Kopie Van War-Goddesses, Scald Crows and Furies. The Use of The Word Badb in Early Irish Literature.

War-goddesses, furies and scald crows:
The use of the word badb in early Irish literature.
Final Thesis by Kim Heijda

Celtic Languages and Culture
University of Utrecht
Student number: 0113387
Supervisor: Bart Jaski
27 February 2007
For Robin and my family
“How long a time lies in one little word!”

- William Shakespeare -
Illustration front page: a fragment from Lebor Gabala Érenn. (Page 11 from the Book of Leinster,
Trinity College Dublin). Source: Irish Script On Screen (http://www.isos.dias.ie/)
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements 4
Introduction 6
1. A definition of the word badb 9

1.1 Etymology 9
1.2 The meaning of the word badb 10
1.3 Problems in translation and interpretation 15
2. Early Irish literature 18

2.1 Manuscripts 18
2.2 Language 19
2.3 The Cycles 20
2.3.1 The Mythological cycle 20
2.3.2 The Ulster cycle 21
2.3.3 The Fenian cycle 26
2.3.4 The Historical cycle 27
2.3.5 The Irish adaptations 28
2.3.6 Other groups of texts 29
3. Badb: one of the war-goddesses 32

3.1 Badb and her sisters 32
1
3.1.1 Badb and Morrígan 36
3.2 Badb and Nemain, the wives of Nét 39
3.3 Badb as a single goddess 44
4. Badb: a generic term for other persons and creatures 50

4.1 The Furies 50
4.1.1 The Furies and Bellona in the classical texts 50
4.1.2 The use of the word badb in the Irish adaptations 51
4.1.3 Connection between the Furies and the Irish war-goddesses 56
4.2 Witches 60
4.3 Battle demons 64
5. Badb: a word for scald crows 68
6. Badba: the genitive of badb, used as an adjective 75

6.1 Recurring phrases with badba 75
6.2 Compounds with badba 83
6.3 Remaining uses of badba (“warlike”) 84
7. Conclusion 89
Abbreviations 96
Bibliography 98
Appendix A 107
Appendix B 109
Acknowledgements
2
After a full year of hard labour, here lies before me my final thesis. And although I am
content with the result, it has not always been an easy process. In the first place the
research phase took very long and many hours were spend in the library. It started
with searching for the word badb through all possible texts that were available to me.
Even the moment I left the library, I kept searching everywhere for the word badb.
There was not a piece of text left I could look at in a normal way, from magazines to
novels. Even in the billboards “Bob jij of bob ik?” I was convinced I could read badb.
Crows or ravens sitting in the grass, seemed no longer normal birds to me, but signs
that I should go to work again. Therefore it was very healthy when this first phase of
my thesis came to an end, and I could finally start writing, a process which has come
with ups and downs, but I have over all experienced as very positive.
In the second place the writing of this thesis was not easy because in a short
period my small and precious family has endured more than we could handle at
times, which made it sometimes very difficult to focus on my thesis. I am very happy
to say that at the moment of finishing my thesis, we seem to have all survived this
difficult period and I believe it has only made us stronger. I am very happy that my
grandfather is back home again and I admire my grandparents Ton and Miep for their
strength, in spite of all they have been through together.
I would like to take the opportunity to thank a number of people, without whose
help and support I would not have been able to finish this thesis. In the first place I
would like to thank my supervisor Bart Jaski. His useful remarks and advice always
helped me to see things clearly again, and kept me going on the right track. I have
always followed Bart’s courses with much joy and interest and I think I am not alone
in saying that it is a great loss for the Celtic department to loose him as a teacher. I
want to wish Bart a lot of luck in the future. I also would like to thank Leni van Strien-
Gerritsen and Frank Brandsma for their inspiring courses I have been able to follow
through the years.
I dedicate this thesis to Robin and my family. I thank Robin from the bottom of
my heart for all his patience, in spite of all the cranky moods and nervous
breakdowns he had to endure. When I was about to collapse due to stress or
tiredness, Robin was there for me with his untiring optimism, which always kept me
going. I want to thank my family for their support and understanding for my hectic life.
Especially I would like to thank Ellen and Antoinette for all the emotional support in
this sometimes very difficult period. Also a big thanks goes out to Murphy and Finn
for all the relaxation and calmness that only cats can bring.
I would like to thank all my friends for all the necessary distraction and support
and for understanding that for a long period I did not have much time for them. A
word of thanks goes out to all fellow Celts for warning me for texts which contain
badb and useful articles. And of course for drinking Guinness with me, which always
kept the writing process going.
Last but not least, I would like to thank Amy Winehouse, Damien Rice, Room
Eleven, Gnarls Barkley, Arctic Monkeys and The Raconteurs for their music, which
gave me strength and comfort this past period.
Kim Heijda,
Utrecht, 20 February, 2007.
3
Introduction
In almost six years of studying Celtic, my mind was always set on what the subject of
my final thesis would be. Through the years this subject has often shifted, but I have
always been focused on literature, Celtic women and mythology. Finally, because of
a tutorial called “The reception of classical literature in medieval Ireland” given by
Bart Jaski, everything fell in to place. The fact that in the Irish adaptation text Togail
na Tebe, the word badb was used to replace the Furies and Bellona from the
classical original Thebaid, caught my attention. I learned the word badb is used in
many different ways in Irish literature, which makes it difficult to give an accurate
definition of the word. The most common use is when the word signifies the name
Badb, for one of the Irish war-goddesses, but the word is also used to describe other
similar creatures and scald crows. The universal use of this particular word inspired
me to examine the word badb more closely in my final thesis.
Thus, the main purpose of my thesis is to examine the use of the word badb in
early Irish literature, based on the texts in which this word occurs. I want to define the
different meanings and uses of this word, and I want to see when the word badb
started to appear in Irish literature and in what sort of texts the word occurs.
Ultimately, I hope to describe how the word badb has developed in early Irish
literature.
Unfortunately I was not able to look at all literature at hand. Therefore I will
now define the limits of my literature study. I primarily want to look at the texts
belonging to the period called early Irish literature. My focus will be on narrative,
imaginative prose texts, which accordingly excludes poem books, annals, law books,
grammars and hagiographical texts. Only when I thought a text was interesting
enough to include, I have made some minor exceptions. I want to emphasize that I
am only interested in the word badb, which means that I do not want to include all
possible references to the different meanings of the word, and it is also not my
intention to elaborate on symbolism, religious or mythological aspects or the
background of the Irish war-goddesses.
Starting out, I expected to find a considerable amount of secondary literature
on the word badb, but to my own astonishment very minimal serious literature has
been written about this subject. The secondary literature that does exist provides
primarily information on the Irish war-goddesses or Celtic Mythology in general. But
unfortunately most of these scholars do not seem to base their information on the
Irish literature at hand, but instead seem to be repeating outdated ideas that exist
4
about these war-goddesses. This sort of general and, in my opinion, inaccurate
information can be found mainly in encyclopaedias, dictionaries and handbooks on
mythology. Miranda Green has written a considerable amount of literature on the
Celtic war-goddesses, but I think these works are of no relevance here, as she does
not base her information primarily on the Irish texts, but rather on religious,
mythological and archaeological evidence.1 Fortunately, there has been written a
number of relevant, reliable and interesting works on the word badb or the war-
goddesses in general that are worth mentioning here. The first scholar who examined
the Irish war-goddesses was William Hennesy, and although he has made some
interesting points, it is important to note that his article is in several aspects rather
outdated.2 Some modern scholars who have written relevant and reliable works on
this subject are John Carey, Rosalind Clark, Garrett Olmsted and Jacqueline Borsje. 3
I will next describe the contents and composition of this thesis. The first two
chapters are meant as preliminary chapters, in order to further define the field of
research. In the first chapter I will look at the literal meaning of the word badb to
create a clear definition of the word and in the second chapter I will give a
summarised introduction of the corpus of early Irish literature, with the main focus on
the texts in which the word badb occurs. In chapters 3 to 6, I will discuss the different
meanings of the word badb, as described in the first chapter. In the third chapter I will
describe the texts in which the word badb signifies the name Badb for one of the war-
goddesses, while in the fourth chapter I will look at the word badb used as a generic
term to describe other demonic or warlike creatures. Chapter 5 deals with the
meaning “scald crow” and in the last chapter I will look at the genitive of badb used in
an adjectival sense, meaning “warlike”. Finally, in the conclusion I will propose a
model for the development of the word badb in early Irish literature, based on the
previous chapters.
In this thesis I use several abbreviations for the Irish texts I refer to frequently.
An explanatory list of all abbreviations used in this thesis can be found at page 93.
Under appendix A and B, found at page 104 and 106, I have placed poems that were
too long to include in the actual chapters.
1
Miranda Green describes the Celtic war-goddesses in: Billington and Green, Concept; Green, Gods;
Green, Celtic Goddesses.
2
Hennesy, ‘Ancient ’.
3
Carey, ‘Notes’; Clark, ‘Aspects’; Clark, Great Queens; Olmsted, Gods; Borsje, ‘Omens’. Very recently
Jacqueline Borsje has supplied an entry about the word Bodb in Koch, Celtic Culture.
5
1. A definition of the word badb
In this thesis I want to look at the use of the Irish word badb in early Irish literature.
To understand the use of this particular word, we must first understand its meaning.
Therefore, to begin with, in this chapter I want to look at the literal meaning and
characteristics of the word badb, in order to create a clear definition.
Unfortunately, it is problematic to create a proper definition of the word badb.
In the first place hardly any modern research has been done on this word and in
most dictionaries, vocabularies, glossaries and modern grammars it is lacking. The
works that do cite badb are very often outdated, incomplete, contradictive and in my
opinion incorrect. Nevertheless, numerous modern scholars uncritically follow these
older definitions. A second problem is that those works that cite badb have appointed
various different meanings to the word, which unfortunately are not applied in a
consistent way. This makes it complicated to give an unambiguous definition of the
word and a clear categorisation of its different meanings. Yet this confusion shows
that the word badb is a very interesting and versatile word, which is used in many
different ways in Irish literature. A third problem is that because of this confusion
concerning the meaning of badb, there occur many inconsistencies in existing
editions and translations.
1.1 Etymology
Before creating a definition of the word badb, I think it is important to look into the
origin and development of the word. The main point of interest in the etymology of
the word badb is the connection of Old Irish badb catha with the Gaulish deity name
Cathubodva. A Gallo-Roman inscription found in Haute-Savoie reads: athubodua
Aug(ustae) Servilia Terentia (votum) s(olvit) (ibens) m(erito). Although the initial letter
is damaged, athuboduae should most probably read cathuboduae, in which William
Hennesy recognised the Old Irish word badb catha. The first element of the
compound name of this Gaulish goddess, catu-, unmistakably cognates with Old Irish
cath, meaning “battle”. According to Hennesy the second element, bodua, directly
corresponds with forms of bodb or badb, which according to him originally signified
“rage”, “fury” or “violence”, and later on implied a “witch”, “fairy”, or “goddess”, who is
represented by the bird known as the “scare crow”, “scald crow” or “royston crow”. 4
Garrett Olmsted, on the other hand, explains cathubodva or bodva as “battle
crow”. He explains *bodvo- as “(royal-) crow” or the “(war) goddess Bodva”. And he
4
Hennesy, ‘Ancient’, 32-33.
6
notes that this Celtic term apparently derived from Celto-Germanic *boduo- “battle”.5
This, in my eyes satisfactory explanation, agrees with that of Julius Pokorny, who
explains that Old Irish bodb, meaning “crow’ or “war-goddess in the form of a crow”,
derives from the Celto-Germanic root bodṷo-, meaning “fight” or “battle”. This Celto-
Germanic root probably goes back to the Indo-European root bhedh-, meaning “to
stab”, “to dig”, “to cut”. 6 Olmsted explains that the use of the term badb “crow” to refer
to the Irish war-goddess very likely has its roots in the Gaulish phase of Celtic
prehistory.7
1.2 The meaning of the word badb
The meaning of the word badb, according to the Dictionary of the Irish Language, is
as follows: “Name of a war-goddess and a scald crow, in which form the goddess
appeared. This war-goddess is represented as stirring up conflict, foretelling
slaughter and rejoicing over the slain. In translation literature she is equated with the
Furies”.8 Hennesy has adopted in his article on the Irish war-goddesses an
unpublished Irish dictionary by Peter O’Connell. O’Connell explains Badb-catha with
“Fionóg, a royston crow or a scald crow”, while he explains Badb as “i.e. bean sidhe,
a female fairy, phantoms, or spectre, supposed to be attached to certain families, and
to appear in the form of scald crows, or royston crows”. 9 I do not agree with these
explanations on all points and because of the problems listed above, I think it is
necessary to give an accurate and structured classification of the different meanings
of the word badb. I have done this according to the early Irish texts in which the word
occurs. In my opinion the word badb can be categorised in the following classes:
1. Badb
A proper name for one of the three Irish war-goddesses: Badb (aspirated
Badbh, Badhbh), Bodb; accusative: Baidb, Boidb; genitive: Baidbe (aspirated
Baidbh, Baidbhi, Baidhbi), Bodba, Bodbae.
2. badb
A generic term for persons or creatures other than the war-goddess Badb:
∙ “fury”: badb (aspirated badhbh), bodb; accusative: baidb; genitive: baidbi;
plural: badb, badba, bodba.
∙ “witch”: badb (aspirated badhb, badbh, badhbh); vocative: baidb; plural:
badb, badba (aspirated badbha, badhba, badhbaidh).
∙ “battle demon”: badb; genitive: baidbhi; plural: badb, badba (aspirated:
badhba, badhbha).
3. badb
A word meaning “scald crow”: badb (aspirated badhbh), bodb; genitive:
bodbai; plural: badb, badhdh badba (aspirated badhbh, baidhb, badbha,
badhbha), bodba.
4. badba
5
Olmsted, Gods, 411.
6
Pokorny, IEW, 113-114.
7
Olmsted, Gods, 285.
8
Quin, DIL, 62.
9
7
The genitive form of badb, used as an adjective: badba (aspirated badhbh,
baidb, badhba, badhbha), bodba (aspirated bodhba, bodhbha, bodbha,
bodhbh), boadba, bodbae, bodhuha; and the alternate form: badbda
(aspirated bhadhbhdha) badbaidi, baidbaib, bodbda (aspirated bodhbda,
bodhbdha), bodbdai.
This adjective can be best translated as: “warlike”, “furious” and “deadly”. The
following variations are found:
∙ recurring phrases with badba
∙ compounds with badba: compounds with a noun (badb + noun) and
compounds with another adjective (badb + adjective).
I will now try to explain how I have arrived at this classification. The first class
includes all the cases where badb is used as the proper name Badb for one of the
Irish war-goddesses. This war-goddess can appear alone or in the companionship of
her sisters or as the wife of Nét together with Nemain.
In the second class I place other persons or creatures who are called badb. I
have added this category, because from the texts it becomes clear that badb is a
very general word that can also be used to describe a demonic kind of creature,
other than the war-goddess Badb. In this class occurs the plural form badba, which
DIL does not mention. According to several scholars, the plural badba is also used
for the three war-goddesses collectively, but I have not found the plural form of badb
used to denote the war-goddesses. In the classical adaptations the word badb is
used for the classical Furies. DIL says in translation literature the war-goddess is
equated with the Furies, but when we look at the texts, it is clear that the Furies are
replaced with the word badb, and do not signify the war-goddess Badb. In several
texts the word badb means “witch”, a meaning DIL does not include. Hessen’s Irish
Lexicon includes “witch” as one of the meanings of badb, as do a few vocabularies.10
The last category in this class is the rather general term “battle demon”. The
translations “battle fury” and “battle demon” occur frequently when badb is used to
describe a flying kind of demonic creature. 11 I have placed in this category all
creatures called badb that are described in a demonic way and can not been seen as
a “scald crow”. Nevertheless, the exact meaning and description of these creatures
remains unclear.
In numerous texts badb stands for a kind of bird called “scald crow”. DIL
interprets badb as the name of the war-goddess, who can also appear as a scald
crow. This would mean that all entries of badb in the sense of “scald crow” refer to
the war-goddess Badb in the form of a scald crow. However, the texts display a clear
difference between the war-goddess Badb who transforms into a birdlike form and
the word badb referring to a scald crow in general. Hessen’s Irish Lexicon gives
“royston-crow” as one of the meanings of badb.12 Most vocabularies mention that
badb can be used for “scald crow”, but some take the meaning of “scald crow” as a
form of the war-goddess, while others see it as a separate meaning for a bird. 13
Eugene O’Curry explains that badb is an Irish name for any bird of prey, particularly
10
Caomhánach, Hertz, Hull, and Lehmacher, HIL, 98; O’Curry, CML, 130-131, 189; Stokes, ‘Second
Battle’, 124.
11
Watson, Mesca, 69; Knott, Togail, 104.
12
Caomhánach, Hertz, Hull, and Lehmacher, HIL, 98.
13
Joynt, Tromdámh, 42; Murray, Baile, 132; Ó Riain, Cath Almaine, 72; Gray, CMT, 112-113.
8
the raven and birds with claws. 14 Tymoczko says Old Irish bodb “scald crow” refers
primarily to the hooded crow in early Irish, the dominant resident crow of Ireland. 15
The third class consists of the genitive form of badb used as an adjective. The
genitive form of badb is badba. Badba is used as a proper genitive in the first two
classes, when the word refers to the genitive form of the war-goddess or one of the
other creatures. But as Cecile O’Rahilly explains in the glossary of the Stowe version
of Táin Bó Cúailnge, the genitive bodba is used as an adjective meaning “warlike”. 16
The adjectival use of the genitive of badb occurs in numerous texts and takes on the
meaning of “warlike”, “furious” or “deadly”.
DIL lists three different categories for the adjective badba. Under badb is listed
the attributive genitive singular of badb, which means “deadly”, “fatal”, “dangerous” or
“ill-fated”. This genitive can also be used to describe persons. Secondly, DIL lists
badba as a separate word, which is explained as “evident” or “conspicuous”.
Elizabeth Gray explains that it is suggested that this word is actually a genitive
singular of badb, for which a second meaning was inferred from certain examples. 17
The third form DIL lists is badbda, which is explained as “appertaining to war”, “Badb-
like”, “deadly” or “fatal”, which also occurs as a substantive which probably means
“enemy”. Next DIL mentions some examples where we should read badbda instead
of badba and some examples where we should read badba, the attributed genitive
singular of badb, instead of badbda.18 Hessen’s Irish Lexicon explains that the
genitive bodba, badba can mean “martial, pernicious” and gives bodbda, badbda,
badbaide also as a separate form that means: “belonging to the war-goddess”,
“warlike”, “fierce” or “deadly”.19 The vocabularies describe the adjective badba as the
genitive singular of badb which means “warlike”, “dangerous”, “fierce”, “deadly” or
“destructive”.20 Jackson recognises badhbha, bodhbha as the adjective which means
“warlike”.21
I have chosen not to follow the division between badba and badbda, because
I do not see a consistent difference between these two forms. The main reason for
this is that these two forms appear in the exact same phrases, with the same
meaning. For example, we find the phrases barannglaeda bodbda, cuailli
bhadhbhdha and don brat bodhbdha which are all various spellings for badbda, but
these same phrases are found in other texts, or even in the same text, spelled
badba.22 This must mean these two forms stand for the same word, but appear in a
different form, although I find the exact reason for this difference hard to define. I
must note this is mainly because this alternate form does not appear as frequent as
the standard form badba. Especially in Accalam na Senorach this form occurs
frequently; I found bodbda twice and aspirating bhadhbhdha and bodhbdha. In Slieve
na mban Finn occurs bodhbda, in Imthúsa Alexandair occurs the form bodbdai, in
Cogadh Gaedhel re Gallaibh occurs badbaidi and we find here the only reference of
DIL’s “foes”, namely baidbaib.23 I think from this evidence we can not make up a
logical explanation for the difference in spelling.
14
O’Curry, CML, 130-131.
15
Tymoczko, ‘Semantic’, 154.
16
O'Rahilly, Stowe Version, 206.
17
Gray, CMT, 76.
18
Quin, DIL, 62.
19
Caomhánach, Hertz, Hull, and Lehmacher, HIL, 98.
20
Watson, Mesca, 69; Calder, Togail, 333; Hogan, Cath, 216; Murray, Baile, 132.
21
Jackson, CML, 118.
22
I will discuss these phrases in paragraph 5.1 of chapter 5.
23
I will discuss these entries in chapter 5.
9
Finally I would like to note that the spellings of badb and bodb signify the same
word, but that bodb is the older form. Another point I would shortly like to mention is
the use of an article before the word badb. The definitive article appears frequently
when badb is used for the Furies, but also witches, battle demons and scald crows
are often spelled with an article. Besides there are number of cases where the war-
goddess Badb is also denoted with an article. This seems strange, as in this case
Badb is used as a proper name, but it should be noted here that the names of the
other war-goddesses, especially Morrígan and Nemain, in most of the examples are
also spelled with an article.
1.3 Problems in translation and interpretation
As we have seen above, there does not exist a certain and unambiguous definition of
the word badb that embodies all the variant meanings of this generic word.
Therefore a large extent of inconsistency occurs in existing editions and translations.
The various meanings of the word are not applied in a logical way and so the texts
sometimes become quite confusing and incorrect. I want to mention here some
examples of confusing differences in translation and interpretation.
When it is unclear what the word badb indicates, some editors simply dismiss
badb from the translated text and do not translate the word at all. There are also
instances where the word badb has been taken over in translation, without an actual
translation of the word, for instance in Cath Maige Leana, badhbha in the sense of
“scald crows” appears in the text, while in Eugene O’Curry’s translation we find “loud
croaking Badhbs”.24
Where others such as Ernst Windisch interpret badb in TBC as a proper
name, Cecile O’Rahilly is the only one who consistently translates badb with “war-
goddess” and not as the name Badb. As an exception she does translate Badb and
Nemain as proper names when they shriek together over the battlefield. 25 O’Rahilly
accordingly does not mention Badb in the glossary of persons. She even translates
ind Némain with “the war-goddess” and not as the name Nemain and explains that
the word némain has usually been translated as “the Nemain”, but that it might
perhaps be rendered better by “war-frenzy”, as O’Rahilly explains that as a common
noun nemain means “battle fury”, “frenzy”.26 Eleanor Hull also translates ind Neamain
with “a frenzy” or “a witch”, which would resemble the generic character of the word
badb.27
The war-goddess Badb gets sometimes confused in translations with Bodb
Derg, a male supernatural figure. We find in a poem in TBC, which occurs only in
recension II: “Valiantly men will be despoiled in the land of Badb’s daughter (ingine
Buidb)”.28 Windisch states that this means “the daughter of Bodb Derg, the king of the
síde of Munster”, and that the daughter of Bodb Derg is the Badb. 29 This option
seems very unlikely to me, as ingine Buidb appears in more texts, where it indeed
means “Bodb Derg’s daughter”, but never is Badb one of these daughters. There
does not exist any reference of Bodb Derg being Badb’s father. In Duanaire Finn the
24
25
O’Rahilly, TBC-I, 231.
26
O’Rahilly, TBC-I, 107, 220, 245.
27
Hull, Cuchullin Saga, 164-165, 170.
28
O’Rahilly, TBC-LL, 13, 149; D'Arbois de Jubainville, Enlèvement, 50; Windisch, Altirische
Heldensage, 64.
29
Windisch, Altirische Heldensage, 64.
10
same mistake occurs. King Conall’s previous wife was the very powerful daughter of
Bodhbh (ingean Buidhph) who had turned Uirne Sharpmouth in the shape of a
hound. Nowhere in this text is suggested that this daughter is the Badb, but in the
glossary we find “Bodhbh, wife of Conall, turns her rival Uirne into a hound”. 30 This
shows how easily Bodb Derg is mistaken for the Badb. The confusion is
understandable since the names are very similar, certainly because Badb can also
be spelled Bodb, and the names occur in the same genitive form Boidb. Besides this,
the adjective derg (“red”) is also used in combination with badb in several texts.
However, from the context of the texts it can always be clarified whether we are
dealing with Badb or Bodb Derg, because Bodb Derg is a far more elaborative
character, who plays a different role in Irish literature than the war-goddess Badb.
Bodb Derg is the king of the síde of Munster from the Tuatha dé Danann and he is
famous for his knowledge in relationship to his swineherds, who cause battle and
bloodshed. He is seen as a supernatural protector of Ireland together with the
Morrígan, Midir and Óengus Mac ind Óc.31
There also occur some problems when it comes to translating badb in the
sense of “fury”. George Calder treats badb in a very confusing and inconsistent way
in his edition and translation of Togail na Tebe. In TnT the word badb can either
stand for a Fury or the war-goddess Bellona. Calder correctly translates badb with
“war-goddess” when Bellona is meant, but when in the text badb refers to a Fury, as
can be made up from the original classical text, he translates it as “goddess”, “war-
goddess”, “goddess of war” or “scald of war”. Even the Fury Tisiphone is called a
goddess by Calder. Calder at one point translates badb with “red lipped Furies”, while
in other instances he translates the same phrase with “red mouthed goddesses”. This
makes his translation very confusing, as it is difficult to understand when either a
Fury or Bellona is meant, because they are both denoted with the general term
“goddesses”. I think Calder could have made the difference between the Furies and
Bellona a lot clearer by translating badb with “fury” when a Fury is meant and with
“war-goddess” when Bellona is meant. Whitley Stokes made a similar mistake, as he
translates badb with “Fury” when actually Bellona is meant.
Considerable confusion exists in the way the genitive of badb is interpreted
and translated by various editors. O’Rahilly consistently translates bodba when used
in an adjectival manner as “warlike”, but remarkably Windisch treats badba as the
genitive form of Badb, the name of the war-goddess, and completely seems to
dismiss the adjectival use of badba in the sense of “warlike”. Hence he translates the
adjective badba as “… of the Badb” or as “the Badb’s …”, for example “circle of the
Badb” instead of “warlike circle”. Windisch obstinately says in a note that indeed
others have taken bodba for “warlike”, but that he sees it as a genitive of the Badb. 32
Though this approach seems rather outdated to me, scholars such as Thomas
Kinsella and R.A.S. MacAlister have repeated Windisch’ example, which does not
improve their translations. The war-goddess Badb gets entangled in tales that have
in fact nothing to do with the war-goddess.
In spite of all these complications, in the next chapters I have tried to choose
for the most recurring or most logical translation. Some of the more interesting
variations in translation are mentioned in the notes.
30
Mac Neill, Duanaire II, 112-113; III, 346.
31
Koch, Celtic Culture, 220.
32
Windisch, Altirische Heldensage, 662.
11
2. Early Irish literature
In the following chapter I will give a summarised introduction of the corpus of early
Irish literature, the medieval period of Irish literature. The main focus will be on the
texts I will discuss in the next chapters, the texts in which the word badb occurs.
2.1 Manuscripts
Irish literature is preserved in a number of manuscripts, of which the earliest extant

