigner, the Eng. strange, echtress, a horse-
fight, eachrais, a horse-fair, a fair generally, eachrais,
confusion, a mess, also eachdraidh, a history (based on
adventures abroad). The Allfather, or creator-god was
sometimes entitled Eochaid Breas, the “Shining-one with a
Horse’s Head,”

The Celts were initially woodsmen and hunters but

became noted horsemen in the years before they took
 control of the European continent. “A Curious relic of the
old ritual magic still survived in north-east Scotland at the
beginning of the twentieth century. This is the Horseman’s
Word, which gave its possessor power over horses and
women and was proof that he had become a man: When the
youth was of age to be a man he was told he must appear for
initiation. The place was a barn. The time was eleven on a
dark of night. He must take with him a candle, a loaf and a
bottle of whisky. At the door of the barn he was blindfolded
and led before the secret court. This consisted of a few
elder ploughmen, presided over by a master of ceremonies
at an altar made by inverting a bushel measure over a sack
of corn (i.e. grain). The youth was then put through a long
questioning and made to repeat a certain form of words. In
later days, at least, he had to suffer some indignities, some
of them sexual, according to the humour of the court. At the
climax of initiation, he got a shake of the Devil’s hand -
usually a stick covered by a hairy skin. Then he was given
the horseman’s word. Then at last the bread and whisky,
sacramental elements of universal significance, when
passed round; and the youths had become ploughmen.”

As to the Word: Some say it was “Both In One” (having

reference to Lugh and Nuada), or perhaps indicating harmony
between a man and his beast. With The “word” the new
ploughman considered himself a master of women, being
able to attract them and bend them to his will, even though
they might be miles away. “The ploughman’s word was the
token of a sort of freemasonry among ploughmen.” 1

EACH-DUINN, AN, The Horseman, the "Rider" of Lochbuie, the

weregild of Maclean of Duart. In life, he was Ewen "of the
Little Head, killed in battle while trying to depose his
father Iain "the Toothless." His ghost still rides to presage
the death of any Maclean of this ilk, and he has put in
appearances in both Scotland and Canada. Hector Mor
interned Iain on the Isle of Cairnburgh, away from "ordinary
women" so that there would be no heirs in his lineage. He

1 Fraser, Sir James George, The Silver Bough, Vol. 1, pp. 97-98.
made the mistake of allowing Iain the “services” of a very
ugly and bent crone by whom the laird had a son named
Murdock. Murdock "the Stunted" escaped to Ireland and
after many years returned to Scotland to become the
ancestor of the present chieftain of Lochbubie. And see next.

EACH-DUINN, horse; fuin, obs. Conclusion of a matter, calp.

The symbol of subservience made by a free man to his lord,
later by a tenant farmer to his overlord as a final gesture at
death. At this time the best horse owned by the dead man
was expected to be given over. In Scotland thgis practise
was legally abandoned in 1617, but like much else in the
Gaelic realm it persisted without the weight of law.

EACHTRA, ECHTRA, Adventure. A class of tale

characteristically connected with the journey of a mortal
to the Otherworld. A very popular form of Irish literature
from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century. Echtrannach,
foreign, adventurous, enterprising.

EACH UISGE, water horse. The latter word confers with

easg, a ditch or fen, Ir. easgaidh, a quagmire, ease, water.
EIr. esc, water, fen-water, Cy. wysg, OCy. uise, the Eng.
whisky. Easg also indicates an eel or fen-snake, cf. the
modern tung, a snake, all matching Easga, the goddess of
the “full moon.” The Scot. kelpie or tangie, a shape-changer
which appeared variously as a snake, horse, human, or some
compromise between these species. The weregild of certain
Scottish families and the enemy of others.

The chief animal “ghost” was the each uisge, a water-

sprite seen in the form of a young horse at the river bank.
This creature often struck his tail in the water three times,
each hit sounding like the crash of thunder. Afterwards he
would disappear like lightning into a deep pool. The water-
horse came equipped with a magic bridle, and enchanted men
by peering through the bridle loop. White wizards could undo
this enchantment by looking through the bridal- bit in the
opposite direction. If a Scot came into possession of a
kelpie-bridle he was advised to look through the “holes” to
see the invisible world. The each uisge was considered to be
a horse of Mannan mac Ler, the god of the ocean. Only one
bridle is known to have been held as a trophy amongst men:
A daring member of Clan Macgregor, named Seumas or
james, was tramping the road from Inverness to Glenlivet,
when he sat to rest at the nether end of Loch Slochd. On
rising he wished for “a good nag to carry me home.” To his
amazement a horse appeared complete with bridle and
saddle. Macgregor mounted the beast and was carried along
the loch. Suddenly the “horse” bolted toward the water, and
realizing he was astride a kelpie the man called for help
from the Holy Trinity. At this the “horse” bucked off the
rider and plunged into the loch. When Macgregor recovered
his sense he found the bridle still in hand. This relic was
passed to his descendants, and in the nineteenth century it
became the possession of Warlock Willie Macgregor who
lived at Gaulrig in Strathavon, Banffshire. Wilcox also held
the Clach Ghrigar (which, see) and made a great deal of
money put of both. His clients included childless women
and farmers with ailing cattle.

It is said that Loch nan Dubrachan in Skye was

favoured by the water-horses. Two or three of the “kelpie
tunes,” sung by these shape-changers, survive there. The
Cumha an Each-Uisge, or “Lament of the Water-Horse,” is
based on the tale of one of these creatures who assumed
human form and married an island girl. She divined his
nature and fled from him with their child. The disconsolate
kelpie sang a lullaby to mother and child hoping to educe
them to return, and this has been p[reserved. Loch Treig, in
Lochabar, is similarly noted for a number of these
creatures. The “demon-steeds” are also legendary in
Balquidder, where this “milk white steed” has lured some
men to mount him before it plunged into the loch. A pool at
North Esk, in Angus, is another haunt of this beast. The
water-horse has been described as “the personification of
the sudden blast of wind or of whirlwind which sweeps over
the surface of the lakes and pools...of the Highlands...Some,
however, identify the kelpie with the traditional lake
monsters of the Highlands.” (The Silver Bough, Vol. 12, pp.
1235).

At the village of Shawbost, on the isle of Lewis, there

once stood a shelter known as “The Shieling For One Night.”
This structure was shared at the taking-out of cattle by
two Highland families. One June evening two female
cousins, both in their twenties, came early to open the
shieling. As they were preparing for bed a woman came
looking for shelter. The traditional hospitality of Lewis had
to honoured, so she was invited in. At dawn one of the girls
awakened and found the other murdered in her sleep. Forcing
the closed door of the cottage open she saw a horse trotting
away and the assumption was made that a water-horse had
stolen the spirit of the dead girl. The corpse was buried
near the site, and the shieling was allowed to decay without
further occupancy. Other animals of this species are the
White Horse of Spey and the kelpie that lives in the Dee. It
is claimed that the spirit of the river Spey insists on one
drowning per year. The White Horse was never seen in fine
weather but always appeared when there was thunder
between the hills of Cromdale. His whinnying was then
heard and his powerful form seen racing to-and-fro. The
horse appeared to wet strangers seeming to offer them safe
transport to some haven/ If any visitor mounted he was
subject to a break-neck gallop, which ended when he was
carried into the deepest pools of the Spey. It is said that
the White Horse sang aloud as he carried men to their death:
“And ride well, Davie. And by this night at ten o’clock, Ye’ll
be in Pot Cravie.” The Dee was even more demanding than
the Spey for there it is said: “Ravenous Dee Yearly takes
three!”

A similar animal is the steed of Loch Pityoulish,

located in the foothills of the Cairngorms. It was strongly
suggested that bathers here always keep their heads above
water. Inhabitants of Kincardine, observing the crannog, the
remains of antique lake dwellings, insisted that these were
the remains of a long submerged “castle,” the site of queer
lore of every sort. The heir to the Barony of this place was
playing with young friends near the water when they saw a
beautiful steed grazing. They harnessed it with a silver
bridle and silver reins and, in great excitement, mounted up.
The horse galloped off into the loch dragging the boys down
with him. The baron’s son severed his rein-fast fingers with
a knife he carried and escaped death, but the others were
consumed by the water-monster. J.F. Campbell thinks that
this creature is a former river or lake-god “reduced to be a
fuath or bogle.” He notices that the water-horse often fell
in love with human females and approached them asking
that they “comb his hair.” Ladies who were put on guard by
the sight of sand admist the hair knew him as a
“gainmheach ann” and sometimes fled from his attentions.
He sometimes appeared as an elderly crone and visited
highland homes where he was bunked with the young girls.
In that case, he spent the night sucking the blood from their
bodies. To escape from him a virtuous young woman had to
flee “beyong the burn” as the water horse was proscribed
from passing over water. See Easga. James Kennedy says
this creature is of Icelandic origins and notes that one of
the kind lived at Loch Glassy in the Cluny hills.

EACHDRAIDH, history, EIr, echtar, adventures, Latin extra.

See eachtra. History was considered a product of the
“games” of the gods. See fidchell.
EACH URSAINN, the “newly-delivered horse,” i.e. death-duty.
In tribal times it was traditional for the laird’s factor to
remove the best horse or cow from the closest relative of a
deceased tenant farmer as a return for “funeral expenses.”
In one instance a widow was abused after she resisted
Donald Mor, the representative for MacKinnon of Strath on
Skye. Lauchlan MacKinnon whose mother had experienced
similar treatment went after the factor, beheaded him, and
washed his head at a place now called the “Well of the
Head.” In Skye no man dared demand the death-duty after
that happening.

EAG, EUG, a nick, a notch, Moon, Ir. feag, Manx agg, Cy. ag,
Eng. peg. Confers with ON. Egg, a nickname for Odin. To
“nick” was to play unfairly, “to cheat.” Notice that Odin
was characterized as “Odin Oathbreaker.” Eagal, fear,
fright, dread, superstition, terror. Eaglais, a pagan temple,
a Christian church.

EALA, swan. s standing or pillared stone, MIr. ela, Cy.

alarch, Lat. olor. Ealach, anything used as a hanger, a block
for cutting, peg, pin.

