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you hate most that you see?’ asked Conchubur. ‘Yourself, surely, and Éogan son of Durthacht,’ she replied. ‘Then you will spend a year with Éogan,’ Conchubur said. He took her to Éogan. The following day they went to a fair at Emuin Machae, Derdriu standing behind Éogan in his chariot. She had sworn that she would never see her two companions together in the same place. ‘Well, Derdriu,’ said Conchubur, ‘it is the eye of a ewe between two rams you make between myself and Éogan.’ There was a great boulder before Derdriu. She let her head be driven against it, and the boulder made fragments of her head, and she died.

Notes

Introduction

1. Myles Dillon and Nora Chadwick, The Celtic Realms (New York: New American Library, 1967), pp. 1–2, 214.

2. Leon E. Stover and Bruce Kraig, Stonehenge: The Indo-European Heritage (Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1978), p. 141.

3. Herodotos, 2:33.

4. Strabo, Ceographia, 4.4.4 (translation by Timothy Gantz).

5. Diodorus Siculus, 5:31.2, 4–5 (translation by Timothy Gantz).

6. Proinsias Mac Cana, Celtic Mythology (London: Hamlyn, 1970), p. 127.

7. Julius Caesar, De bello gallico, 6. 17.

8. Lucian, Herakles, 1. 1.

9. Lucan, De bello civili, 1. 444–6.

10. Frank O’Connor, The Backward Look: A Survey of Irish Literature (London: Macmillan, 1967), p. 242.

11. A rhetoric is a dense, archaic poetic passage.

12. James Delargy, The Gaelic Story-teller (London: G. Cumber-Iege, 1947), p. 32.

13. K. H. Jackson, The Oldest Irish Tradition: A Window on the Iron Age (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1964).

The Wooing of Étaín

1. Frank O’Connor, The Backward Look, p. 43.

2. Bóand: ‘white cow’; Bóand is also the Old Irish name for the river Boyne. Echu: ‘horse’.

3. Macc Oc: ‘young son’.

4. Cumal: a female slave, worth three milch cows or six heifers.

5. Síde: the people of the otherworld, often equated with the Túatha Dé Danand (the People of the Goddess Danu). An otherworld mound is called a síd.

6. Feis: originally, a feast during which the tribe’s king was married to its tutelary goddess; the meaning later became generalized. The word feis is formed from an Irish verb meaning ‘to sleep with’; it is not related to the Latin word festa or the English feast.

7. Fidchell: ‘wood sense’ – a board game, similar to chess, in which one side’s king attempts to escape to the edge of the board while the other side’s men attempt to prevent him.

8. Airem: ‘ploughman’.

9. Bé Find: ‘fair woman’.

The Destruction of Da Derga’s Hostel

1. Fían (pl. fíana): a band of roving warriors.

2. Geiss (pl. gessa): a taboo, usually religious in origin.

3. Bretain: the British isle, perhaps the southern part

4. Deirg: like the name in the title, this means ‘red’.

5. Dond: probably the chthonic god Dond.

6. Popa: a term of affection and respect used in addressing an elder.

7. Third time’: there is no second time.

8. ‘Ant of the ancient earth’: a wolf.

The Cattle Raid of Fróech

1. Bé Find: in ‘The Wooing of Étaín’ this name appears as an epithet for Etain rather than as the name of Bóand’s sister.

2. ‘Candle of a king’s house’: a spear.

The Boyhood Deeds of Cû Chulaind

1. Ríastarthae: Cú Chulaind’s special battle fury.

2. Féni: the Irish word for the Irish.

3. Del chliss: one of Cú Chulaind’s spear-thrusting feats.

The Death of Aífe’s Only Son

1. Gáe bolga: Cú Chulaind’s ultimate spear-thrusting feat; the name may mean ‘lightning spear’.

The Intoxication of the Ulaid

1. Crúadin: Cú Chulaind’s sword.

Bricriu’s Feast

1. Úaig Búana: Búan’s Grave.

Index

Aband Úa Cathbad, 196

Adam, 56, 170

Adarc, 156

Admlithe, 101

Áed Abrat, 158–60, 166, 169, 172, 175

Africa, 252

Agam, 76

Agnoman son of Curir Ulad, 128–129

Aidche, 102

Aífe, 148, 150

Ailbe (hound), 180–82, 187

Ailbe (place), 48

Ailill Angubae, 49–52

Ailill son of Máelchlód, 97, 149, 191, 193–4, 197–8, 210, 212, 222, 225–6, 230, 237, 252, 258

Ailill of Mag nInis, 43–4, 46–7, 51

Ailill son of Mata Murisc, 49

Ailill husband of Medb, 72, 111–112, 115–24, 181–3, 187, 199, 203–12, 214, 216–18, 226, 234, 237–41, 244, 263

Ailill Miltenga,