example was written about the end of the 11 th century. These manuscripts are, in
general, miscellaneous collections of prose and verse, in which legend, history and
hagiography, genealogical and legal tracts, written in Old, Middle and Modern Irish
are found along side each other. I will now mention the most important manuscripts
in which the Irish tales appear.33 The oldest manuscript is Lebor na hUidre, the “Book
of the Dun Cow”, which was written around 1100 at Clonmacnoise. 34 Rawlinson
B.502 contains twelve leaves written at the end of the 11 th century and seventy
leaves written around 1130. 35 An extensive collection of various literary materials,
including tales, is the “Book of Leinster” (originally called Lebar na Núachongbála),
which was produced around 1160.36 The late 14th and 15th century produced amongst
others four large codices: the “Yellow Book of Lecan”, 37 the “Book of Lecan”, the
“Book of Uí Maine” and the “Book of Ballymote”. 38 These manuscripts have many
texts in common. Some other important manuscripts are Lebor Brecc, the “Speckled
Book of Mac Egan”, written in the late 14 th century, the “Book of Fermoy”, written in
the 15th century,39 and the “Book of Lismore”, also written in the 15 th century.
Furthermore, in the British Library in London are the following manuscripts of interest
from the 15th and 16th century: several Egerton manuscripts, of which the most
renowned is probably Egerton 1782 and Harleian 5280. Besides these, several other
manuscripts are preserved in the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin (RIA) and in Trinity
College in Dublin (TCD). In the Bodleian Library in Oxford the manuscripts Rawlinson
B.487 and B.512 are preserved.
2.2 Language
The language used in the manuscripts in which early Irish literature is preserved,
comprises different periods in the Irish language, which I will shortly describe next.
The written Irish language took shape in the 5 th century, when the Christian
missionaries brought the Latin alphabet to Ireland. Written Irish literature probably
started during the 6th century and fully developed in the 7th century. Before the 6th
33
Dillon, Early, xvii-xix; Thurneysen, Helden, 14, 32, 34, 51.
34
Preserved in the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin.
35
Preserved in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.
36
Preserved in Trinity College, Dublin.
37
Preserved in Trinity College, Dublin.
38
All three are preserved in the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin.
39
Both preserved in the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin.
12
century Irish literature was purely oral, a tradition which was dominated by the filid,
the Irish professional poets. Before the Irish became known with the Latin alphabet,
there did already exist an alphabet in Ireland, the so-called Ogam alphabet, which
was used for inscriptions on stone. But because these inscriptions consist almost
entirely of names they are of no historical or literary value. From the 7 th century
onwards Irish is found written in Roman letters, with words reduced from their Ogam
forms.
The Irish language has had two periods of relative standardisation. The first
period started in the 7th century. This form is called Old Irish (ca. 600-900), as it is the
earliest state of the Irish language of which sufficient knowledge exists. Old Irish
remained fairly uniform for about three hundred years. The second period in the Irish
language is the Middle Irish period (ca. 900-1200). It represents the struggle between
the evolving speech among the Irish people and older standards upheld by scholars
who had neither the knowledge nor the authority to enforce them. By the end of the
12th century a new type of learned layman had arisen who sold poems of praise to
the aristocracy, and for over 400 years this class maintained the standard language
called Early Modern Irish (ca. 1200-1600).40
2.3 The Cycles
The narrative tales which appear in early Irish literature are generally divided into four
main groups or cycles, a categorisation which was first introduced by Myles Dillon.
These four cycles are called the Mythological cycle, the Ulster cycle, the Fenian cycle
and the Historical cycle. The classification into cycles is a modern invention, as
according to the traditional native tradition texts are categorised according to tale
type. Two Middle Irish Tale lists are recorded in manuscripts containing medieval
Irish texts. These lists classify texts by means of their genre. 41 The main types of
tales are: destructions (togla), cattle raids (tána bó), courtships (tóchmarca), battles
(catha), voyages (immrama), adventures (echtrai), sieges (forfessa), plunderings
(oircne), visions (físi), love stories (serca) and hostings (slúagid). In the following
chapter I have followed the division into cycles, as in my opinion this is more practical
and structured than any other way of classifying the early Irish tales. I have added
certain other groups of texts that do not belong to any of the four cycles, but I think
are worth mentioning.
2.3.1 The Mythological cycle
The main characters of the Mythological cycle are the Túatha dé Danann, “the
peoples of the goddess Danann”, who were the supernatural inhabitants of the síde,
the fairy mounds. It is said of the Tuatha dé Danann that the men of art were gods
and the labourers non-gods. They are ruled by the Dagda, whose sons are Óengus
mac ind Óc and Bodb Derg. Other important figures are Midir, husband of the
beautiful Étain, Manannan mac Lir, Nuada Airgetlám and Lug mac Ethnenn, who is
the divine father of Cú Chulainn. These deities do not appear as proper gods as may
be expected, but as supernatural beings with magic powers, who sometimes interfere
40
MacCana, ‘Irish’, 35-39, 43; Greene, Irish Language, 8-12.
41
Chadwin, ‘Remscéla’, 67.
13
in the earthly affairs of men. The war-goddesses Morrígan, Badb, Macha and
Nemain also belong to the Tuatha dé Danann. 42
The texts in this cycle that contain the word badb are now listed. Lebor Gabála
Érenn (“The Book of Invasions”) is the origin legend of Ireland. It tells the fictious
history of Ireland from the earliest times down to the coming of Christianity. The story
was probably originally compiled in the 8 th or 9th century, although the extant versions
are a few centuries later. There are three different redactions of LGÉ.43 Cath Maige
Tured (“The Second Battle of Mag Tuired”) describes the battle between the Tuatha
dé Danann and the Fomoire. It was probably first written in the 9 th century. There
exist two versions of CMT, the older version, from the 16th century Harleian 5280 and
an Early Modern Irish version in RIA 24.P.9.44 Cath Muige Tuired Cunga (“The First
Battle of Mag Tuired”) describes the battle fought between the Tuatha dé Danann
and the Fir Bolg. This tale is later than CMT; it is a late Middle Irish or Early Modern
Irish text.45 Oidheadh Clainne Lir (“The Fate of the Children of Lir”) is a late medieval
tale that can be dated maybe as late as 1500 AD. It tells how Aife turns the children
of Lir into swans.
2.3.2 The Ulster cycle
The Ulster cycle is one of the two heroic cycles. The cycle is called after the province
Ulster in north-eastern Ireland. The king of this area was Conchobar, who resided at
Emain Macha. The theme of the Ulster tales is largely based upon the war between
the two northern provinces, Ulster and Connacht. The stories in the Ulster cycle are
about the warriors of king Conchobar. The central figure of the cycle is the warrior Cú
Chulainn, the nephew of Conchobar, who as a small boy comes to Emain Macha to
join Conchobar’s boy troops. Conall Cernach, Loegaire Buadach and Bricriu
Nemthenga are some of the other warriors; Cathbad, the druid, also plays an
important role. Queen Medb and her husband Ailill are the leaders of Connacht, who
have a daughter called Finnabair. Fergus is a warrior of Connacht who is originally
an exile of Ulster and Cú Chulainn’s foster father. The time in which these stories are
set is the period around the birth of Christ, therefore the Ulster cycle represents an
older world than the time it was written in.
The word badb occurs very frequently in the Ulster Cycle. Cath Ruis na Ríg for
Boinn (“The Battle of Ros na Ríg”) describes the second of the battles of the Seven
Years of War, which are said to have been fought at the beginning of the Christian
era. The old version of this tale is preserved in the Book of Leinster and can be dated
to the 13th century. The more modern text from the 15 th century is called Rosnaree.
Fled Bricrenn (“Bricriu’s Feast”), from the 8 th century, deals with the motif of the
Hero’s Portion at a feast. There exist three redactions of FB; redaction A from Lebor
na hUidre, the oldest version, and redaction B, from an Egerton ms and the Leyden
or Vossianus ms, and redaction C from TCD H.3.17. and an Edinburgh Gaelic ms.
Scéla Muicce Meic Dathó (“The Tale of Mac Dathó’s Boar”) dates from around 800
AD. The theme of the story is the Champion’s Portion, fought over between
Connacht and Ulster.46Mesca Ulad (“The Intoxication of the Ulstermen”) tells how the
drunken chariot heroes of Ulster loose their way and get trapped in an iron house.
42
Dillon, Early, 51-54; Rees and Rees, Celtic Heritage, 26-31; Murphy, Ossianic Lore, 17-18.
43
Redaction I is from the Book of Leinster and the Book of Fermoy.
44
Carey, ‘Myth’, 53-54.
45
From TCD H.2.17. There also exists an Early Modern Irish version in the Franciscan Library,
Merchants’ Quay in Dublin, in which badb does not occur.
14
There exists an older version from the 9 th century and a younger version from the 12 th
century.47Togail Bruidne Da Derga (“The Destruction of Da Derga’s Hostel”) probably
derives from the first half of the 8 th century. The theme of the story is the death of
Conaire.48 Closely connected to TBDD is Togail Bruiden Da Choca (“The Destruction
of Da Choca’s Hostel”), a 12 th century compilation, which tells about the death of
Cormac Conn Loinges. There are two recensions of TBDC: recension A, which is the
older version, and recension B. Tromdamh Guaire (“The Great Visitation to Guaire”),
from the 13th century, is one of the tales that explains how TBC became known to the
filid.49
Besides these, several other stories occur within the Ulster Cycle that are
connected with Táin Bó Cúailnge (which I will discuss next). These fore-tales are
called remscéla, texts that have a relationship with the plot of the text to which it is a
fore-tale. In the Book of Leinster ten tales are listed as remscéla which precede
TBC.50 There are several remscéla in which badb occurs. Tochmarc Ferbe (“The
Wooing of Ferb”), from the middle of the 12 th century, tells of one of the provocations
which led to TBC which took place seven years later after the events described in this
tale. There are two versions of TF. Version I is from Egerton 1782, which consists of
the original poem and the older prose. Version II is from the Book of Leinster, and is
the younger version. Táin Bó Regamna (“The Cattle Raid of Regamna”), written
somewhere between the 8th and 11th century, describes the first appearance of the
Morrígan to Cú Chulainn.51 Maccgnimrada Cu Chulainn (“The Boyhood Deeds of Cú
Chulainn”) is actually a part of TBC, which tells how Cú Chulainn as a boy came to
Emain Macha. Tochmarc Emire (“The Wooing of Emer”) tells of Cú Chulainn’s
journey to Emer, who eventually becomes his wife. There are two existing versions of
TE. The shorter version, version I, is the earlier version and exists only in Rawlinson
B.512 from the 15th century and lacks the first half of the narrative. The longer
version, version II, is most complete and exists in several manuscripts of which the
earliest is a fragment in Lebor na hUidre. The story was probably first written in the
8th century.52 Aided Con Culainn (“The Death of Cú Chulainn”) describes the death of
Cú Chulainn at the battle of Muirthemne. There are two versions of ACC. The oldest
version has been preserved in the Book of Leinster and has been dated to the middle
of the 8th century. This version is normally called Aided Conculainn. The modern
version, dating from the 15 th century, is more elaborate and modernised; it exists of
two parts: Brislech Mor Maige Murthemni, about the death of Cú Chulainn, and
Dergruathair Chonall Chearnaig, about the revenge of Conall Cernach, Cú
Chulainn’s foster brother.53
46
The oldest version of SMMD is from the Book of Leinster. There also exists a version from 15 th and
16th century manuscripts. All fragments mentioned here are from the Book of Leinster.
47
MU is preserved in Lebor na hUidre, containing only the latter part of the earlier version; the Book of
Leinster contains a large part of the later version, but lacks the end; the Yellow Book of Lecan and
Edinburgh XL contain a conflation of the earlier and the later version. Fragments mentioned here are
from the Book of Leinster and Lebor na hUidre.
48
Fragments mentioned here are from Lebor na hUidre and the Yellow Book of Lecan.
49
From the Book of Lismore.
50
Rees and Rees, Celtic Heritage, 26-27, 54, 57-58; Dillon, Early, 1-4. Tom Chadwin describes
various types of remscéla, which can be categorised by means of the way in which they are related to
TBC: background remscéla, causal remscéla, remremscéla and referential remscéla; Chadwin,
‘Remscéla’, 69-74.
51
TBR exists in two main manuscripts, namely in the Yellow Book of Lecan, which is the oldest
version, and in Egerton 1782.
52
Toner, ‘Transmission’, 71.
53
Tymoczko, Death Tales, 14-16; Thurneysen, Zu irischen, 13-19; Lehmann, ‘Death’, 7.
15
Táin Bó Cúailnge
The central story of the Ulster cycle is Táin Bó Cúailnge (“The Cattle Raid of
Cúailnge”). TBC is a very elaborative and long epic tale about an army of four
provinces, led by Medb, to conquer the great bull Donn Cúailnge, possessed by one
of the landowners of Ulster. This causes a battle between Medb’s army and Ulster. A
battle which Cú Chulainn must fight all alone, since the Ulstermen were struck by
their sickness. TBC has been preserved in three recensions. Recension I is
contained in Lebor na hUidre and is also found in Egerton 1782 and in the Yellow
Book of Lecan. None of the three manuscripts offer a complete text. Recension I is
also found in O’Curry ms I, a late 16 th century paper manuscript, also known as the
Maynooth manuscript, as Pádraig Ó Fiannachta has called it in his edition of this
version.54 The text is incomplete. Recension II is the version contained in the Book of
Leinster. The text is complete except for one page. Recension II is also preserved in
RIA C.vi.3., which is also known as the Stowe version. The Stowe version of TBC is a
15th century modernisation of the tale. Recension III is preserved in a fragmentary
form in two late manuscripts, Egerton 93 and TCD H.2.17. 55
Date and growth of TBC

On the date and the growth of TBC exists a lot of contradictory and interesting
discussion. It serves the purpose of this thesis to mention the two main discussions
that exist; the ‘growth model’ and the ‘singular creative act’ model. The ‘growth
model’ was first suggested by Rudolf Thurneysen. According to Thurneysen in the 9 th
century two very different versions of the story were written, which originated from the
oral tradition the so-called grundtext of the tale underwent. Thurneysen over the
years dated the grundtext of TBC to the 7th or early 8th century. Recension I of TBC
would represent a compilation of the two versions, made in the 11 th century.
Recension II and III would then represent the reworking of this older version. Cecile
O’Rahilly agreed mainly with Thurneysen, and took his ‘growth model’ as starting
point, but she saw the ‘growth model’ as a natural process of a long oral tradition.
There are several indications which support the ‘growth model’: rather vague
references to events connected with TBC in early poetry, the tale is mentioned in the
9th century “Triads of Ireland”, and the Middle Irish tale lists mention “The Revelation
of Táin Bó Cuailnge”, which tells how the TBC tale was rediscovered. A more
important clue is formed by the remscéla and other early tales that seem to derive
from TBC or are in some other way connected to it.56
The ‘creative act model’ was introduced by Hildegard Tristram, though first
insinuated by scholars like James Carney. Tristram does not believe in the ‘growth
model’ and she finds no convincing evidence that TBC existed as a macro-form text
before the Middle Irish period. Instead she thinks that the first compilation of TBC
was a ‘singular creative act’, which was produced around the beginning or the end of
the 11th century. Her two main reasons for this are as follows. In the first place the
manuscripts containing sizable amounts of vernacular Irish material are preserved
from the 12th century onwards only and nearly all knowledge about early Irish
literature has derived from these late manuscripts. Tristram sees no proof that texts
may have been copied from earlier manuscripts now lost. Secondly, Tristram
believes that the compilation of TBC was preceded by the translation of narrative
54
Preserved in the Library of St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth.
55
O’Rahilly, TBC-LL, xiv–xvi.
56
Ó hUiginn, ‘Background’, 31-32, 35; Edel, ‘Táin’, 209-210.
16
Latin macro-form, the Irish adaptations of classical epic, whereby the standard was
set for the production of macro-form writing in the Irish vernacular. Tristram points out
that TBC is the longest of the early Irish narratives. All other extant native narratives,
which have been dated to the Old Irish period, are much shorter. In the 12 th century
the first great manuscript collections containing vernacular material were made and
they contain many short texts, as well as lengthy narratives modelled on the classical
patterns of composition. And since there was no translation model for extended
narrative in the early period, Tristram thinks it very unlikely the Irish could have
produced an extended written narrative on the matter of TBC without the knowledge
of the written translation of lengthy classical texts in the Middle Irish period. Tristram
suggests that the written macro-from of TBC was produced for the first time in a ‘non-
authentic collecting situation’ in the Middle Irish period, after the Irish had become
acquainted with classical patterns of composition. She believes that the native
praetextus were both oral and written multiform and that in turn classical subtextus
may have gone into each and she takes recension I as the praetextus for the
integrative recension II.57
An important point in the discussion on the date and growth of TBC, is the
extent of classical influence on the tale. It has been generally agreed that there
seems to be quite an amount of parallels between TBC and classical epic which
cannot be ignored. Thurneysen thought that the composition and size of TBC were
directly inspired by classical epic, and that certain features of the tale were direct
borrowings or reminiscences from classical literature, which he assigned to the
grundtext. This theory on classical influence was further developed by Carney in his
rather controversial Studies in Early Irish History and Literature.58 Tristram also
believes in a strong classical influence on TBC, but from a rather different point of
view. She does not believe in Thurneysen’s idea of direct borrowing from classical
epic, but she finds the source of the classical influence on TBC in the classical
adaptations from the 12th century. Tristram thinks the period of composition,
language, structure, subject matter and perhaps even purpose of these texts seem to
be related to TBC. She believes that because of its extended structure, TBC is a
middle Irish antiquarian compilation modelled on classical adaptations like Togail Troi
and Imthúsa Alexandair.59
I tend to lean towards Tristram’s point of view when it comes to choosing a
side in this discussion. I will further explain why I share Tristram’s view, later on in
this thesis.
2.3.3 The Fenian cycle
The second heroic cycle consists of stories about Finn mac Cumaill and his
companions, his fiana. The word fiana means “a (roving) band of warriors”. This cycle
is sometimes called the Ossianic cycle, after Finn’s son Oisín or fianaigheacht, “lore
of the fiana”. Finn’s company was divided into two different clans, Clann Baiscne, to
which Finn himself belonged, and Clann Morna whose champion was Goll mac
57
Tristram, ‘Cattle-Raid’, 61-65, 70, 72, 75-77, 80; Tristram, ‘Aspects’, 20-22. Doris Edel has stated
that recension I was put together in a ‘non-authentic collecting situation’. She suggests that storytellers
usually presented individual episodes or strings of episodes, in the knowledge that their audience were
able to situate these episodes within the epic as a whole. Thus the extended epic may have existed
orally in so far as the key-lines and main plot of TBC are concerned, while the detailed filling-in of the
plot remained to a certain extent fluid; Edel, ‘Táin’, 211.
58
Ó hUiginn, ‘Background’, 35-36, 40; Ó Cathasaigh, Mythology’, 116-117.
59
Tristram, ‘Aspects’, 23-27; Tristram, ‘Cattle-Raid’, 70-71, 74.
17
Morna. The main heroes, besides Finn, were his son Oisín, Oscar son of Oisín,
Cailte son of Rónán and Diarmait.60
There are three texts within the Finn Cycle in which badb occurs. The longest
and most important tale of the Finn cycle is Acallam na Senórach (“The Colloquy of
Old Men”) which is second only to TBC in length. The earliest version of AnS that
survives, in the Book of Lismore, can be dated around 1200 AD. The tale describes
the wanderings of the last survivors of the Fenian, Oisín and Cailte. Slieve na mBan
Finn (“The Chase of Síd na mBan Finn”), from the 13 th or 14th century, is a prelude to
the death of Finn.61 Cath Finntragha (“The Battle of Ventry”), from the 15 th century,
describes the fight with foreign invaders at Ventry, which lasted a full year. 62
2.3.4 The Historical cycle
The Historical cycle, or the Cycles of the Kings, is a group of stories about a number
of high kings and provincial kings but also about kingship, the founding of dynasties
and succession. There is a very fine line in these tales between legend and history.
Most of these stories can be classified into different groups around the names of the
kings who appear in them.63 Three stories in this cycle contain badb. Cath Almaine
(“The Battle of Allen”) is from the 11 th or early 12th century. There are two versions of
CA, version YDF, from the Yellow Book of Lecan, RIA D.IV.2. and the Book of
Fermoy, and version B, from a Brussels ms. 64 Cogadh Gaedhel re Gallaibh (“The
War of the Irish with the Foreigners”) deals with the campaigns of the Scandinavians
in Ireland and the Dál Cais wars against them, cumulating in the “Battle of Clontarf”.
It was composed between 1103 and 1113. 65 Cath Maige Leana (“The Battle of Mag
Léna”) tells the story of Eóghan Mór. There exist two recensions of CML. The long
recension consists of all earlier manuscripts from the last half of the 13 th or early 14th
century. The short recension has been modernized to the 17 th century to such an
extent, that the date is impossible to determine. There also exists a mixed recension
from the 18th century.66
2.3.5 The Irish adaptations
In the course of the 12th century several Irish versions of classical stories called the
classical adaptations appeared. These are texts which have been based on classical
stories, translated and adapted into Irish. These texts were the first translations of
classical tales that existed in Irish. Some of these stories are dated as early as the
10th century, much earlier than translations in the rest of Europe. The extant Irish
manuscripts belong to the 14th or 15th century, but the classical tales were probably
known at a considerably earlier date. The way these stories have been adapted to
the Irish taste is striking. They are not literal and complete translations, but seem
60
Rees and Rees, Celtic Heritage, 26-27, 62; Murphy, Ossianic Lore, 5-26; Dillon, Early, 32-36.
61
Slieve na mBan Finn is found in poems from the 13th and 14th centuries and as an older prose
version in Egerton 1782. Besides this, two fragments of the part called Aided Finn exist in a Bodleian
ms and in Egerton 92. All fragments mentioned here exist in both versions.
62
The oldest version of CF is from Rawlinson B.487. There also exist folk versions, a Scottish Gaelic
ballad and a number of later manuscripts. All fragments mentioned here are from Rawlinson B.487.
63
Dillon, Early, 73-74; Dillon, Cycles, 1-3; Rees and Rees, Celtic Heritage, 26-27, 73.
64
All fragments mentioned here exist in both versions.
65
CGG exists in three manuscripts, a fragment in the Book of Leinster, which is the oldest, a fragment
in a Dublin ms, a Brussels ms and the O’Clery’s copy.
66
The fragments I mention are all taken from the long recension.
18
more like structured extracts or summaries of the original texts in Irish, with additional
explanations to make it more understandable for the Irish public. A large part of the
knowledge that existed about classical mythology and history as well as a large part
of classic Irish material has been incorporated freely. 67
The word badb occurs in a prominent way in these texts. The earliest
adaptations are Togail Troí (“The Destruction of Troy”), a translation of Dares
Phrygius’ Historia de Excidio Troiae,68 and Imthúsa Alexandair, stories of Alexander
the Great. Both tales are believed to go back to the 10 th century. Later tales are
Togail na Tebe (“The Destruction of Thebes”), a translation of Statius’ Thebaid, from
the 12th century;69 Imtheachta Aeniasa (“The Adventures of Aeneas”), a translation of
Vergil’s Aeneid, from the late 11th or beginning of the 12 th century;70 and In Cath
Catharda (“The Civil War of the Romans”), a translation of Lucan’s Pharsalia from the
12th century.71
2.3.6 Other groups of texts
Adventures, Voyages and Visions

Dillon adds to his division into the four cycles mentioned above three additional types
of stories, namely Adventures, Voyages and Visions. The Adventures is a group of
stories called echtrae (“adventure”) in which the theme is based on the other world, a
paradise like dwelling. Baile in Scail (“The Phantom’s Frenzy”) is the only text in
which badb occurs. The story was written around 1000 AD and tells how the
Phantom and the Sovereignty of Ireland name the kings to which sovereignty should
be given.72 The Voyages is a group of stories in which a journey is the subject, which
are in Irish called immrama. The Visions is a group of texts that describe visions as
experienced by one of the Irish saints and occasionally other persons. Aislinge meic
Con Glinne (“The Vision of Mac Con Glinne”) from the 12 th century is the only text in
its genre in which badb occurs.73
The Arthurian cycle

