Myths and Legends of the Celts (Penguin Reference) (45 page)

ball seirce
(bal
shirk
-yě)
‘Love spot’ of Diarmait Ua Duibne that makes him irresistible to women.

Balor
(
bah
-lor)
Monstrous Fomorian leader whose evil or baleful eye can annihilate all upon whom he casts it.

Banba
(
ban
-vă,
ban
-bă)
One of a trio of wives of Tuatha Dé Danann chiefs, along with Ériu and Fodla, who encounter the invading Milesians. Her name was later an alternative poetic name for Ireland (Éire).

banshee
(
ban
-shee)
Woman of Irish and Scottish Gaelic folk tradition who foretells misfortune and death but does not cause it.

Barbarossa
(bar-bar-
ohs
-ă)
Name in Teutonic legend for Frederick I (1123?-1190), the Holy Roman Emperor.

bard
(bahrd)
Generic name for a class of esteemed poets who went under different names in different countries. Of lower status than a druid or
vates
or Irish
filid
.

bean nighe
(ben, ban
nee
-ě)
Scottish Gaelic name for the washer at the ford.

Bébinn
(bay-
veen
)
Name of several great Irish beauties.

Bebo
(
bev
-ŏ)
Queen of the fairies in the thirteenth-century
Echtra Fergusa maic Léite
.

Bé Chuma
(bay-
khoom
-ă)
Beautiful but wicked adulteress whose liaison with Gaidiar, son of Manannán mac Lir, causes her to be banished.

Bedwyr
(
bed
-weer)
Welsh member of King Arthur’s court.

Belenus
(
bel
-ěn-ŭs, bel-
ayn
-ŭ)
Gaulish god whose cult stretched from Italy to Britain; perhaps an aspect of Apollo.

Belgae
(
bel
-jee)
Ancient P-Celtic people of the continent and Britain. The modern nation of Belgium may be named for them, but Belgians are not necessarily identical with the Belgae.

Beli Mawr
(
bel
-ee mawr)
Welsh ancestor deity, mate of Dôn.

Beltaine
(
bel
-tin-ě,
bal
-tin-ě)
Celtic spring festival, usually around 1 May.

Ben Bulben
(ben
bul
-běn)
Peak, 1,722 ft, 10–12 miles NW of Sligo town, Co. Sligo, rich in heroic and legendary associations
.

Bendigeidfran, Brân the Blessed
(ben-di-
gI
-vran, brahn)
Celtic sea deity, later described as a king of Britain. A leading figure of early Welsh literature, including the
Mabinogi
.

Bibracte
(bĭ-
brahk
-tě)
Fortified Gaulish city atop Mt Beuvray, near the modern town of Auton in eastern France. Findings here argued for a more sophisticated and complex society than previous records had implied.

Birog
(
bir
-ohg)
Druidess who helps Cian seduce Eithne.

Bladma
(
bla
th
-vă)
Minor Milesian invader for whom the Sliab Bladma [Slieve Bloom] mountains are named.

Blaí
(
blah
-ee)
Alternative name for Sadb.

Blái Briuga
(
blah
-ee
bree
-ooγă)
Hospitaller of Ulster, one of Cúchulainn’s seven foster-fathers.

Bláithíne, Bláthnat, Blanid
(
blaw
-ĭ-ně,
blaw
-nid)
Wife of Cú Roí who betrays her husband for an affair with Cúchulainn.

Bleiddwn
[wolf cub] (
bl
I
th
-oon)
Lupine offspring of a transformed Gwydion and Gilfaethwy.

Blodeuedd
(blo-
di
-eth, blo-
d
I
-weth)
Leading female figure in the Fourth Branch of the
Mabinogi
whose beauty brings much ill.

Boadach
(
bo
th
-ăkh)
Sometimes cited ruler of the otherworldly Mag Mell.

Boand, Bóinn
(
boh
-ănd, bohn,
boh
-ĭn)
Goddess of the River Boyne, an anglicization of her name.

