Page:Bury J B The Cambridge Medieval History Vol 2 1913.djvu/505

Rh and Ireland that is to be obtained from legends and from folk-lore, cannot always be estimated with certainty, but there can be little doubt that many of the characters of both Irish and Welsh legend bear names which once had a religious significance, and that many popular beliefs and customs found in the British Isles go back to pre-Christian times. By the help of Keltic philology several proper names found in legend, such as Mabon and Nudd, to which reference has been made, can be identified with names of deities that occur on inscriptions, or they can be shewn to be similar in formation to certain known types of divine names. For example, -ŏnos and -ŏnā were favourite Keltic terminations for the names of gods and goddesses respectively, and certain Welsh names ending in -on of legendary characters appear from their very structure to have been at one time the names of deities. In addition to Mabon (Mapŏnos) and Modron (Matrŏna), already mentioned, may be adduced Rhiannon (Rēgantŏna), meaning "the divine queen," Teyrnon (Tigernŏnos), "the divine lord," Banon (Banŏna), "the divine lady," Amaethon (Ambactŏnos), "the divine husbandman," Gofannon (Gobannŏnos), "the divine smith." The two latter names suggest the existence among the Kelts of Britain of departmental deities. Certain river-names, too, suggest by their forms that they were of this type, for example, Aeron (Agrŏna), "the goddess of war," Tarannon (Tarannŏnos or Tarannŏna), "the god or goddess of thunder," Ieithon (Iectŏna), "the goddess of speech."

Other legendary names, such as Ler of Irish legend and Llyr of Welsh legend, have meanings which throw light on their original character, for example, "llyr" is used in Welsh poetry for the sea, and there can be little doubt but that the original of both Ler and Llyr was the god of the Irish sea, whose son was the Irish Manannan (the Welsh Manawyddan), the eponymous deity of the Isle of Man. The name Lug, again, of Irish, and Lieu of Welsh legend, is phonetically equivalent to that of Lugus of Gaul, and the meaning of the Welsh word, namely, light, makes it probable that this god had originally some association with the sun or with fire. In Ireland, the legends sometimes speak of certain characters as divine; for example, the goddess Danu or Dana, in the name of the legendary Tuatha Dé Danann (the tribes of the goddess Danu). Similarly, the glossary attributed to Cormac (King-Bishop of Cashel in the ninth century) speaks of the goddess Ana as mater deorum, and mentions a goddess Brigit, a poetess and prophetess, worshipped by the poets of ancient Erin. Her father, too, the Dagda, is represented as divine, while her sisters (also called Brigit), were like herself represented as goddesses, the one being patroness of the healing-art, the other of smith- work. There were, also, two Irish war-goddesses, called the Mór-rigu and Bodb Catha. Certain beings belonging to the Tuatha Dé Danann, such as Nuada of the Silver Hand, Ogma, Dian Cecht, Goibniu, Mider and a few others, along with Lug and Ler, appear to