Badb
In
With her sisters,
Representations in legends
In Irish legends, Badb is associated with war and death, appearing either to foreshadow imminent bloodshed or to participate in battles, where she creates confusion among the soldiers. As a harbinger of doom, she appears in a number of different guises. In
She was also regularly depicted as an active participant in warfare; indeed, the battlefield was sometimes referred to as "the garden of the Badb".[10] During the First Battle of Mag Tuired, Badb—along with her sisters, Macha and Morrígan—fights on the side of the Tuatha Dé Danann. Using their magic, the three sisters incite fear and confusion among the Fir Bolg army, conjuring "compact clouds of mist and a furious rain of fire" and allowing their enemies "neither rest nor stay for three days and nights".[11] Badb plays a similar role in the Táin Bó Cúailnge, terrorising and disorienting the forces of Queen Medb and causing many to fall on their own weapons.[8] She would often take the form of a screaming raven or crow, striking fear into those who heard her,[12] and could also be heard as a voice among the corpses on a battlefield.[6]
Following the defeat of the Fomorians by the Tuatha Dé Danann in the Second Battle of Mag Tuired, Badb (or the Morrígan daughter of Ernmas)[5] instead of predicting doom, now sings a prophecy celebrating the victory and a time of peace,
Middle Irish [819-820][4] Modern English[13] Sith co nem.
Nem co doman.
Doman fo ním,
nert hi cach,
án forlann,
lan do mil,
mid co saith.
Sam hi ngam...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...
Then she delivers a prophecy of the eventual end of the world, "foretelling every evil that would be therein, and every disease and every vengeance. Wherefore then she sang this lay below.":[5]
Middle Irish [831-832,833,837-840][14] Modern English[15] Ni accus bith nombeo baid:
sam cin blatha,
beti bai cin blichda,
mna can feli
fir gan gail.
Gabala can righ...
feda cin mes.
Muir can toradh.
sen saobretha.
Brecfásach mbrithiom-
braithiomh
cech fer.
Foglaid cech mac.
Ragaid mac i lligie a athar.
Ragaid
athair a lligi a meic.
Cliamain cach a brathar.
Ni sia nech mnai assa
tigh...
olc aimser
immera mac a athair,
imera ingen...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.
Conquests without a king...
Woods without mast.[16]
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 his 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...
Kinship
Badb is often identified as one of the Morrígna, a trio of Irish war goddesses, although there exist a number of conflicting accounts on this subject. In Lebor Gabála Érenn, Badb, Macha and Morrígan make up the Morrígna trinity and are named as daughters of the farming goddess Ernmas.[3] According to this version, she is also the sister of Ériu, Banba and Fódla, the three matron goddesses of Ireland, who give their names to the land.[3] Other accounts identify the trio as daughters of the druid Cailitin and his wife.
Lebor Gabála Érenn also states that Badb is one of the two wives of the war god Neit.[3] Less commonly, she has been described as the wife of the Fomorian king Tethra.[9]
Similar deities
In her role as a terrifying battlefield goddess and harbinger of doom, Badb closely resembles
Badb also appears to be closely related to the
Etymology
Pointing to variants such as Irish badhbh 'hoodie crow, a fairy, a scold,' Early Irish badb, 'crow, demon,' Badba, Welsh bod, 'kite,' the Gaulish name Bodv-, in Bodvo-gnatus and the Welsh name Bodnod, Macbain (1982) suggests *bodwā- as the
W. M. Hennessy argues that the word bodb or badb originally meant rage, fury, or violence, and came to mean a witch, fairy, or goddess, represented in folklore by the scald-crow, or royston-crow.[8] Peter O'Connell's 1819 Irish Dictionary defines the Badb as a "bean-sidhe, a female fairy, phantom, or spectre, supposed to be attached to certain families, and to appear sometimes in the form of squall-crows, or royston-crows" and badb-catha as "Fionog, a royston-crow, a squall crow". Other entries relate to her triple nature: "Macha, i. e. a royston-crow; Morrighain, i. e. the great fairy; Neamhan, i. e. Badb catha nó feannóg; a badb catha, or royston-crow."[17]
See also
- Boa Island
- Clídna
- Irish mythology in popular culture
- Mongfind
Footnotes
- ^ Dinneen, Patrick S., ed. (1927). "Maċa". Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla: an Irish–English dictionary, being a thesaurus of the words, phrases and idioms of the modern Irish language (New edition, revised and greatly enlarged ed.). Dublin: Irish Texts Society. p. 692.
- ^ http://www.dil.ie/5114 badb, Author: Royal Irish Academy
- ^ a b c d Macalister, R.A.S. (trans.) (1941). Lebor Gabála Érenn: Book of the Taking of Ireland Part 1-5. Dublin: Irish Texts Society.
- ^ a b Cath Maige Tuired: The Second Battle of Mag Tuired, Text 166, Author: Unknown
- ^ a b c Elizabeth A. Gray (ed. & trans.), Cath Maige Tuired: The Second Battle of Mag Tuired, section 167, 1982
- ^ ISBN 978-1-85109-440-0.
- ISBN 978-0-8156-2441-7.
- ^ a b c d Hennessy, W. M., "The Ancient Irish Goddess of War", Revue Celtique 1, 1870–72, pp. 32–37
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-860967-4.
- ISBN 978-0-486-41441-6. (reissue of Gods and Heroes of the Celts. London: Methuen, 1949)
- ^ Fraser, J. (ed. & trans.), "The First Battle of Moytura" Archived 4 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine, Ériu 8, pp. 1–63, 1915
- ISBN 978-0-19-515669-0.
- ^ "Part 168 of Cath Maige Tuired: The Second Battle of Mag Tuired". celt.ucc.ie. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
- ^ "Part 168 of Cath Maige Tuired: The Second Battle of Mag Tuired". celt.ucc.ie. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
- ^ "Part 169 of Cath Maige Tuired: The Second Battle of Mag Tuired". celt.ucc.ie. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
- ^ (n2) "fallen nuts or acorns serving as food for animals" on etymonline.com
- ^ Walter Yeeling Evans-Wentz, The Fairy-faith in Celtic Countries, 1911, pp. 304–305
References
- Ó Cuív, Brian (1968). Irish Sagas; ed. Myles Dillon. Cork: Mercier.
- MacBain, Alexander. (1982) An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language. Gairm Publications.
- Pokorny, Julius (1959). Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch