Cethlenn

In Irish mythology, Caitlín (Old Irish: Cethlenn, Cethleann, Ceithlenn, Ceithlionn) was the wife of Balor of the Fomorians and, by him, the mother of Ethniu. She was also a prophetess and warned Balor of his impending defeat by the Tuatha Dé Danann in the second battle of Magh Tuiredh. During that battle she wounded the Dagda with a projectile weapon. She was also known by the nickname Cethlenn of the Crooked Teeth.[1]

Name

Ceithlinn in modern Irish is pronounced like "Kehlen", and her name is sometimes indicated by that spelling.[2] Kethlenda is the form of the name that appeared in Roderick O'Flaherty's Ogygia or Rerum Hibernicarum Chronologia, written in Latin,[3] reused as "Kethlenda of the Crooked Teeth" by story-reteller P. W. Joyce.[lower-alpha 1][4]

Nickname

Ceithlinn is called by the nickname Ceithlion Chaisfhiaclach "the crooked toothed" in the Oidheadh Chloinne Tuireann,[5][6] also translatable as "twisted teeth", from Irish cas 'twisted'.[7] She is also glossed as being "buck-toothed".[8]

Ceitleann Chraos-Fhiaclach is the slightly different form of the nickname that occurs in the Fenian cycle story Bruidhean Chaorthainn[9] ("The Fairy Palace of the Quicken Trees",[4] "Rowan Tree Palace",[9] "The Story of the Rowan Tree Dwelling"[10]). The headword, craos (Old Irish: cráes) can mean a 'gap, gaping, yawning', as well as 'voraciousness',[11][12] but Pearse has accepted the latter sense, and glosses the name as "ravening tooth".[9] This Ceaithlann also appears in Scottish copies of this tale.[10]

Attestations

Battle of Mag Tuired

Cethlenn is unmentioned in the narrative Cath Maige Tuired, as she is not listed in the roster of Formorians compiled by Whitley Stokes .[13][lower-alpha 2]

But in this Battle of Mag Tuired (The Second Battle of Moytura), Cethlenn hurled a javelin (gae) at the Dagda giving him a mortal wound, as recorded in theLebor Gabála Érenn.[14] It took 120 years before the Dagda died of the wound.[15][lower-alpha 3]

The recounting of Cethlenn injuring the Dagda is repeated in the Annals of the Four Masters,[16] Keating's History,[17] and O'Flaherty's Ogygia.[3]

Cethlenn presumably fell in battle, or so it has been commented on by John O'Mahony without clarification of source.[18]

Enniskillen

Some local historians in the 20th century and after refer to a legend that the Cethlenn was injured and swam to Enniskillen on Loch Erne, Co. Fermanagh, where she died.[19][20] The suggestion that Enniskillen is eponymous after Cethlenn is made in the early 17th century Annals of Clonmacnoise, though nothing about her swimming there is remarked on by 19th century writers.[21][22] Although the present-day town is not situated on a river island, the town was named after an island fortress on the River Erne once maintained by the Maguire of Fermanagh clan.[22]

Énrí Ó Muirgheasa suggested that this area (Breifne) which is the nexus between Ulster and Connacht should be investigated as the genuine location where the Balor legend was localized, rather than Tory Island.[23]

Balor's wife

Cethlenn is not explicitly called Balor's wife in the LGE,[14][24][lower-alpha 4] but it is thus stated in the Ogygia (1685).[3][lower-alpha 5][3][lower-alpha 6]

Prognostication

In the early modern Romance Oidheadh Chloinne Tuireann (OCT), Balor's wife (Céithlionn or Ceithlinn) identifies Lug as their grandson, and proclaims that once he comes into Erin, the days that they the Fomorians will remain in power are at an end.[5][25]

Arthur C. L. Brown remarks on this prediction that comes true in the form of Balor's destruction by Lugh,[26] but prefers not to make connection to the ancient version of the Cath Maige Tuired in which Lug uses a sling stone as the lethal weapon,[27] but rather to a folktale version in which Lugh uses a spear crafted by a particular swordsmith named Gavnin Gow.[28]

Eponyms

The town of Enniskillen (Irish inis Cethlinn, "Cethlenn's island") in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland is named after her.[29]

Explanatory notes
  1. In "The Fairy Palace of the Quicken Trees", which is his translation of Bruidhean Chaorthainn.
  2. Except she is mentioned by Stokes under Balor's entry.
  3. Since the LGE states that Lugh was subsequently in kingship for 40 years, and the Dagda for another 80 years.[14]
  4. Or the Annals,[21] or by Keating.[17]
  5. And the Ogygia for some reason considers her Lug's great-grand aunt rather than his grandmother.
  6. O'Donovan also footnotes she is Balor's wife.[21] O'Donovan heavily consulted the Ogygia.[23]