The sea-god Manann mac Ler had four children by his

first wife Fionuala, but at her death he married Aife, who
used her magic to change them into swans. Discovering this
Bobd Dearg turned her into a demonic spirit of the upper air
but his magic was unable to rescue the children from their
fate. For a thousand years these children of Ler served as
mascots to the Daoine sidh and while they lived at Lake
Derryvaragh that tribe profited, the place becoming a resort
where they came to hear the magical music of the swans.
From then on their lives were more troubled and at Erris
Bay they first heard the “thin, dreadful sound” of Christian
church-bells. When a princess of Munster became betrothed
to the Connacht chieftain named Lairgeb she persuaded him
to capture the swans for her as a wedding gift. He seized
and chained them with silver links and as he did so the spell
was broken and they emerged from piles of feathers as four
aged people who died soon after. Anne Rice says that the
swan was a cult-bird identified with solar deities (such as
Lugh). She says that their existence cane be traced back
through the Bronze to the Iron Age.

The Irish hero Cúchulainn who was a son of Lugh,

achieved mastery over the wild animals. When he
decapitated the three sons of Nechtan Sceéne and was on his
way back to his home he brought down twenty-four swans
with his sling, but none of them were killed. At the same
time he captured two wild deer and placed behind his
chariot, hypnotizing all the animals so that they could
travel without quarrel. It is said that he proceeded to
Emain Macha “with the wild deer behind, and the flock of
swans flying overhead (apparently untethered.” The
relationship of the gods to swan-maidens is seen in
Aislinge Oenguso, “The Dream of Angus.” Angus became
enamoured of a girl he saw in his dreams, and seeking her
found that she was a shape-changer who was a human or a
swan in alternate years. Angus approached her in her
animal form, shape-changed himself to a male bird. By
flying three times around the loch, he bound her to him and
was able to take her away to his palace.

In another tale Cúchullain used his sling to bring

down birds flying in the sky, linked to one another by a
chain. The creature he injured was the love-lorn
Derbforgaill, who shape-changed into a human on touching
the ground. The hero seeing her in death’s clutch sucked the
ball from her wound, tasted her blood, and became
spiritually linked with her. Her life was saved but she was
then prohibited from mating with the hero. Swan
transformation is seen again in Tochmarc Etaine, “The
Wooing of Etain.” When Midir god of the Underworld
abducted Etain, the wife of Eochaid Airem, it is recorded
that he placed his weapons in his left hand, encircled the
woman with his right arm, and rose through a “skylight”
into the heavens. There, the newly created pair were seen
as swans encircling Tara before they flew out of sight. In a
Snow White-like tale Aoife, the jealous wife of Ler
converted all of his children into swans, which magically
held in this form for almost a thousand years. The motif of
the chained-swan-woman is seen in Celtic lore: It was said
that such animals would only accept food from the hands of
virtuous wives. See next.

EALADH. a peg to hang things on, learning, a skill, creeping

slowly (to gain knowledge or game); elaidh, a song, an ode,
music. Ir. ealatha, a knack at crafts, Cy. el, intelligence, cf
with the root-word al, obtained through training. Ealdhain,
art or science; luchd-ealdhain, scientists. Oir. ailad, elad, a
tomb. Also a place where the dead were placed directly
before burial. A later form is uladh, a treasure or hoard,
from the fact that the dead often went to earth with their
best possessions. From this we have Ulster, literally a
“charnel-house,” a place where many lie dead. Thus we have
Druim Ulaidh, Drumullie, near Boat of Garden, Scotland, with
its tradition of treasure in a neighbouring loch. Clach na h-
Ulaidh , “Stone of the Treasure,” may be found at Linnne
Dubh on the upper reaches of Loch Linnhe.

EALAIN, EALDHAIN, mechanics, learning, art, science, skill,

ingwnuity, posey, simple trickery, a school or academy,
ealadh, learning, skill, creeping along (as to surprise game,
or obtain facts).

EALADHAN, EALADHAIN, an open-air school. See above. The

academies of druidism. Ealadhantair, air, high; an artificer.

EALBHAR, a ne'er-do-well (Sutherlandshire); from the Norse

alfr, an elf, a vacuous silly individual. A vacant individual.

EALBHUIDH, the Ir. eala bhuidh, St. Columba's plant, St.

John's wort.

St. John’s Wort, St. John’s Wort,

My envy whoever has thee.
I will pluck thee with my right hand,
I will preserve thee with my left hand.
Whosoever findeth thee in the cattle fold
 Shall never bee without kine.

This magical plant had powers that could only be tapped if

it was found by accident. The plant was hidden on the bodies
of men and the bodices of women under the left armpit. It
not only ensured plenty but prevented the evil effects of fay
enchantment.

EALG, obs. noble, expert, EIr. elg, thus Innis Ealga, the
“Noble Isle,” i.e. Ireland, cf. Eng. Elgin. Note also Glen-elg.

EAR. east. Eastward, Ir. soir, eastern, anoir, from the east,
OIr. an-air, “from the elder days.” From “before the sun”
presuming the observer is looking at the dawn. Opposite is
iar, west. Associated with Christianity since Christ’s
nativity took place in the east. Christians were buried
facing east, pagans facing west. More anciently, men faced
the sun-deity at his rising. The expression bheir a fa’n ear
e, is literally “he brings it under the East,” i.e. within the
scrutiny of god. The west was styled “behind or after (the
sun has set).”

EARARADH, night-watching on behalf of spirits of the dead,

parching of grain for the quern by heating it over a flame,
seeking or searching. Earas, conclusion, ending.

EARCHALL,evil, misfortune, loss of cattle through death,

mischief, suffering.

EARLAID. expectation, hope, dependence, trust, confidence.

The right, sometimes sold, between tenant farmers, to
enter into tenancy and have legal claims upon arable land.
Only prevalant in the south of Gaeldom where Whitsuntide
was the term of leaving.

EARR, end, conclusion, extremnity, limit, boundary,

champion, heroism, submerged rock at land’s end, grand,
noble. Note next.

EARRABHUBH, wane, especially the waning of the moon. The

taking of crops and animals and the killing of domesticated
beasts, were acts reserved for the waxing of the moon, for
their flesh was thought to shrink as the moon decreased in
size. “The flesh of the animal is then without taste,
without sap, without plumpness, without fat.” Similarly,
they would not cut withes for baskets or house-building
saying that such lumber was “then “without pith.” The
waning of the moon was,.however, a time for ploughing,
reaping grain and the cutting of peat, exercises where
dryness was sought in the end-product. Eggs taken in wane
were used in hatching in preference to those laid at the
increase; birds hatched at this phase of the moon were
considered too full of spirit to be easily managed. Animals
were gelded on the wane for this stopped bleeding. It was
said that bulls and cows could not procreate at neap tide,
and rarely sought one another in the last quarters of the
moon. A bull calf was expected from a successful mating in
first quarter, a cow calf in the wane.

EARRACH, spring, OIr. errech, from pers, before (summer),

Eng. for-, fore, Germ. fruhling, of similar origins. Among the
ancient Gaels it was divided into two parts: earrach
geamhraidh, and earrach samhraidh, the winter/spring and
summer/spring. The root word may be related to earr, enis
conclusion (of winter). Note that the word also descirbes a
champion.

EASAL ARD RIGH. easal, “tail,” dispraised. The “King of the

Golden Pillars,” who possessed seven magic pigs. Although
killed and eaten daily, they regenerated each night. Those
who ate them lived untroubled by disease.

This god is a side-form of Mannan mac Ler. By now

this point in their imrama three Tureen brothers had a
reputation that travelled before them. At “The Island of the
Golden Pillars,” where they were supposed to steal seven
magic swine, the king Easal, on the advice of his
counsellors, decided to surrender them without debate. The
Islands of the Pillars hark back to the origins of the world
of men. When things were newly formed, the gods used the
skull case of the dead giant to create the dome of heaven.
Some support was needed for this structure and the gods
sent four burly little men to the four points of the compass
to serve the function of the classical Hercules.

It was alternately suggested that the heavens rested

upon golden pillars at the nine “corners” of the world.
Interestingly, the individual underground hills of the Tuatha
daoine were frequently said to rest upon similar pillars
which could be raised on the eve of the quarter days.
Similarly, it was held that An Domhain, itself, arose from
the sea-bed on pillars, once in seven years. Within the
classical domain, the nine pillars were upon the islands of
the Hesperidaes. It has been noted that the Canary Islands
were said to have each possessed a bronze pillar (although
there are but seven islands) in historic times. Perhaps this
is because the other two were on either side of the Strait
of Gibraltar? In these places legend has it that standing
stones were located, each marked Ne Plus Ultra, “Nothing
Lies Beyond.” See mucca., Manann mac Ler, etc.

EASG. obs., a ditch, a fen, bog, Ir. easgaidh, a quagmire, easc,

water, easgach, abounding in eels, EIr. esc, fen-water,
OBry. Exe, Scot. Esks, the Cy. wysg, a stream, currently, an
eel, OIr. escung, a water-serpent.

EASGA, obs., the full moon, the Moon goddess, archaic. the
Lat. idus, in “full light.” Harvesting, hunting, and the killing
of domestic stock was arranged near this moon, which was
thought to promote fullness in man and beast. This was
considered an appropriate time for weddings, and at one
time, almost everyone abroad at night carried a “lucky
silver” in his pocket which had to be to be turned over three
times at the first sight of the new moon. The new moon of
the goddess Samh was used to cut woodbine during the
month of March. The wood was twisted into moon-wreaths
and preserved until the following March, the invisible spirit
it emanated being helpful in curing children who suffered
consumption or the “wasting fever” (tuberculosis). Those
who were ill were passed three times through the moon-
circle. See earrabhubh for notes on the waning moon.

EASGANN, a grig, a merry fellow, a quarter-day fool, a

lamprey eel. The latter “fish” is of ill-repute in Gaeldom.

EASGAR, obs., the plague, easga-bhaineach, a lunatic, driven

mad by the moon.

EA-SITH, ea, privative prefix + sith, the Daoine sith,

spiritual; lackimg spirit, mischief, disturbence, eas-
ioracas, dishonest, wicked, faithless.

EATHAR, a boat, OIr. ethar, from itro, “a journeyer,” from

the verb ethaim, I go, Lat. eo, Skr. emi.

EATHA, cattle, corn, implying plenty. The name of the

Pictish leader who led them from the Mediterranean to
Scotland. Latinized as Ethus. He became their first king. In
dispossessing the aboriginals, the Picts fought the battle at
Farna and it is said that the trenches, head-quarters and
castramentations are still imprinted on the soil of
Cromarty. Eathla, obs. prayers.

EBER MAC MIL, Eber Fionn, i.e. “the White,” the son of King
Mil. He slew mac Cumhail the husband of Banbha, a queen of
the Tuatha daoine. He refused Amerigin’s judgement that
his elder brother Eremon should rule Ireland after the
Milesian conquest. He attacked and destroyed his brother in
the first war between the north and the south. In this
contest the north prevailed and Eber established himself as
the High King at Tara.

EBER MAC ESRU, Also known as EBER SCOT. His father was
the son of Goideal who was the son of Scota, a daughter of
the Egyptian pharaoh Nectanebes. Some say this was the line
of the Scottish branch of the Irish race.

ÉBILU, a sister of Lugh who became the wife of Finntann

mac Dochra. She is associated with Munster, Ireland, and
gave her name to a glen east of the city of Limerick.
Confers with Bridd.

ÉBILU, 2. a stepmother to Ecca and Rib the sons of a king of

Munster. They fled with her intending to set up a new
kingdom on a flat plain. The plain flooded producing Lough
Neagh and they perished.

ÉCCELL. One of the grandsons of a king of Britain who

assisted the sons of Queen Mebd in the fatal attack on
Conaire Mor at Da Derga’s hostel. The others were Ingcel
Caech and Dartaid.

ECHT, death, murder.

ECHTRA, EACHTRA, expedition; ach, interjection of

impatience + traigh, the sea-shore; echtral, land of the
west. Applied particularly to the activities of those who
journeyed into the western Atlantic seeking The Great
Plain, The Land of Youth, The Land of Promise, The Land of
The Living, The Island of Women, The Many-Coloured Land,
An Domhain or High Breas Island. In most instances the
expedition leaders were seduced into wandering by a spirit
of the air, who promised moral victories, or by a sith-
woman who promised extravagant immoral pleasures.
Voyagers were considered god-inspired by a Gaelic deity.
Eachdranach, a foreigner, the Lat. extraneous, the Eng.
strange, G. each, a horse, echtra, adventures on horseback,
adventures on a “sea-horse.” The echtrai which were first
represented in folklore were translated into literature
between the fifteenth and the seventeenth centuries and
survive because their are numerous versions from that
period. Echtral is a peculiarly Gaelic concept implying a
voyage of the spirit as well as one in person. It seems to be
based on the Old Irish preposition echtra, meaning
“without.” A similar Welsh word is eithr, something
“extra,” that which is beyond normal experience, thus
echtra, the adverb, “adventures.” and Something of the
meaning is also seen in the related Latin word extra.

The Gaelic word iar or siar is related, the original

form being perhaps the preposition meaning “afterwards,
afar” or “further on.” In special use it becomes “the west.”
The great difficult in identifying directions in Gaelic text
is realized when we note that the word for “east” is ear.
The collectors of tales of travel were eachdairhean, the
historians, their embodied subject matter being called
echdranach, or “history.” Not all voyages to the west were
great occupations, since there were many western islets
within easy sailing distance of Gaeldom. To cover epic
oceanic voyages the Gaels had a separate word im-rama,
“about sea-tangle (seaweed),” suggesting possible
encounters with the infamous Sargassos Sea. The imrama
has to do with unwilling travellers, those pulled into the
Atlantic by a sea-siren, or pushed there by banishment or
some religious imperative. The longes , on the other hand,
involved willing travellers, those who sought adventure or
commercial advantage.

The latter word is founded on long, a ship or vessel,

the Old Norse lung, the Latin longa, a “ship of war.” Joseph
Jacobs, the one time president of the English Folklore
Society said that his study of classical and Irish literature
made it clear that the Gaels “sallied out of Ireland to harry
the lands of the East and Northeast” at a very early date.
Like others, he concluded that they pushed as far north as
Iceland and “accumulated considerable knowledge
concerning the surrounding seas and a still more
considerable stock of sailor’s yarns.” The earliest of these
may have been“”The Tragedy of the Sons of Turenn.” as it is
the only one to include the old god Lugh as a prime
character. These curaidh, or champions, were forced to
take up sea travel, and this is one of the characteristics of
“imrama:” men did not choose their course, but were
directed to the sea by some external force which they were
unable to counter or resist. Thus mortals were blow by
storm-spirits to the gates of Tir nan Og , or were seduced
into that land by the caprice of immortals who promised
endless life, love,food and drink. Two very old myths centre
on this theme: “The Voyage of Bran,” and “The Tale of
Connla,” both present the hero with a voluptuous maiden
who persuades them to follow her to “the Pleasant Plain,
the Land of the Living Heart.” Some of the adventures of
Bran are seen in the somewhat similar “Voyages of
Maelduin,” which seem to be an eighth century compilation
of everything offered up in the earlier centuries. “The
Voyages of Snedgus and mac Riagla,” and those entitled
“The Voyages of St. Brendan,” appear to be Christian
reinterpretations of the Maelduin story. Brendan and his
seafaring monks were as “driven” as if they had set sail
before unexpected winds. They were not interested in the
“easy” life, gold, slaves, or obtaining new territory for
their ard righ, but sought “the grace of God,” and possibly
found it. For a very long time the curach, or curragh, was
dismissed as a boat incapable of taking on the ocean, and
the imrama were dismissed as romances loosely based on
adventures of coast-hugging traders and fishermen.

“Leather boats” had been mentioned in the writings of

Caesar, Pliny and Solinus, but they have survived as the
coracles of British freshwater lakes and the salt-water
craft of Dingle, Ireland. Unfortunately these models are
somewhat degenerate, the former being capable of carrying
only two occupants. The curraghs of Ireland are known to
range up to about 22’ of length, but again they hold only four
seamen. There are pictures of these primitive craft on
some of the stone pillars, but usually details are scanty to
begin with or have rubbed away with the passage of time.
Fortunately an early Celtic craft is still seen carved in
more than usual detail on the stone pillar of a cross
overlooking Bantry Bay in the southwest, and the printing
elsewhere dates it to the eighth century A.D. This boat is
shown with five oarsmen (possibly paired) and a steersman.
The record of Brendan’s voyage tells us there were ships of
larger size, his having a complement of 14 men. Other
records suggest that the largest ships might have had
complements of up to 40 “heroes.” The major literary
references to curraghs were published by G.J. Marcus in
“Factors in Early Celtic Navigation,” Etudes Celtiques,
Volume 6, 1952. Aside from Navigatio Sanctii Brendani
Abbatis, the other great source of information is
Adamanan’s Life of Columba.See below.

ECHTRA BRAIN MAIC FEBAIL, the “Sea-Voyage of Bran Son of

Febail,” is preserved in fifteenth and sixteenth century
manuscripts, and these are considered copies of a work
first penned in the seventh century. This story may be much
older as its elements are decidedly pre-Christian.

The tale commenced when Bran was walking near his

fortress. Hearing music he was unable to resist sleep and
fell into a stupor beneath a tree. When he awoke he found a
silver branch with a white blossom on it on the ground
beside him. He went back to his dun and that evening was
visited by a woman in foreign clothing in spite of the fact
that the gates of his place were firmly bolted against such
intruders. This strange sidh-woman sang a long lay to Bran
describing the delights of her western homeland somewhere
in the far reachs of the Great Ocean. The next day, Bran and
his three foster-brothers decided to find this place, and in
the company of twenty-seven warriors, they set sail on the
Atlantic.

Two days and nights out of Ireland they met Manann

mac Ler riding behind his sea-horses travelling in an
easterly direction. He paused to explain that he was headed
for the Scottish kingdom of Dal Riada where he intended to
beget a son by Mongan a queen of that land. For his part,
Bran travelled on until he arrived at the “Island of Joy.”
Here one of his crewmen jumped ship, but the rest travelled
on until they arrived at the island alternately referred to as
Eumhann or Tir na-mBan. The latter may be translated as
the “Land of Females,” the former as a variant of neamh, or
“heaven.” Here Bran and his crew were met by hoards of
amorous women, and found maidens “all without care, fear
of death, or subject to any sickness or infirmity.” They soon
paired off with the locals “living sumptuously each with his
woman.”

This island of compliant virgins survived

transplantation into Christian mythology and in the Breton
legend of St. Machutus (ninth century) it is given as the
island of Yma a place inhabited by beautiful, but less
willful, female angels. Bran had sailed to this island in the
midst of a storm and might not have landed except that the
beautiful princess of that place threw him a “blue clew,”
the standard life line of Celtic witchcraft. She pulled the
ship by magic to the shore and there the travellers remained
for what seemed a single year. Soon the crew tired of
unending sensual pleasure and petitioned their captain to go
home to Ireland.

The princess who had become Bran’s companion

warned the mariners that time passed more rapidly in the
human lands to the east, and Bran was not altogether
willing to leave, but was finally persuaded to seek their old
homesteads. As they left the woman warned all the
Irishmen not to set foot on Irish soil, for she explained that
a century of human time had passed and those who offended
this taboo would immediately age by that century. As the
coracle neared land one of the crew did leap ashore and was
immediately reduced to a pile of dust. Seeing this, Bran laid
by, wrote his story on Ogham wands and threw them to
viewers on the shore. He then turned his ship back towards
the west and from then “his face was not known.” This
earliest of recorded Irish voyages is distinguished by the
beauty of its poetry.

ECHTRA CHONLAE CHOIM MAIC CUIND CHÉATHAIG, the

“Adventures of Connla the Fair, son of Conn of the Hundred
Battles.” This old Irish tale has much in common with the
voyage of Bran. It appears in the Book of the Dun Cow, which
is guessed to have been written about the year 1106, when
its author a Christian named Maelmori , “the Servant of
Mary,” was murdered.

The original text is in metrical form, a sample of

cante-fable, the form of all tales in the keeping of the
senachaidh. It is said that Connla was the grandson of the
historic Irish king named Conn, who had headship of that
land between 123 and 157 A.D. Some have said that
Connacht was named after this ard-righ although that place
was actually mapped somewhat before his birth. Connla
appears to have been an authentic prince of the realm and is
given as the eldest son of Art mac Conn in the “Annals of
Clonmacnoise” where he is represented as Conly. He did not
ascend the throne, and it was suggested that he was either
slain or disappeared during his father’s lifetime. His
brother Crionna mac Art was slain by his uncle in a
political struggle and after Connla “sailed away to
fairyland and never returned Art became known as Art the
“Lonely,“ and it was claimed that he was “afterwards
silent till life’s end.” Art was eventually succeeded by an
exiled nephew, Lugaid Mac Conn. It may be assumed that the
legend of Connla and his sith-maiden was first written in
the second half of the second century. As it now stands, the
manuscript is a “doctored” seventh century variant, touched
by the hand of a Christian, or Christians, who introduced
reference to God’s day of judgement and to the waning
power of the druids. This addition is rather obvious and does
nothing to separate the legend from its true roots in pagan
pre-Patrician Ireland. Connla was the son with the “Fiery
Hair,” a fact that sets him apart as having genes of the
sithe. He was therefore certainly visited with the mixed
blessing of the “two sights,” and the ability to see things
very acutely at great distances. His birthright also
protected him from death by fire or water.