The Arthurian cycle belongs to the Romantic Tales. The Romantic Tales, or Sgéalta
Rómánsaíochta, are a group of stories for which no adequate definition exists. Within
67
Stanford, Ireland, 80; Harris, Adaptations, 11-12; Ni Shéaghdha, Translations, 1-3; Hillers, ‘Ulysses’,
15; Stanford, ‘Towards’, 14, 35-37; Murphy, Ossianic Lore, 17-18.
68
Stanford, Ireland, 74; Meyer, ‘Middle-Irish’, 355.
69
TnT exists in Egerton 1781 and there exists a version in TCD H.2.7., which contains only a part of
the text. Besides this, there exists a version in an Edinburgh ms (Advocates’ Library Gaelic mss. VIII,
Kilbride collection, no.4), and although this version is older than that in Egerton 1781, George Calder
explains that it is not the original translation; Calder, Togail, xiii.
70
From the Book of Ballymote. Erich Poppe has recognised two other manuscripts in which IA exists,
which were not known to George Calder; Killiney, Franciscan House of Studies, ms A 11, from the 15 th
century and King’s Inns Library in Dublin, ms 13, written in 1491-1492; Poppe, New introduction, 30-
31.
71
ICC is preserved in RIA 23.Q.16. In Caithréim Thoirdhealbhaigh (“The Triumphs of Turlough”), a
collection of stories describing wars in County Clare in the 14 th century, the story Cocadh Catharda
about the civil war of Pompey and Caesar occurs, which is closely modelled on the Irish version of
Lucan’s Pharsalia. Unfortunately the last part of the edition by Standish O’Grady has not been
translated and the parts of the translation that do exist have been summarised to the extent that some
interesting parts containing badb did not make the translated text. I have tried to translate most of
these parts myself, which I will discuss for the most part in chapter 5; Stanford, Ireland, 85.
72
From Rawlinson B.512. BiS exists also in Harleian 5280, but only the first half survived, in which
badb does not occur.
73
Dillon, Early, 101, 124, 132-133.
19
the Romantic Tales there are six Irish Arthurian romances. These stories were
created in the 15th century or later.74 The only Arthurian text in which badb occurs is
Eachtra Mhacoimh an Iolair (“The Story of Eagle-Boy”), from the 15th or 16th century.75
The Glossaries
The Irish glossaries are medieval tracts in which obscure Irish words are explained.
Paul Russell distinguishes three different methods of explanation in these glossaries:
explanation by means of a gloss, etymology by analysis into elements, in which the
entry is explained by breaking down the headword into recognizable elements and
etymology by comparison with Latin, Greek and Hebrew words. 76
The glossaries that are of importance here are: “O’Mulconry’s Glossary”, 77
“O’Davoren’s Glossary”,78 and “O’Clery’s Glossary”.79 The most important glossary
called Sanas Chormaic (“Cormac’s Glossary”), is the fullest and most complete of the
extant glossaries. This glossary has been traditionally associated with Cormac mac
Cuilennáin, who was king-bishop in Cashel between 896 and 908. Nevertheless,
Russell thinks that the evidence for associating this glossary with Cormac mac
Cuilennáin is entirely circumstantial, except for some vague references. 80 There are
two different versions of the text, a longer and a shorter version. The longer version
(also called Codex B), from the Yellow Book of Lecan and TCD H.2.15., has an extra
block of entries at the end of each letter. The shorter version (also called Codex A) is
found in Leabhar Brecc, the Book of Uí Maine, Bodleian Library ms Laud 610 and the
Book of Leinster.
Banshenchus and Dinnshenchas

The Dinnshenchas (“History of Places”) is the traditional lore of eminent places. It is a
12th century compilation. There exist three recensions: Dindshenchas A, the metrical
version, Dindshenchas B, which comprises the prose episodes, with a quatrain at the
end of every entry, and Dindshenchas C, the most common version.81
The Banshenchus (“History of Women”) from the 11 th or 12th century, is a list of
famous married women in Irish literature and history. The mothers of saints, women
saints and abbesses are recorded elsewhere. There are both metrical and prose
versions and these vary in length and in matter. 82
74
Gillies, ‘Arthur I’, 57-58, 64; ‘II’, 43-46; Murphy, Ossianic Lore, 37-40; Bruford, Gaelic, 1, 11, 147;
Smelik, ‘Eachtra’, 7-10.
75
From Egerton 128.
76
Russell, ‘Sounds’, 16-27.
77
From the Yellow Book of Lecan.
78
From Egerton 88.
79
Russell, ‘Sounds’, 5-6.
80
Russell, ‘Sounds’, 2-4, 9-14, 27.
81
Hellmuth, ‘Dindshenchas’, 117.
82
The Banshenchus is found in the Book of Leinster, the Book of Lecan, the Book of Uí Maine, the
Book of Ballymote, N1 VII Kilbride Coll, a Brussels ms 2542 and TCD H.3.17.; Dobbs, ‘Ban-
Shenchus’, 283.
20
3. Badb: one of the war-goddesses
In many cases the word badb signifies the name Badb for one of the war-goddesses.
This sinister war-goddess appears in Irish literature in the companionship of her
sisters, a group of war-goddesses, or alone. This sisterhood consists of Morrígan,
Macha and Badb, and they are all three members of the Tuatha dé Danann. Apart
from that there are some texts in which she appears with another war-goddess called
Nemain. Badb and Nemain are in this setting the two wives of Nét. There are a
number of texts in which Badb is treated as a single goddess. Her role is in general
not very elaborative and her character is not as fully developed as that of Morrígan,
who is the most recurring war-goddess in the texts.
3.1 Badb and her sisters
Badb appears in most texts in the companionship of the other war-goddesses of her
sisterhood. There exists a lot of contradiction about the way this sisterhood is
composed. Hennesy first referred to Nemain, Macha and Morrígan as the so-called
sisters of the Badb. He is convinced that these names represent three different
characters, who embody different functions. 83 Proinsias MacCana says the war-
goddesses generally comprise the Morrígan and Badb, accompanied by Nemain or
Macha. He assumes, since these goddesses are frequently identified with one
another, that they are actually the triplication of a single deity, and that this is in fact
collaborated by the occasional references to the three morrigains.84 William Sayers
has a similar view and says the Irish war-goddess was poly-functional. When more
formally identified as the goddess of war, she should be called Badb, Nemain or Bé
Néit, as these three occur together at various points in TBC.85 Daragh Smyth says
that Badb together with Macha and the Morrígan made up the Morrigna, a triple
goddess of the battlefield.86
The idea that the Irish war-goddesses were the three morrigains or that they
signify a triple goddess called Morrigna derives strictly from certain glosses. Firstly a
gloss from the Yellow Book of Lecan explains Macha as follows: “Machae, a badb or
she is the third Morrígan. Hence ‘mesrad Macha’, Macha’s mast-feeding, i.e. the
heads of men that have been slaughtered” (Machae .i. badb no as i an tres morrigan;
mesrad Machae .i. cendae doine iarna n-airlech).87 The exact same explanation
83
Hennesy, ‘Ancient’, 34.
84
MacCana, Celtic, 86-90.
85
Sayers, ‘Supernatural’, 54.
86
Smyth, Guide, 18.
87
Stokes, ‘Second Battle’, 127; Stokes, Three, xxxv; Hennesy, ‘Ancient’, 36; Stokes and Hennesy both
translate badb here with “scald crow”, but I do not think this is very accurate, as Macha is here
equated with both Badb as Morrígan.
21
occurs in “O’Mulconry’s Glossary”.88 Hennesy and Olmsted describe another similar
explanation given in TCD H.3.18., in which it is added that Badb, Macha and
Morrígan were the three morrigna (tres mórrígna).89 Macha is here both identified
with Badb as well as with Morrígan. I do not believe the war-goddesses are a triple
goddess or one deity with different functions. That the war-goddesses are referred to
as morrigains, does not prove anything to me, as in several texts the war-goddesses
are identified with one another. It is interesting to note here that in TnT queen
Jocaste is also called a morrigain, which shows that the term morrigain is also used
for other creatures besides these war-goddesses. 90 I definitely think the three war-
goddesses imply three different characters, as can evidently be seen from the texts.
I will now try to describe the composition of this sisterhood, according to the
texts in which they appear together. I believe this sisterhood consists of Macha,
Badb and Morrígan, whose second name is Anann or Anu. I hope to show that this
composition of the goddesses derives from the texts in which they occur. In LGÉ the
goddesses are described at various points in the text, but there exists quite some
confusion within the text concerning the exact names of these three goddesses. This
confusion is mainly caused by, as R.A.S. MacAlister has pointed out, the fact that .i.
(id est), meaning “to wit”, has been mistaken for 7 (ocus), meaning “and”, at several
points in the text.91 This mistake gives the false impression that Anann is a fourth
goddess.
The first redaction of LGÉ names Badb, Macha and Anand as the three
daughters of Ernmas the witch. In the Book of Fermoy, Morrígan seems to be
another name for Macha (Badb 7 Macha .i. in Morrigan 7 Anann (…) trí ingena
Ernbais na bantúathige),92 but in the Book of Leinster the name Morrígan is not
mentioned at all (Badb 7 Macha 7 Anand (…) trí ingena Ernbais na bantúathige). The
mistake mentioned above would explain that the name Anann stands for Morrígan
and that Morrígan is not a byname of Macha, but a separate goddess. In the third
redaction this same sentence names the Morrígan as an additional fourth goddess
(Badbh 7 Macha 7 Morrighan 7 Anand (…) trí hingeana Earnmhais na ban
thuathaighe).93 This is a very obvious mistake as four names cannot relate to three
daughters. The proposal that Anann is a second name for Morrígan is confirmed at a
later point in the first redaction, in the Book of Leinster, where Anand is not one of the
goddesses, but is explained as a byname for Morrígan: “Ernmas had three other
daughters, Badb and Macha and Morrígan, whose name was Anand” (trí ingena aile
dana oc Ernmais, .i. Badb 7 Macha 7 Mórrigu, .i. Anand a hainmside).94 At this point
in the second redaction, Anand is mentioned as a separate goddess, as she is
described as the seventh daughter of Ernmas: “Eriu, Fotla and Banba are the three
daughters of Ernmas, and her three other daughters were Badb, Macha and
Morrígan; and Ana, (…) was her seventh daughter” (trí hingena aile hic Ernmaiss, .i.
Badb 7 Macha 7 Mórrigu: 7 Anann (…) in sechtmudh ingen dí).95 Once more, in the
second redaction, Anand is the third sister, but her byname is Morrígan (Badb 7
Macha 7 Anann .i. Morrigan (…), tri ingena Ernbais na bantauthaige).96 In the third
88
Stokes, ‘O’Mulconry’s’, 271.
89
Olmsted, Gods, 285; Hennesy, ‘Ancient’, 36.
90
Calder, Togail, 6-7: 88
91
MacAlister, LGÉ IV, 310.
92
MacAlister, LGÉ IV, 122-123.
93
94
95
96
22
redaction, at a later point, is very literally explained that Danann was the additional
name of the Morrígan, and that the Paps of Ana in Luachair as well as the Tuatha dé
Danann are called after her byname (in Morrigu (…): 7 is dia forainm Danand, …).97
In a poem, found only in the first redaction of LGÉ, the three sisters are described:
Badb is Macha, mét n-indbais, “Badb and Macha, greatness of wealth,

Morrigan, fátha felbais, Morrígan - springs of craftiness,
Tindrema aga amnuis, sources of bitter fighting
Ingena ána Ernmais were the three daughters of Ernmas”.98
In the Book of Lecan version of BS occurs more evidence that Anann is a name for
Morrígan: “Anann, that is the Morrígan (…), wife of the Dagda” (Anand .i. in Morrigan
(…) bean aile do’n Dagda).99 Hennesy thinks that the name of Anand or Ana had
changed to Morrígan.100 But these names occur alongside each other already in the
earliest versions, so I think there is no possibility of Anann evolving to Morrígan. I
think that from these texts can be made clear that Anann or Danann is actually
another name for the Morrígan and certainly not the name of a separate goddess.
In the modern version of CMT Badb, Macha and Morrígan are described as
the three female druids of the Tuatha dé Danann (is ann sin adubhra(dar) na trí
bandraoithe, .i. Badhbh, Macha, 7 Mórríoghan).101 It is easy to explain that this
corresponds closely with LGÉ, as most of CMT’s introductory section is derived from
LGÉ.102
In CMTC, when the Tuatha dé Danann laid hold of Ireland, Badb, Macha and
Morrígan (Badhbh 7 Macha 7 Morrigha) went to the Knoll of the Taking of the
Hostages, and to the Hill of Summoning of Hosts at Tara, and with their magical
powers they caused compact clouds of mist, a furious rain of fire and a rain of red
blood from the air on the warrior’s heads. They allowed the Fir Bolg neither rest nor
stay for three days and nights. 103 The goddesses appear again when the battalions of
the Tuatha dé Danann are approached by the Fir Bolg. The women, Badb, Macha,
Morrígan and Danann (ar na hingena .i. Badb 7 Macha 7 Morigan 7 Danann) offered
to accompany the chiefs who went out in front of the Tuatha dé Danann on that
day.104 I suspect this sentence shows again a mistake of .i. for 7, which corrected
would give: “The women, Badb, Macha, Morrígan, to wit Danann”. Later, in a
description of the troops that advance, Badb, Macha and Morrígan are called the
bantuathach, the three sorceresses or witches of the Tuatha dé Danann, and they
are accompanied by Bé Chuille and Danann, who are described as their two foster
mothers (7 a trí bantuathacha .i. Badb 7 Macha 7 Morigan, Be Chuille 7 Danann a da
mbuime).105 This leads to the possibility that Danann is indeed a separate goddess,
but I think we are dealing with another deity here. When mentioned next to the
Morrígan, I would render Danann as the second name of the Morrígan. It could,
97
98
Poem LIII, MacAlister, LGÉ IV, 216-217.
99
Margaret Dobbs says in a note that Anand as the name for Morrígan does not occur in the Book of
Leinster or in the Book of Uí Maine; Dobbs, ‘Ban-Shenchus’, 168.
100
Hennesy, ‘Ancient’, 37.
101
Ó Cuív, CMT, 20: 39-40.
102
Carey, ‘Myth’, 53-54.
103
Fraser, ’First Battle’, 26-27.
104
105
23
nevertheless, be that because of the mistakes mentioned above, Danann had earned
her own separate identity.
There are two different possibilities for the alleged father of these three
goddesses. In the third redaction of LGÉ the appointed father is Delbaeth son of
Ogma Grianainech. He has seven sons, who are Fiachra, Ollam, Indui, Brian,
Lucharba, Luchair and Elcmar of the Brug. Badb, Macha and Morrígan are
mentioned as his three daughters (a tri hingena .i. Bodb 7 Macha 7 Morigu).106 In the
modern version of CMT Badb, Macha and Morrígan are identified as the three
daughters of Deala mac Lóich and Ére, Fódla and Banbha are described as the three
daughters of Fiacha mac Dealbai (Badhbh, Macha, 7 Mórríoghan, Ére, Fódla, 7
Banbha, .i. trí h-ingheana Deala mic Lóich, 7 trí h-ingheana Fiacha mic
Dhealbhaoi).107
3.1.1 Badb and Morrígan
In certain passages the Morrígan is called Badb. In TBR Cú Chulainn and Loeg
encounter a chariot. In the chariot sat a woman with red hair and eyebrows, and a
crimson mantle. Next to the chariot a big man drove a cow before him. Cú Chulainn
tells them that they do not have the right to take the cow away. But when he talks to
them, it is not the man but the woman who answers him and Cú Chulainn is offended
by this. He thinks they are making a fool out of him and he jumps into the chariot, on
the woman’s shoulders. She tells him she is a female satirist and that she got the
cow from Cúailnge of Daire mac Fiachna as a payment for a poem. Cú Chulainn
demands to hear this particular poem and he moves away. She then sings the poem
to him,108 and Cú Chulainn takes a leap into the chariot, but the woman, the chariot
with the horse and the man with the cow had all disappeared. He then sees that the
woman has transformed herself into a black bird on a branch. Apparently at this point
Cú Chulainn recognises her and he says that if he had known it was her they would
not have parted like this. The woman says she will bring him ill-luck and that she is
the keeper of his death. She explains she took the cow from the síde of Cruachan so
that the Donn Cuailnge, the bull of Daire mac Fiachna, would mate with the cow. She
says Cú Chulainn has as long to live until the calve in the womb is a yearling and that
it is this bull that will cause the Táin Bó Cúailnge. She then tells him that during his
fight with Lóch she will become an eel and crinkle around his feet in the fort, 109 she
will come as a grey she-wolf and take a bite from him and at last she will become a
white heifer with red ears and will storm into the ford, with a hundred white red eared
cows behind her. When they part and Cú Chulainn goes back to his dwelling, in
Egerton 1782 is said: “and the Morrígan went with her cow to the síde of Cruachan in
Connacht (7 luithi in Morrigan cona buin hi sid Cruachan la Connachta). Interestingly,
in the Yellow Book of Lecan this is: “and then the Badb left” (Luid ass in Badb
iarum).110 Only in recension I of TBC a similar episode occurs, called “The
Conversation of the Morrígan with Cú Chulainn” (imacallaim na Mórígna fri Coin
106
107
Ó Cuív, CMT, 27: 304-306.
108
This roscad is not translated by anyone. Windisch gives the edition of the roscad in both recensions
at the end of his article; Windisch, ‘TBR’, 254. It is probably an insult or a challenge, and probably
incomprehensible according to Thurneysen, Helden, 310.
109
She does not mention Lóch by name, but describes him as a strong warrior, equal to Cú Chulainn.
110
Draak and de Jong, Van Helden, 68-71; Cross and Slover, Ancient, 211-214; Thurneysen, Helden,
309-311; D'Arbois de Jubainville, ‘Des Vaches’, 164-170; Windisch, ‘TBR’, 248-254; Corthals, TBR,
33, 51-57.
24
Culaind).111 The Morrígan here comes to Cú Chulainn as a beautiful young woman
and introduces herself to him as king Búan’s daughter. She gives the same prophecy
about Cú Chulainn’s fight with Lóch as in TBR, but her real name is never
revealed.112
In recensions II and III of TBC, Cú Chulainn makes a chant, addressed to his
charioteer Loeg after he has killed Lóch. The rhetoric differs some, but in both
versions Cú Chulainn describes his fight with Lóch and the Morrígan. In recension II
he says he was outnumbered when attacked by Lóch together with Badb according
to the prophecies of the Táin Bó Regamna (ba lia Lóch co lleith Bodba go remfoclaib
Regomna). Cú Chulainn is referring to the Morrígan here, as she is the one who has
just interfered in the fight, but he calls her Badb. In recension III Cú Chulainn
additionally exclaims that it is no fair combat for anyone to have the Morrígan
injuring, destroying, wounding and piercing him. 113
In the oldest version of ACC Cú Chulainn decides to go the battlefield of
Muirthemne and he orders Loeg to harness his horse Liath Macha. But Liath Macha
refuses, because the night before the Morrígan had broken Cú Chulainn’s chariot, to
hinder him on his dead march, for she knew that he would not come back to Emain
Macha.114 Cú Chulainn then says in an obscure poem to Liath Macha: “Badb (Badb)
struck us, in Emain Macha never”, reminding him, as Hennesy puts it, of the time
when the Badb accompanied them in their martial feats at Emain Macha. Liath
Macha seemingly is so touched by this that he dropped his big tears of blood on Cú
Chulainn’s feet.115
At the conclusion of the older version of CMT, the Morrígan utters two
prophecies. After the battle was won and the corpses had been cleared away, the
Morrígan announced the battle and the victory which had just taken place. It is then
said that this is the reason Badb still describes great deeds (Conid do sin inneses
Badb aird-gniomha beus). She then speaks the two prophecies. The first prophecy
describes the fruits of the new established peace and good fortune to be enjoyed by
the Tuatha dé Danann, but it is followed by another prophecy which lists the signs of
the end of the world.116 It is generally agreed in all editions and translations that it is
the Morrígan who speaks the prophecies, but that she is called Badb here. 117
In all the texts given above it is obvious the Morrígan is meant, but at one
point, mainly at the end, she is called Badb. Some scholars go as far as to conclude
from these texts that Badb is not a separate goddess but a certain form taken on by
111
O’Rahilly, TBC-I, 57.
112
O’Rahilly, TBC-I, 176-182; Thurneysen, Helden, 169-176.
113
Recension II: O’Rahilly, TBC-LL, 56, 194-197; Thurneysen, Helden, 173-176; D'Arbois de
Jubainville, ‘Enlèvement’, 194; Windisch, Altirische Heldensage, 325; O'Rahilly, Stowe Version, 67:
2097-2098; Kinsella, Táin, 132-137. Recension III: Ó Béarra, ‘TBC III’, 58-59. Also in recension I’s
Maynooth manuscript occurs ba llia Loch co leth mBodba; Ó Fiannachta, Maynooth, 31: 1094.
114
Stokes, ‘Cuchulainn’s Death’, 175; Thurneysen, Helden, 550; Koch and Carey, Celtic, 136; Dottin,
L’Épopée, 148; Cross and Slover, Ancient, 334; Tymoczko, Death Tales, 42; D'Arbois de Jubainville,
L’Épopée, 333.
115
Hennesy, ‘Ancient’, 50; Tymoczko, Death Tales, 43.
116
John Carey gives a very accurate diplomatic text with an edition and translation of the roscad;
Carey, ‘Myth’, 66-69. Carey’s complete version of the poem can be found under appendix A at page
104. Gray gives a very elaborative and interesting description of the prophecies uttered by the
Morrígan; Gray, ‘CMT’, 248-249, 259-261.
117
As an exception, Ó Cuív tells that the tale ends with a doleful prophecy of the end of the world by
Badb, the war-goddess; Ó Cuív, ‘CMT’, 37. D’Arbois de Jubainville calls the final part of the story
“Morrigu et Bodb. Conclusion.” So he probably interprets this part as the Morrígan and the Badb
together, instead of the Morrígan called the Badb; D'Arbois de Jubainville, L’Épopée, 446-448.
25
the Morrígan. Rosalind Clark says at times the names Badb and Morrígan are used
to refer to the same persons and that at other times the names refer to two aspects
of the triple war-goddess.118 Gray also says Badb is a shape taken by the Morrígan. 119
I, however, think from the texts can be seen that Badb is a separate goddess who is
actually quite different from the Morrígan. The names of the goddesses are often
confused or interchanged, so the fact that the Morrígan in these cases is called
Badb, does not prove to me that Badb is a form of the Morrígan.
3.2 Badb and Nemain, the wives of Nét
Badb appears in some texts in the companionship of war-goddess Nemain. Badb