References
Citations
  1. Monaghan, Patricia (2009). The Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore. Infobase Publishing. p. 86. ISBN 1438110375.
  2. Wood-Martin, W. G. (1884), "Battle-ground and Ancient Monuments of Northern Moytirra", Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Fourth series, 6: 448
  3. O'Flaherty, Roderic (1793). "Part III, Chapter XII". Ogygia, or, A chronological account of Irish events. 2. tr. by Rev. James Hely. pp. 21–22.: "Kethlenda, the wife of Balar, gave Dagda.. a desperate wound from some missile weapon"; p. 23: "Lugad.. Mac Kethlenn, from is great grand-aunt, the wife of Balar".
  4. Joyce, Patrick Weston (1894), "The Fairy Palace of the Quicken Trees", Old Celtic Romances, D. Nutt, p. 178 (177–222)
  5. O'Curry (1863), p. 166–167.
  6. As noted by W. G. Wood-Martin (1884) in connection with "Ceithlean".[2]
  7. O'Duffy (1888), pp. 8, 72, 180.
  8. "Caitlín", Mackillop (1998) ed., Oxford Dictionary of Celtic Mythology.
  9. Pearse, Padraic, ed. (1908). Bruiḋean Ċaorṫainn: sgéal Fiannaiḋeaċta. Ċonnraḋ na Gaeḋilge. pp. 2, 44, 50.
  10. Campbell, John Francis, ed. (1872). Am Bruighean Caorthuin, 1603; The Story of the Rowan Tree Dwelling. Leabhar na Feinne. Vol. I. Gaelic texts: Heroic Gaelic ballads collected in Scotland chiefly from 1512 to 1871. Spottiswoode. pp. 86–.
  11. Gabshegonal Ó Dónaill (1977) Focloir "craos": '2. deep opening; vent'; '4 voracity, greed'.
  12. eDIL s.v. "cráes".
  13. Stokes (1891), p. 129.
  14. Macalister (1941) ed. tr. LGE ¶314, 124–125 (Cetlenn); ¶366, pp. 184–185; Poem LV, str. 32 on p. 237
  15. Macalister (1941), p. 102: "120 years before!"
  16. O'Donovan (1856), 23 and note x.
  17. Keating, Geoffrey (1857). The History of Ireland from the Earliest Period to the English Invasion. Translated by John O'Mahony. New York: P. M. Haverty. p. 143.
  18. O'Mahoney, translation and notes by, Keating (1857), pp. 139–140, note 13.
  19. Livingstone, Peadar (1969). The Fermanagh Story; a documented history of the County. Cumann Seanchais Chlochair (Clogher Historical Society). p. 390.
  20. McCusker, Breege (2003) [1999]. Fermanagh: Land of Lake and Legend. Donaghadee, N. Ireland: Dundurn. p. 26. ISBN 1900935104.
  21. O'Donovan, John (1856) [1848]. Annála Ríoghachta Éireann: Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters. 1. Dublin: Hodges, Smith, and Co. p. 23 and note x.
  22. Vinycomb, John (1895), "The Seals and Armorial Insignia of Corporate and other Towns in Ulster (cont.)", Ulster Journal of Archaeology, 1: 119
  23. Morris, Henry (30 June 1927), "Where Was Tor Inis, the Island Fortress of the Fomorians?", The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Sixth Series, 17: 57, JSTOR 25513429: "..Enniskillen after his wife. Indeed, a folk-lorist would be prompted by this to seek in Breifne for the origin of the Balor legend"; p. 48: "there is hardly any writer whom O'Donovan quotes more frequently than O'Flaherty" (i.e. Ogygia).
  24. O'Clery, Michael (1916), Macalister, R.A.S. (ed.), Leabhar gabhála: The book of conquests of Ireland. The recension of Micheál O'Cléirigh, Dublin: Hodges, Figgis. ¶109, pp. 166–167, ¶120 str. e', pp. 186–187
  25. O'Kearney, Nicholas, ed. (1854). Feis Tighe Chonain Chinn-Shleibhe, or the Festivities at the House of Conan of Ceann-Cleibhe. Transactions of the Ossianic Society, Vol. 2. pp. 23–25.
  26. Brown, Arthur C. L. (August 1924), "The Grail and the English Sir Perceval. V", Modern Philology, 22 (1): 87–88, JSTOR 433319
  27. Stokes (1891), pp. 100–101, CMT §135.
  28. Curtin, Jeremiah, ed. (1911). "Balor of the Evil Eye and Lui Lavada his Grandson". Hero-tales of Ireland. Little, Brown. p. 304.
  29. Joyce, Patrick Weston (1901). The Origin and History of Irish Names of Places, Volume 1. Longmans, Green. p. 163. ISBN 1143292944.
Bibliography


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