The Dagda
| The Dagda | |
|---|---|
Chief/leader of the Gods. | |
| Member of the Brigit |
The Dagda (
[5][6] He can control life and death (cf. his staff, below), the weather and crops, as well as time and the seasons[citation needed].He is often described as a large bearded man or giant
The Dagda's name is thought to mean "the good god" or "the great god". His other names include Eochu or Eochaid Ollathair ("horseman, great father"), and Ruad Rofhessa ("mighty one/lord of great knowledge"). There are indications Dáire was another name for him.[5] The death and ancestral god Donn may originally have been a form of the Dagda,[9] and he also has similarities with the later harvest figure Crom Dubh.[10] Several tribal groupings saw the Dagda as an ancestor and were named after him, such as the Uí Echach and the Dáirine.
The Dagda has been likened to the Germanic god
Name
Etymology
The Old Irish name Dagda is generally believed to stem from Proto-Celtic: *Dago-dēwos, meaning "the good god" or "the great god".[11][12][13]
Epithets
The Dagda has several other names or epithets which reflect aspects of his character.[14]
- Eochu or Eochaid Ollathair ("horseman, great father" or "horseman, all-father")[15]
- Ruad Rofhessa ("mighty one/lord of great knowledge")[6][16]
- Dáire ("the fertile one")[5]
- Aed ("the fiery one")[17][18]
- Fer Benn ("horned man" or "man of the peak")
- Cera (possibly "creator"),[19]
- Cerrce (possibly "striker")[4]
- Easal[20]
- Eogabal[7]
The name Eochu is a diminutive form of Eochaid, which also has spelling variants of Eochaidh and Echuid.[21] The death and ancestral god Donn may originally have been a form of the Dagda, who is sometimes called Dagda Donn.[9]
Description
The Dagda was one of the kings of the Tuatha De Danann. The
).Of Dagda it is stated "He was a beautiful god of the heathens, for the Tuatha Dé Danann worshipped him: for he was an earth-god to them because of the greatness of his magical power", in the Middle Irish language Coir Anmann (The Fitness of Names) says:[25]
Tales depict the Dagda as a figure of immense power. He is said to own a magic staff, club or mace which could kill nine men with one blow; but with the handle he could return the slain to life. He owned a magic harp.
Dagda's staff
In the tract found in the Yellow Book of Lecan, there were three items the Dagda named together, his staff (lorc), there was the shirt léine) of protection from sickness, and the cloak (lumman of shape-shifting and color-change.[a] The "great staff" (lorg mór) had a smooth end which brought the dead back to life (he resuscitated his son Cermait Milbél with the smooth end), but the staff's rough end caused instant death.[8][26]
The staff/club is also described in the Ulster Cycle narrative, Mesca Ulad,[26] where it was called the "terrible iron staff" (lorg aduathmar iarnaidi).[27][28]
Cauldron
The Cauldron of the Dagda is one of the Four Treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann,[29] of which it was said "an assembly used not to go unsatisfied from it".[30]
The cauldron "signified plenty and generousity".[31] Hence, his magic cauldron was otherwise known as the coire ansic ("the un-dry cauldron").[citation needed]
Dagda's harp
After Úaithne, the Dagda's harper was abducted by the Fomorians, the Dagda went to the enemy's hall and retrieved his magic harp, which had two names, according to the text of the Cath Maige Tuired ("Second Battle of Moytura").[32] And when the Dagda called upon his harp by its two names: "Come Daur Dá Bláo / Come Cóir Cetharchair / Come summer, come winter.." the harp leapt off the wall and came to him. The harp was forbidden by the Dagda from issuing any sound, unless thus called upon by the names,[32] which translate to "Oak of Two Meadows"[33] and "the Four Angled Music";[34] Hence, harp was a richly ornamented magic harp made of oak which, when the Dagda played it, put the seasons in their correct order;[citation needed] The Dagda had the skill to play the "Three Strains" (joy, sorrow, sleep) which he used to immobilize the Fomorians and escape.[33]
Other possessions
He possessed two pigs, one of which was always growing whilst the other was always roasting, and ever-laden fruit trees. He also described as being the owner of a black-maned heifer that was given to him for his labours prior to the Second Battle of Moytura. When the heifer calls her calf, all the cattle of Ireland taken by the Fomorians as tribute graze.[34]