and Nemain are the two wives of war-god Nét, and their main function is to stir up
strife between the armies and frighten the warriors together. Nemain appears in
various other texts independently, in the same function.
In the second redaction of LGÉ, Badb and Nemain are identified as the two
daughters of Elcmar of the Brug (Badb 7 Nemuin (…) dá ingin do Elcmaire in
Brogha).120 Elcmar of the Brug is their father, while in LGÉ, as we have seen, Elcmar
of the Brug is Badb’s brother, when she is mentioned together with the other war-
goddesses, Morrígan and Macha. Badb and Nemain appear as the two wives of Nét.
In a poem in the first redaction of LGÉ we find:
Néit mac Indúi sa dí mnái, “Nét son of Indui and his two wives,
Badb 7 Nemaind cen gói, Badb and Nemain without deceit,
Ro marbtha in Ailiuch cen áil were slain in Ailech without blame
La Neptuir nDerg d’Fomorchaib. by Nemtuir the Red, of the Fomoraig.121
In the second redaction Badb and Nemain are also mentioned as the two wives of
Nét son of Indui (Badb 7 Nemuin, dí mnái Néit meic Indui, …).122
Later, in the second redaction, not Badb and Nemain, but Fea and Nemain are
named as the two wives of Nét (Fea 7 Nemain di mnai Neit, …).123 In the Book of
Lecan version of BS the same sort of description occurs, and it is added here that
they are the daughters of Elcmar of the Brug (Fea 7 Nemaind: da mnai Neid meic
Indai .i. da ingin Elcmair in Broga).124 In the Uí Maine version of BS occurs: “Fea and
Nemain” (Fea 7 Nemand).125 It seems very likely that Fea is some obscure second
name for the Badb, only found in this text, as we find this name in a place where
Badb would be expected. Carey says that Fea and Nemain are, like the daughters of
Ernmas, sisters. He assumes that Fea is a tutelary figure, as where the name occurs
elsewhere in the literature, it is always associated with Mag Fea in South Leinster. 126
Hennesy points out that if Fea represents Badb, the name perhaps tells us
something about her character, for “Cormac’s Glossary” states that Fea means
118
Clark, ‘Aspects’, 225.
119
Gray, CMT, 118.
120
121
Poem LVI, MacAlister, LGÉ IV, 237. Stokes wonders if Badb and Nemain had been slain by a
Fomorian, this means that these war-goddesses were capable of coming to life again. But I think in
this mythological context we should not ponder about this question too long; Stokes, ‘Ancient’, 492.
122
123
124
Dobbs, ‘Ban-Shenchus’, 168.
125
126
Carey, ‘Notes’, 272-273.
26
“everything most hateful”.127 It seems Fea, as an alternate name for Badb, is the
same kind of byname as Anann is for Morrígan.
In the longer version of “Cormac’s Glossary” we find the interesting entry Be
Net, which is explained as: Bé néit (.i. badb) .i. bé ben 7 nét cath, 7 olca diblínaib.
Inde dicitur: ‘bé nét fort’, from which we can conclude that Bé Néit is the Badb, who is
the wife of Nét of battle.128 So the entry Bé Néit means “wife of Nét”, which is of
course the correct literal translation. In the previous fragments we have already seen
the plural form dí mnái Néit (“the two wives of Nét”) used in the same sense.
In version II of TE occur some interesting placenames that refer to the war-
goddess.129 In Cú Chulainn’s conversation with Emer, he tries to woo her and they
speak together in riddles. Emer asks him a long list of metaphorical questions, of
which one is how Cú Chulainn travelled to her. He names several places that he
passed on his way, all disguised in a riddle. Emer asks Cú Chulainn to account for
who he is. Cú Chulainn answers her question by saying: “I am the nephew of the
man that disappears in another in the wood of Badb (i Ross Bodbae)”.130 After Cú
Chulainn’s conversation with Emer he tells his charioteer Loeg that he and Emer
disguised their words and he explains their conversation to him. Cú Chulainn
explains i Ross Bodbae to Loeg as: “In the wood of Badb, i.e. of the Morrígan, for
that is her wood, the land of Ross, and she is the Badb of battle and is called the wife
of Nét, i.e. the goddess of battle, for Nét, is the same as god of battle” (i Ross
Bodba .i. na Mórrígnae. Ar is ed a ross side .i. Crích Roiss 7 is sí dano in Bodb catha
í 7 is fria asberar Bé Néid .i. bandé in chatha úair is inand Néid 7 día in chatha ).131
Here again is explained that Badb is the wife of Nét, and that she is the goddess of
battle. It is also interesting that Badb is called Morrígan. We have already seen that
the goddesses’ names are at some times interchangeable, but here it even serves
the purpose of a clever play of words in Cú Chulainn’s conversation with Emer, in
order to disguise his words.
In recension I of TBC the Morrígan speaks a rhetoric between the two
encampments and that same night Nemain and Badb appear together with a third
member called Bé Néit (Badb 7 Bé Néit 7 Némain). They shriek above the men of
Ireland in Gáirech and Irgáirech and a hundred warriors die of fright. 132 Some
passages later this trio appears a second time, they shriek above the armies and a
hundred of the warriors fall dead of fright. 133 Clark goes as far as to say that after
Morrígan recites her prophecy, she appears as the triple goddess, which would mean
127
Hennesy, ‘Ancient’, 35; Stokes corrects Hennesy that the word explained by “Cormac’s Glossary” is
fé and not fea; Stokes, ‘Ancient’, 489.
128
Meyer, ‘Sanas Cormaic’, 16; O’Donovan and Stokes, Cormac’s Glossary, 25.
129
These references do not exist in version I, because the first part of the story lacks.
130
Cú Chulainn explains here that he is the nephew of Conchobar. Cú Chulainn explains in his
conversation with Loeg that there are two rivers in the area of Ross; the Conchobar and the Dofolt and
that the Conchobar at one point unites with the Dofolt; Meyer, ‘Wooing’, 231; Thurneysen, Helden,
386; Cross and Slover, Ancient, 161; Van Hamel, Compert, 32. In Harleian 5280: Bodbai; Meyer,
‘Mitteilungen’, 237.
131
Van Hamel, Compert, 42. In Harleian 5280: hi Ross Bodbo .i. na Morrighno, ar iss ed a ross-side
Crich Roiss 7 iss I an bodb catha hi 7 is fria idbeurur bee Neid .i. bandee in catæ, uair is inann be
Neid 7 dia cathæ; Meyer, ‘Mitteilungen’, 244. Meyer translates in Bodb catha with “scald crow”, which
does not seem correct to me; Meyer, ‘Wooing’, 231.
132
O’Rahilly, TBC-I, 231; Thurneysen, Helden, 210.
133
O’Rahilly, TBC-I, 118: 3942, 231, 234; Strachan and O'Keeffe, TBC-I, 117: 3478. Thurneysen
explains that they are demons; Thurneysen, Helden, 210, 212.
27
that Badb, Bé Néit and Nemain are actually the Morrígan. 134 I find this very hard to
believe, as the Morrígan at no other point appears together with Badb and Nemain.
Bé Néit mentioned here is a very obscure character, as we have seen in the
texts above that bé néit literally means “the wife of Nét” and that the two wives of Nét
are Badb and Nemain. The combination of Nemain, Badb and a third member called
Bé Néit seems therefore very strange and redundant. The main question here is
whether Bé Néit is a proper name and a separate character. In this sentence, I find it
very possible that 7 is a mistake for .i., as we have seen before in LGÉ. This would
give: Badb .i. Bé Néit 7 Némain: “Badb, i.e. the wife of Nét, and Nemain”. All editions
and translations render Bé Néit as a name, except for Kinsella who does not mention
Bé Néit, but translates it as “Nét’s wive”, and calls Badb en Nemain “Nét’s wives”.
Although Kinsella’s text is in most cases not very reliable for an accurate translation, I
think in this case he is correct. It seems very likely that the term or name Bé Néit
originates from the explanation in “Cormac’s Glossary” and it is possible that Bé Néit
since then has developed to a real character, as she is also found in other texts
independently. But I think it is very possible that Bé Néit in these other texts also
indicates the Badb or Nemain.
In recension I of TBC, on the first stage of the march, Dubthach chants a lay,
warning them that Cú Chulainn is on his way and warning them for the battle.
Immediately thereupon Nemain (ind Némain) assailed them and they had no peace
that night. The hosts rose up at once and the army was thrown into confusion until
Medb came and quelled them.135 In a gloss (or in the overhead) is explained about
Nemain: .i. in badb. It seems here Nemain is called the Badb. This shows that not
only the names of the three war-goddesses Badb, Macha and Morrígan, but also the
names Badb and Nemain are interchangeable.
In BS two different husbands for Badb other than Nét are mentioned. In the Uí
Maine version Badb is called “Badb wife of Indai” (Badb bean Indai),136 who
interestingly is the father of Nét, while in the Book of Lecan this is “Badb wife of the
Dagda” (Badb bean in Dagda Mor), who is in most texts the appointed husband of
Morrígan.137 In a gloss in Lebor na hUidre, in the margin of Serglige Con Culainn,
Badb is described as the wife of Tetra: mná Tethrach (.i. badb).138
MacAlister thinks that Fea and Nemain have evolved to Badb and Nemain,
who, he says, are elsewhere two of the Badb sisterhood. He thinks that this female
twin pair has evolved into a triplicity, 139 but I actually do not think it liable that the pair
of Badb and Nemain have evolved to the Badb sisterhood, as in the same texts,
often even in the same fragments, Badb and Nemain appear, as well as the trio of
Morrígan, Macha and Badb. Badb seems to be a goddess who appears in two
different sort of groups. On the one hand, she is part of the sisterhood together with
Macha and Morrígan, who are the daughters of Ernmas, while on the other hand she
is also the sister of Nemain, whose mutual father is Elcmar of the Brug. I definitely do
not see Nemain as part of the Badb sisterhood, as she is only found together with
Badb and not in combination with the other goddesses. The only exception can be
found in the Book of Leinster version of BS, when the fair women of the Tuatha dé
Danann are described as: “Nemain, Danand, Bodb and Macha, Morrígan who brings
134
Clark, Great Queens, 39.
135
O’Rahilly, TBC-I, 7: 210, 131; Thurneysen, Helden, 124; Strachan and O'Keeffe, TBC-I, 9: 211.
136
137
138
Best and Bergin, Osborn, Lebor, 124.
139
28
victory, impetuous and swift Etain, Bé Chuille of the north country, were the
sorceresses of the Tuatha dé Danann” (Nemain, Danand, Bodb is Macha, Morrigu
nobered búaid, Etain co luinni is co lluathi, Be Chuilli na tuathi thúaid: ban-tuathecha
Tuathe De Danand, …).140 This is the only instance where Nemain is mentioned
together with the other war-goddesses in the same phrase. But this phrase does not
claim or affirm that these women are sisters, instead they are listed as women and
sorceresses of the Tuatha dé Danann, which indeed they all are.
3.3 Badb as a single goddess
In the previous texts Badb appears together with Morrígan and Macha or she
appears with Nemain. In these texts she does not play a very significant role, but in
the following texts Badb occurs as an individual war-goddess and becomes an actual
character that in some aspects resembles the Morrígan, though Badb remains a
more supernatural character.
In MCC, in recension I of TBC, during one of Cú Chulainn’s exploits the
Ulstermen go into battle while Cú Chulainn is left behind asleep. Ulster is defeated
and Conchobar and his son are left for dead. Their wailing wakes Cú Chulainn, and
he goes to the courtyard entrance. He meets Fergus there, severely wounded, but
Fergus does not know where Conchobar is. Cú Chulainn then sets off in the night for
the battlefield and he finds a half headed man who has half his brother’s corpse on
his back. He asks Cú Chulainn to carry the body for a while but Cú Chulainn refuses.
The other man then throws the body on Cú Chulainn’s back, but Cú Chulainn throws
it away from him. They wrestle and Cú Chulainn is thrown down. He then hears the
Badb calling from among the corpses (co cúala ní, in mboidb dinaib colnaib): “That is
bad material of a warrior, he who is overthrown by phantoms!”. Cú Chulainn rises
and strikes off the half head of the other with his hurley and drives it before him
across the plain. Cú Chulainn asks if Conchobar is on the battlefield, Conchobar
answers and Cú Chulainn finds him in a trench. 141
In TF Badb comes to Conchobar and Medb in a vision. When Conchobar lay
asleep one night in Emain, he saw a vision that there came to him a young woman,
fair in form and in semblance. She tells Conchobar that in seven years from this night
the Táin Bó Cúilange shall be accomplished, the land of Ulster shall be laid to waste,
the Donn Cuailnge shall be driven off, his own men, his sons, his daughters, and his
cattle shall be carried off by Medb and Ailill, and the counsel of Fergus shall help
them. She tells him Mani Morgor, the son of Ailill and Medb, had come to sleep with
Ferb, the daughter of Gerg of Glenn Geirg, with 150 of his companions. The girl says
that when that day comes, there is a glorious deed for Conchobar to do. She tells him
140
Dobbs, ‘Ban-Shenchus’, 292, 318.
141
Strachan calls this episode “How Cú Chulainn brought Conchobar from the field of battle”;
Strachan, Stories, while O’Rahilly calls it “The fight between Eogan mac Durthacht and Conchobar”;
O’Rahilly, TBC-I, 138. The Maynooth manuscript begins with the last part of the “Boyhood Deeds”, and
so this episode does not occur. In recension II this episode does not occur, because a large part of the
“Boyhood Deeds” misses. Kinsella is the only one who does include the missing parts of recension I in
his translation of recension II; Kinsella, Táin, 79-81. Recension III begins with the last part of the
“Boyhood Deeds”, so this episode does not occur. In Egerton 1782: mbaidb; Windisch, ‘TBC’, 132;
O’Rahilly, TBC-I, 16: 498-499, 138-139; Strachan and O'Keeffe, TBC-I, 18: 452-453; Gantz, Early,
137-138; Thurneysen, Helden, 132. Strachan says that in this text the Badb appears in the form of a
scald crow, but to me this does not become clear from the text; Strachan, Stories, 5, 48.
29
he should gather three hundred fighting men, and she goes away. In the morning,
Conchobar awakes, and tells his queen the vision he had seen. 142
At this point the girl is not yet identified as Badb, but another night, the same
girl who visited Conchobar is now revealed as the Badb. The Badb came to Medb in
Cruachain. Badb says to her in her sleep that Conchobar has gained the victory over
Mani and that he will fall under Conchobar’s power. She tells Medb to arise, to
assemble an army and avenge her son. Medb then wakes up and tells Ailill of her
vision. Only in version II Badb and Medb speak in rhetoric with each other, while
Medb sleeps. In this rhetoric Badb basically repeats what she has previously said to
Medb. Medb calls the Badb here “white lady, fair with brilliancy” (bé bán bulid collí).143
But in version II this woman is nowhere identified as the Badb. Here the woman is
described as “the same woman who had come to Conchobar” (in ben chétna adfét
na scéla do Chonchobur), while in version I in this same passage is said at the
beginning: “The Badb went on her way, and in Cruachain she appeared to Medb”
(Luid in Bodb collec co m-bui hi Chruachnuib con n-epert fri Meidb).144 In version I the
woman is identified as the Badb, while in version II, she is not called Badb. Windisch
has incorporated the name Badb in his translation of version II in the rhetoric
conversation with Medb, but the interpretation that this woman is the Badb, comes
strictly from version I.
There are two poems in version II, which do not occur in version I, and in
which the Badb is mentioned. The first poem occurs at the beginning of the tale.
Ollgaeth, the druid of Mani prophesies that Conchobar shall come upon him and that
Medb shall defeat him in battle, and he says in a poem: “Badb shall destroy them,
wild strength shall be shown, it is a breach in the power of Medb!” (brisfid Badb, bid
bríg borb, tolg for Meidb).145 At the end of the tale, Ferb sings a song, and says: cach
oen ros marb ní seguind, fégaim cech m-baidb foa fuidim.146 This is a very obscure
rhetoric and therefore difficult to translate, but later in the same poem, Ferb says:
“You have fed the Badb, the pale one, amidst the weapons; sufficient your boldness!”
(ro biathsaid Baidb co m-báni allus airm, lór a chruadi).147 The Badb is here called
“the pale one”, similar to “white lady” which we have seen before in the rhetoric
between Medb and Badb. This does suggest that the Badb is the same woman as
the woman in the visions, because Medb describes her in the same way as Ferb
does. The Badb plays a very important role here, as she sets Conchobar and Medb
against each other by coming to them in a vision and warning them for each other’s
armies. But although she plays a big part, she is still a supernatural, inhuman like
being, as she appears only in a vision.
Another tale in which the Badb plays a more elaborative role is BDC. Cormac
and his men saw a red woman on the edge of the ford, washing her chariot and its
142
Version I: Leahy, Courtship, 58-59; Thurneysen, Helden, 357; Windisch, ‘Tochmarc’; 549: 2, 553-
554. Version II: Leahy, Courtship, 11-12; Thurneysen, Helden, 353, Windisch, ‘Tochmarc’, 472-473. In
version II the woman’s appearance is described in much more detail: “Her bearing was the bearing of
a queen; her hair was golden and wavy, and was braided into a tress coiled about her head. Through
a thin robe, woven of silken threads, shone her white skin, a soft and glossy kerchief of green silk lay
on her neck. Two sandals of white bronze, rounded in front, appeared between her tender feet and the
ground”.
143
The complete version of this rhetoric can be found under appendix B at page 106.
144
Version I: Windisch, ‘Tochmarc’, 551: 55-56, 555; Leahy, Courtship, 62; Thurneysen, Helden, 357.
Version II: Leahy, Courtship, 25-27, 77-79; Windisch, ‘Tochmarc’, 488-491: 350-377; Thurneysen,
Helden, 354.
145
Windisch, ‘Tochmarc’, 470-471, 108; Leahy, Courtship, 11, 72.
146
Windisch, ‘Tochmarc’, 506-507: 613-614.
147
Leahy, Courtship, 41, 89; Windisch, ‘Tochmarc’, 508-509: 623-624.
30
cushions and harness. When she lowered her hand, the bed of the river became red
with gore and blood. But when she raised her hand over the river’s edge, every drop
was lifted on high, so that they went dry foot over the bed of the river. Cormac let one
of his men ask her what she was doing. She then chanted to them, standing on one
foot, and with one eye closed: “I wash the harness of a king who will perish …”. The
messenger came to Cormac and told him the prophecy which the Badb (in Badhbh)
had made for him.148 Cormac went to the edge of the ford to speak with her. He
asked her whose harness it was she was washing and the Badb said that it was his
own.149 Later a bigmouthed, dark-skinned woman, who squinted with her left eye and
who wore a shabby and dusky mantle came towards the hostel. Every part of her
was as dark as the back of a stag beetle and her grey hair fell back over her
shoulder. She leant her shoulder against the doorpost, and began prophesying evil,
and uttering ill words, saying: “Sad will they be in the hostel: bodies will be severed
…”. At the end is said that the Badb (in mBadb) then went from them. After the
Badb’s (na Baidbe) prophecy of evil to them they were gloomy, tearful and
mournful.150
The Badb who comes as an hag to the door of the hostel and prophesies their
destruction, has a great resemblance to the hag called Cailbe in TBDD. In TBDD a
lone woman comes after sunset to the hostel where Conaire and his men are
staying, and she wants to be let in. She has very long legs that were as dark as a
stag beetle and she wore a grey mantle. Her hair reached as far as her knee and her
lips were on one side of her head. She leaned her shoulder to the doorpost and cast
the evil eye on the king. Conaire asked what she saw for them and she said that
neither fell nor flesh of them would escape the place to which they had come, save
what birds will bear away in their claws. Conaire says they did not ask for an evil
omen and he asks for her name. “Cailbe” she answers, and she says her names are
many besides and on one leg and in one breath she sings all of her names to them.
Two of the names in this list are Nemain and Badb (Némain, Badb). Conaire asks
what she wants from him and she says she wants the same thing that he wants.
Conaire explains that it is a geis for him to receive company of a lone man or woman
after sunset, but she would not leave until she was received. She tells him he is not
very hospitable to her and that this is not fitting behaviour for a king. Conaire then
lets her in, but they all felt a great loathing from the woman’s prophecy. 151
Not only does this fragment have a great resemblance to the fragment in BDC,
but two names of the hag Cailbe in TBDD are Badb and Nemain. Sayers gives an
overview of the list of names Cailbe recites and he indicates that most of these
names have a specific meaning clinging to them, of which Nemain means “war-
goddess” or “battle fury” and Badb means “war-goddess” or “scald crow”. Sayers
assumes the names in this list do not have any historical depth, but that they embody
the divine attributes and the central conception of female divinity. Interestingly he
explains Badb and Nemain are in this list two of a few exceptions. He states that no
divine names figure here, and explains that Badb is used merely as a common
noun.152 Máire Breathnach says that the names Badb and Nemain may be used to
emphasize Cailbe’s grotesque appearance, as the names of the war-goddesses
148
In TCD H.1.17.: in badb.
149
Stokes, ‘Da Choca’s’, 156-159.
150
Stokes, ‘Da Choca’s’, 314-317.
151
Stokes, ‘Destruction’, 57-61; Knott, Togail, 17; Draak and de Jong, Van Helden, 167-168; Stokes,
Togail, 49-53.
152
Sayers, ‘Supernatural’, 54-59.
31
have gruesome connotations.153 O’Rahilly states that the general resemblance
between BDC and TBDD is obvious, and that indeed a number of incidents in the one
tale are modelled on incidents in the other. She says that because BDC is decidedly
later than TBDD, we are tended to suppose that the latter was the model. But she
thinks it would be quite possible that the compiler of TBDD, or one of his sources,
borrowed from the early version of BDC.154 However, I suppose it is here more logical
to assume that the hag called Badb in BDC is based on the hag Cailbe in TBDD. I
think Badb and Nemain are used as two of the names in TBDD to emphasize the
sinister character of the hag Cailbe. I think the compiler of BDC has copied this
character, as the description of her appearance is almost exactly the same. It seems
to me he has changed the name Cailbe to Badb, as Badb was already one of the
names Cailbe recites and because Badb was a well known name to the Irish public.
This compiler probably also added the washer at the ford aspect. 155
Clark thinks it reasonable that when Badb is mentioned as a single goddess,
instead of one of a group, to identify her with the Morrígan. She proves her point with
the instances where Badb and Morrígan are interchangeable, as I have described in
paragraph 3.1.1. One of her points is that it is the Morrígan who encounters Cú
Chulainn in MCC and not Badb. She claims that only the Badb’s name is used and
she says although the tale never states that she is the Morrígan, it is reasonable to
infer that she is, since the Morrígan is represented throughout the Ulster cycle as Cú
Chulainn’s special tutelary goddess. Conveniently Clark follows O’Rahilly in
translating in (m)boidb as “the war-goddess”, which in her defence could be a generic
term indicating the Morrígan. But remarkably and rather inconsistent, Clark describes
this sentence with: “the Badb’s words are …”. 156 I think it becomes clear from the
texts that Badb and Morrígan are two different characters, whereas Morrígan is the
only goddess who takes on a real role and plays a more important and human-like
role in several stories, Badb has not developed as such and stays more on the
background. In all the texts where Badb occurs, she plays a rather sinister and
mysterious role. This is very contradictory with Morrígan who transforms herself in a
human form on several occasions and joins the events in conversation as well as
action. Badb appears more as a demon or ghost like appearance, who cannot be
seen as a human-like character. The only exception is the last text I have described,
BDC, as Badb here transforms into an old hag and plays an important role in the tale.
But as we have seen, this character has most likely been modelled on the hag Cailbe
in TBDD, and therefore the characteristics in this tale cannot be seen as uniquely
belonging to the Badb.
4. Badb: a generic term for other persons and creatures
153
Bhreathnach, ‘Sovereignty’, 251, 255.
154
O'Rahilly, Early, 133-134.
155
Many interesting descriptions occur in these two texts, of which one is the fact that the hag Cailbe
is called túathcháech, which is generally translated as “blind in the left eye”; see Borsje, ‘Meaning’;
Borsje and Kelly, ‘Evil Eye’.
156
Clark, Great Queens, 37; Clark, ‘Aspects’, 227, 232.
32
In the previous chapter I have looked at the war-goddess Badb. But the word badb
can also signify other persons or creatures than Badb, when it is used as a generic
word or name to describe another demonic or warlike kind of creature. In the
classical adaptations we find the word badb used for the classical Furies, in several
texts the word badb takes on the meaning of “witch” and badb can denote a “battle
demon”. All these creatures to some extent resemble the war-goddesses. In AnS we
find a good example of the universal use of the word badb. Cailte gives Patrick an
enumeration of the horses of the Fianna. One of these horses is described as in
Badhbh ac Mac Lugach lán (“Brave Mac Lugach’s Badb”).157 Here Badb is used as a
name for a horse, which probably tells us something about the nature of this
particular horse.
4.1 The Furies
The classical Furies and the war-goddess Bellona are in the classical adaptations
replaced with the word badb.
4.1.1 The Furies and Bellona in the classical texts
In the original classical texts, two sort of war-goddesses appear: the Furies and the
war-goddess Bellona. The Furies are female ghosts who occupy themselves with law
and vengeance, who are also called the “goddesses of punishment”. The Greek
called these goddesses Erinyen and the Romans Furiae. Their exact number is
usually not mentioned, but three names are known: Allecto, Megaera and Tisiphone.
They look horrific and they tend to inflict insanity on their victims. The natural
residence of the Furies is located in Tartarus, the Greek hell. They are part of the
household of Hades, the god of Tartarus. Usually they are seen as the daughters of
Hades and his wife Persephone, but there is a legend that when Cronus castrated
his father Uranus, from the splashing blood of Uranus all sorts of mythical figures
were born, under which the Giants, the Miliae and the three Erinyen. The Furies
appear in many classical stories, such as Allecto by Vergil.158
Bellona is a Roman war-goddess. She is in charge of all conflicts, on
diplomatic as well as military level. She rides around in her chariot while she lashes
her sword around. Bellona is often equated with her Greek equivalent Enyo or with
Nerio, the wife of Mars. She accompanies Mars often as his wife or as his sister.
Bellona does not play a large role in mythology and legends as she was seen only as
a personification of war, but she did play an important role in Roman religion. 159
4.1.2 The use of the word badb in the Irish adaptations
In the Irish adaptations the Furies and Bellona also appear as war-goddesses, but
the interesting fact is that they are both called badb. Although the irish word in Fhuir
157
O’Grady, SG I, 100; II, 107; Dooley and Roe, Tales, 10-11. Stokes translates in Badhbh as “Scald
Crow”, and says in his glossarial index that in this case Badb is the name of a horse; Stokes,
‘Acallamh’, 8: 268, 274. I do not think badhbh should be translated as “scald crow”, or in any other
way, as it is used as a proper name.
158
Vessy, Statius, 75; Grant and Hazel, Who’s who, 138-140.
159
Fraser, Warrior Queens, 96; Grant and Hazel, Who’s who, 64-65; Lloyd-Morgan, ‘Nemesis and
Bellona’, 125.
33
is also used to describe the Furies, at most points where in the original classical text
a Fury or Bellona is described, in the Irish texts this has been replaced with badb.
This makes the Irish texts very confusing, as it is not always clear if badb signifies a
Fury or Bellona. The Furies Tisiphone and Megaera, and in some cases Allecto, are
mentioned by name, but the name Bellona does not appear at all in the texts. But
although her name does not occur in the Irish texts, her character most definitely
exists, as the description of this war-goddess is exactly the same as in the classical
texts. Very often she is called in badb catha, but she is best recognised by the
description of her character and the correspondence with the original text. Most of
the Irish texts correspond closely in storyline with the classical original, so the
descriptions of the Furies and Bellona accordingly correspond. Some passages in
which the Furies appear have not been copied, which is typical for the classical
adaptations, as they are shorter and more to the point, less elaborative and adapted
in such a way that they appealed to the Irish public of those days by incorporating
their own culture.
The word badb for a Fury or Bellona appears most often in TnT. The Furies
Tisiphone and Megaera, and Bellona play a role in this text. Tisiphone appears for
the first time when Oedipus invokes her. The Fury rises from the fiery stream
Cocytus, with tresses of poisonous snakes around her head, she passes the groups
of souls that wandered in the dark dwellings of hell, and terror and fear seized them
when they saw Tisiphone. Tisiphone is here called “furious red-mouthed Fury” (na
baidbi bruthmaire belldeirgi sin).160 When in the Thebaid Bellona arises,161 in TnT she
is described as “the contentious war-goddess” (in badb catha cosnamach), who flung
ill-boding brands over the cities of the Greeks and the Thebans, and screamed and
spread terror over the camps so that the warriors grasped their weapons under
pressure of “that red-mouthed goddess” (na baidbi beldergi sin).162 When Hypsipyle
tells that on the island Lemnos, because of a curse from Venus all women had killed
their men and sons, she says that the “red-mouthed Furies of the depths of hell”
(badba bellderga ichtair infirn) had come to confuse the women.163 In the Thebaid
Venus and the Furies, who are here called the Sisters of Tartarus, together influence
the women to kill their men. 164 Hypsipyle tells that when she saw that the women had
killed their men and sons, terror grasped her and she says: “And I came as a
disturbing Fury (baidb buaidertha) to the house of my father Thoas to warn him”. 165
Here badb is even used to describe a fury-like appearance, for a person that is not a
Fury at all. When the Greeks come to Thebes and make camp for the night, the
Thebans are terribly frightened. “Disturbing red-mouthed Furies” (badba buaidirthi
belderga) and dreadful demons of hell were scattered throughout and the terrible
demons from the hell spread over the two armies that night to strengthen the evil and
the anger of each of them against the other. 166 In the Thebaid it is Tisiphone who
160
Calder, Togail, 12-13: 193-194.
161
Mozley, Statius I, 507.
162
Calder, Togail, 86-87: 1365, 1369. Professor MacKinnon translates from the Edinburgh ms with:
“that red-lipped Fury”, though from the text becomes clear that Bellona is meant here; MacKinnon,
‘Gaelic’, 298-299.
163
Calder, Togail, 120-121: 1875-1876.
164
Mozley, Statius II, 5-25.
165
Calder translates baidb here with “ghost”, which I think is not at all accurate; Calder, Togail, 120-
121: 1899. DIL gives as a possible translation for this phrase: “because bringing tidings of slaughter”,
but I do not think this is correct, as this does not correspond with the context of this fragment; Quin,
DIL, 62.
166
Calder, Togail, 176-177: 2741-2742.
34
creates chaos in each camp. 167 After the Greeks have buried Amphiaraus, “the red-
mouthed furious Furies” (badba belderga bruthmara) and the horrible demons of hell
go to the city of Thebes to persuade the Thebans to fight against the Greeks. The
foundations shook, when all the Thebans stood up together and went through the
gates of the city at the urging of “the disturbing Furies” (na mbadb mbuaidirthi).168 In
the Thebaid it is Tisiphone who lets out her terrifying cry, while Bellona bangs on the
gates.169 When Hippomedon sees how a Theban tries to carry away the dead body of
his friend Tydeus, Hippomedon attacks him and no one could take him away from the
body until the Fury Tisiphone came. Terror grasped both armies even though they
could not see her. She takes on the shape of the Greek Halys, and quietly she
comes to Hippomedon and speaks to him. Hippomedon was terrified at hearing the
voice of the Fury (na baidbi). She says to him that he is defending the remains of the
Greek soldiers in vain and the Fury (in badb) says to him that it is better to go and
help Adrastus. He then gives the body of Tydeus under the protection of his people
and he goes after the Fury (na baidbi) until she leaves him in her own shape. 170 The
Greeks pull back from the city and are followed by some Thebans who attack them.
Then arises “the hideous, complaining, hustling, pursuing Fury, to wit, Tisiphone from
the depths of hell” (an badb granna geranach thindesnach thuasanach) to set the two
brothers, Eteocles and Polynices up against each other. Because she thinks she will
not succeed in this alone, she lets out a terrible cry for her sister Megaera. Megaera
immediately rises from the river Orcus and goes to the camp to incite Polynices in the
shape of his wife Argia. When Polynices sees Megaera, in the form of his wife, she
does not answer him so Polynices assumes that she is a vision. The Fury (an badb
sin) troubles Polynices so that he wants to seek war and conflict. He goes to
Adrastus and says that he wants a fight with Eteocles, because the Fury was
disquieting him, to wit, Megaera (an bodb aga buadread .i. Megera). Their mother
Jocasta and sister Antigone try to persuade Eteocles not to fight Polynices and
immediately “the devilish mad Fury” (an badb demnach dasachtach) appears and
incites Eteocles to confront his brother in front of the gates of Thebes. 171 In the
Thebaid she is described as “the mean Fury” at this point. 172
A very interesting passage occurs in which the goddess Enyo is described as
“the wife of Nét, disturbing Fury, to wit, Enyo, sister of Mars, the god of war” (in bé
néit badba buaidirthi .i. Enio, siur Mairt .i. dei in chatha).173 In the Thebaid at this point
Enyo is also mentioned, but it is not explained who she is. 174 Not only is Enyo called
badba, but she has even been made the wife of Nét. Here it seems that not only the
word badb was used to describe another person than Badb, but here even the
characteristics of the war-goddess Badb have been appointed to Enyo. This is
strange, because Enyo is a classical figure, taken straight from the Thebaid, while
Nét is an Irish deity. This shows how keen the Irish were to make ancient mythology
their own, as they entwine their own gods in the text.
In ICC the Furies are mentioned by name only at one occasion, when a hag,
Erictho, invokes the three Furies of hell, to wit, Allecto, Tisiphone and Megaera. 175 In
167
Mozley, Statius II, 167.
168
Calder, Togail, 194-195: 3018, 3024.
169
170
Calder, Togail, 222-225: 3452, 3460, 3464.
171
Calder, Togail, 278-279: 4313, 4336, 280-281: 4348, 284-285: 4418.
172
173
Calder, Togail, 208-209: 3246-3247.
174
175
Stokes, ‘In Cath Catharda’, 312-313: 4179-4180; O’Grady, Caithréim II, 218.
35
the Pharsalia Erichto invokes Tisiphone and Megaera. Allecto is not at all mentioned
in the text, so in ICC Allecto has been added.176 Later in the text, the war-goddess (in
badb catha) was seen every night, with a red-flaming torch in her hand, and her
snaky, poisonous tresses rattling around her head, urging the Romans to battle. 177 In
the Pharsalia it is the giant figure of a Fury who stalked round the city, shaking her
hissing hair while she held a flaming pine-tree. 178 During “The Great Battle on the
Plain of Thessaly” appear numerous animals, but also the following creatures are
described:
“… and the other flying things: at the rough bitter, wail-screaming of the
madmen, and the taloned griffins, and the witches and the spectres, and the
red-mouthed Furies (na mbadb mbélderg), and the phantoms with dishevelled
hair and the crowds of demoniac multitudes and the other devil fishes of the
air above them, neither slumber nor nap nor sleep was allowed to a single soul
in each of the two great camps so long as the witches were at that game
around them”.179
This description does not exist in the Pharsalia, as it is a typical Irish way of
describing demonic creatures, much like the descriptions of battle demons that will
follow in paragraph 4.3. In ICC is said of Caesar: “Heat and burning and madness
and fury and frenzy of mind and nature filled him when he beheld the battle
maintained against him, so that there was nothing like him save the war-goddess (in
badhbh catha) who is said to be with her bloody scourges in her hand around the
battlefield, inciting the hosts to combat”. 180 In the Pharsalia Caesar is here compared
with Bellona, brandishing her scourge. 181 Only in Cocadh Catharda occurs the
following passage: “When the army examined the plain, they saw formidable
testudines, ice-like and glittering of all colours, threatening series battle-phalanxes
(nacrobuailti bodba cata), which in the semblance of one body came crawling
towards them”.182 This passage is not found in the Pharsalia as described here, but I
suppose we can best take these “battle-phalanxes” as Furies. It is interesting that
badb catha is here used in the plural sense, which we find nowhere else. Again these
creatures resemble the battle demons.
In IA Tisiphone, Megaera and Allecto play a significant role, but they are not
called badb and the passages in which the Furies occur do not correspond with the
original Aeneid. In the Aeneid Bellona appears twice, while in IA she is not at all
mentioned or described. Only at one point badb occurs: “When the army had finished
arranging their battalions and encouraging and inciting their hosts, and when they
had donned their weapons of war, the red mad war-goddess (badb derg dasachtach)
was stirring up strife between those two battalions, heavy was the increase of ill luck
and gloom upon the hosts that day”. I assume badb derg implies a Fury or Bellona,
but because this passage does not exist in the Aeneid, I cannot be certain.183
176
Duff, Lucan, 356-359.
177
Stokes explains in brackets that they are the Erinnys; Stokes, ‘In Cath Catharda’, 70-71: 902.
178
Duff, Lucan, 44-45.
179
Stokes translates badb bélderg with “red mouthed lamia’s”. This is an interesting word choice, as
the Lamia’s are the biblical equivalents of the Furies; Stokes, ‘In Cath Catharda’, 325-327: 4356.
180
Stokes, ‘In Cath Catharda’, 434-435: 5955.
181
Duff, Lucan, 410-411.
182
O’Grady, Caithréim I, 214; II, 230.
183
Calder translates badb derg as “red mad war”, which seems like a rather strange translation to me;
Calder, Imtheachta, 154-157: 2480-2481.
36
4.1.3 Connection between the Furies and the Irish war-goddesses
It is striking that the word badb is used to denote both the Furies and Bellona. It
seems that the Furies and Bellona have been combined into one character by the
Irish, as they are both called badb. The Irish seem to have incorporated their own
name and their own idea of the war-goddess. This makes the story very confusing to
the modern reader, because Bellona and the Furies in the classical texts embody two
separate characters with separate roles and tasks. It is therefore remarkable that the
Irish generalize these goddesses.
It appears to be that in Ireland the custom existed to replace the Furies and
Bellona with badb, as in all adaptations this method is applied. The question is how
this custom developed in the first place. A possibility is that the Irish thought that the
classical goddesses resembled their own war-goddesses and therefore used the
word badb because this name or word was recognisable to them. The Irish public
probably immediately knew that the word badb related to some kind of war-goddess
or other warlike creature. The Furies have many obvious resemblances to the Irish
war-goddesses and Bellona is a true personification of war, as her name derives
from the Latin word bellum (“war”), so both deities could easily have been replaced
with badb. Bellona was probably not a very familiar goddess, but the names
Tisiphone, Megaera and Allecto, on the other hand, must have been better known to
the Irish, as their names have not been omitted or replaced.
Besides the classical adaptations we find more references of the Furies in
early Irish literature. In recension I of TBC occurs a very interesting passage in which
the Morrígan is called Allecto. After Cú Chulainn killed Lethan and the troops move
through Mag Breg, the Morrígan came that night, in the form of a bird and perched on
a standing stone in Temair Cúailnge. Only in recension I she is introduced as Allecto:
“Allecto came for a while, that is, the Morrígan” (forrumai Allechtu colléic, noch is í in
Mórrígan). In Temair Cúailnge she speaks to the Brown Bull, the Donn Cúailnge, to
warn him for the arrival of the armies of Ireland. 184 Thurneysen first suggested that
this Allechtu has been based on the classical Allecto from the Aeneid. Gerard
Murphy disagreed with Thurneysen and said Allecto also appears in a Middle Irish
gloss and is mentioned in an 11 th century Anglo Saxon glossary. This lead him to the
conclusion that the mention of Allecto does not reflect any acquaintance with the
classical tale, but rather speaks for it being a mere commonplace of the schools. 185
Borsje suggests that the author of recension I borrowed the name Allecto because of
certain parallels between the Furies in the Aeneid and the Morrígan in TBC. She
says these parallels could have appeared so striking to the author of recension I that
this author may have decided to use the above mentioned borrowings in order to hint
at the parallels between the goddesses. 186 Another striking reference is that, as
mentioned before, queen Jocaste in TnT is called a morrigain, while as Borsje points
184
Thurneysen, Helden, 144-145; O’Rahilly, TBC-I, 152; Olmsted, ‘Mórrígan’s warning’, 165-172;
O’Rahilly, TBC-I, 30: 955, 152. Strachan and O’Keeffe have edited: fosrumæi a llechtu collēic. Noch is
ī in Morrīgan. So they have edited Allechtu as a llechtu, and not as the name of the Fury Allecto;
Strachan and O'Keeffe, TBC-I, 32: 843-844. In the Maynooth manuscript occurs: forrumae Alechtae
collecc. ł cichsid in Morrigan. Ó Fiannachta says in a note that this sentence seems to be a
misunderstanding of the original, preserved in the Yellow Book of Lecan; noch is i in Morrigan son, in
which case the whole phrase is a gloss and the full stop preceding it should be removed: forrumae
Allechtae collecc (gloss) in ndelb eoin co mboe; Ó Fiannachta, Maynooth, 4: 137-138, 80.
185
Ó hUiginn, ‘Background’, 35-36, 40; Ó Cathasaigh, Mythology’, 116-117.
186
Borsje, ‘Omens’, 245-246.
37
out, in the Thebaid she is compared with the most ancient of the Furies, the
Eumenides.187 Borsje has described another number of texts in which the Furies are
mentioned. A Middle Irish gloss in Amra Choluim Cille reads that the three daughters
of Orcus are in hell called Allecto, Megaera and Tisiphone. The Middle Irish text Fled
Dúin na nGéd mentions “the demonic fury” (in fúir demnach) who is called Tisiphone.
The Early Modern Irish version of Cath Maige Rath mentions the three infernal Furies
Allecto, Megeara and Tisiphone.188 These references show that there certainly is
some kind of connection between the Furies and the Irish war-goddesses.
As I have already discussed, Tristram has shown that the influence of the
classical adaptations on Irish literature is much bigger than is usually assumed. She
says TBC was based on a classic model, in a time that the Irish were already familiar
with classical patrons of composition. According to Tristram, the Irish would have
gotten this knowledge through the classical adaptations. The fact that the Furies are
called badb in the classical adaptations and that Morrígan is called Allecto in TBC
could serve as evidence for this argument. The other texts mentioned above show
that the names of the Furies, Tisiphone, Allecto and Megaera, were known to the
Irish. The Irish must also have been aware of the fact that these Furies had a lot in
common with their own war-goddesses. It seems therefore very possible that the
equation of the Irish war-goddesses with the Furies, started when in the classical
adaptations the Furies were replaced with badb.
Connection between the Irish war-goddesses and other goddesses