It is said that Connla first saw his fate as he stood

with his father on the heights at Usna. This place was,
itself, replete with memorials of the past, being
ultimately named for the old god ‘Uis, or Huis, the English
“Hugh.” also represented in Gaelic as the day-god Aod.
Variously given as Uisliu (literally the “day-god Lugh”), it
is also written as Uisnach, Usnach , Usnach and Usnagh. Usna
was the husband of Ebhla , a daughter of the love-god
Aonghas Og. He had an affair with Ebhla’s sister Maga
and this produced the Clann Useneach and the famous Irish
Red Branch hero Naoise who has been mentioned in the tale
of Deirdriu. Connla’s bafinn was a beautiful maiden “all clad
in white,” a certain characteristic of the Daoine sidh. Art,
who stood at his son’s side lacked the two-sights and saw
nothing, but he heard his son ask, “Where do you come from
maiden?” She responded, in words that the prince alone
heard, “I come from Magh Mell, the Great Plain (of the
Ocean), where there is neither death nor sin; where we keep
holiday every day, where there is no strife. We who dwell
there have our homes in the round green hills and men call
us thus, the “Daoine sidh, (i.e. the Side-hill people of the
goddess Danu).”

This is noteworthy as the individual homes of the

Algonquin Indians of eastern North America meet this
description. It will also be noted that the Norse in their
final foray in the region captured two children but lost
their parents when they “disappeared into the earth.” In any
event, the king and his courtiers stood dumbfounded at this
seemingly one-sided conversation. When the king enquired
of the empty air who it was that talked with his son, the
lady made her voice clear to the whole company: “Connla
speaks alone to a young maiden, untouched by age or death. I
call him away to Innis Subach, the “Merry Plain,” to Magh
Mell, where Boadag (i.e. Bobd Dearg) is ruler. There has been
no complaint nor sorrow in that distant land since he
became high-king. Come with me Connla of the Fiery Hairy
which as ruddy as dawn. A sith-crown awaits thee, and
there your comely face and royal form will never decay, and
your youth shall continue until the end of time.”

As Connla was his tanist or “heir” to the throne, the

king was disturbed at this suggestion and called the druid
named Coran to his side. He asked the druid to repulse the
maiden, and Coran did so by chanting spells in the direction
from which the voice had issued. At this, she began to fade
from Connla’s sight, but before she had entirely vanished
she threw an apple to the prince. The young man would not
be parted from this artifact, and for the following month,
would take no other food excepting bites from this fruit. As
he ate, it reconstituted itself, so that it never diminished
in size. As Connla ate more of this fruit he became
increasingly enamoured of the strange foreign maiden.
 When the month ended Connla and his father were, for
some reason, on Magh Arcomin and here again the maiden
emerged from a distant mist and walked toward the prince.
Again only he could see her and she addressed him: “This is
a fine land but it stands amidst short-lived mortals who
walk in fear of death. The folk of the ever-living, beg and
bid thee to come away with me to Magh Mall, for they now
know you having observed your actions from afar.” This
time the king and all his courtiers heard the maiden’s voice
and the druid was summoned to chase her back to the Land
of Shadows. While they waited his arrival the maiden
addressed the king saying, “Great king, the druid’s power is
little loved, and has no honour in my land. When the Great
Law (presumably Christianity) comes here the druid’s spells
will at last go to earth, and no more curses will fall
through the lips of the black demons.”

Sensing that this was so, the high king turned to his
son and asked what he thought. The young man responded:
“Tis hard for me. I love my own people above all else; yet
this great longing to travel has fallen on me, and I wish to
know the maiden.” The maiden hearing this replied, “Then
the ocean itself is not as strong as the waves of longing.
Come with me in my curragh, the great gleaming crystal
ship that stands on the strand. Soon we will reach Boadag’s
realm. I see the bright sun fail in the west, but we can
reach it before night. At that place is another land and
people worthy of your love, a place joyous to all who seek
it. It is called Tir na-mBan, only wives and maidens dwell
there. If thou wilt we will go there and live long together in
happiness.” When the maiden had ceased to speak, and
before the druid arrived, Connla turned with the invisible
maiden and followed her to a nearby strand where they
leaped into the curragh and departed for the west.

The king and his people could do nothing to stop this

and they watched until the crystal ship met with the
setting sun, and then saw nothing more of this ship or their
prince. It will be remembered that Bran also found himself
in Tir n-mBan, the “Land of Women.” This land is sometimes
given in the tales as Tir na-n-Inghean, but the last word
indicates “daughters” rather than “virgins,” as some
authors have suggested. Here the women who greeted the
heroes seemed more amorous than virginal. In both tales,

Magh Mell seems to be the widest designation for a

number of western lands described as lying fo na’muir, or
“under the sea.” This may imply that they are sinking
islands or merely take note of the fact that they were
beyond the horizon in the western retreat of the sun. The
Land of Women may very well be distinct from Aircthech,
the “Ark,” or “Place of Clemency;” Ciuin, the “Mild” or
“Civil Place;” Magh Mon, the “Land of Slowness” or
“Negligence;” Imchiuin, the “Land of Butter-Melting Heat,”
Subhach, the “Place of Merryment;” and all the other
supposed synonyms for the “Great Plain of the Sea.”
Whatever the case, the dwellers in the west supposedly
told the men of Ireland that there were “thrice fifty distant
islands in the ocean, all west of us, and each of them is
twice or thrice as large as Eriu (Ireland).” As we have
noted, folklore suggests that An Domhain may lie at the
roots of Magh Mell , and the former land was not a totally
happy place. Pagans, who believed in reincarnation, tended
to view residence in the lower world as a temporary
inconvenience and not permanent damnation, which is why
they dwelt on the kinder aspects of life in the west.

The Christians had a less flexible view of light and

darkness. Thus, we find the adventures of Bran and Connla
incorporated into those of later voyagers, a distinction
being made between two different western lands: In Imram
Maelduin the travellers arrive at two islands, one occupied
by lamenting people who never fail in their complaints,
another by a folk who are always joyous. The same two
islands are mentioned in Imram Curaig Ua Corra, the
“Ocean-travels of the Sons of O’Corry.” There are similar
lands in the Latin Navigatio Sancti Brandani, which is based
on Celtic models. The pagan version of some happy western
land filled with compliant women was too bold for
Christian asceticism so it was converted into Terra
Repromissonia Sanctorum, “The Land of Promised
Sanctuary,” or heaven on earth. see Connla.

ECHTRA CHORMAIC I D’TIR TAIRNIGRI, “Cormac’s

Adventures in the Land of Promise.” High King Cormac mac
Art received a branch of silver apples from Manann mac
Ler’s servant. He asked for it without demanding the price
and only afterwards learned that he had to surrender his
wife and children to the Otherworld. After a year and a day
the king was permitted to follow them by entering a
magical fog. When all of the family was restored to Ireland
the sea-king gifted Cormac with a goblet, “which has this
virtue that when a falsehood it told it falls away into four
pieces, but when truth is heard it reassembles itself.” The
king was also given a magic tablecloth, which unfolded was
found to provide an immediate banquet. He also retained the
apple branch which allowed access to the Otherworld when
it was shaken. See Cormac mac Art.

ECHTRA NERAI, the Voyage of the Happy (Lucky) One, a

servant of Ailill of Connacht. Access to the west usually
involved an imrama. While the water route was the most
commonly used we note cases where people flew to the
Otherworld, and then there were the souterrains, which
offered immediate “temporal displacement” from one world
to the other.

Not surprisingly, the most famous cave-entrance was

Ráth Cruachan, the “Fortress of the Hip, or Hump,” which
was once the property of Mebd. Cruachan was frequently
given as an alternate name for Connaught province, and the
old hill itself was described by Christian scribes as the
“Gate of Hell.” The fact that the hill is also termed
Rathcróghan ties it more firmly to the old warrior queen,
for the word cró is Gaelic for a animal killing pen, blood,
death, or a passageway (for example, the eye of a needle).
Note also the fact that the Scottish word “cro” indicates
“the weregild (i.e. banshee) of the various individuals in the
Scoto-Celtic Kingdom, from the king on downwards.” The
ending gann indicated something which is “hurtful.” The
site of this fortress remains as a huge ruin three miles
north-west of Tulsk, County Rothcommon. It is a circular
site about an acre in extent, surrounded by so many other
structures, it has been described as “a town of fortresses.”
Ráth Cruachan was still in use as the royal capital of the
province in 645 A.D. when king Ragallach was assassinated
there.

The cavern of Cruach was not an easy entrance for

there were guardians, some of which emerged into the
world of men. One of these was Aillén, a malevolent
Otherworld monster who used to come out of the cave at the
unbinding season of Samhain. A pyromaniacal dreag , or
dragon, he lulled the defenders of Tara to sleep with sea-
music and then consumed them, often leaving their
residences in fiery ruin. This went on until Fionn mac
Cumhail opposed his music by pressing the blade of his
magic spear to his forehead. He then drove off the beast and
beheaded it. Airtiech was another supernatural resident of
Cruachan. He had three daughters who once assumed the
shape of werewolves and raided the countryside in every
direction. The warrior Cas Corach played music to enchant
them and convinced them that they should assume human
form to have a better grasp of the melodies. When they
shape-changed, the hero threw his spear at them, impaled
all three at once, and beheaded them. With this reputation it
is not surprising that men had to be bribed to enter the Hill
of Cruach.

Ailill of Connaught regularly offered a prize of a gold-

hilted sword to any man who would go to the gallows just
outside the rath and encircle the foot of a dead captive on
the gallows with a withe or band of willow twigs. This
device then became as effective as a silver bough in gaining
admission to the Otherworld. Several warriors went out on
the Samhain to try this stunt but none but Nera followed
through to the end of the adventure. As Nera was placing the
withe, the corpse spoke asking that he be taken down and
given a drink. Nera obeyed carrying the dead man half slung
over a shoulder. The pair found the first house they
approached surrounded by flames, and a second encircled by
a broad moat filled with water, so they moved on. At a
third house the dead man was offered three cups of water.
The dead man spat out the third cup at the people who had
offered him hospitality and its poison killed them on the
spot. Nera then carried the corpse back to the gallows as
instructed.