Bodb Derg
(bohv, boh
thv
jer
-ěg)
Son of the Dagda, foster-father of the children of Lir.

Bodhmall
(
boh
y-mal)
Druidess aunt of Fionn mac Cumhaill, also his nurse.

Bodua
(
boh
-dwă)
Gaulish battle goddess.

Borba
[harsh, arrogant] (
bohr
-va)
Representative adversary of Fionn mac Cumhaill.

Borvo, Bormo, Bormanus
(
bohr
-vo)
Gaulish healing god, often portrayed with Damona.

Boudicca
(
boo
-dik-ă, boo-
deek
-ă)
Historical British queen (first century
AD
) who led a rebellion against the Romans.

Brahan Castle
(
brah
-ăn)
Fifteen miles northeast of the city of Inverness
.

Brahan Seer
(
brah
-ăn)
Legendary, gloomy, seventeenth-century Scottish Gaelic prophet, perhaps known in life as Coinneach Odhar Fiosaiche.

Bran
(brahn)
One of Fionn mac Cumhaill’s favoured dogs; the other is Sceolang.

Bran the Blessed
See
Bendigeidfran
.

Bran mac Febail
(brahn mahk
fev
-ĭl)
Protagonist of the eighth-century Irish
Imram Brain
, the oldest surviving story of a voyage to the otherworld.

Branwen
(
brahn
-wen)
Daughter of Llŷr, title character of the Second Branch of the
Mabinogi
.

Breaga
(
bree
-aγă)
Lesser Milesian invader, an uncle of Míl Espáine, for whom the medieval petty kingdom of Brega/Bregia was named.

Brega
(
bre
-ghă)
The plain between the Liffey and Boyne Rivers.

Brehon Laws
(
breh
-ohn)
Native Irish law in widespread use before Norman invasion, 1169–70.

Breizh
(brez)
Breton name for Brittany.

Brendan, St
(
brend
-ăn)
Historical Irish monk (d. 577), the story of whose voyage across the Atlantic, possibly to the New World, was composed 300 years after his death.

Breogan
(
bre
-oγ-ăn)
Milesian leader who built a high tower at Brigantium (modern La Coruña), Spain, allowing his son Íth to see Ireland.

Bres
(bres)
Vain king of the Tuatha Dé Danann at the Second Battle of Mag Tuired.

Brí Léith
(bree lay)
Sídh in Co. Longford, residence of Midir, lover of Étaín.

Brian
(
bree
-ăn)
Most prominent of the three sons of Tuireann.

Brian Bórama, Boru
(
bree
-ăn
bohr
-ă-vă,
bohr
-oo-wa, bohr-
oo
)
Powerful Irish
ard rí
who defeated the Norsemen at Clontarf,
AD
1014.

Briccriu Neimthenga
[bitter-tongued] (
brik
-roo
nev
-theng-ă)
Sharp-mouthed troublemaker of the Ulster Cycle.

Brigantia
(bri-
gahnt
-eeă)
Tribal goddess of north Britain.

Brigantium
(bri-
gahnt
-eeŭm)
Old name for La Coruña, Spain, where Breogan builds a tower allowing Íth and the Milesians to see Ireland.

Brigid, St
(breed, breej,
ang
.
brij
-id)
The ‘Mary of the Gael’, one of the three principal saints of Ireland, thought to have lived
c
.460-
c
.528.

Brigit
(breed,
bree
-γid)
Pre-Christian fire-goddess of Kildare.

Brocéliande
(broh-
sayl
-ee-ahnd)
Actual forest in eastern Brittany, 24 miles southwest of Rennes, scene of many episodes in the Arthurian legends.

Brug na Bóinne
[
Ir
. hostel of the Boyne] (broogh, brooγ, broo-; nă-
boi
-nyă, nă-
bohn
-ă)
Early literature implies this is the Irish language name for the passage-grave of Newgrange in the Boyne valley. At the contemporary Visitor Centre the Modern Irish
Bru na Boinne
denotes three neighbouring passage-graves, Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth, as well as some forty smaller ones.