Besides a connection of the Irish war-goddesses with the Furies, there are also
goddesses from other backgrounds that resemble the Irish goddesses. Erich
Neumann has categorised several groups of goddesses. One of these groups
Neumann calls the Terrible Mother, whom he explains as a goddess of death, who
has an aspect as bird of death, vulture and raven. According to Neumann the Furies,
the Lamia’s and the Valkyries belong to this group. But also Morrígan is mentioned
here, described by Neumann as a form of the Celtic enchantress-goddess and as the
corpse-devouring crow.189 I would now shortly like to look at the two other deities
mentioned by Neumann, the Valkyries and the Lamia’s.
C. Lottner was the first to notice the similarities between the Irish war-
goddesses and the Norwegian or originally Germanic Valkyries, in a supplement to
Hennesy. The similarities mentioned by Lottner are that the Valkyries and the Irish
goddesses both appear as groups of three, both are often the special companion of
one hero, and both appear in the form of birds. But Lottner’s main point is the
recognition of the Germanic counterpart of Irish Cathubodua, Baduhenna, the name
of a Germanic goddess. Lottner connects the Old High German woman name
Baduhild to names ending in –hild, which according to him derived from the Valkyrie
names such as Mahthild, Gundhild and Svanhild. Lottner suggests that this
connection must go further back, when the Celts and Germans mixed together. 190
Charles Donahue says that it is commonly assumed that Baduhenna was a war-
goddess of some sort, but he explains that when the matter is viewed from a purely
Germanic point of view, it does not appear likely that she was a Valkyrie. Donahue
says that between the vague witch-like battle demons called the Valkyries and the
personality Baduhenna, there is a gap which nothing offered by the Germanic
187
Borsje, ‘Omens’, 247.
188
189
Neumann, Great Mother, 80, 164-165.
190
Lottner, ‘Supplement’, 55-57.
38
material seems to bridge. He explains that in Old English the word waelcyrge, the
equivalent of valkyrja, seems to have been applied to female demons who were
connected with war. Donahue says the word is used to gloss the Erinyes, Tisiphone
and Allecto, and Bellona. Donahue also points out that an Old English glossator
explained Allecto as a valkyrie.191 A.H. Leahy interestingly explains that the Badb was
one of the three Irish “Valkyr maidens” or goddesses of war. 192
Another group of deities that resemble the Irish war-goddesses are the
Lamia’s from the Vulgate part of the Bible. The Lamia is a child-devouring female
demon or monster, who is sometimes characterized as a kind of vampire from
classical mythology. One of her characteristics is that she can appear in different
shapes and she is also referred to in a plural form. Borsje explains that the translator
Jerome comments upon the Lamia, in his commentary on the book of Isaiah , that
some of the Hebrews believe her to be an Erinys. 193 In an Irish 9th century gloss on
the Vulgate the Lamia is explained as follows: “Lamia is a monster in the form of a
woman, that is, a morrigain” (lamia monstrum in feminae figura .i. morigain).194
It is obvious that the Irish war-goddesses, the Furies, the Lamia’s and the
Valkyries have a close connection with one another and that they are at many
occasions referred to. This could mean that these deities existed already for a long
time in their own cultures and that at certain points in time the resemblance was
noticed. But it could also be that their connection goes back to a common Indo-
European source.195
4.2 Witches
In the following texts the word badb is best translated as “witch”. The reason I think in
these texts badb means “witch” is in the first place because the description of these
characters implies that they are witches. But another important clue is that in a
number of these fragments badb is used together with caillech, a more common Irish
word for a witch or a hag, for the same person.196
In CML Siomha, the daughter of Corr Luirgneach, is called “a Badhbh” (Sīmha
ingen Chorrluirgnig air .i. badhb), which O’Curry translates as “witch”. 197 This indeed
seems accurate, as Siomha is some lines later in the same passage called na
191
Donahue, ‘Valkyries’, 3-8.
192
Leahy, Courtship, 65-66.
193
Borsje, ‘Omens’, 243-244; Clark, ‘Aspects’, 224-225.
194
Borsje, ‘Omens’, 243-244; Donahue, ‘Valkyries’, 5-6; Bitel, Land of Women, 208.
195
Besides this, there are reasons to believe that certain creatures have in their turn been based on
the Irish war-goddesses. Clark sees a connection between the Badb and the Banshee, because
O’Connell’s dictionary identifies the Badb as bean sidhe; Clark, Great Queens, 24; see also: Lysaght,
Banshee. Secondly, Morgan le Fay could have been inspirited on the Morrígan. Angelique
Gulermovich has made a comparison between Morgan le Fay and the Morrígan; see: Gulermovich,
‘Woman’s Word’.
196
Máirin Ní Dhonnchadha explains that the primary meaning of the word caillech is “veiled one”. She
has given the following definition of the word: “spouse”, “spouse (of Christ), virgin nun”, “old woman”:
“supernatural figure, witch” and “housekeeper”. She interestingly points out that there are examples
where the Morrígan is called caillech. In TBC when Cú Chulainn encounters the Morrígan, she is in the
guise of a caillech-like old woman. And when in the Battle of Mag Rath she appears above the head of
Domnall mac Aeda as a symbol of the victory, Morrígan is also called caillech; Ní Dhonnchadha,
‘Caillech’, 71, 74-83, 92-94.
197
Jackson, CML, 16: 411-413. In O’Curry this is: Siomha ingean Chorluirgnigh fair, eadon badhbh, a
variation from the Yellow Book of Lecan. O’Curry explains in a note that Badhbh is a name given to
witches; O’Curry, CML, 32-33.
39
caillighe (“the hag”). Later in the text badb is used in the plural form to describe three
witches. When Eoghan went to his pavilion, he saw three venomous tongued witches
(na trí badbha bél-ginacha) coming towards him and three goblins with them. They
were frightful grey dismayed women of the valley, with grey blue polls of hair, and
frowning eyebrows, hanging over their cheeks, and dropping over their hateful eyes.
These hags (na cailleacha sin) had corroded noses and long black talkative tongues,
and the most hateful cries, the most fearful shriekings and the venom of adders on
their tongues. And these witches (na badhbaibh sin) had yellow nails, and these hags
(na cailleacha sin) had thin crooked legs. The nobles and Eoghan were terrified at
seeing them and they ask the women where they have come from. They answer that
they have come from afar by their own powers and they tell that they are At, Lean
and Lann, the three daughters of Truaghan from Treagha. They then utter a
prophecy about Magh Lena.198 In this text badb is used together with caillech, two
different words signifying both witches or hags. The description also shows that these
women are witches. Jackson notes that this run is typical of Irish descriptions of
witches or hags.199
In OCL, after Aife has turned the children of Lir into swans, Fionnghuala says
in a lay to Aife: “Thou witch! (a baidb!). We know thy name!”. From the way the tale
describes Aife can be concluded that she is indeed a witch. Besides, at another point
in the text, as in CML, Aife is also called caillech.200
The most interesting case of badb in the sense of “witch”, is Badbh ingen
Cailitín in ACC. The children of Calatín play an important part in the modern version
of ACC. Probably they also played a more important part in the older version, but
unfortunately this section of the tale has been lost in the earlier manuscripts. In the
older version the sons of Calatín are shortly mentioned. Erc mac Coirpri and his men
told their satirists to ask for Cú Chulainn’s spear, because the sons of Calatín had
prophesied of this spear that a king would be slain by it. Then they ask for his spear
three times and ask: “What will fall by this spear, oh sons of Calatín?”. “A king will fall
by that spear” answer the sons of Calatín. This is three times repeated in which they
explain that Loeg, Liath Macha and Cú Chulainn himself will fall by that spear. 201
In the modern version the role of the children of Calatín is far more
elaborative. The story begins with an enumeration of the heroes slaughtered by Cú
Chulainn, including Calatín Dána and his 27 children, which is described in TBC.
Shortly after the death of Calatín, his wife gave birth to three sons and three
daughters at one time. Medb rears these monstrous and ill-shaped children for
seventeen years, and teaches them magical arts in order to destroy Cú Chulainn.
Vulcan forges for them three swords, three knives, and three spears and by these
weapons should fall three kings, namely Cú Chulainn, the king of the warriors of
Ireland, Loeg, the king of servants and Liath Macha, the king of horses. Conchobar,
the magicians and Emer decide to take Cú Chulainn to Glenn na Mhodhar (“The
Glen of the Deaf”) and they arrange a festival so that he would not hear the shouts
and cries by Calatín’s children. Medb then reminds the children of Calatín that they
198
O’Curry, CML, 118-127; Jackson, CML, 61: 1583-1586, 1593-1594.
199
Jackson, CML, 106.
200
Richard J. O’Duffy explains badb in his vocabulary as “a witch, a fairy-woman”; O’Duffy, Oidhe, 7,
46, 97; Jacobs, More, 3. In J.P. Craig’s version it is not a baidb, but a deamain; Craig, Clann Lir, 14.
This is strange because there cannot be a difference in editions, as both versions are based on
O’Curry which is a combination of all the manuscripts in which the story exists. O’Curry’s translation
exists in an article in Atlantis, which I was unfortunately unable to consult.
201
Stokes, ‘Cuchulainn’s Death’, 177-181; Thurneysen, Helden, 552-553; D'Arbois de Jubainville,
L’Épopée, 340-345.
40
should kill Cú Chulainn within three days. The daughters of Calatín, described as the
three witches (claenbuaidirtha Cailitín .i. trí badhba) go as birds to Emain. They make
out of grass stems, puff balls, roots and leaves numerous warriors in armour and
fighting men with battle weapons so that the glen was filled with battalions. The cries
and hideous laughter by the children of Calatín echoed around the glen. The land
was full of lamentation and everyone throughout the region was terror stricken. When
Cú Chulainn sees this, he wants to attack the children of Calatín, but then Calatín’s
daughter Badb (Badbh ingen Cailitín), in the form of a bird, lands on Cú Chulainn’s
grianáin and sings to him about the destruction of Muirthemne. Cathbad says Cú
Chulainn should not listen to the noises, because they are framed by Calatín’s
children. Cú Chulainn listens to Cathbad and goes back to the festivities, but still they
hear Calatín’s children above the glen. Calatín’s daughter Badb (Badhbh ingen
Cailitín) then goes to the palace, where she assumes the form of Celtchar’s daughter
Niamh. Badb (Badb) knew that Cú Chulainn had promised Niamh that until she would
give him permission, he would not attack the men of Ireland. Therefore, in Niamh’s
shape, Badb (Badb dealb Néime) bade Cú Chulainn to attack the hosts. Cú Chulainn
was confused because he knew Niamh would not give him permission to leave at
first. Nevertheless he determines to leave and the women try to stop him, but they do
not succeed. Badb (in Badhbh) leaves him and loudly and terribly they raise the
same cries as before. Cathbad tries to stop him and tells him he should not attack the
men of Ireland and that he would save him from the magic of Calatín’s children, but
Cú Chulainn says Niamh herself had told him to go. When Niamh hears this she tells
him she has not done this and explains that it had not been her, but Calatín’s
daughter Badb (Badhbh ingin Cailitín) in her own shape to deceive him. But Cú
Chulainn does not believe Niamh and commands Loeg to prepare his harness and
horses. Cú Chulainn thinks he sees great ranks and troops of battle and that he
hears shouts and that men slew Emer. Cathbad tells Cú Chulainn that these were all
delusions, and that except for grass and leaves no one else was there. Cathbad
follows Cú Chulainn and at the entrance of the ford on Emain Macha they see a
maiden, slender and white of her body with yellow hair. In grief and tribulation she
washed and wrung crimson bloody spoils on the ford’s brink. Cathbad asks if Cú
Chulainn does not see that she is the daughter Badb (ingin Baidbhi) that washed his
gear, because she signifies his fall and his destruction by Medb’s great hosts and by
spells of Calatín’s children. But Cú Chulainn says because Badb (in Badbh) was
washing his spoils, there was no use in staying and he then leaves for Muirthemne.
After a while Cú Chulainn sees the children of Calatín in their devilish magic form
with one eye, one arm and one leg. Cú Chulainn wants to pass them, but then Badb
(in Badbh) throws a cooking stake to his forehead. He catches it and throws it back at
Badb (don Baidbh). But a drop of blood that had fallen from the stake on his head
takes away from him and Liath Macha half of their strength. The stake had pierced
Badb (na Baidhbi), and Cú Chulainn sings a dark poem about the magic art of the
children of Calatín that took away his victory.202
202
O’Grady’s translation ends when Cú Chulainn goes to Muithemne, and goes on with the death of
Cú Chulainn as it is in the older version by Stokes. The edition by A.G. van Hamel goes on further and
Thurneysen’s translation of this part is very concise and summarised. Thurneysen translates Calatín’s
daughter who appears as a washer at the ford, as two beautiful girls who are washing a bloody shirt.
O’Grady translates ingin Baidbhi as “Badb’s daughter”, but this makes no sense to me, as the same
woman is called Badb (in Badbh) in the same passage, which O’Grady translates with “fairy woman”. I
think we should translate this as “the daughter Badb”, as she is one of the daughters of Calatín, or
even as “the girl Badb”, as she appears in the form of a beautiful young maiden; O’Grady, ‘Great
Defeat’, 236, 249; Thurneysen, Helden, 36, 558-563; Van Hamel, Compert, 80, 82, 89-91, 96, 98. In
41
It is very confusing how we should interpret this witch called Badb ingen
Cailitín. At first Badb might be considered as merely a name for one of the three
daughters of Calatín. As we have seen above, badb is used as a word to denote a
witch. The daughters of Calatín are witches, so it is easy to assume that the word
badb meaning “witch” has become the name Badb for a particular witch, as one of
the names of the witch Cailbe in TBDD is also Badb. But when we look more closely
at the text, several striking similarities to the Irish war-goddesses appear: the
daughters of Calatín are three witches, they can transform into birds and into other
persons, and this Badb appears to Cú Chulainn as a washer at the ford, as the war-
goddess Badb does in BDC. O’Grady says in a note that Badb ingen Cailitín is one of
the three war-goddesses.203 Alwyn D. Rees and Brinley Rees also assume that Badb
ingen Cailitín is the Badb and they continue that Niamh and the Badb seem to be
personifications of the two-fold character of the woman who befriends the hero at the
time of his death, who is both his friend and the feminine personification of his
doom.204 Peter Ellis Berresford explains Badb in two different categories, in the first
place as “the goddess of battle” and in the second place as “the daughter of Calatín”
who took the form of Niamh. He explains that the daughter of Calatín is sometimes
confused with Badb, although she appears to be a separate entity. 205 I have to agree
with Berresford on this. To assume that this Badb is the war-goddess Badb, in my
opinion, dismisses the whole content of this version of the tale, in which the children
of Calatín play an important if not irreplaceable role. As these witches are in detail
explained as the daughters of Calatín, it would be strange if they really signify the
three Irish war-goddesses. Therefore I think it is more likely that the daughters of
Calatín have been modelled on the three war-goddesses, and that we should
interpret them as a separate group.
4.3 Battle demons
There are several texts in which a group of badba appear in the company of other
similar demonic creatures. These creatures can probably be best described as “battle
demons”, supernatural creatures who hover over the battlefield and incite or frighten
warriors when the battle is at its peak. The other demonic creatures that accompany
these battle creatures are: bánánaig (“pale-faced creatures”), bocánaig (“he-goat
creatures”), ginite glinne (“demonic women of the valley”), demna aieóir (“demons of
the air”), demna na firmamenti (“demons of the firmament”), ammaiti (“witches”),
arrachta (“phantoms”) and siabra (“spectres”).206
In CGG a battle demon (badb) arises, screaming and fluttering over the
warriors’ heads. At the same time the pale faced creatures, the he-goat creatures,
the demonic women of the valley, the witches, the spectres, the ancient birds, the
destroying demons of the air and of the firmament, and the demonic phantom host
arose, and they were screaming and comparing both armies. 207
During the battle in CF it is said that the beings of the upper regions
responded to the battle, foretelling the evil that was destined to be done on that day,
the old version it is said that Niamh, wife of Conall, spoke to Cú Chulainn and urged him to go to
battle, and he immediately sprang to his arms, but here it is not said that it was Calatín’s daughter in
Niamh’s shape; Thurneysen, Helden, 550; Cross and Slover, Ancient, 333.
203
O’Grady, ‘Great Defeat’, 241.
204
Rees and Rees, Celtic Heritage, 337-338.
205
Berresford, Dictionary, 38.
206
Borsje, ‘Omens’, 234-238; Sayers, ‘Airdrech’, 50.
207
Todd, Cogadh, 174-175.
42
and the hounds and whelps, and battle demons (badhbha), the demonic women of
the valley, the demons of the air, and the wolves of the forest howled together from
every quarter and every corner around them. 208
In SF when during the battle Finn came to the hosts of the pillars, pale-faced
creatures, he-goat creatures, red-mouthed battle demons (badhba bélderga), the
demonic women of the valley, the demons of the air and the giddy phantoms of the
firmament shrieked as they waged warfare and strife above the head of Finn
wherever he went in the battle.209
In CMTC when the Fir Bolg poet Fathach surrenders himself to disaster, the
battle demons (badba) and monsters and witches of doom cried aloud so that their
voices were heard in the rocks and waterfalls and in the hollows of the earth. 210
Earlier in this text a battle demon appears alone, when Fathach goes forward to
spread the report of the fury of the enemy. Fathach weeps and says in a poem: “The
red battle demon (in Badb derg) will thank them for the battle-combats I look on.
Many will be their gashed bodies in the east after their visit to Mag Tured”. 211
There are other examples where these battle demons appear without any
other demonic creatures. From the description can be made clear that these
creatures must imply the same kind of battle creatures. In CA, the kings of Southern
Úi Néill who were killed are named and Nuadu úa Lomthuile says in a poem: “At
midday in Allen, contending for the cattle of Bregia, the red-mouthed, javelin-armed
battle demon (badb bélderg birach) uttered a hymn round Fergal’s head”. 212 In the
same text, only in the Yellow Book of Lecan, the armies of Leinster and Leth Cuinn
come together in Dind Canann and fight the fiercest battle ever fought in Ireland.
About this battle is said: “Thankful was the javelin-armed foul-mouthed battle demon
(in badb birach bélsalach) that hour, and sad were the loving mothers”. 213 In
recension II of TBC, when Cú Chulainn has killed Fer Diad, he laments him in a song
and says: “The breach made by the red-mouthed battle demon (baidbhi beldergi) will
not be dug up for encampments full of shimmering shields”. 214 In the Stowe version of
TBC, in Mac Roth’s description of the companies who advance, Mac Roth is amazed
at the form and attire of warfare of the party, over whom three wonderful bird-flocks
fly, while around the wheels three red-mouthed battle demons (teora badba
beldercca) circle, forecasting the coming battle. 215 In TBDD a large number of
different rooms in the house of Conaire is described and one of these rooms is called
“The room of the Badbs” (Imdai na mBadb), which is described as: “I beheld a trio,
naked, on the rooftree of the house; their jets of blood coming through them, and the
ropes of their slaughter on their necks. Those I know, said he, three (…) of awful
boding. Those are the three that are slaughtered at every time”. 216
208
Meyer, Anecdota Oxoniensia, 40-41: 743.
209
Meyer, Fianaigecht, 94-95; Cross and Slover, Ancient, 436.
210
J. Fraser here translates badba as “furies”, but in this context, I would rather translate with “battle
demons”; Fraser, ‘First Battle’, 44-45.
211
Fraser, ‘First Battle’, 32-33.
212
Stokes, ‘Battle of Allen’, 53-55. In the diplomatic text of the Brussels ms: ro la badbh beldearg
biorach; Ó Riain, Cath Almaine, 8: 94-97, 23: 81-85. This fragment does not exist in the Book of
Fermoy.
213
Ó Riain, Cath Almaine, 21: 56-58. In a note Stokes says Badb is one of the three Irish war-
goddesses; Stokes, ‘Battle of Allen’, 51-53.
214
O’Rahilly, TBC-LL, 95, 231; Cross and Slover, Ancient, 322; Windisch, Altirische Heldensage, 574-
575; Kinsella, Táin, 199. In the Stowe version: baidbe beldercci; O'Rahilly, Stowe Version, 106.
215
O'Rahilly, Stowe Version, 147; Hull, Cuchullin Saga, 217-218.
43
These battle demons have a lot in common with the war-goddesses. Clark
says these creatures are similar to the war-goddesses in kind, but that they are
lesser in stature.217 Borsje points out several functions the war-goddesses appear to
have in common with the described battle creatures: they shout in a battle context,
their screaming leads to confusion and fear, and they incite warriors to strife and
conflict.218 I think the main difference that defines the battle demons from the Irish
war-goddesses is the undeveloped and anonymous character of these creatures.
Another reason the battle demons stand out as a separate group is that they appear
together with similar demonic creatures, which the war-goddesses never do. The
only exception is Nemain, who in TBC appears in combination with the bánánaig,
bocánaig, giniti glinne and demna aieóir to incite and frighten the warriors.
5. Badb: a word for scald crows
As “scald crow” was probably the original meaning of the word badb, there are a
number of references found of badb in this sense. These scald crows circle above
the battlefield and search for corpses to feed from. Besides “scald crow”, badb is in
this sense also often translated as “raven” or “vulture”, but I have chosen to translate
badb in all texts with “scald crow” for consistency. Besides, I think this is the most
accurate translation.
216
Stokes has not fully translated the part trí ernbaid úagboid. The paragraph called “Room of the
Badbs”, categorised paragraph 122 by Stokes, is only found in Stokes’ edition and translation. As
Eleanor Knott points out, paragraphs 112 till 125 of Stokes’ edition from Lebor na Huidre are omitted in
the Yellow Book of Lecan and in RIA D.IV.2, the mss Knott has followed in her edition. Therefore Knott
skips from paragraph 111 to paragraph 126; Stokes, ‘Destruction’, 294-295; Stokes, Togail, 115-116;
Knott, Togail, 36.
217
218
Borsje, ‘Omens’, 238.
44
To begin with we find references of badb meaning a crow in several
glossaries. Feannóg, an early Irish term for black birds, and crufhechta, which
derives from fíach, an early Irish word meaning “raven”, are in these glossaries given
as synonyms for badb.219 In the shorter version of “Cormac’s Glossary”, the entry
crufhechta is found, which is explained as: .i. badb no bódb.220 The word crúfechta is
here glossed by badb or bodb, “a scald crow”.221 In the longer version, cru fechto .i.
badb is also found, which Stokes explains as: “a carrion crow, perhaps a poetical
name meaning corvus (crú) praelii (fechta)”.222 In “O’Davoren’s Glossary” we find the
same entry in the plural: crúfeachta .i. bodba, which Stokes translates as “crú-fechta,
i.e. scald crows”.223 In “O’Clery’s Glossary” we find the entry teathra .i. badhb, no
féanog, which is translated as “a royston crow, scald crow”, and badhb .i. feannóg
which is translated as “scald crow”.224
In CML several fragments occur in which badb means “scald crow”. When the
three hags, as described in paragraph 4.2., explain that they are At, Lean and Lann,
they speak a lay and say: “The scald crow (badhbh) shall skip upon the plain”.225 And
later, when the armies of Conn and Eoghan go to battle, it is said: “It was sufficient
horror to hear the special incitings of the high kings, the shouts of the champions, the
startling chattering croakings of the birds of prey and of the hopping bitter screaming
scald crows (na mbadhbh)”. At the end of that same fight, red-mouthed deep black
scald crows (badbha béil-derga) descend upon the bodies of the champions, on the
carcases of the warriors, on the breasts of combatants, and on the chests of soldiers.
And blue-mouthed, loud croaking scald crows (badhbha beal-ghorma) rejoiced and
they were all happy at the extent of the flesh-spoils which they found upon those
prostate men.226 The following poem occurs at the end of the tale:
Atracht Fraech, ōr buidech badhb “Fraech arose, from the sated scald crow
Do chaith ro luath a lám-arm He threw his hand-weapon swiftly
A tús an gabaidh go gar The beginning of danger for a short while
Ó nach tárraidh a threalamh. From anyone who overtook his armour”. 227
In SMMD, after the last sentence of the text, scela muicce meic dathó in sin,
two poems on the dog Ailbe and on Mac Dathó’s pig follow. In the Book of Leinster
we find the following:
Conchobar buadach rothelt, “There came conquering Conchobar,
219
Tymoczko, ‘Semantic’, 156.
220
Stokes, Three, 12.
221
Stokes, Three, li.
222
Meyer, ‘Sanas Cormaic’, 26; O’Donovan and Stokes, Cormac’s Glossary, 39.
223
Stokes, ‘O’Davoren’s’, 256.
224
Miller, ‘O’Clery’s’, RC 4, 369; RC 5, 54.
225
226
Jackson, CML, 66-67: 1712-1715, 1740-1741; O’Curry, CML, 128-131.
227
This poem does not occur in O’Curry, as his text stops at Jackson’s paragraph 113, while this poem
occurs in paragraph 114. After Jackson’s paragraph 112, O’Curry says this is the end of the story.
Jackson explains in a note that the possible reason O’Curry omitted the last part of the tale, is that as
the poem would be incomplete, he preferred not to give any of it, and so concealed its existence. The
only couplet version in Franciscan ms A.VI was not available to him at that time; Jackson, CML, 80:
2097, 109; my translation. I take badhb here as “scald crow”. At other points in CML the word badb is
used to denote either a witch or a scald crow, so I assume that we should also chose for either one of
these translations here. I render “the sated badb” as a “scald crow”, as they feed from the bodies on
the battlefield, after which they are “sated”.
45
Ailill slúagach ocus Cet, Ailill of the hosts, and Cet;
bodb iar n-araib for a slicht The brooding scald crow was met,
Cú-chulainn, ní damair cert. No law Cú Chulainn granted.228
In the following texts we find badb combined with the word bran, an early Irish
word meaning “raven”. Bran, like badb, has many mythological associations. 229 In
Rosnaree, after the battle between Cairbre Nia Fear and the Ulstermen, a band of
seventeen men was selected: “Until they gorged moreover the scald crows and
ravens (badhbha 7 brain-eoin) and the beaked keen-mouthed reptiles of the
province”. When Cú Chulainn arrives there were great uproars in the battle, the
shouting of the youth and the moaning of the warriors, the groaning of the chariot
fighters, the screaming of the old men, and the crying of the scald crows and ravens
(na mbadhdh 7 na mbrain-éan), through the excess of the strife.230 In the poem
Arsaidh Sin a Eoúin Accla (“The Colloquy between Fintan and the Hawk of Achill”)
two obscure rhetoric phrases can be found in which badb occurs: “There were many
ravens and scald crows” (fa himda brainéun iss badhb) and “at the time that Garbh,
son of Starn, fell by the Hound who fed scald crows (baidhb)”.231 In TG Dallan the
poet makes a poem for Aed mac Duach Duib. He makes several poems about his
famous shield, in order to receive it as a gift from Aed. The poem goes as follows:
sciath breac biatta bran “A variegated shield that feeds the ravens,
gesidh badhdh dia bruach; from its rim scream the scald crows,
sciath comadbul caem big and beauteous shield is that which
ata ag Aedh mac Duach Aed son of Duach has”.232
In BiS, the girl who is the sovereignty of Ireland asks to whom the golden cup
of red ale (the kingship of the Irish) should be given to and the ghost, who is Lug mac
Ethenn, answers by naming the descendents of Conn. He also says to give some of
it to Donnchad and about Donnchad is said: “On guard in Brecc Fánat in which there
will be a king, severe battle for Donn in the south, good fortune for the scald crow (ád
bodbai)”.233
In TBC Fer Diad tells his charioteer in a poem to go to the place where he will
fight Cú Chulainn, and he says: “Until we reach the ford above which the scald crow
will screech” (áth fors n-gera in badb).234 We find a similar description in Accallam
228
Thurneysen explains that these appended poems are not from the same scribe. None of these
poems seem to be based directly on the text of the saga and Nora Kershaw Chadwick suspects they
are inspired by a different version of the story. The poem appears in the Book of Leinster, TCD H.3.18.
and Harleian 5280. The poem is omitted in Rawlinson B.512 and in Harleian 5280 only the beginning
is given; Chadwick, ‘Scéla’, 90; Leahy, HR I, 48. In TCD H.3.18. we find: bodb iar n-áruib for a sliocht;
Bergin, Best, Meyer and O’Keeffe, Anecdota, 16. In Harleian 5280 we find: bodb ier n-áraib for a slicht;
Windisch, ‘Scél’, 106-107: 9; Thurneysen, Scéla, 20. Thurneysen explains this as a war-demon
appearing in the shape of a scald crow; Thurneysen, Helden, 64, 498.
229
Tymoczko, ‘Semantic’, 155-156.
230
Hogan, Cath, 84-85, 94-95.
231
From Egerton 1782. Bergin, Best, Meyer and O’Keeffe, Anecdota, 31; my translation, 36;
www.shee-eire.com.
232
Joynt, Tromdámh, 4, 41; Draak and de Jong, Lastige Schare, 17.
233
Murray, Baile, 44: 312-313, 62. Meyer edits as: tress tinduind tessad bodbai; Meyer, ’Ende’, 233.
234
Recension I: O’Rahilly, TBC-I, 86, 202; Strachan and O'Keeffe, TBC-I, 86; Ó Fiannachta, Maynooth,
53. Recension II: Kinsella, Táin, 176; Cross and Slover, Ancient, 298; Windisch, Altirische
Heldensage, 473; O’Rahilly, TBC-LL, 77. This poem does not occur in the Stowe version, but instead
the sentence uair ni geubam toirmeasg ó chach iman triall takes the poem’s place; O'Rahilly, Stowe
46
Oisin agus Phadraic, a poem consisting of the dialogue between Oisín and Patrick.
Oisín says in this poem: “The seagull’s scream on Iorrus yonder, or the screech of
the scald crows (na m-badhbh) over the battlefield”.235 In AnS Finn says in a poem:
“A cloud of grey, foreboding grief, I see in the fair midst between the other two: that
for which the scald crows (na mbadhbh) lust shall come of the event, when there is
glint of weapons in their play”.236
I think in these texts badb means “scald crow”, mainly because of the
description. These badbs are described as flying over the battlefield and eating from
the corpses, or a reference is made to them doing so. Secondly, in a few texts these
scald crows are accompanied by other kinds of birds. It is noticeable that a lot of
these texts refer to the scald crow in rhetoric form, often in the form of a prophecy.
There are several resemblances between these scald crows and the battle demons
from the previous chapter, as they are both described as flying and fluttering above
the heads of the warriors. The main difference is, however, that the battle demons
are demon-like creatures with supernatural aspects, who fly above the warriors to
frighten and incite them, while the scald crows feed from the corpses after the battle
is finished. Besides the battle demons appear together with similar demonic
creatures, while the scald crows are accompanied by similar kinds of birds.
The war-goddesses as scald crows