Returning to Ráth Cruachan, this gillie saw Mebd’s

palace aflame and saw beheaded corpses scattered on the
ground. It appeared that Fomorian invaders had used the
opening of the “eye” that was the Cave of Cruachan to do
what damage they could in the world of men. Nera followed
this crew through the veil before it closed at dawn and on
the other side became the “guest” in a sidh of the
Otherworld. Here he was ordered to carry firewood and
lodged with a female of the species. They became lovers
and the sigh-woman informed him that what he had seen of
the destruction of the rath was a possible future rather
than an event, and that it could be forestalled by escaping
to the east and destroying the entrance. Nera therefore took
his wife and child back through Cruachan and told king Ailill
what the future might hold for him and his kingdom.

Ailill therefore sent Fergus mac Roth out to destroy

the sidh , and the warriors did more, taking great plunder
from its treasure house. These valuables included the
crown of king Brion, one of the three wonders of ancient
Ireland. This particular tale is obviously pre-Christian in
origin, but the Echtra Nerai from which it derives is no
later than the eighth century. Nera’s wife reminds one of
Cliodhan (pronounced Cleena) another “goddess of beauty”
who lived at first in Tir Tairnigri. She became hopelessly
enamoured of Ciabhan of the Curling Locks, and they fled the
Land of Promise for Glandore, County Cork. While she rested
from the long sea voyage, her new lover went inland to look
for food. The girl was lulled into sleep by the music of
Manann mac Ler, and while she lay helpless, the sea-god
sent a great wave to sweep her back to his domain. The
lover was, of course, left desolate, but her name was given
to one of the three “Great Waves” of Ireland. These were
the waves whose roar could be heard over all of Ireland
when they responded to the moans of the magic shield of
Conchobar mac Nessa, which always cried out when the
bearer was in trouble.

ECNE, knowledge or poetry. The triad son of the goddess

Danu.

EIBH, EIGH, to cry out, the death-watch, a tingling in the ear

supposed to portend death, women voicing a catastrophe.

EIBHIR. granite, ice, frost, the wife of the Fenian hero

named Oisin. A fair-haired stranger said to have come from
“a sunny country.”

EIGEARRA. overblown satire, invective. Thus, "The only

counterpart for your vagina is the great open sea between
Orkney and Galloway." The satirist was considered god-
gifted and used his fast tongue with magical intent. See
next entry.

EIGG. EGA, the latter feminine. Thus from eag, a nick, a

notch, vagina; Ir. feaga, Manx agg, Cy. ag, cleft. Eilean Eigg
means, “The Isle of the Notch.” There are two Scottish
islands which bear this name. Compares with the Lat. Egea
insula, “the Egean Isle.” This name appears in early Irish
literature as the name of certain saints of the Christian
church, but always in the genetive case. Old Norse, Ygg, a
“notched tree,” a secondary name for Odin. Eiginn, rape,
force, violence, oppression. Eigir, small, insignificant.

EIGIR. misersble, small. Insignificant.

EIGIS, 'S A' BHEINN BHAIN, eigis, a bard, The “Sages of the
White Mountain” in North Uist, Scotland. A druidic school
which persisted in the Hebrides until the last century;
eisgiseach. erudite. "the rightful heirs of the ancient
knowledge and logic of pre-Christian Ireland; but the Church
grew powerful on the mainland of Europe and bit by bit the
Christian faith prevailed in Scotland and everything was
preserved that the Church wished preserved, and everything
was destroyed that the Church wished destroyed." (Donald
Son of Alexander, 1790-1884, The Hebridean Connection, p.
385).

EILDER, an elder, an alder. Also known in England as the

bourtree, or bowertree. In Scotland the elder-tree is ranked
second to the rowantree as the most effective agent against
witchcraft and the evil-eye. In Kirkcudbrightshire, a cross
constructed with red wool and elder tree branches was
affixed over the entrances to stables and byres to protect
the animals. Drivers of horse-drawn hearses used to insist
on carrying a whip whose handle was made of bourtree to
act as a ward to the spirits of the dead that inevitably
crowded their vehicles. The green juice of the inner bark
may be applied to the lids of a baptised individual to give
him the power to observe the unseen world at the time of
the Quarter Days. Those who stood under elder trees at this
time sometimes said that they saw trains of the Daoine
sidh passing by. Scots Highland mountain-men often wear
the bourtree as a boutonniere while climbing. Asked why
they carry this plant in their lapels they answer vaguely,
“Flies and things don’t like it!”

EILE, other, another, obs. prayer, entreaty, oration, lowing

of a deer, OIr. aile, Cy. aill, all, Bry. eil, all. Gaul. allo-, Lat.
alius, Eng. else, cf. eileach, a mill-race, embankment, dam,
allied with ail, stone. From this eilean, an island, EIr.
ailean, possibly from ON. eylund, Eng. island. All islands
were thought possessed by the sea-people and were
regarded as “gates” to their western realms.

EILEAN BAN, an-t-eilean ban, “the blessed isle.” the

traditional name for Jura, “the holy isle.” from the tale that
Earnadail, a Christian monk left instuctions that his body
should be conveyed into the great ocean and buried at a
place where mist gathered. His body was landed at Leac
Earradail, and buried in the parish graveyard at
Killernanandale. Notice the secondary meaning of ban. This
island is also called in OIr. Inbe, an incision, suggesting its
indented coast. This word compares with Eigg.

EILID, a hind. Oir. elit. Obs. The twenty-nine day month the
Brythons called Elembivios (roughly, March). Cy. alain.

EILIG, willow herb, a staple of witchcraft.

EILTHIR, a foreign land, see above, eithireach, a pilgrim or

traveller, OIr. eilithre, pilgrimage, these combine eile with
tir, land, terra. Note above.

EIRIG, ransom, EIr. eric, “buying or selling out. a weregild,

or "dire"-fine; a blood-fine imposed by law upon those who
accidentally, or intentionally, killed members of a clan.
Unless this fine was paid, vengeance was sought against
relatives of the murderer as well as against the offender
himself. The fine for a poet was the same as that for the
king.

EIREALLACH, a monster, a clumsy old man from eire, a

burden. Note eirig, above.

‘EIRINN, ‘EIREANN, anciently H’ERNI, the “h” is no longer

employed in Gaelic. The “mother” of the Tuathan goddesses
Eire, Banbha and Fotla by the god Dlbaeth. Confers with Anu
or Danu, the matriarch of the Tuatha daoine. Ir. ‘Eire, gen.
“Eireann. EIr. ‘Eiru, “Danu the Burden-bearer.” Cy. Ywerddon,
Iwerddon, MCy. Ewyrdonicv. Ir., according to Ptolmey,
Ioupvia, the Lat. Hibernia or Ivernia, Ierne (4th cent.) EIr.
Ivernili, Iverjon or Everjon, usually refereed to Piverjo
from Skr. pivari, fat (land), the land which is “rich-soiled,
bursting with good things,”Lat. Hibernia or ‘Ibernia, also
seen as Ivernia. The only Norse name that took any notice of
ancient tradition was Ir-lande identifying the people of
ancient Eiru. The Gaelic source of this word may ultimately
be iar, west. the Skr. avara. western. This is the Eng. Earn or
Findhorn. We think it also refers to the goddess Er, Ur. or
Ara, seen in present day Scotland in combined name-forms
such as Mo-Urie or Mourie. This is said to be “the moon title
Ra or one of its variants.” May confer with Ioua orIona. At
least two Irish scholars have suggested that the word
comes from the “unpronounceable” Indo-European word
Piera, which they say confers with “fairy.” An early Irish
form of this word may have been fáe, a “wild” thing. This
word is still seen preserved in the modern Gaelic faolchu,
which describes a wolf or wild dog. Note also h’Erni which
is both the classical Irish name for Ireland and the maiden
name of the Lady Cassir. She was the leader of an expedition
from the Mediterranean to the Emerald Isle in the days just
before the World Flood. Her married name seems to have
been Banbha Cass-ir , or Cesair often too loosely translated
as the “Lady Caesar.”

EIRU, The third of three Tuathan queens met by the invading

Milesian armies. In exchange for her co-operation they
promised her that her name would be given the land on
which they trespassed. At coronation feasts, and at yearly
fire-feasts the union of the Milesian king with a virgin from
among the Tuatha daoine symbolized their original
agreement with this individual.

EISCIR RIADA. The boundary between the north and southern

halves of Ireland as set in ancient times. Eiscir, a sand hill;
riada, a way travelled by chariot and horse, a roadway.
Marked by a series of low mounds stretching from Galway to
Dublin. Originally set with regard to the legal portions of
the Milesian kings Eber and Eremon who were the first to
halve Ireland.

EISG, a satirist, a scold, lampooner, a satirist, Ir. eigse, a

learned man, EIr. écess. Confers with eagna, wisdom, OIr.
écne; same as aithne, both rooted in aith + gen, the Eng.
know. One of the chief forms of magic, satirical poems
were thought capable of causing physical illness and skin-
blemishes. The satirist was the most revered of the bards.
See draoi.

ÉISLINN, shroud, windings for a corpse, the magical binding-

boards upon which the shrouded corpse is placed for the
rites before burial. Éis, (place of) delay, impediment, the
word is also seen as éis linnseag, a shroud or penance-
sheet.

EITEAG, white pebble, a precious stone, a fair maiden, Eng.

hectic, the lapis stone, hecticus, this white stone was used
as a remedy against diarrhoea and dysentery. The white
pebble was seen as a resting-place for the spirit of the
eitig. See next entry.

EITIGH, EITIG, fierce, angry, stormy, ugly, a frightful

spectre, a flaw, fault, Disease, the germs of disease, a long
standing illness, decaying, consumptive, foul one, horrid,
obs. To foreswear, abjure, refuse, contradict. “The lady
who had this ugly name was really the goddess of loch and
river...” the Scand. etick, Fr. hectique, Eng. hectic. fierce,
dismal, OIr. étig, setig, an abomination, un-houselike, not
house-trained, not fair, the Eng. thing. “the tutelary sprite
of Etive is Eiteag. A glaistig or cailleach. A beansith or
banshee. This is a Gaelic feminine proper name, not often
taken up for use. The original lady who bore this name was
“the goddess of loch and river,” who had a changeable
stormy nature. Formidable lochs and sea-rushes reflect this
in their names. Loch Etive in Scotland is an example. The
sea-cataract at its entrance is termed a’Chongail but it is
also called Eiteag, “the little horrid one.” In literature the
word is frequently coupled with salach, “foul.” The land
haunt of an eiteag is frequently designated as Glenn Salach.
The “Foul Glenn (of Eiteag).” William Watson claimed to
have known a man who had an acquaintance who “met her in
Glen Salach - after a funeral.”

