Furbaide Ferbend
Furbaide Ferbend is a character from the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. Legend has it that Furbaide Ferbend was buried in a passage grave atop Carn Clonhugh, more commonly known as Corn Hill or Cairn Hill, north Longford, after the two passage graves that crown the summit.[1]
Life
His father is
Cath Boinde explains the name Furbaide as deriving from Old Irish urbad, "cutting", and says his original name was Diarmaid.[2] According to the Dindsenchas Furbaide is described as smooth-skinned and bright of hue with two horns growing on his head, hence his epithet ferbend, "horned man".[3][5] The glossary Cóir Anmann ("fitness of names") says the horns – two of silver and one of gold – were on his helmet.[6]
At the age of seventeen he fights in Conchobar's army in the Battle of Gáirech and Ilgáirech at the end of the
In later life, according to Aided Meidbe, he avenges his mother's death. Medb had taken to bathing in a pool on the Shannon island of Inchcleraun. Furbaide measures the distance from the pool to the shore with a rope, and practices with his sling until he can hit an apple on top of a stake from that distance. The next time he sees Medb bathing, he shoots the nearest missile to hand – a piece of cheese – at her, and kills her.[4] In the Dindsenchas poem he kills the mother of Lugaid Riab nDerg, and Lugaid pursues and kills him in revenge.[3]
See also
References
Primary references
- ^ Dobbs 1938, pp. 246.
- ^ Joseph O'Neill, (ed. & trans., "Cath Boinde", Ériuv.2, 1905, pp.173-185
- ^ a b c d Edward Gwynn (ed. & trans.), "Carn Furbaide", The Metrical Dindshenchas Vol. 4, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1906
- ^ a b Vernam Hull (ed. & trans.), "Aided Meidbe: The Violent Death of Medb", Speculum v.13 issue 1, Jan. 1938, pp. 52-61
- ^ "Part 10 of The Metrical Dindshenchas". celt.ucc.ie. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
- ^ Whitley Stokes, "Cóir Anmann (Fitness of Names)", Irische Text mit Wörterbuch, Dritte Serie, 2 Heft, Leipzig: Verlag Von S. Hirzel, 1897, p. 288-411
- ^ Cecile O'Rahilly, Táin Bó Cúailnge Recension 1, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1976, pp. 218, 227-228
- ^ Cecile O'Rahilly (ed. & trans.), Táin Bó Cúalnge from the Book of Leinster, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1967, p. 248, 261
- ^ W. M. Hennessy (ed & trans), Mesca Ulad; or, the intoxication of the Ultonians, Todd Lecture Series, 1889
- ^ R. I. Best (ed. & trans.), "The Battle of Airtech", Ériu 8, 1916, pp. 170-190
Secondary references
- Dobbs, Margaret E. (1938). "The Territory and People of Tethba". The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. Seventh Series, Vol. 8, No. 2 (2). Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland: 241–259. JSTOR 25510138.