The war-goddesses are said to be capable of transforming themselves to scald
crows or other kinds of birds. Morrígan is indeed in several texts described as a
goddess who transforms into a crow or a raven. This means presumably all three
war-goddesses could appear in the form of a scald crow. It is important to note,
however, that when in the texts is described that these war-goddesses transform into
a bird, the word badb is not used, but other early Irish terms for birds are applied.
Although Badb’s name literally means “scald crow”, very few references are
found where the war-goddess Badb appears in the form of a scald crow. Instead we
find the word badb meaning “scald crow” in the texts mentioned above, and badba,
“battle demons”, who fly over the battlefield, as seen in paragraph 4.3. As I have
already shown, these creatures are different from the war-goddesses, so I think it is
safe to say Badb is not meant in these cases. About the war-goddess Badb is
nowhere literally said that she transforms into a scald crow in the way this is said of
the Morrígan. The only reference I could find where Badb appears as a scald crow,
occurs in TBC, which I have already described in paragraph 3.2. Badb appears
together with Nemain several times and they shriek above the warriors. This would
suggest they are flying above the heads of the warriors, making a shrieking, bird-like,
sound. It is important to note that Badb is here in the company of Nemain. I have not
found a reference where she appears together with Morrígan and Macha as scald
crows.
As I have said, this is the only fragment I have found in which the Badb
presumably appears as a scald crow, but there is another text of interest. One of the
most renown episodes of early Irish literature is the moment when Cú Chulainn is
dying, and a bird lands on his shoulder. In Dublin’s General Post Office we even find
a statue of the dying Cú Chulainn with a raven on his shoulder. This particular
episode occurs in the older version of ACC. When Cú Chulainn is dying, he goes to a
pillar stone and binds himself to it, so that he would die standing up. Then a bird (ind
Version, 90,179. This episode does not occur in recension III.

235
O’Daly, ‘Fenian’, 16-17.
236
O’Grady, SG I, 230; II, 261; Stokes, ‘Acallamh’, 212: 7590.
47
ennach) lands on his shoulder, and Erc mac Coirpri says: “That pillar stone did not
usually hold birds”.237 This bird is not called badb, but ennach, another early Irish
word meaning “bird”. Thurneysen summarises this part as: “A crow wants to eat from
his body, and Cú Chulainn pulls his arm underneath him and laughs his last laugh”. 238
But John Koch and John Carey translate this with “the scald crow”, 239 although this is
not the literal meaning of ennach. Bitel states the Badb settles on his shoulder in
raven form.240 And also Ruth Lehmann says the Badb in the shape of a carrion crow
flies over Cú Chulainn.241
Hennesy was the first to assume that this raven is actually the Morrígan.242
Jack George Thompson also says the goddess of war, Morrígan, appears as a bird
on Cú Chulainn’s shoulder,243 and Tom Peete Cross and Clark Harris Slover translate
this sentence very freely as: “The battle goddess Morrígan and her sisters came in
the form of scald crows”.244 Clark thinks it is fitting that the Morrígan should be
present to announce Cú Chulainn’s death since she appears as his friend or
protectoress earlier in the tale, trying to warn him, when she broke his chariot. Clark
says in the other tales of Cú Chulainn’s life, Morrígan has taken a special interest in
him throughout.245 Borsje suggests this bird could be the Morrígan, as she notes that
the Morrígan also takes the form of an ennach in TBC and TBR.246 Although this
seems to me a very reasonable interpretation, there are some notes I would like to
make. Tymockzo points out that dub (“black”) is the word used to describe the “black
bird” to which the Morrígan metamorphoses in TBC and TBR.247 In recension I of
TBC, the Morrígan speaks to the Donn Cúailnge “in the form of a bird” (i ndeilb eúin),
but this bird is not described as black. 248 But in TBR, it is indeed said the Morrígan
transforms into a black bird (én dub).249 I would like to argue that a “black bird” is
different from the ennach in ACC. Also should be noted that ennach is a common
word for “bird” in the early Irish texts, so the fact that the Morrígan is called ennach at
certain points, does not automatically mean that another entry of the same word
should also refer to the Morrígan.
I think it is safe to say that this bird is definitely not the Badb, as this cannot be
concluded from the text. But I am also not completely convinced that it is the
Morrígan. Although it would be logical to assume that she is, it remains a fact that her
identity is not revealed. I am more likely to agree with Hull, who says in a note that it
was Calatín’s daughter Badb who hovered over Cú Chulainn in the form of a bird or
237
Stokes, ‘Cuchulainn’s Death’, 182; Dottin, L’Épopée, 156; Cross and Slover, Ancient, 338;
Thurneysen, Helden, 554; Tymoczko, Death Tales, 61; Koch and Carey, Celtic, 140.
238
Thurneysen, Helden, 557-563.
239
Koch and Carey, Celtic, 140.
240
Bitel, Land of Women, 209-210.
241
Lehmann, ‘Death’, 9.
242
243
Thompson, Women, 41.
244
Cross and Slover, Ancient, 338.
245
246
247
Tymoczko, ‘Semantic’, 151, 160-161.
248
Thurneysen, Helden, 144-145; O’Rahilly, TBC-I, 30: 955, 152; Strachan and O'Keeffe, TBC-I, 32:
843-844; Ó Fiannachta, Maynooth, 4: 137-138, 80. In recension II and III is said that the Morrígan
perches on a standing stone, which suggests that she appears in the form of a bird, but this is not
literally said in the texts.
249
Corthals, TBR, 54.
48
a scald crow to find out whether he was really dead. 250 In the older version of the tale,
Calatín’s daughter does not appear at all, but in the modern version she plays, as we
have seen, an important role. She transforms into a bird earlier in the tale, when she
lands on Cú Chulainn’s shield, as described in paragraph 4.2. Besides this, she is the
one who drives Cú Chulainn to his death. It would therefore be logical to assume that
she wants to find out if he is really dead, as Hull puts it. The beginning of the older
version of ACC that survives today is missing, but most scholars agree that the
beginning from the modern version was probably based on the missing parts of the
older version. Therefore I assume that Calatín’s daughter Badb also played a more
elaborative role in the original older version.
6. Badba: the genitive of badb, used as an adjective
In the previous chapters we have seen badba used as a proper genitive of the name
or word badb, when the word refers to the war-goddess Badb or another person or
creature. But the genitive form can also be used in an adjectival sense. The adjective
use of the genitive badba generally takes on the meaning “warlike”, and occurs in
numerous texts. There are a number of recurring phrases with badba, some
compounds containing badba and a number of uncategorised entries.
6.1 Recurring phrases with badba
Various texts contain interesting phrases with badba which appertain to warfare or
battle. Unfortunately hardly anything has been written about this subject, but Áine De
Paor, as part of her article on the common authorship of the Book of Leinster texts
TBC, MU and CRR, mentions as one of the correspondences between these texts
the metaphorical use of bodb. She states that several phrases with badb occur in
these Book of Leinster texts, and that these phrases do not occur in Lebor na
hUidre.251 Indeed many of these phrases occur in recension II of TBC, but also
several occur in all three recensions, or only in recension I. The common authorship
of the Book of Leinster texts TBC, MU and CRR explains why many phrases with
badba occur in these three texts. It is noteworthy that a large part of these phrases
also occur in TBC and in the classical adaptations, which shows that these texts
influenced one another to a certain extent. The possibility exists that some of these
phrases originate from the period when the classical adaptations were created. This
would again prove Tristram’s point that TBC was modelled on the classical
adaptations, as these phrases seem to have been repeated only for a period of time.
250
Hull, Cuchullin Saga, 260.
251
De Paor, ‘Common’, 143.
49
Another interesting point is that many of these phrases start with the initial b-, which
alliterates with badba.
intech bodba (“warlike sheath”)