Family
The Dagda is said to be husband of
Mythology
Before the Second Battle of
The Dagda has an affair with Boann, the goddess of the River Boyne. She lives at Brú na Bóinne with her husband Elcmar. The Dagda impregnates her after sending Elcmar away on a one-day errand. To hide the pregnancy from Elcmar, the Dagda casts a spell on him, making "the sun stand still" so he will not notice the passing of time. Meanwhile, Boann gives birth to Aengus, who is also known as Maccán Óg ('the young son'). Eventually, Aengus learns that the Dagda is his true father and asks him for a portion of land. In some versions of the tale, the Dagda helps Aengus take ownership of the Brú from Elcmar. Aengus asks and is given the Brú for láa ocus aidche; because in Old Irish this could mean either "a day and a night" or "day and night", Aengus claims it forever. Other versions have Aengus taking over the Brú from the Dagda himself by using the same trick.[39][40]
It has been suggested that this tale represents the winter solstice illumination of Newgrange at Brú na Bóinne, during which the sunbeam (the Dagda) enters the inner chamber (the womb of Boann) when the sun's path stands still. The word solstice (Irish grianstad) means sun-standstill. The conception of Aengus may represent the 'rebirth' of the sun at the winter solstice, him taking over the Brú from an older god representing the growing sun taking over from the waning sun.[41][40]
The Tochmarc Étaíne, tells the story of how Bóand conceives Aengus by the Dagda.[42] In the Aislinge Oengusso or Dream of Aengus the Dagda and Boand help Aengus to find a mysterious woman who he has fallen in love with in his dreams.
In a poem about Mag Muirthemne, the Dagda banishes an octopus with his "mace of wrath" using the following words: "Turn thy hollow head! Turn thy ravening body! Turn thy resorbent forehead! Avaunt! Begone!", the sea receded with the creature and the plain of Mag Muirthemne was left behind.[43]
In the Dindsenchas the Dagda is described as swift with a poison draught and as a justly dealing lord. He is also called a King of Erin with hosts of hostages, a noble, slender prince, and the father of Cermait, Aengus, and Aed.[44]
He is credited with a seventy- or eighty-year reign (depending on source) over the Tuatha Dé Danann, before dying at Brú na Bóinne, finally succumbing to a wound inflicted by Cethlenn during the battle of Mag Tuired.[45]
Parallels
The Dagda has similarities with the later harvest figure
Explanatory notes
- ⁊lorc ⁊ lumann".
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0681375819.
- ^ a b c d e f Koch, John T. Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO, 2006. pp. 553–54 [ISBN missing]
- ISBN 978-1-4654-7337-0.
- ^ a b An Dagda. Mary Jones's Celtic Encyclopedia. [ISBN missing]
- ^ ISBN 9780132759595.
- ^ ISBN 9781438110370.
- ^ a b Ward, Alan (2011). The Myths of the Gods: Structures in Irish Mythology. pp. 9–10 [ISBN missing]
- ^ a b Bergin, Osborn, ed., tr. (1927). "How the Dagda Got his Magic Staff". Medieval Studies in Memory of Gertrude Schoepperle Loomis. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 399–406. Transcribed here@Celtic Literature Collective.
- ^ a b Ó hÓgáin 1991, s.v. "Donn", pp. 165–66
- ^ a b MacNeill, Máire. The Festival of Lughnasa: A Study of the Survival of the Celtic Festival of the Beginning of Harvest. Oxford University Press, 1962. p. 416 [ISBN missing]
- ISBN 9781884964985.
- ISBN 978-2877723695.
- hdl:2027.42/138966, retrieved 1 March 2023
- ^ Ó hÓgáin 1991, s.v. "Gods", p. 245
- ^ Koch, pp. 553, 1632
- ^ Maier, Bernhard. Dictionary of Celtic Religion and Culture. Boydell & Brewer, 1997. p. 90
- ^ Berresford Ellis, Peter. The Druids. W.B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1994. p. 123
- ^ Smyth, Daragh. A Guide to Irish Mythology. Irish Academic Press, 1996. p. 15
- ^ Monaghan, p. 83
- ^ Monaghan, p. 144
- ^ O'Brien, Kathleen M. "Index of Names in Irish Annals: Eochaid, Echuid / Eochaidh". Index of Names in Irish Annals. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
- ^ a b c d Stokes, Whitley. "The Second Battle of Moytura". Corpus of Electronic Texts. University College, Cork. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
- Cath Maige Tuireadh. Trans. Elizabeth A. Gray.