ELATHU, sometimes ELATHA. A Fomorian king whose lands

lay westward under the Atlantic. He was an exception to
the rule that these people were ugly and deformed: “a man
of fairest form with golden hair down to his shoulders.”
The son of Delbaeth (Bith, god of death) he arrived in Ireland
aboard a crystal ship and was met at the shore by Eri, or
Erinn, the wife of Cethor. A queen of the Tuatha daoine she
nevertheless slept with this stranger and gave birth to a
handsome son named Eochaid Breas. He gave her a ring and
told her to give it to the boy in case he needed assistance at
some future date. When the Tuatha daoine expelled Breas as
their king he was thus able to get help from his Fomorian
kin folk. There followed the second battle of Magh Tuireadh
in which the “gods” and men overcame the giants, banishing
them to places beyond the western horizon.

ELEMAR. ElCMAR The legal husband of Boann; sometimes

identified as Nechtan. He was sent to the Otherworld on an
“important” state visit by the god Dagda. In his absence the
Dagda mated with Boann producing Aonghas Og. Her husband
was sufficiently dense to missed the fact that he was a
cuckold, but his wife named her son Og, the “youthful,”
wryly noting that: “Young is any son begotten at the break
of day and born by evening, as was this one in the memory of
my husband.”

ELLEN. The three-headed monster of Cruachan. Also named

tEllen trechend. or “Three-headed Ellen,” she used to
emerge from the caverns there and devastate the land at the
time of Samhuinn (Nov. 1). The word appears in English as
Allen. She was eventually put to earth by Ameregin in
single combat. One expert has identified this Otherworld
being with Aillen nac Midna of the fairy-mound of
Finnachad, who, as a matter of course, annually burned Tara
until he was destroyed by Fionn. O’Rahilly derives the name
from ailill which translates as “spirit,” or “elf.” In this
three-headed being there seems to reside some longer
memory of a three-headed deity whose destructive powers
were only contained by sacrifice and annual rituals. See
Amerigan. Note also trionaid.

ELTAR. The single plain found in Ireland at the arrival of the

early settler named Partholan. Described in the old records
as a treeless barren.

EMAIN ABLACH, e+maigh, his field, plain; ablach, a mangled

carcase, from the a+bal+ach, the root being Beul, the god of
death. From this bel or bal, to die. Confers with the English
jell and quell. Similar to the OIr. atbail, from the same
root and prefix. From these the dialectic Scots. ablach. The
plain of the palace of Manan mac Ler in the “Land of
Promise,” within the western Ocean.

EMER (ev-air). The wife of Cuchullain, a daughter of Forgall

Manach, lord of Lusca, a place north of Dublin. Her father
was against the match since there was “an elderly ugly
daughter,” who had precedence in marriage. In the end
Cuchullain leapt over the battlements and killed twenty-
four of Forgall’s warriors before eloping with his love and
carrying off her sister. Forgall’s sister raised an army
against the northern hero, but he defeated it. Just before
his death, Cuchullain had a vision of Emer being killed and
thrown from the ramparts of the fortress of Dun Deaglan.
This forewarning was the forerunner of his own doom, and
in spite of his wife’s entreaties he travelled the final road
to the Pillar Stone and death.

EMERGIN, AMERGIN, the chief magic-maker of the Milesians,

the race which invaded Ireland about the year 250 B.C. When
the Milesians attempted to land the Tuthan wizards set a
magical storm against the them and the great fleet from
Spain was dispersed, and it appeared that the sons of Mil
would not attain their Isle of Destiny. At this, Emergin
chanted a charm that calmed the waves (See The Story of
the Irish Race, p. 9-10). Upon landing, he took complete
credit for the change in the weather noting: I am the wind
that blows over sea, I am the Wave of the Ocean; I am the
murmur of the Billows... etc (See Celtic Myths and Legend, p.
134 for complete text).” After the defeat of the Tuatha
daoine, Emergin was asked to divide the land equitably
between the conquered and the victors. In a mood for very
rough justice, he deed the Tuathans all islands beyond the
western horizon and all lands beneath the surface of the
soil. In doing this, he was unaware of the extensive Irish
souterrains, thus the Daoine sidh, or side-hill people
occupied these places and the fay-race came into being. The
descendants of Emergin described him as "Emergin the
White Knight", while the Daoine sidh recalled him as
"Emeregin of the White Knees." Those who liked him
claimed he was not only a magician-poet but "a prophet and
man of great learning; a philosopher and a priest.” He
reputedly possessed the second sight. and decreed that his
famed “Exhortation” be taught “from the grandmother's
mouth to the grandchild's mouth." (The Hebridean
Connection, p. 427). This has been preserved, and says in
part, "Among all the beasts of the earth there is one beast
more bloody, more destructive, more cruel; more deceitful;
more brutal; more nightmarish; more corrupt; more
contemptible; more dishonourable; more stupid, than all the
beasts of creation and this evil, dreadful, slavish,
fraudulent creature will seek always to destroy you after I
leave this world... there is but one succour against it and
that is knowledge and truth. Knowledge puts it to flight..."
The name of this beast was, of course, man.

ÉNCHENNACH, the “bird dress.” Druidic equipment needed for

flight; Mag Ruith’s skin of the hornless dun-coloured bull
was brought to him. Then he was given his speckled bird
dress with its flying wings and his other druidic gear. With
it he rose up, in company with the fire, and passed into the
air and into the heavens.” Conaire’s bird-warriors were all
similarly equipped with these “hang-gliders.” When they
laid aside their “bird-skins” it was noted that they looked
like ordinary men. This was also the uniform of druids.

ENDA. To the dismay of his sister, the abbess Faenche, this

Irish warrior was no gentleman. He agreed to reform
himself if he could be given her most beautiful novitiate as
a wife. Unfortunately the young virgin, to closely attached
to God, expired before the wedding could be consummated.
Impressed by the apparent power of the Christian God in
such matters, Enda travelled to Wales where he studied for
Holy Orders under Saint David, and was ordained at Rome. At
the last, a model of piety, he established the monastery at
Aranmore in Galway Bay.

ENNA AIRGTHETCH. The high king who was first to provide

his chieftains with silver shields. They were manufactured
in the Srgetos (Silverwood) at Rathbeag on Nore, County
Kilkenny, Ireland. Note the magical properties of airgoid, or
silver. This metal was sometimes termed cimb orcerb. It
was mined in Ireland from the earliest days and is given
prominence in the sagas.

EO, obs., a pin, thorn, grave, salmon, peg, good, worthy.

EOCHAID, EOCHAIDH, (Yo-hee, Eo-hee), each + aidheam, horse

+ joyful, "the horseman of heaven" Sometimes given as
Eochaid Oolathair, “The Allfather,”i.e. the Dagda. His alter
ego was Eochaid Nathair, Lord of the Land of Shadows.
Sometimes said to confer with the creator-god Dom. See
each, echtrai and the following entry. Sometimes given
preference over Manann mac Ler as the foster-father of the
god-hero Lugh.

EOCHAID ALLMUIR, a king of the Desi who fought seven

battles against Cormac mac Art after the high-king
attempted to expel his son from Ireland following the
slaying of Cellach. Eochaid was eventually forced to
resettle his folk in the kingdom of Dyfed in southern Wales.
Independent Welsh records actually show that the Desi were
residents of that territory in 730 A.D. when they were ruled
by Teudor mac Regin.

EOCHAID BRES, BREAS, "Bres the Beautiful." At the age of

seven he was the size of a boy of fourteen years, a fact
explicable in terms of his mixed parentage: His mother was
a Tuathan named Sri and his father the Fomorian sea-giant
Elathu who had his headquarters in the Hebrides. Initially
Breas' male parent was unknown to him.

When the Tuatha daoine invaded Hibernia and opposed

the Firbolg residents at the battle of Moytura, their own
king Nuada was "blemished" in battle, his right hand being
stricken from his arm. An articulated artificial hand was
substituted but he was still legally prevented from serving
as high-king. Breas was elected king in his place, but was
soon seen to have no "gift" for kingship. The Fomorian sea-
pirates who had fought against both the Firbolgs and the
Tuathans renewed their oppression and taxation of the land,
and Breas himself made heavy levies on his subjects. This
would have been tolerated but Breas also showed himself
"inhospitable."

His lack of patronage unfortunately extended to the

chief bard of the land, a man named Caibre. When he was
badly served at the King's court, the bard composed a glam
dicend, a biting satirical poem whose last line cursed Breas.
The quatrain of power was repeated throughout the
countryside and caused men to rise against Breas and chase
him from the throne. In the meantime Nuada had approached
the physician Diancecht, whose magic enabled him to grow
an entirely new hand from the stump of his forearm With
Nuada reinstated as king, Bres, burning with wrath and
resentment, went stumbling back to his mother. She told
him his father was a powerful Fomorian chieftain, and he
went to the Hebrides asking for his assistance in retaking
the throne of Ireland.

Elathu gave him land and sea forces, and directed him
to Tory Island, where he received further support from
Balor "of the Evil Eye." Nuada ard-righ was unable to regain
the countryside against this combined host, but fortunately
a god-hero appeared in the form of Lugh "of the Long Arm."
A foster-son of Manan mac Ler, Lugh brought with him to
the Tuatha daoine cause the Boat of Manan, which travelled
by reading thoughts, the Horse of Manan, which could travel
on the sea as well as on land and an invincible sword named
Fragarach, the “Answerer.”

At the battle of Moytura this champion opposed Balor

and killed him by projecting a great stone through his
"venomous" eye. After that the Fomorian sea-giants were
routed and fled to the northern and western islands and into
the western sea. We are not told the fate of Breas, but it
appears he retreated to the most remote redoubt of the sea-
people, since one of the islands of Tir-nan-Og was
afterwards referred to as Hy Breas-il, or the Island of
Breas.

EOCHAID, The first two centuries after the birth of Christ

saw the Tuathan rebellion and the recovery of the Milesian
dynasty. The first in this new line of kings wasTuathal ,
who faced 133 separate battles before bringing any meaning
to the title ard righ. His reign is remembered for the
wedding of one of his daughters, Dairine , to King Eochaid
of Leinster, Tiring of her, the king pretended she had died,
and in due course sought the hand of Tuathal’s second
daughter, a woman named Fithir. Through mismanagement,
the two wives of Eochaid met, and soon their father
marched into Leinster in an angry mood. The province and
the king were only saved after this place agreed to pay the
boru, or cow tribute, a crushing burden of tribute which was
exacted for nearly 500 years. Thus Tuathal left his country
a festering sore, the cause of many wars between Meathg
and Leinster, with the other provinces arrayed on one side
or the other at different times.

EOCHAID MAC ERC. A king of the Firbolgs at the time of the

Tuathan invasion. He is sometimes given as married to
Tailtu, a daughter of the King of the Land of the Dead (i.e.
Manann mac Ler). He named his palace Tailltinn (now
Telltown) after his wife. He was among those opposed to
placating the invaders saying, “If we give them the half
they will take the whole.” He was involved in the great
battle at Magh Tuireadh and finally was forced to retreat to
a beach at Ballysadare, County Sligo, where he was slain.

EOCHAID MAC MUCHTRA. A king of Munster who allied

himself with Ailill and Mebd. He claimed a pedigree
reaching back to Ith mac Bregon. As he possessed a single
eye he was automatically disqualified from high-kingship.
This Fomorian characteristic was endemic within Munster.

EOCHAID OOLATHIR, the “Joyful Horse,” the Oolathair, the

Dagda., the patriarch of the Daoine sidh. Taking note of the
fact that the Tuatha daoine were skilled horsemen.
EOGH. long-sighted, eolas, knowledge. The ability to observe
happenings at a great distance through the use of psychic
runners or bafinne. Those who possessed this ability were
able to perceive the distance as a hazy image superimposed
on things near at hand.

EOGABAIL. A foster son of Manan mac Ler, a druid who

fathered the love-goddess Aoine.

EOGHANN, A mortal god, one of two Milesians approached by

the turncoat goddesses Banbh, Fodla and Eriu with a request
that they conquer and occupy Ireland to resolve internal
squabbles.

EOGHANN A' CHINN, Eôghann, dial. Eôghainn, Ewan, MG. Eogan

or Eoghan, EIr. Eogan, Evi-gonos, “well born,” avi, friendly,
good, the Cy. Owen, Confers with the Oghmic Eva-cattos
which evolved into Eochaid. Lat. Eugenius, Hence Mac-ewan.
Iain of the Little Head, the weregild, or forerunner of death,
for the Macleans of Duart. He was killed in battle while
trying to depose his father. John Shaw says he was seen by
"a few Inverness County (Cape Breton) informants" in 1978.
(Tales Until Dawn, p. xxxv).

EOGHANN MAC AILILL. A king of Munster who on the eve of

the battle of Moy Machruinne slept with the daughter of a
druid. The druid suggested this act, claiming that the child
of this union would become high king if born on an
auspicious day. Eoghann went to his death in battle before
the child was birthed. As the natal-day approached, and it
seemed that it might arrive prematurely, the mother sat
astride a boulder in the middle of a ford and refused to
admit it to the world. At the correct time the child was
born although the mother died in the process. Because the
head of the infant had been pressed against a stone it was
flattened and the king-to-be was nicknamed Fiachra Broad-
Crown.

EOGHANN MOR. The birth-name of Mug Nuadat, a king of

Munster, married to Beara, a “daughter” of a king of
“Spain.” He went to war against the high-king Conn and
forced him to split the land of Ireland. He ruled “Mug’s
half,” the southern portion. Not content, he sought a share
of all the trade goods flowing through Dublin and warred
again against Conn, but this time was killed by him. Eoghann
Mor’s son Ailill Olamh married Conn’s daughter Sadb and in
another irony, he became the high-king in Ireland.

EOIR, charm, incantatiun, spell.

EOISLE, a charm, a form of the word eolas, knowledge.

Charms were always rendered in poetic form and were
thought capable of producing physical damage in the person
against whom they were directed. Charms were usually
chanted and have been compared with the songs of birds. See
next.

EOL, obs. expert, knowing. Now: knowledge, discernment,

science, art, a charm. A nostrum.

EÒLAS, eol, a magician, as, springing from;a spell,

knowledge. also the name of a son jointly fathered by three
of Partholan’s druids. A charm, actions and words having a
supernatural importance. Practitioners of the evil-eye
might sub-verbalize something like the following: “I
trample upon the eye as tramples the duck on the lake; as
tramples the swan upon the water; as tramples horses upon
the open plain; as tramples the host of the elements... Power
of the wind I have over it; power of the wind I have over it;
power of the wrath I have over it; power of fire I have over
it; power of thunder I have over it; power of lightning I have
over it, power of the moon I have over it, power of the sun I
have over it; power of the stars I have over it; power of the
firmament I have over it; power of the heavens and the
worlds I have over it.” This same spell could also be used to
counter the effects of the initial spell-casting. For best
results charms were recited by "gifted" or "lucky"
individuals.
 The minor fire-charms have been preserved in
folklore. Thus we find in present-day Cape Breton, Nova
Scotia the following Gaelic charm, formerly used to bind
the will of others:

I am putting you under spells and crosses,

And under nine constraints of the walking
wandering sidh-mothers.
That every lamb weaker and more misguided
than yourself,
May take from your head and your ear
And your livlihood.
If you do not...
trans. John Shaw 2

In the last sentence, the service desired is inserted.

This charm is effective three times; after that the person
who has been word-bound is freed to employ the verses
against his tormenter.

There have been traditional charms to win love, cause

enmity between lovers, set aside fever, sorrow and pains,
ensure the rising of bread and insure against witchcraft. In
the Christian era, the word-magic was retained, with the
substitution of "more acceptable" god spirits; thus we find
the following charm, to be said on undertaking a journey:

Seven prayers, seven times over told,

Mary left to her son of old,
Bride left to her mantles length,
God left to his own great strength,
Between us and the fairie kind,
Us and the people of the wind,
Us and the water's drowning power,
Us and temptations evil hour,
Us and the world's all blighting breath,

2Joe Neil MacNeil, Tales Told Until Dawn, p. 28.

 Us and the bondsman's cruel death.3

EÒLAS A BEUM SULA, charm against the injured eye.

Numerous incantations were aimed at relieving the negative
effects of the evil eye. Persons so afflicted were usually
seen to be subject to vomiting and general malaise. The
countenance of a suffer was described as greann, greisne,
agus grannda, “grim. grusesome and ugly.”

EÒLAS AN DEIDEIDH, charm used to relieve a toothache.

EÒLAS AN T-SNIOMH, charm used to relieve a sprain in

animals and men. Neil Macdonald of Albert Bridge Cape
Breton recommended the following "Eolas an t-Sniomh", or
"Charm for A Sprain" where a horse had been injured:

Christ came out;

He found the bones of a horse broken.
He placed blood to blood and flesh to flesh;
As he cured that, so cure this. 4

As the Gaelic was intoned Charles Dunn said that the

"physician" wrapped a string "in a special manner" around
the horses damaged leg. Hugh Mackinnon has said that the
knot was not special, but had to be tied using the thumbs
and forefingers alone.5 This charm worked as well with
humans as horses and cattle.

EÒLAS NAN SUL, a charm used against eye trouble.

EO MUNGA, munga, bully, overpowering, the sacred tree of

Munga, an ancient Irish yew tree which allegedly bore the

3Colum Padraic, A Treasury of Irish Folklore, p. 416.

4Charles W. Dunn, Highland Settler, p. 42. Recounted to the author in

1943.

5Caplan, Down North, p.30.

fruit of the nut, the acorn and the apple, each in season. The
leaves of the tree shaded the entire plain on which it stood.
The dwelling place of a superior god since it could not be
soaked by rain nor destroyed by fire. Similar to the Norse
World-Tree, which embodied all of Nine Worlds. See craobh.

ER. A son of Partholon. EIr. éra, from rá, to give. Similar to

rath, luck note, favour. An individual blessed by the gods.

ERANNAN. A son of Mil, who climbed the mast of a Milesian

vessel to see if the wind keeping their fleet offshore was
magically generated. In the process he declared the
affirmative but fell to his death in the sea. In some texts
this misfortune falls instead upon the eldest son of Mil, a
boy named Donn.

ERC MAC CAIRBRE. Cúchullain’s most persistent enemy. He

slew Cúchulainn’s horse just before one of his companions
killed the Ulsterman. He was afterwards killed by Conal of
the Victories, one of Cúchulainn’s close friends.

EREMON. Sometimes anglicized as Heremon. The first

Milesian High King of Ireland. he was defeated and killed by
his brother Eber who founded the institution of the high
kingship at Tara.

ERCOL. A Connacht warrior, the foster-father of Mebd of

Connacht. He was defeated by Cúchullain just before he was
named the champion of all Ireland.

ERI. The wife of the Tuathan named Cethor. She met the
Fomorian king named Elathu and consented to sexual acts.
Their son was Breas who became king of the land when King
Nuada lost his hand in battle. The Tuatha daoine found him
parsimonious and rose up against him. He went to his father
for help thus starting the war between the “gods” and the
“giants,” an event that led to the complete destruction of
the Fomorian interests in the east.

ERIN, ERINN, western lands. Anciently applied to the

Western Isles of Scotland as well as to Ireland, the latter
distinguished as Innis-Fail.

ERNI. The female keeper of Mebd’s treasury. The chief

handmaiden at Rath Cruachain.

ESCUNG, now an obsolete word, a water-serpent, compare

with easg, an eel and easc, water. The latter part of the
word ung, covered with, anointed with. There are numerous
references in Irish lore to supernatural water-serpents
located in lakes and rivers. A comprehensive catalogue of
their former retreats may be found in the Duanaire Finn. The
war waged on them by the early Church suggests that the
folklore that remains is a remnant of a older wider
tradition of water-snakes as gods. As late as 1961 a
Scottish story circulated concerning a spot where nineteen
of these serpents were slain by shepherds.

ETAIN (ett-an). The wife of the god Ogma, and a daughter of

Diancecht, god of medicine. A pharmaceutical magician.

ETAIN ECHRAIDHE, the daughter of Ailill of Ulster. The god

Midir saw her in a dream and asked Aonghas Og to court her
on his behalf Ailill demanded that Aonghas preform three
tasks before agreeing to the marriage. These done, Etain
went to live with Midir in Bri Leith. Here his first wife
became jealous and turned the newcomer into a dragonfly.
Even in this form, Aonghas recognized her, but before he
could rescue her the enraged first wife swept her away on a
whirlwind. She eventually fell into the wine of the wife of
Etar, who became pregnant with her. This reincarnate Etain
had no knowledge of her past and as an adult married the
high-king named Eochaid. Midir abducted her to the
underworld setting off events which ended with the rape
and pillage of the Underworld.

ETAR. The champion at Ulster during the reign of

Conchobhar mac Nessa. His wife swallowed a fly containing
the essential soul of Etain, wife of the god Midir. His wife,
impregnated, gave birth to Etain Echraidhe, who was
completely unaware of her past history.

ETARLANN, also given as Bresal or Bresal Etarlam. The

foster father of Fuamnach, and a great wizard, he assisted
her in getting rid of Etain, the second wife of her husband
Midir, by shape-changing her into a fly. He was ultimately
slain for this act by Aonghas Og who was Midir’s foster son.

ETHAL ANUBBHAI, ANUBHAIL. A Tuathan ruler of the sidh of

Uaman in Connacht. Aonghas Og, the love god fell in love
with his daughter Caer Iboremeith, and courted her against
her father’s wishes. He was threatened with death by the
Dagda and finally allowed the marriage.

ETHLINN. The daughter of Balor of the Evil Eye. Balor’s

druidic sons warned him that a grandson would bring about
his death. Consequently, he imprisoned this girl in his
tower on Tory Island. Twelve matrons were set about her to
discourage male visitors but when Cian Contje came looking
for the cow Glas Gaibhnenn, he came equipped with a cloak
of invisibility. Looking for the magical cow he came on
Ethlinn instead and they became overly fast friends. The
attendants tried to keep the pregnancy of Ethlinn from her
father but at the birth of triplets, Balor commanded that
they be drowned in a whirlpool. On the way there the pin
securing their carrying sheet broke and one child fell out at
Port na Delig, the “Haven of the Pin.” The other two were
drowned but the survivor was conveyed to Manann mac Ler
who fostered him under the name Dul Duna. At maturity this
child became Lugh, the hero of the Tuatha daoine in the war
with the Fomors. In some tales the child was carried away
from Tory Island by his father. Ethlinn eventually wed
Lugh’s brother Nuada and conceived by him the lines that
included Morna of the White Neck and Finn mac Cumhail. See
Bradan Breith.

ETHNE. EITHNE, eitean, a “Kernal” or Grain. She was

nicknamed “The Sweet Kernal of the Nut.” The daughter of
Roc, steward to Aonghas Og. She was born at the time
Manann mac Ler delivered his daughter to be fostered by the
love god. Ethne, therefore, served as handmaiden to
Manann’s daughter. It was discovered that she ate no food
and took no drink after a chieftain of the mounds raped her.
To prevent her death, Aonghas and Manann went on a voyage
to the west and brought back two magical cows whose milk
she could tolerate. Accompanying Manann’s daughter to the
bath at the river Boyne, Ethne mislaid her cloak of
invisibility and could not re-enter the world of the Daoine
sidh.

EUDAIL, treasure, cattle, EIr. ét, herds, riches, booty,

treasure, the Lat. emo.

EUG, EIG, AOG, die, perish, decay, Death, a ghost, a spectre;

as a verb, to die, perish, expire. Give way, decay; eugach,
death-like, deadly, ghastly, ghostly, spectral; also used as a
negative prefix, OIr. éc, Lat. nex, death, Skr. naç, to perish. A
spirit that took the form of a weasel-like animal which
attempted to rob dying people of their souls. Eugail,
disease, eugais, want, privation. This creature was the
totem animal of Lugh in his guise as the death-god named
Cromm. Eug-bhoil, a deadly wrath.

EUGAIL, EUCAIL, disease. All illness was said caused by evil

spirits which entered the human body through an opening
and subjugated or displaced the internal soul. This idea is
not far removed from the germ theory of disease.

EUMHANN, EMAIN EMHAIN ABHLACH. (avvin) The “Fold of

Death,” (not apples as sometimes suggested). Eumhann, a
pearl, an enfolded thing, OIr. ném, pearl, onyx, niam, sheen,
the root is nem as seen in nèamh. heaven, OIr. nemed, a
sacred grove. the Lat. nemus, a grove, All confer with
neamhnuid, nemanda, pearly. Ablach from the root bel or bal,
to die. A western island somewhere west of the coast of
Alba (Scotland) ruled by Manann mac Ler. The voyage of
Brann started when he was given a silver branch from an
apple tree in this land. Not that Mananann mac Ler was
“married to Fanaid, or Fand, the “Pearl of the Ocean.” Her
name is the EIr. compound fonomat, i.e. vo-nom-anto, the
root being nem, to take, which confers exactly with nàmhad,
an enemy, which turn relates to all of the above. Note next
entry and see Fanaid.

EMAIN MACHA, The “Pen-fold” of the triad goddess Macha,

the baifnn of present events. The seat of the kings of Ulster
in the Red Branch tales. Next to Tara it was the best known
royal residence. It is identified with Navan a phonetic
spelling of ‘n Emain, a place situated two miles from
Armagh. In 355 A.D. this eleven acre site was ravaged by
the three Collas, cousins of the High King at Tara. From
that time on it continued as a ruin. It was claimed that the
warrior-goddess founded the city but some say it was built
by a namesake Macha Mong Ruadh who used forced labour to
erect the ramparts.

EUN, bird, OIr. en, Cy. edn, root pet, to fly, Lat. penna, wing,
Eng. feather, Skr. patati, to fly. Hence eunlaith, birds.
Animals of special importance to the art of prognostication.
“The motif of the bird lover is one which is very widespread
and of great antiquity. It is found in Celtic contexts in the
earliest strata of literary tradition and in the later folk
tales. It is also found in Scots folklore and widely
throughout Europe...In the Irish tradition the role is not
confined to men, both men and women appearing in the role
of bird-lovers. Furthermore, the bird or bird-flock may
bring about the desired situation without the lover himself
(or herself) adopting bird form. There would appear to be a
close link between birds and the sexual act in the case of
divine or semi-divine beings. Frequently the bird or birds
make magic music so that the lovers can better achieve
union. - Anne Ross. The birds most often specified in this
way were ravens, crows, swans, herons, owls, eagles,
cranes and geese. Some of these birds were of an
unspecified species, as next entry.

EUN GLAS NA CEPAICH, the “Grey-bird of Keppoch." Grey

birds were frequently totem animals of the Gaelic
clansmen. The forerunner of death and disaster among the
Macdonnells of Keppoch was a grey bird "seen for many
generations before a death took place in that family."

According to Dr. Keith Macdonald this incarnate spirit

was a inauspicious "small grey bird that came and sat on
the window-sill and tapped on the window." After a death
it disappeared and did not appear again until another clan
member was destined for departure from the world.
"Tradition does not record the exact date when it first
appeared but its existence had long been known in the Braes
of Lochabar. Alstair Carrach, and some of the other Keppoch
chiefs and Braes people had a good deal to account for and
may have been why the gods sent this harbinger of death to
the living."

The bird appeared for Captain Ranald Macdonnell and

was seen by a retainer who was chatting with the man at
his bedside. Coming downstairs the servant insisted that
the priest be consulted as, "that man has not long to live."
Other family members thought the alarm was exaggerated
and suggested that the old patriarch was only suffering
from "a slight chill and cold." The observer of the bird
insisted: "I have seen the Eun Glas sitting on the window-
sill all the time I was with the captain, and you may be sure
that death is not far off." Although there seemed no reason
to do so, the priest was called, and soon after the Father's
departure the old gentleman worsened and died. The death-
bird was also seen by Ranald's sister Barbara, and worse
still it followed around the building to her window-pane and
began tapping there. A few weeks after the funeral she also
died.

The Grey Bird was not proscribed from crossing

running water for Major Alexander Macdonnell met it on
Prince Edward Island shortly before his death. Further,
"when the coffin was taken out of the house it stood on it
all the way to the churchyard which was more than a mile
away, until the body was being lowered into the grave, and
then it flew upwards into the sky till it disappeared from
sight. The circumstances were written home (to Scotland)
at the time by several eye-witnesses. This is corroborated
by Mr. Alexander Macdonald of Upper South River, Prince
Edward Island, who writes me that "at the funeral of
Alexander Macdonald (properly Macdonnell), "Am Maidair
Mor", who died in Prince Edward Island in 1815, the bird
stood on the coffin in the presence of the whole crowd and a
letter from Bishop MacEachearn, then of Prince Edward
Island, to the Rev. Alexander Mac donald of Judique, bears
witness to this statement. Finlay Macdonald, son of
Catriona nighean Dughaill, remembers of having heard
Father Alexander relating this story to his mother. Finlay
still lives in Cape Breton.” (Celtic Monthly, p. 87).

EUN LUGHA, The “lord of heaven’s hen,” the wren, “If the
wren calls from the east, enemies are about to call. Should
the wren call from the south-east, buiffons are on the way;
if from the northeast, a bedfellow or woman is on the way;
if from the north, dear to you is he that approaches. From
the north-west expect pious folk. If the call is from the
south a man will be slain that is important in your life,
providing the sound is not between you and the sun. If the
sound falls on your left ear there will be union with ,m,an
from afar or cohabitation with a young woman. If the call
comes from behind you will be cuckhold. If it arises from
the ground behind you your wife will be taken by rapine on
the part of another man in spite of all you may do. If the
sound issues from the east poets may be on the road to
greet you, or at least there will be tidings from them. If
from the south you may soon see clergy, or hear death-
tidings of some noble layman. The southwest indicates the
coming of robbers, evil peasants or prostitutes. Sounds
from the west are often allied with the advance of kinsmen.
A noble hero is announced from the nnotrthwest. Noble
hospitallers and good women come on this sound. From the
north there advanced bad warriors, ill clerics, infamous
women and wicked youths. From the south, expect sickness
and wolves among the herds. If the song is from a stone or
the ground a male relative will die. If the call comes from a
cross, many men will die. The number of times the sound
reverberates will be the number of dead, and the quarter
from which the wren speaks is where men will die.” “The
little gold filigree wren from Garryduff, Ireland, although
post-Roman in date, may be associated with the Druidic
practise of augury rather than have a Christian
connotation.” See droen, a wren.

EUN SITH, supernatural bird, fairy bird, banshee. See the

above note for one of this kind. According to Nennius the
Picts introduced the craft of ornithomancy into Ireland:
“The honouring of sneezes and omens, choice of weather,
lucky times, the heeding of the voices of birds they
practised without disguise.” According to folklore Saint
Cellach’s murder was presaged by a gathering of birds: “The
ravens cried as did the hooded crow, and also the wren as
well as other birds...Then the raven of the yew tree of
Cluain Eó came. The birds of prey which tore at the flesh of
the saint died immediately. In some Scottish lore the flesh
of the raven is regarded as poisonous. In the eastern parish
of Alva it was once thought that men could be killed simply
by shaking a horse’s bridle at these birds while saying,
“ravens flesh and cranes flesh come out thy way.” This
simple sympathetic reference to poisonous flesh was
thought to bring immediate death to an enemy. On the other
hand, ravens with white feathers were regarded as
favourable omens. Although ravens and crows were thought