One of the most recurring phrases is intech bodba.252 In all redactions of LGÉ, we
find at the beginning of the text on the Tuatha dé Danann: “From Findias was brought
the sword of Núadu Airgetlám; no man could escape from it, because when it was
drawn from its warlike sheath (intig bodba) there was no resisting it”.253 As most of
CMT’s introductory section is derived from LGÉ, in the older version of CMT we find
exactly the same sentence: “From Findias was brought the sword of Núadu. No one
ever escaped from it once it was drawn from its warlike sheath (idntiuch bodhuha),
and no one could resist it”.254 In ICC we find: “out of his warlike sheath” (imtiuch
bodba).255 In TBC during the killing of Calatín Dána and his 27 sons, Cú Chulainn
pulls the sword from his sheath to cut away the spears and lighten his shield. In
recension II this sheath is described as a “warlike sheath” (intiuch bodba).256 In CRR
Conchobar encounters Conall, and Conall draws the sharp long sword out of its
warlike sheath (intig bodba).257 In the Middle Irish Eachtra Mhacoimh an Iolair, Eagle-
Boy salutes the king by drawing his sword, from its treasured scabbard, and from its
warlike sheath (tintigh bodhbha). He thrusts it into the king and kills him. 258 At a later
point in the text Eagle-Boy draws the sword out of its protecting scabbard and its
warlike sheath (thintigh bodhbha), and he thrusts it into the breast of the Knight of
Music.259
bir bodba and cuailli bodbha (“warlike stake”)

In several texts we find the words bir and cualli, which have the similar meaning
“stake”, combined with badba. In TnT Tydeus son of Oeneus awaits Pterelas, and
thrusts him with a spear that was in his hand so that its warlike stake (bir bodba)
went through the hero’s body.260 Later Polynices again threw from him the spear, so
that the warlike stake (bir bodba) was a beam that glittered from one flank to another
of Eteocles’ horse.261 In Rosnaree Conchobar sent his pioneers, his lions and his
warriors before him to take camp at Rosnaree, and they saw in the distance the great
marshalled clans and the sharp pointed stakes of war (bir-gheara bodhbha).262 In
Cocadh Catharda we find ambir bodba, which I take as a m-bir bodba, which means
252
DIL calls intech bodba a common phrase, which probably means “war-sheath”; Quin, DIL, 409.
253
Taken from the first redaction; MacAlister, LGÉ IV, 106-107. Second redaction: assa thindtigh
bodba and asa intiuch bodba; MacAlister, LGÉ IV, 144-145. Third redaction: as a thindtig bodba;
254
Gray, CMT, 24-25: 11; Cross and Slover, Ancient, 28; Stokes, ‘Second Battle’, 56-57.
255
Stokes, ‘In Cath Catharda’, 270-271: 3595. O’Grady edits this same phrase in Cocadh Catharda as
asatintib bodba, but he translates this merely with “out of the sheath”, and does not translate bodba;
O’Grady, Caithréim I, 195; II, 205.
256
O’Rahilly, TBC-LL, 70: 2565, 210. In the Stowe version: asa intech bodba; O'Rahilly, Stowe
Version, 82: 2571. Windisch and Kinsella translate with “Badb’s scabbard”; Windisch, Altirische
Heldensage, 426-427, 662; Kinsella, Táin, 167. The same sort of phrase occurs in recension III:
asathinnigh bhodhba; Nettlau, ‘TBC Egerton 93’, 207.
257
Hogan, Cath, 44-47.
258
MacAlister, Eachtra, 94-95.
259
MacAlister translates here with: “sheath of Bodhbh”; MacAlister, Eachtra, 170-173.
260
Calder, Togail, 180-181: 2818.
261
50
“the warlike stake”.263 In CGG the Danes had above their heads “spears, glittering,
well riveted, empoisoned, with well-shaped, heroic, beautiful handles of white hazel,
warlike sharp stakes (bodba biraithi) with variegated silken strings”.264 In MU we find
the plural: “along with the warlike stakes (bera bodba)”.265 In AnS Finn beheads Aillen
and then carries the head back to Tara and fixes it upon a warlike stake (cuailli
bhadhbhdha).266 Stokes explains in a note that in manuscript Rawlinson B.487 in this
same sentence cuailli bodbha is replaced with bir bodhba.267 In the modern version of
ACC “warlike stakes” occurs twice (chuaillibh bodhba and bior-chuaillibh bodhbha).268
In the second entry bir and cuailli have been combined into one word. According to
Stokes, a warlike stake probably was the pole on which the head of a slain enemy
was fixed.269
béim bodhbha (“warlike blow”)

In the modern version of CMT we find mo roithbhéim bodhbha, which means “my
warlike blow”.270 Roith and béim both have a similar meaning and have here been
combined into one word.271 We find the plural form of béim, bemmenda, in recension
II of TBC. Conchobar seeks out Fergus and Fergus gave three strong warlike blows
(tri balcbemmenda bodba) on the Ochain Conchobuir and Conchobar’s shield
groaned. Fergus grasps the Caladbolg and swings it back behind him so that its point
touched the ground, and his intent was to strike three deadly warlike blows (a thrí
bráthbémmenda bodba) on the Ulstermen so that their dead will outnumber their
living.272 At a later point in the text Fergus says again: “Begone from me, lad, for I
shall not live, if I strike not my three deadly warlike blows (mo thrí bráthbémmenda
bodba) upon the Ulstermen today so that their living will outnumber their dead”. 273
The adjective balc in combination with badba, is also found in recension I of TBC,
when Fergus says: “Who dares to say these strong warlike words (na balcbriatha
bodba) to me”.274
cró bodba (“warlike enclosure”)

In TBC, when Cú Chulainn and his chariot are described, Cú Chulainn is called:
“The high hero Cú Chulainn, Sualtam’s son, builder of a warlike enclosure (in t-
262
Hogan translates with “sharp shafted squares of war”, while in a note he explains bir as “pens,
folds”, so I do not understand why he has translated here with “squares”; Hogan, Cath, 70-71.
263
O’Grady, Caithréim I, 223.
264
265
Watson, ‘Mesca’, 13; Watson, Mesca, 18.
266
Stokes, ‘Acallamh’, 49: 1740. O’Grady translates with “a pole of sinister significance”; O’Grady, SG
I; 132; II, 144. In a copy of AnS in the Franciscan monastery in Merchants Quay in Dublin is found: 7
ro cuir in cend ar beocuailli bodba (“and he fixed the head upon a deadly warlike stake”).
267
Stokes, ‘Acallamh’, 287-288.
268
Van Hamel, Compert, 132-133.
269
Stokes, ‘Acallamh’, 287-288.
270
Ó Cuív, CMT, 34: 588.
271
roith means “throw” or “cast” and béim means “blow”, “stroke” or “cut”.
272
Windisch translates as: “drei starke hiebe der Bodb”; Windisch, Altirische Heldensage, 866-869;
O’Rahilly, TBC-LL, 131: 4742-4743, 4760, 267. In the Stowe version: thri bemenda bodba; O'Rahilly,
Stowe Version, 154: 4852.
273
Windisch, Altirische Heldensage, 870-871; O’Rahilly, TBC-LL,132: 4769, 268. In the Stowe version
this is: tri bemenna bodba; O'Rahilly, Stowe Version, 155: 4881.
274
Windisch, Altirische Heldensage, 880-881. In the Stowe version this is: tri bemeanda bodba and
cach bloiscbem bodba; O'Rahilly, Stowe Version, 155: 4897, 160: 5034.
51
innellchró bodba) with walls of human bodies”.275 In TT we find the same kind of
description: “Hector made a warlike enclosure (chró mbodba) of the bodies of his
foes all around him, so that he had a strong rampart over against the Greeks”. 276 In
another classical adaptation, ICC, we find “in their warlike enclosure” (ina nimiull
crobodba).277 This rather obscure description probably means that a warrior made a
defensive pile from the dead bodies of his enemies to serve as a fort. Vendryes
explains chró bodba as “an enclosure of the Badb”, made of de cadavers of enemies
around the hero.278
buaile bodhbha (“warlike hedge”)

In Rosnaree Daigh son of Deagha arose and went to the place of outlook to see the
army and he attacked them. Then there was made a warlike hedge (buaile bodhbha)
around him.279 In the Stowe version of TBC occurs the genitive form buailedh
bodhba.280 In Imthúsa Alexandair the Medes, Persians and Parthians rose up against
the strong enemy troops, and they made a warlike hedge (mbuailid mbodbdai) from
the walls of the many-coloured multitude of shields. 281 In another classical adaptation,
TT, Troilus makes a sword-land and a warlike hedge (búali bodba) and a battle wall
of corpses around him among his foes in such wise that foes were between them and
his own people.282 J. Vendryes explains the phrase buaile bodba as: “wall of war;
consisting of cadavers”.283 So this phrase has a similar meaning as cró bodba.
circul bodba (“warlike encirclement”)

In TBC in the description of Cú Chulainn’s sixfold slaughter, Cú Chulainn threw up a
warlike encirclement (circul mbodba sin) around the four great provinces of Ireland to
stop them fleeing and scattering from him, and cornered them where he could wreak
vengeance for the boy troop. 284 In ICC we also find: “and a warlike circle (circull
bodba) of the youth of Africa was made around them”. 285 In the modern version of
ACC we find the entry in circull bodhbha.286DIL explains that circul bodba means
“attacking circle (of foes)”, while Vendryes explains in circull m(b)odba as “the circle
of combat”.287
broin bodba (“furious band”)
275
Recension I: O’Rahilly, TBC-I, 67: 2213, 186; Ó Fiannachta, Maynooth, 37. Recension II: O’Rahilly,
TBC-LL, 61: 2230, 200; Windisch, Altirische Heldensage, 360-361; Kinsella, Táin, 148; O'Rahilly,
Stowe Version, 72: 2271-2272. This phrase does not occur in recension III.
276
Stokes, ‘Destruction of Troy’, 31: 955, 97; Mac Eoin, ‘Ein text’, 59: 955.
277
278
Vendryes, Lexique, C-240.
279
Hogan, Cath, 72-73.
280
O'Rahilly, Stowe Version, 146: 4604-4605.
281
Meyer, ‘Geschichte von Philipp und Alexander’, 32: 242.
282
Stokes, ‘Destruction of Troy’, 45: 1427, 114.
283
Vendryes, Lexique, B-109.
284
Recension I: O’Rahilly, TBC-I, 70: 2303-2304, 188. Recension II: O’Rahilly, TBC-LL, 63: 2310-
2311, 203. In the Stowe version: in ciorcall mBodhbha; O'Rahilly, Stowe Version, 75: 2348-2349.
Recension III: Ó Béarra,‘TBC III’, 62. Windisch and Kinsella translate with “circle of the Badb”,
Windisch calls this the same sort of saying as cró bodba; Windisch, Altirische Heldensage, 378-380;
Kinsella, Táin, 155.
285
286
Van Hamel, Compert, 105.
287
Quin, DIA, 117; Vendryes, Lexique, C-106.
52
In SF we find: “And they made a fierce, swift, light winged, intrepid rush in their well
arranged phalanx and in their destructive mass and in their furious band (ina mbróin
badhba) to the centre of the ford”. 288 In Cocadh Catharda occurs nambroin bodba,
which I take as na mbroin bodba, which means “of the furious band”. 289 In a gloss in
the first redaction of LGÉ is also found bróin mbadbh, but unfortunately this gloss has
not been translated by anyone. In this same gloss occurs builg bodba, which
probably means “warlike bags”.290
lecca bodba (“warlike stones”)

In TBC when the armies start throwing rocks at each other, in recension II these
stones are called “warlike battle-stones” (na bairendlecca bodba).291 In the Stowe
version these “warlike stones”, here called all bodhba, occur again during the
advancing of the companies. 292 In TT we find: “Horrible were the signs that were
there, namely the shining of the swords and their sparks, cleaving the shields, the
white cloud of the bucklers, the smiting together of the glaives and spears and arrows
against the hauberks and against the helmets, the crash, then, and dashing together
of the bosses beaten by the swords and by the warlike battle stones (brathlecaib
bodba) and by the broad green lances in the hands of the valiant heroes”. 293
coinnle bodba (“warlike torches”)

In TBC when Cú Chulainn gets his first warp spasm, in its long description are
mentioned “the warlike torches” (na kine bodba in recension I or na coinnle bodba in
recension II). These torches were seen alight in the clouds together with virulent rain
clouds and fiery sparks of blazing fire when Cú Chulainn gets his rage. 294 In the
modern version of ACC we also find na coindli badhbha.295
stuaigh bodhbha (“warlike arch”)

In two classical adaptations we find the following phrase. In ICC occurs: “He
suddenly arranged his battalion of foot soldiers as a warlike arch (ina stuaigh
bodhbha) around his cavalry”.296 In TnT we find the same description: “And the
heroes were not strong for celebrating the game of Cestus at that time, except
Capaneus, who as an awful baleful warlike arch (na stuaig bodba), was asking of the
hosts that one of them should rise against him”.297
288
Meyer, Fianaigecht, 88-89; Cross and Slover, Ancient, 433.
289
290
MacAlister, LGÉ IV, 338.
291
O’Rahilly, TBC-LL, 109: 3961, 245. In the Stowe version: na barandleaca bodhba; O'Rahilly, Stowe
Version, 123: 3922-3923. Windisch translates with: “die Blocksteine der Bodb”; Windisch, Altirische
Heldensage, 662-663.
292
O'Rahilly, Stowe Version, 144: 4565-4566.
293
Stokes, ‘Destruction of Troy’, 31: 937, 97; Mac Eoin, ‘Ein Text’, 58: 937.
294
Recension I: O’Rahilly, TBC-I, 69: 2265-2266, 187. This phrase lacks in the Maynooth manuscript,
because this part is illegible; Ó Fiannachta, Maynooth, 37-38. Strachan and O’Keeffe translate this
phrase with “the torches of the Badb”; Strachan and O'Keeffe, TBC-I, 70: 1950. Recension II:
O’Rahilly, TBC-LL, 62: 2283, 202; Kinsella, Táin, 150; Windisch, Altirische Heldensage, 373. This
phrase does not occur in the Stowe version; O'Rahilly, Stowe Version, 74. Recension III: na coindli
bodhbha; Nettlau, ‘TBC Egerton 93’, 199; Ó Béarra, ‘TBC III’, 62. As well as in recension I as II
O’Rahilly translates bodba with “war-goddess”.
295
Van Hamel, Compert, 103.
296
297
53
buiden mbodba (“warlike troops”)
In these same classical adaptations occurs another phrase. In TnT when the armies
start attacking each other, the clamour and the noisy crash of the warlike turbulent
troops (na mbuiden mbodba mbuaidirthi) rushing at each other, were like a large
wood that had fallen into one.298 Later in the text is described that Hippomedon stood
in his warlike troop (inna buidin bodba), in the middle of the battle, with a strong
broad round shield upon him and a thick very long spear in his one hand. 299 In
Cocadh Catharda we find inambuidnib bodba, which I take as the plural ina mbuidnib
bodba, which means “in the warlike troops”.300
barannglaeda bodbda (“warlike cries”)

In AnS Cailte and Patrick sat down, and Patrick asks Cailte what their method of
hunting is: “Cailte loudly raised his cries of hunting and game and slaughter, and he
uttered three angry warlike cries (a tri barannghlaedha babhbha) and he reared his
signal of chase, so that neither in adjacency nor in proximity to him, nor whether in
plain or on moor, on mountain or in wood, was there a free-roaming stag that did not
go dashing in a great frenzy”. 301 Later in the text, Garbchronan summons the Fianna
to fight and he lets loose three angry warlike cries (tri barannglaeda bodbda) in the
middle of the Fianna, and the Fianna answered because they knew that some great
motive urged them to haste.302
thigardail bodba (“tígardáil of war”)

