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From Bloomsbury Dictionary of Myth Brigid ('high one'), in Celtic myth, was the name given to all three daughters of the sky-god Dagda and his queen Dana.
From The Bloomsbury Dictionary of Myth The Dagda ('good god'), in Celtic myth, was the son of Eladu, god of knowledge, and chief of the original supernatural inhabitants of Ireland, the people of light.
From Brewer's Dictionary of Irish Phrase and Fable (also Ethniu or Eithne). In Irish mythology, the daughter of Balor of the Evil Eye, who is kept from the sight of men shut up in a crystal tower on Tory Island by her father to prevent the fulfilment of a prophecy that he would die at the hands of his grandson.
From Bloomsbury Dictionary of Myth Manannan MacLir ('Manannan son of Lir'), or Manawydan ab Llyr, in Celtic myth, was the god of the sea. He ruled either from an underwater palace or from the heart of a beautiful magic island, Tir Tairnigiri ('land of promise') or the Isle named Man after him.
From Bloomsbury Dictionary of Phrase and Fable The Morrigan ('great queen'), in Celtic myth, was one of three supernatural sisters: the others were Badb and Macha.
From Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable The son of the hero FIONN MAC CUMHAIL. The name signifies ‘fawn’, a reminder that his mother SADB was for a time a deer. He marries a fair-haired stranger called Eibhir.
From The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales The story of Branwen, daughter of Llŷr, in the second branch of the Mabinogi (see Mabinogion, The), relates that by consent of her brother Bendigeidfran, king of the Isle of the Mighty, she is given in marriage to Matholwch.
From The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales Legendary material about Merlin, or rather, Myrddin, has been preserved in a series of vaticinatory, or prophetic, poems attributed to him in The Black Book of Carmarthen.
From The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales A character in the first and third branches of the Mabinogi (see Mabinogion, The) whose name derives from the Celtic Rīgantōna (Divine Queen). In the first branch, Rhiannon becomes the wife of Pwyll, prince of Dyfed.
From Bloomsbury Dictionary of Myth Taliesin ('shining brow'), in Celtic myth, was a powerful wizard and bard. He was born as Gwion, a humble farm-boy, without inspiration.
From Brewer's Dictionary of Irish Phrase and Fable A semi-historical HIGH KING who probably reigned in the 3rd century and about whom many myths accreted. In these he is a patron of the FIANNA and the father of GRÁINNE.
From The Columbia Encyclopedia Irish legendary hero of Ulster, of prodigious strength and remarkable beauty. He is the central figure of the Ulster legends, the greatest work of which is the Táin Bó Cúalnge [the cattle raid of Cooley].
From The Macmillan Encyclopedia Irish Gaelic tales and ballads of the Fianna, a legendary band of warrior-poets named after their leader, Finn MacCool.
From Brewer's Dictionary of Irish Phrase and Fable In Irish mythology, a band of superlative warriors led by FIONN MAC CUMHAIL and said to date from 300 bc.
From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia Legendary Irish hero, the best-known character in the hero-tales of Ireland, identified with a general who organized an Irish regular army in the 3rd century.
From Brewer's Dictionary of Irish Phrase and Fable The inhabitants of the fairy OTHERWORLD, who in Irish folklore have frequent congress with mortal man. They were also called the Good or Gentle Folk.
From Brewer's Britain and Ireland The best of the otherworlds in Irish mythology, where the gods of the Tuatha Dé Danann (the Sidhe or fairies) and the most blessed of mortals stay for ever young.
From Myths and Legends of the Celts Compilers of the Lebor Gabála are characteristically precise in dating the arrival of the Tuatha Dé Danann as thirty-seven years after the Fir Bolg, whom they displace, and 297 years before the Milesians, mortal equivalents of the Irish people.
From Bloomsbury Dictionary of Myth Cernunnos ('horned one'), in Celtic myth, was a fertility god, ruler of wild beasts. He lived in the forests, where he either sat cross-legged in state, surrounded by his creatures.