- ^ "Dagda | Celtic deity".
- ^ Coir Anmann. [1] Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ ISBN 9780191565403. citing Mesca Ulad 623–638 and the Osborn ed. tract.
- ^ Hennessy , William M. , ed., tr. (1889). Mesca Ulad: Or, the Intoxication of the Ultonians. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. pp. 32–33.
- ^ Ó hÓgáin 1999, p. 62 renders as "a dreadful iron club".
- ^ a b Hull, Vernam, ed., tr. (1930). "The Four Jewels of the Tuatha Dé Danann". Zeitschrift für Celtische Philologie. 18: 83–85.
- ^ Ó hÓgáin 1999, p. 62, citing Hull ed. tr. "Four Jewels", but his quote is Ó hÓgáin's own translation, as it differs in wording from Hull's "Never went an assembly of guests away unsatisfied from the caldron of the Dagda".[29]
- ^ Ó hÓgáin 1999, p. 189.
- ^ a b Gray, Elizabeth A. ed. tr., ed. (2003) [1982], Cath Maige Tuired: The Second Battle of Mag Tuired, Proof corrections by Benjamin Hazard, CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts, §163–§164, p. 70; English translation: §163–§164, p. 71
- ^ a b Gray, Elizabeth A. ed. tr., ed. (1982). Cath Maige Tuired: The Second Battle of Mag Tuired. Irish Texts Society. notes to §163, p. 113.
- ^ a b Stokes, Whitley. "The Second Battle of Moytura". Corpus of Electronic Texts. University College, Cork, Ireland. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
- ^ The Metrical Dindsenchas "Odras" Poem 49
- ^ "Dindsenchas "Fid n-Gaible"".
- ^ Borlase, William Copeland (1897). The Dolmens of Ireland. Indiana University: Chapman and Hall. p. 349. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
- ^ a b "Banshenchus: The Lore of Women". Celtic Literature Collective. Mary Jones. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
- ^ Ó hÓgáin, Dáithí. Myth, Legend & Romance: An encyclopaedia of the Irish folk tradition. Prentice Hall Press, 1991. p.39
- ^ a b Hensey, Robert. Re-discovering the winter solstice alignment at Newgrange, in The Oxford Handbook of Light in Archaeology. Oxford University Press, 2017. pp.11–13
- ^ Anthony Murphy and Richard Moore. "Chapter 8, Newgrange: Womb of the Moon", Island of the Setting Sun: In Search of Ireland's Ancient Astronomers. Liffey Press, 2008. pp.160–172
- ^ Tochmarc Étaíne. Corpus of Electronic Texts
- ^ The Metrical Dindshenchas poem on Mag Muirthemne. Corpus of Electronic Texts.
- ^ "The Metrical Dindsenchas poem 22 "Ailech I"".
- ^ Macalister, Robert Alexander Stewart (1938–1956). Lebor gabála Érenn : The book of the taking of Ireland. Kelly – University of Toronto. Dublin : Published for the Irish texts Society by the Educational Company of Ireland. pp. 314, 124–125 (Cetlenn), ¶366, pp. 184–185, Poem LV, str. 32 on p. 237.
Bibliography
- ISBN 9780851157474.
Further reading
- Sayers, William (1988). "Cerrce, an Archaic Epithet of the Dagda, Cernnunos, and Conall Cernach". The Journal of Indo-European Studies. 16: 341–64.
- Daimler, Morgan (2018). The Dagda: Meeting The Good God Of Ireland. Moon Books. ISBN 978-1785356407.
- Ravenna, Morpheus (2018). Harp, Club, and Cauldron – A Harvest of Knowledge: A curated anthology of scholarship, lore, and creative writings on the Dagda in Irish tradition. Eel and Otter Press. ISBN 978-1722813208.