Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 21, 1910.djvu/446

 404 Reviews.

fire kept up at Kildare and tended by forty virgins, which was evidently the relic of a local pagan cult. The local connection with Kildare is, however, in the case of this Saint almost a negligible matter ; for the " Mary of the Gael," as she is frequently called, held a pre-eminent and universal position in Gaeldom as presiding genius of the hearth and protector of the homestead, and there can be little doubt that she owes this wide distinction to the incorporation of the older cult with her own more local fame.

Mr. Plummer lays special stress upon the similarity between the names of certain Irish saints and words meaning " fire " or "water." He derives the name of St. Aed of Ferns, — with its Latinized forms Aidus, Aedan, or Edanus ; or with the prefix mo ("my"), and the diminutive og or <?r, becoming Maedoc or Maedhog ("my little Aed"), — from the Irish aed ("fire"); or, again, St. Lasrian, better known with the endearing prefix mo as St. Molaise, the founder of the wealthy and powerful Abbey of Devenish on Lough Erne, whose name seems to be derived from an Irish word meaning a "little flame"; or St. Abban, whose name may have been confused with the Irish abann ("water"). The Editor considers that the fire or water legends ascribed to these saints may have been transferred from those belonging to some local solar or water deity. In the same way he connects the name Molua, ("my Lugh" or " Lugaid "), with the sun-god Lugh, and he sees in his life solar attributions. There is much probability in all this ; nevertheless, it is a supposition that may be unduly pressed. No names are more common both in the secular and religious literature of Ireland than Aedh and Lugh, and it is as unnecessary to connect them, simply on that account, with any solar or other deity as it would be to connect every person bearing the name of Smith with one particular industry. In the career of many of these saints we get a curious combination of fire and water incidents. This is notably the case in the Brendan legend, for, though his whole career turns upon his marine exploits, his pre-eminence is symbolized by fire attributes. In truth, such marks of future greatness as can be shown forth by a flame issuing from the mouth or playing about the head of a famous child, or by a star falling into the bosom of its mother or