In CRR the following obscure phrase occurs several times. When Mes Dead saw
Anruth the Tall approaching, Mes Dead says to him: “The battle on thy favour and on
thy protection, till I cast my charge of anger and my tigardáil of war (mo thigardail
mbodba) on the armies”. Anruth the Tall then says the same to Feithen the Tall:
“That I too may deliver my furious charge and my tigardáil of war (mo thigardail
mbodba) on the armies”. Tall Feithen then saw behind him Small Feithen and says:
“The battle on thy favour and on thy protection, that I may cast my violence of anger
and my tigardáil of war (mo thigardail mbodba) on the armies”. Small Feithen saw
behind him Aitherni the Importunate and says: “The battle on thy favour, till I spend
my onset and my tigardáil of war (thigardail mbodba) on the armies”. According to
Hogan, tigardáil literally means “tiger-fight”, but DIL does not include this word, so the
meaning remains uncertain.303
298
299
300
301
O’Grady, SG I, 114; II, 123; Dooley and Roe, Tales, 29; Stokes, ‘Acallamh’, 26: 908.
302
Stokes, ‘Acallamh’, 85: 3011; O’Grady, SG I, 161; II, 179; Dooley and Roe, Tales, 91-92.
303
Hogan, Cath, 46-49.
54
bánbidgud bodba (“pale furious startling”)
In MU is described that Cú Chulainn’s horse team broke into a “pale furious startling”
(bánbidgud bodba).304 Later occurs again: “Not long were they there, the two druids
and watchers, until the first band burst into a pale furious startling (bánbidcud bodba)
hitherwards across the glen”.305
6.2 Compounds with badba.
There occur a few compounds with badba that are worth mentioning. In TnT badb-
luath occurs, which is translated as “scald swift”. 306 About the ship Argo is said: “And
there she was, the long-prowled, scald swift, foremost ship (in bennfhata badbluath)
of the world”.307 The word badb-cháintech, which means “war-mournful” occurs twice
in the text.308 Lycurgus was on his throne, his consort Eurydice by his side, and
bands of women troubled and war-mournful (badbchaintech) were along with her,
bewailing her son.309 Later is said again: “Then came the troubled, war-mournful
(badbchæintecha), plagued, and sorrowful women of the Greeks”. 310 We also find the
compound badbrisiud twice, but unfortunately the meaning of this word is uncertain
and is not listed in DIL.311
In IA when Torchan saw the killing Camilla had inflicted on the cavalry of the
Trojans, he began to stir up his people. And he made a “murderous onset”
(badbruathar), brave and heroic, till he was in the middle of the Latin cavalry, and he
guided his horse straight to Venulus. 312 In the Middle Irish Aislinge Meic Conglinne
we find the same combination, only not as a compound: “Mac ConGlinne rose and
went hastily, impatiently, like the fiend in his furious rush and warlike bold pace (ina
rúathar bodba) across the royal house”.313
304
Watson, ‘Mesca’, 9; Watson, Mesca, 11.
305
Watson translates bánbidgud bodba as “a war demon’s white leap” and “a war-demon’s white
rush”, which seems like a rather strange translation to me, as bán means “pale, white” (as the colour
of death) and bígud means “sudden, quick, movement, start fright act of starting, jumping”. Watson
interpreted badba here as the genitive form of badb, meaning “war demon”; Watson, ‘Mesca’, 16;
Watson, Mesca, 22.
306
Calder, Togail, 333.
307
308
Calder, Togail, 333; Quin, DIL, 97.
309
Calder, Togail, 140-141: 2202-2203.
310
Calder, Togail, 308-309: 4776-4777.
311
Calder, Togail, 20-21: 308; Calder, Togail, 128-129: 2005.
312
Calder, Imtheachta, 178-179: 2855.
313
Meyer, Aislinge, 46-47: 14-15; Jackson, Aislinge, 19: 586.
55
In FB the word badbscél occurs twice, which means “slaughter tale”. When
Conall and Cú Chulainn reach Emain they tell their news to Conchobar and to the
Ultonian nobles. But the chiefs of chariots and the men of valour as a body were
reproaching Loegaire for the slaughter tale (don badbscel) he told about his fellows.
Cathbad then says in a poem: “Unhappily didst thou dispute, nor won it by right, your
slaughter tale (a badbscelai)”. DIL translates badbscél as: “(false) tale of slaughter”
and Henderson translates the first entry as “lying story” and the second entry as “thy
lying upset”.314 Because the qualification of “false” or “lying” cannot be found in the
Irish word, I think badbscél must simply be translated as “slaughter tale”. That this
slaughter tale is untrue of false can only be made up from the context of the rest of
the story.
6.3 Remaining uses of badba (“warlike”)
Not all entries of badba can be so distinctively categorised. The adjectival badba
occurs frequently in the texts and the translation varies a lot. But in most texts badba
occurs in the sense of “warlike”, “furious” or “deadly”.
In the classical adaptations badba occurs quite a lot, as we have already seen
in the previous paragraphs. In TnT the horse of king Adrastus is described as:
“Distinguished indeed was the appearance of that horse, to wit, a blue grey,
excellent, thick-shouldered, warlike (badba), prick-eared, quiet, gentle, well coursed
white mare, with a fair bright purple mane, and a tail of equal weight and colour, of
the original stock of Neptune, god of the sea”. 315 Later in the text the Greeks utter a
fierce troubled shout, and their warlike battle-trumpets (gair badba buaidirthi) were
sounded by them, and they divided their hosts among the gates of Thebes, and they
were swiftly scattering the Thebans. 316 In Cocadh Catharda we find “some kind of
warlike noise” (afidren bodba).317
In CGG we find several phrases where badba is combined with the loanword
barbarda (“barbarous”). On one side of the battle were the shouting hateful, powerful,
wrestling, valiant, active, fierce-moving, dangerous, (...), barbarous (barbarda),
furious (boadba), (...), murderous, hostile Danes. They had with them hideous,
barbarous, quivers (saigitbuilc badba barbarda), and polished, yellow shinning bows.
The battalions then made a stout, furious, barbarous, smashing onset (blod beim
bailc, bodba, barbarda) on each other.318 Later the same phrase occurs: “To all these
could I compare the smashing, powerful, furious, barbarous, shile-shing, target-
bossed, red sparkling, starry onset (blodbeim bailc, badba, barbarda) of the Clan
Ludech”.319 Earlier in the text is found: “From the numbers and multitudes, and the
cruelty, and the wrath of the brutal, deadly (badbaidi), furious, untamed, implacable
hordes, by whom that oppression was inflicted”. 320 We also find here the, to my
knowledge, only occurrence of badbda as the substantive that means “enemy”,
according to DIL: “These were people who were not in voluntary subjection to the
314
Quin, DIL, 62; Henderson, Fled, 90-91: 16, 21-22. Hessen’s Irish Lexicon explains badb-scéla as
“gruesome story”; Caomhánach, Hertz, Hull, and Lehmacher, HIL, 98.
315
316
Calder, Togail, 264-267: 4123-4124.
317
318
Todd, Cogadh, 158-159, 172-175.
319
320
56
foreigners, and who were not the natural foes (baidbaib) of the Dal Cais, Faelan, son
of Cormac, king of the Desi, and Flathra, son of Segni, king of Titill”. 321
In AnS, after Aillen was killed by Finn, Aillen’s mother says in a poem: “Come
healing Amartha, Aillen son of Midgna is slain, by the spear of Fiacha, son of Conga,
a deadly cloak (don brat bodhbdha) and Birga”.322 In a copy of AnS in the Franciscan
monastery is also found at another point in the text “a deadly cloak” (don brut bodba).
When Cailte en Donn mac Aedh mac Garadh both approach a stone they gave it a
vicious wrench (srengtharraing bodbda), with strength dragging at it in such wise that
they landed it fairly on the ground. 323 When Fergus gives Cailte his weapons to rivet,
Cailte asks Fergus how the weapons are called. Fergus tells him their names are Cró
Coscar (“Shaft of Victory”), Ben Bodba (“Fatal Women”) and Deoch Báis (“Drink of
Death”).324 When Cailte notices that he lacked his spear-power and his full strength,
he says: “Many a stern and desperate fight (borbgleoaib bodba), may a warlike
melee and a van of battle I have faced, and to say that today there is not in me so
much strength or pith as to go out along with all the rest!”. 325
In the Rennes version of the Dinnshenchas we find in the first poem about
Sinann: “There the comely lady was drowned and perished under heavy injury,
though the woman of warlike ardour (co mbruth baidb) is dead, her noble name clave
to the river”.326 In the poem about Liamuin is also said: “Miannach is followed across
every plain. To Miannach where she was killed, the woman with martial array (co
mbrut baidb) is killed so that her name clave to the hill”.327
In CF the preposition co n-, meaning “with”, is used in combination with badba:
“The two armies poured forth against each other, like dense woods, and with their
proud noisy strokes and spilling a black deluge, actively, fiercely, perilously, angrily,
furiously (co badhbha), destructively, boldly, vehemently, hastily, and great was there
the greeting of swords against bones”. 328
In the first redaction of LGÉ occurs in a poem: “Warlike Blad (Blad bódba)
from Sliab Bladma”.329 In another poem occurs again: “Furious Blad (Blad bodba)
from Sliab Bladma”.330 In another poem in the first redaction occurs: “Over the sorrow
warlike heaps (bron-blocaib bodba)”.331 In the modern version of CMT occurs: “in the
furious stream” (ina bhuinne bhodhbha).332 In TBC, when Ailill gives Fergus back his
sword, Fergus welcomes the sword and says in a poem, which occurs only in
recension II: “Weary are the warlike lone fighters (oenfir bhodbha)”.333 In FB occurs a
poem by Medb when she says she recognises the man in the chariot from his
description and she says about Loegaire in a poem: “Compeer of kings, an old
321
322
Dooley and Roe, Tales, 54; O’Grady, SG I, 132; II, 144; Stokes, ‘Acallamh’, 49: 1745.
323
Stokes, ‘Acallamh’, 62: 2182; O’Grady, SG I, 142; II, 156; Dooley and Roe, Tales, 67.
324
Dooley and Roe, Tales, 193; Stokes, ‘Acallamh’, 193: 6939.
325
Stokes, ‘Acallamh’, 200: 7197; O’Grady, SG I, 223; II, 252-253.
326
Gwynn notes that baidb must be baidbe, which he calls an unusual license; Gwynn, Metrical
Dindsenchas III, 290-291: 59.
327
Gwynn, Metrical Dindsenchas III, 72-73: 87.
328
O’Rahilly, Cath Finntrágha, 33; Meyer, Cath Finntrága, 40: 731.
329
Poem LXV, MacAlister, LGÉ IV, 260-261.
330
Only found in the first and third redaction, poem LXXIV, MacAlister, LGÉ V, 118-119.
331
Poem LXV, MacAlister, LGÉ IV, 278-279.
332
Ó Cuív, CMT, 23: 173.
333
O'Rahilly, Stowe Version, 153: 4827-4828. O’Rahilly translates with “war-goddess”; O’Rahilly, TBC-
LL, 130: 4721, 266. Windisch and Kinsella translate with “Weary are the lone fighters of the Badb”;
Windisch, Altirische Heldensage, 860-861; Kinsella, Táin, 246.
57
disposer of conquest, a fury of war (barc bodbae) a fire of judgement”.334 In CML
Conn decided with himself not to enter the dangerous pass (mbelach mbodhba)
which lay between himself and Eoghan.335 Later the armies of Eoghan and Conn
planted an envenomed forest of thick-handed spears past the white rimmed great
and firm shields (na sgiath mbadhbha) into each others breasts. 336 In Rosnaree
Conchobar says: “Cairbre Nia Fear with his brothers and with a great muster of the
men of Bregia, Meath, and the provinces of the Galian, are in their warlike fort
(mbruigean bodba), seeking battle with us at Rosnaree”. 337 In SF occurs: “When
Oscar had come on to the spot, a wide passage was made for him towards that red-
mouthed beast, which was like a furious bear (ina bethir bodhbda) and a phantom of
destruction and a conglomeration of battle and ruin”. 338 In Eachtra Mhacoimh an Iolair
they gave thrusts and ever active “furious breaking” (agus briseadh bodhbha), and
long wielding, eager and rapid, of their hard-pointed crooked-headed hurleys on each
others heads and bodies.339
334
Henderson, Fled, 56-57: 13-14; Koch and Carey, Celtic, 88. In the Vossianus manuscript: barc
bodbai; Stern, ‘Fled Bricrend’, 162. Thurneysen explains in a note that this is the war-goddess Badb;
Thurneysen, Sagen, 40. D’Arbois de Jubainville translates barc bodbae as “Hurricane of Bodb” and
explains in a note below that Bodb is the war-goddess; D'Arbois de Jubainville, L’Épopée, 111.
Vendryes explains barc bodbae as “fury of Bodb”; Vendryes, Lexique, B-18. However, I do not think
bodba refers to the war-goddess Badb here, because the character of Loegaire is described, in which
context the description “warlike” would be more fitting than “of the war-goddess Badb”.
335
O’Curry edits m-belach m-bódhbha; O’Curry, CML, 26-27; Jackson, CML, 14: 337.
336
Jackson, CML, 66: 1721. The text differs very much at this point, in O’Curry’s edition badba does
not occur in this phrase, but here it is: seach bhilibh a sgiath m-bóirdgheal; O’Curry, CML, 128-129.
337
Hogan, Cath, 78-79.
338
Meyer, Fianaigecht, 66-67.
339
MacAlister, Eachtra, 124-125.
58
7. Conclusion
The main purpose of this thesis is to describe how the word badb was used in the
early Irish texts. In the previous chapters I hope to have shown that the different
meanings of this word can be classified as a proper name for one of the Irish war-
goddesses, a generic term for other persons or creatures, a word meaning “scald
crow” and the genitive form of badb, used as an adjective, which can be best
translated as “warlike”. But to fully understand the use of the word badb in early Irish
literature, it is next necessary to create some structure in these different meanings
and uses. Therefore I would like to propose a model for the development and
evolution of this particular word.
The first reference we find of the word badb is in the Gaulish deity name
Cathubodua, which probably meant “battle crow”. Cathubodua strongly resembles
the Old Irish term bodb catha. This suggests that the original meaning of bodb catha
was “battle crow”, which developed to “scald crow”. The possibility exists that bodb
was already used before this period with the meaning “crow”, but this is ofcourse
difficult to affirm. Badb, meaning “scald crow” occurs in literature from the earliest
period, the 8th century on and exists in all the cycles. The meaning of “scald crow”
has remained constant for a long period, and is still used in Modern Irish in the sense
of “crow”. That badb was a common word for a crow, is affirmed by the fact that
words as feannog and crufhechta are given as synonyms for badb and that badb is
often accompanied by the word bran.
Badb catha, meaning “battle crow”, at a certain point in time became the name
of one of the Irish war-goddesses. The association of badb catha with a goddess
derives probably also from the Gaulish deity name Cathubodua. This goddess was
probably for a long time called Badb Catha, literally “Badb of Battle”, but at some time
before literature was first written down, Badb seems to have lost the element catha in
the name, as badb catha is found only in a few texts existing today. In TE, when Cú
Chulainn explains who Badb is, she is called in Bodb Catha. The only other
references of badb catha are found in the descriptions of the Furies and Bellona in
the classical adaptations. In TNT occurs in badb catha cosnamach (“the contentious
war-goddess”) used to describe Bellona, and in ICC we find in badb catha, for a Fury,
in badhbh catha for Bellona and the plural bodba cata, probably signifying the Furies.
It is interesting that this older variation of badb was used for the Furies. Badb, the
proper name of a war-goddess, appears in the oldest texts, from the 8 th century
onwards. This goddess occurs only in the Ulster and the Mythological cycles. The old
spelling bodb was still used in many cases for the war-goddesses and the scald
crows, which is evidence that these are indeed the oldest meanings.
Badb is a goddess who appears in Irish literature in two different groups. On
the one hand, she is part of the sisterhood with Macha and Morrígan, who are the
daughters of Ernmas the witch. And on the other hand Badb appears with the war-
goddess Nemain, whose mutual father is Elcmar of the Brug and who are the two
wives of war-god Nét. I assume both groups have come to existence around the
same period, probably even a long time before the first texts were written down.
Nemain is often mentioned by scholars as a member of the group of Badb, Macha
and Morrígan. But Nemain is in all texts described alone or together with Badb and
not in combination with the war-goddesses Morrígan and Macha. These two groups
of goddesses occur in the same texts, and they both belong to the Tuatha dé
Danann, but their functions are quite different. Badb, Macha and Morrígan are
described as proper persons who take a role in the stories on as well diplomatic as
59
military level, while the characters of Badb and Nemain are more basic; they shriek to
incite warriors as ghost like creatures. These two groups of goddesses seem to have
existed alongside each other, with Badb as their mutual member.
There are many scholars who are of the opinion that the three war-goddesses
Badb, Morrígan and Macha signify a triple goddess or a single deity with different
functions. In this light Badb is not so much a proper name, but a generic term that
can indicate either one of the three war-goddesses. Badb would only be a certain
shape in which the Morrígan appears. However, I definitely think these war-
goddesses imply three different persons, and that Badb is the proper name of one of
these characters. On the other hand I believe that to some extent the names of these
three war-goddesses are interchangeable, as in several texts the war-goddesses are
identified with one another, especially the names Badb and Morrígan.
In a number of texts the Morrígan is called Badb, but I do not believe this
means that when Badb occurs as a single goddess, she is actually the Morrígan. I
think from the texts I have looked at becomes clear that these are two different
characters. Morrígan is a goddess who plays an important and human-like role in the
tales, she transforms in different shapes and she joins the events in both
conversation and action. Badb, on the other hand, is a more supernatural character,
who is closely related to death. In FB she is described as “the pale one” and “white
lady”, which suggests a ghost like appearance, and in MCC she speaks from the
corpses on the battlefield. She appears in a vision, is invisible and tells a prophecy or
a warning, without actually being present. Besides, Badb appears together with
Nemain, as the wife of Nét, which also indicates her separate personality.
There are a few other points that show that the names of the goddesses are
interchangeable. In a few glosses the war-goddesses are referred to as the three
morrigains. This does not prove to me that the war-goddesses are one triple
goddess, but it shows that their individual names could also be used to refer to any of
the other war-goddesses. Besides the term morrígan is also used to describe other
persons or creatures, besides the war-goddesses. In some of the texts the
explanatory note .i. badb is used to describe who a certain person or creature was, or
what the particular character of that person was. We find it in glosses on the war-
goddesses, where Macha is explained as a badb or a morrigain, the term Bé Néit is
explained as the Badb and also Nemain is equated with the Badb, which shows that
not only the names of the three war-goddesses Badb, Macha and Morrígan were
interchangeable, but also the names of the couple Badb and Nemain. The gloss .i.
badb is also used to explain that certain women are “witches”, and that certain birds
are equated with the “scald crow”. In a number of texts Badb, as well as the war-
goddesses Morrígan and Nemain, are spelled with an article. In my opinion this
confirms the indefinite character of these names.
I believe that the similar creatures Furies, battle demons and witches have all
three been based on the war-goddess Badb. These creatures share certain
similarities, as they are all demonic, supernatural beings, and they all have a close
resemblance to the war-goddesses. From a certain point in time, the word badb was
applied as a generic term for every creature that was similar to the war-goddess
Badb. The Furies, battle demons and witches became new meanings of the word
badb, which all appear to have been used from the 12 th century onwards. This is also
seen from the fact that for the battle demons and witches the old spelling bodb is not
at all used. Remarkably bodb is used for the Furies, as well as the older form badb
catha. This could suggest that the custom of replacing the Furies with badb goes
60
further back. But a more plausible possibility is that the Irish tried to add a classical
aspect, by using these older terms.
The texts in which the battle demons are described derive mostly from the 12th
and 13th centuries and they occur in all the cycles. I think the battle demons were
mainly based on the couple Badb and Nemain, as this couple has the most in
common with the battle demons. They both shriek above the warriors to incite or
frighten them, and Nemain appears in TBC in the company of the same demonic
creatures the battle demons appear with. The main difference, however, is the
undeveloped and anonymous character of the battle demons.
Around the same period, in the 12 th century, the word badb was used to
replace the Furies in the classical adaptations. The Irish probably early on
recognised that the Furies and Bellona have many resemblances with the Irish war-
goddesses, and therefore they used the word badb to replace these classical deities.
It also seems that there is a certain linkage between the Irish war-goddesses, the
Furies, the Lamia’s and the Valkyries. This could mean that these deities go back to
a common Indo-European source.
The battle demons and Furies appear in literature in the same period and
seem to have influenced each other to some extent. The main difference is of course
that the Irish Furies are directly copied on the classical Furies, but the description of
the Furies has a lot in common with the way the Irish have described the battle
demons. Firstly, there is an interesting Irish variation in ICC, which is not in the
original Pharsalia. Here the Furies are in the company of other flying demonic
creatures, much like the description of the battle demons. But the most striking
resemblance is that in the description of both the Furies and the battle demons, the
word badb occurs in combination with similar alliterating adjectives, of which the most
recurring phrase is baidbi beldergi (“red-mouthed badbs”). Further baidb buaidertha,
badba buaidirthi belderga, baidbi bruthmaire belldeirgi, badb demnach dasachtach
and badb derg dasachtach are only used in the description of the Furies, and badb
bélderg birach and badba birach belsalach are only used to describe the battle
demons. In the classical adaptations, both the Furies and Bellona are called “red-
mouthed war-goddesses”, while in the original classical texts nothing is said about
the characteristic red lips or a red mouth. These alliterating descriptions with badba
are a Middle Irish invention, as they are a typical way of Middle Irish writing and
these phrases are only found in texts from the 12 th century onwards. It should be
noted that the adjective bélderg (“red-mouthed”) is in Irish also used for the
description of other comparable creatures, but the combination of badb and bélderga
is solely found in the description of the battle demons and Furies. The only exception
is that in the rather late text CML the alliterating phrase baidbi beldergi is used in the
description of scald crows. In the same text we find badbha beal-ghorma (“blue
mouthed scald crows”). But there exists no other reference of scald crows called
badba belderga.
The meaning of “witch” is a more modern development, as these texts all
derive from around the 13 th century or later. It seems that these witches replaced the
war-goddess Badb, as in this period the war-goddess Badb no longer occurs in
literature. And as the war-goddesses are often referred to as the witches or the
sorceresses of the Tuatha dé Danann, it comes as no surprise that badb in the sense
of “witch” developed.
I think the genitive form badba developed to an adjective in the same period
badb catha became the name of the war-goddess, as it seems more likely that this
adjective derived from the genitive of badb in the sense of a war-goddess, than badb
61
in the sense of a scald crow. What is certain is that badba exists in texts from the 8 th
century onwards and was used till at least the 15 th century, and occurs primarily in
the heroic cycles. This means the adjectival use of the genitive form badba is as old
as the meanings of “scald crow” and “war-goddess” in literature. The old spelling
bodb seems to have been applied longest for the adjective bodba, as all recurring
phrases and many other entries of the adjective are spelled bodba. A few of the
recurring phrases with badba are found in texts from the 8th century, but most of
these phrases are from the 12th century and later. Many of these phrases start with
the initial b-, which alliterates with badba. This is the same kind of alliteration we
have seen used for the Furies in these same texts, which shows again the typical
Middle Irish influence on the classical adaptations, and how keen the Irish were on
making these classical texts their own. The common authorship of the Book of
Leinster versions of TBC, MU and CRR explains why many phrases with badba
occur in these three texts, but it also shows that these phrases were incorporated in
the 12th century by the redactor of the Book of Leinster. Most of these phrases, as
well as other uses of the adjective badba, occur in the classical adaptations, and a
large part of these phrases occur as well in TBC as in the classical adaptations.
Tristram has said it is often underestimated how the classical adaptations
influenced Irish literature. I think from certain points made clear here, can be
concluded that TBC and the classical adaptations influenced each other to some
extent, as we find many similarities in these texts. Firstly the Furies are called badb in
the classical adaptations, while in recension I of TBC Morrígan is equated with
Allecto. We find other references to the Furies in Irish literature, but only in these
texts are they equated with the Irish war-goddesses. It think the equation of the Irish
war-goddesses with the Furies, took shape in the 12 th century. Secondly a large part
of the phrases with badba, seem to originate from the period when the classical
adaptations were created. In TBC and in the classical adaptations occur a number of
these same phrases. A few phrases existed earlier on, but a large part was created
in the 12th century. Thirdly in recension II of TBC we find battle demons called
baidbhi beldergi and badba beldercca. These alliterating phrases, used to describe
Furies or battle demons, occur only from the 12 th century onwards and are a typical
way of Middle Irish writing. We find badba belderga used for the Furies at numerous
point in the classical adaptations.
As I have said, I think the classical adaptations and TBC influenced each other
to some extent. I cannot conclude from these facts that TBC was indeed modelled on
the classical adaptations, but I do think it shows that these texts were written down
around the same period, as a lot of similarities occur that are only seen in texts from
the 12th century. It is a fact that the 12 th century was an important era in Irish
literature; the first manuscripts containing sizable Irish tales, including TBC, were
compiled and in this same period a large part of the classical adaptations were
created. Of course this discussion cannot be seen as the main focus of this thesis,
and I have only looked at the use of the word badb here, which makes it impossible
to make any harsh statements on this subject. Nevertheless, I would like to point out
that I agree with Tristram that the influence of the classical adaptations has been
highly underestimated by most scholars. I strongly believe that TBC, as well as a
number of other Irish texts, have been influenced by the creation of the classical
adaptations in the 12th century.
To summarise, the first meaning of the word badb was “scald crow”, a
meaning that remained constant for a long time, and is still used in Modern Irish.
Badb catha, meaning “scald crow” evolved to the name Badb for a war-goddess,
62
which later lost the second element catha. Badb in the sense of “scald crow”, and the
name Badb for a war-goddess, are found in the earliest literature, from the 8 th century
onwards, and probably both meanings already existed a long time before literature
was first written down. The genitive form badba probably evolved to an adjective
meaning “warlike” in this same period. From the 12 th century badb was used to
describe other similar creatures; Furies, battle demons and witches, which have all
derived from the name Badb for the war-goddess.
I hope to have made clear in this thesis that badb is a very interesting,
versatile and sometimes even obscure word, which was used in many different ways
in Irish literature. Because of these different meanings, in the past a lot of
contradictory and confusing secondary literature has been written, which has placed
the word badb in the dark. My goal has been to try to cast some light on this matter,
so that this interesting word can receive the attention it deserves. I hope to have
succeeded in this.
Abbreviations:
ACC Aided Con Culainn

AnS Accalam na Senórach
BDC Togail Bruiden Da Choca
BiS Baile in Scail
BS Banshenchus
CA Cath Almaine
CF Cath Finntragha
CGG Cogadh Gaedhel re Gallaibh
CML Cath Maige Leana
CMT Cath Maige Tuired
CMTC Cath Muige Tuired Cunga
CRR Cath Ruis na Ríg for Boinn
DIL Dictionary of the Irish Language
FB Fled Bricrenn
ICC In Cath Catharda
63
IA Imtheachta Aeniasa
LGÉ Lebor Gabála Érenn
MCC Maccgnimrada Cu Chulainn
MU Mesca Ulad
OCL Oidheadh Clainne Lir
RIA Royal Irish Academy
SF Slieve na mBan Finn
SMMD Scela Muicce Meic Dathó
TBC Táin Bó Cúailnge
TBDD Togail Bruidne Da Derga
TBR Táin Bó Regamna
TCD Trinity College Dublin
TE Tochmarc Emire
TF Tochmarc Ferbe
TG Tromdamh Guaire
TnT Togail na Tebe
TT Togail Troí
64
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Appendix A
70
At the conclusion of the older version of CMT the Morrígan, called Badb, utters two
prophecies:
“Peace up to heaven
Heaven down to earth
Earth beneath heaven
Strength in each
A cup very full
Full of honey
Mead in abundance
Summer in winter
Peace up to heaven”
She also prophesied the end of the world, foretelling every evil that would occur then,
and every disease and every vengeance; and she chanted the following poem …
“I shall not see a world

Which will be dear to me
Summer without blossoms
Cattle will be without milk
Women without modesty
Men without valour
Conquest without a king
Woods without mast
Sea without produce
False judgements of old men
False precedents of lawyers
Every man a betrayer
Every son a reaver
The son will go to the bed of his father
The father will go to the bed of his son
Each brother’s brother in law
He will not seek any woman outside his house
An evil time
Son will deceive his father
Daughter will deceive her mother”.340
340
Carey, ‘Myth’, 66-69; Gray, CMT, 70-73: 814-827; Cross and Slover, Ancient, 47-48; Stokes,
‘Second Battle’, 108-111.
71
Appendix B
Only in version II of TF Badb and Medb speak in rhetoric, while Medb sleeps:
The Badb:
A Medb ca cotlud dogní, O Medb, why do you lie in sleep?
in fetar cinnas atái? Do you know how it is with you?
diamsat fissid fáth imne, If you are skilled in prophecy,
ropad mithig duit eirge. It will be time for you to arise
Medb:
A bé bán bulid collí, O, white lady, fair with brilliancy,
ca scél, uathmar innisi, What is this dreadful dream that you tell me?
cata námait dothaet and, Who are the foes that have come hither,
cia halt doine cia n-anmand? What sort of men are they? What their names?
The Badb:
Conchobar cend na curad, Conchobar, the head of heroes,
ardrí ilbuadach Ulad, The much-conquering, high king of Ulster,
ní damair a bruth no ferg, Holds not back his ardour and fury
co ro thogla innocht for G.G. That he may destroy Glenn Geirg tonight!
Medb:
Cia bail itá Gerg is Mani, Where is the place where Gerg and Mani are?
na fuilet i n-oenbali? Are they not in the same place?
ma tát ní hassa a togail If that be so, not easy is his destruction
do lucht tigi Conchobair. For the troops of the house of Conchobar!
The Badb:
Mani cid mór a menma Though high is the mind of Mani,
im febas a degdelba, On account of the beauty of his handsome form,
ni ba leiss commus a chind He has not the power over his head
da thurus innocht don glind. For the raid tonight to the glen!
Medb:
Mad dia marbthar Mani mór, When the great Mani is slain,
bid díth cethern, bid ár slog, It will lead to the perishing of troops,
atresat curaid fri gail To the defeat of hosts!
iter Chruachain is Emain. Heroes shall rise in bravery
In Cruachnan as well as in Emain!
72
The Badb:
Érig is digail do mac, Raise thyself and avenge your son!
tinóil cóiced Ólnécmacht, Assemble the province of Connacht!
snaidfea na sluagu co serb, You shall cruelly cut asunder troops
mad dia n-erge innosa a Medb. When you awake, O Medb!341
341
Leahy, Courtship, 25-27, 77-79; Windisch, ‘Tochmarc’, 488-491: 350-377; Thurneysen, Helden,
354.
73

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War-goddesses, furies and scald crows:

The use of the word badb in early Irish literature.

Final Thesis by Kim Heijda

“How long a time lies in one little word!”

1. A definition of the word badb 9

2. Early Irish literature 18

3. Badb: one of the war-goddesses 32

4. Badb: a generic term for other persons and creatures 50

5. Badb: a word for scald crows 68

6. Badba: the genitive of badb, used as an adjective 75

1.2 The meaning of the word badb

1.3 Problems in translation and interpretation

Irish literature is preserved in a number of manuscripts, of which the earliest extant

2.3 The Cycles

2.3.1 The Mythological cycle

2.3.2 The Ulster cycle

Date and growth of TBC

2.3.3 The Fenian cycle

2.3.4 The Historical cycle

2.3.5 The Irish adaptations

2.3.6 Other groups of texts

Adventures, Voyages and Visions

The Arthurian cycle

Banshenchus and Dinnshenchas

3.1 Badb and her sisters

Badb is Macha, mét n-indbais, “Badb and Macha, greatness of wealth,

3.1.1 Badb and Morrígan

3.2 Badb and Nemain, the wives of Nét

Badb appears in some texts in the companionship of war-goddess Nemain. Badb

3.3 Badb as a single goddess

4. Badb: a generic term for other persons and creatures

4.1 The Furies

4.1.1 The Furies and Bellona in the classical texts

4.1.2 The use of the word badb in the Irish adaptations

Connection between the Irish war-goddesses and other goddesses

4.3 Battle demons

5. Badb: a word for scald crows

Conchobar buadach rothelt, “There came conquering Conchobar,

The war-goddesses as scald crows

Version, 90,179. This episode does not occur in recension III.

6. Badba: the genitive of badb, used as an adjective

6.1 Recurring phrases with badba

intech bodba (“warlike sheath”)

bir bodba and cuailli bodbha (“warlike stake”)

béim bodhbha (“warlike blow”)

cró bodba (“warlike enclosure”)

buaile bodhbha (“warlike hedge”)

circul bodba (“warlike encirclement”)

broin bodba (“furious band”)

lecca bodba (“warlike stones”)

coinnle bodba (“warlike torches”)

stuaigh bodhbha (“warlike arch”)

barannglaeda bodbda (“warlike cries”)

thigardail bodba (“tígardáil of war”)

6.2 Compounds with badba.

6.3 Remaining uses of badba (“warlike”)

ACC Aided Con Culainn

“I shall not see a world

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