Myths and Legends of the Celts (Penguin Reference) (44 page)

Strabo,
Geography
, trans. Horace L. Jones. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1969.

Sutherland, Elizabeth,
Ravens and Black Rain: The Story of Highland Second Sight, Including a New Collection of Prophecies of the Brahan Seer
. London: Constable, 1985.

[
Táin Bó Cuailnge
]
Táin, The: Translated from the Irish Epic Táin Bó Cuailnge
, Thomas Kinsella. Dublin: Dolmen Press; London: Oxford University Press, 1969.

Thompson, Stith,
Motif-Index of Folk-Literature: A Classification of Narrative Elements in Folktales, Ballads, Myths, Fables, Medieval Romances, Exempla, Jest-Books and Local Legends
, rev. edn. (6 vols). Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1975, 1989.

Thurneysen, Rudolf,
Die irishe Helden-und Königsage bis zum siebsehnten Jahrhundert
. Halle: Niemeyer, 1921.

‘
Tochmarc Étaíne
’, ed. Osborn Bergin and R. I. Best,
Ériu
, 12 (1938): 137–96.

Togail bruidne
[
sic
]
Da Derga
, ed. Eleanor Knott. Dublin: The Stationery Office, 1936; rpt Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1963, 1975.

Tóraigheacht Dhiarmada agus Ghráinne: The Pursuit of Diarmaid and
Gráinne
, ed. and trans. Nessa Ní Shéaghdha. Irish Texts Society, vol. 47, Dublin: Educational Company of Ireland, 1967.

Triads, Trioedd Ynys Prydain
. See Bromwich, Rachel.

Tymoczko, Maria (trans.),
Two Death Tales from the Ulster Cycle: The Death of Cú Roi and the Death of Cú Chulainn
. Dublin: Dolmen Press; Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press, 1981.

Vendryes, Joseph,
La Religion des Celtes, in ‘Mana’: introduction à l’historie des religions
, II,
Les religions de l’Europe ancienne
, pt. 3. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1948, pp. 237–330.

Vouga, Paul,
La Tène
. Leipzig: Hiersemann, 1923.

Wilde, Sir William R.,
Irish Popular Superstitions
. Dublin: McGlashan, 1852; rpt Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 1979.

Williams, Ifor, ‘Rhagymadrodd [Introduction]’,
Pedeir Keinc y Mabinogi
. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1951, pp. vii–lvi.

Wooding, Jonathan M. (ed.),
The Otherworldly Voyage in Early Irish Literature
. Dublin: Four Courts, 2000.

Yeats, William Butler,
The Celtic Twilight: Men and Women, Dhouls and Faeries
. London: Lawrence & Bullen, 1893.

Yeats, William Butler,
The Variorum Edition of the Poems of W. B. Yeats
, ed. Peter Allt and Russell K. Alspach. New York: Macmillan, 1957.

As with many languages, English speakers cannot expect to pronounce Celtic words and names without the extensive assistance of a tutor. It is much the same as with the French
r
, notoriously difficult for us to master. Our usual anglicized pronunciation of
hors d’oeuvres
as ‘ohr
durvz
’, for example, is likely to meet with incomprehension or derision from a native speaker of French. In the same way, most English speakers do not appreciate that Irish, Welsh and Breton present many greater challenges than does French, such as palatal and non-palatal (velar) consonants, broad and slender vowels, and an array of sounds not found in English, beginning with the velar fricative, the Welsh -
ll
- and the Welsh trilled
r
. Additionally, Modern Irish survives in three dialects; there is not a Standard Irish as there is a Standard English. Many names and terms survive in a wide variety of variant spellings. Scottish Gaelic, with different sound patterns, ranks almost as a fourth dialect. Complicating matters, some commentators prefer the uncertain pronunciations of Old Irish, Middle Irish and Classical Modern Irish (until the mid-seventeenth century). Thus the much-cited name of Ulster king Conchobar may be sounded in different contexts as ‘
kun
-ko-var’, ‘
kun
-nă-khoor’, ‘
kon
-khor’, ‘
kru
-hoor’ and ‘kru-
hoor
’. The pronunciation of the hero Fionn’s name, whose stories are more widely known, survives in even more variants. It is more than a matter of ‘to-
mah
-toh’ vs. ‘to-
may
-toh’; pronunciation will be contentious for some readers. Suggestions given here are approximate and should not be considered sufficient for use in broadcasts or in addresses before learned bodies. Consult the Pronunciation Key at the end of this Appendix (
pp. 348–9
).

A handful of names, such as Deirdre, Fionn, Oscar, Suibne, are often cited with anglicized pronunciations while retaining their original spellings.

Classical Modern Irish spellings are preferred for most names here; other sources may employ Modern Irish or even anglicized spellings.