Danu

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Danu is a deity in Irish Celtic mythology . The origin of the name "Danu" can be derived from two different beings, from the old Irish mother goddess Anu (the old Irish name with a "d" in front of it) or from the legendary figure Danann , a daughter of the people of the Túatha Dé Danann , who several times in Lebor Gabála Érenn ("The Book of the Lands of Ireland") is mentioned. The name Danu itself never appears as such in ancient Irish mythology, but is derived from the traditional terms Túatha Dé Danann ("The tribes of the goddess Danu") and Tri Dée Dána ("The three gods of Dána").

Danann and the Tri Dée Dána

A figure named Danann (also Dinand , Dianann and Donand ) appears next to Anu in Lebor Gabála Érenn , where she is referred to as the sister of the fairies Be Chuille and Be Theite and as the daughter of Flidais and Tuirenn , a son of the god Ogma . In Cath Maige Tuired ("The Battle of Mag Tuired") she fights with her sister Be Chuille as a witch on the side of the Túatha Dé Danann. The story Aided Chlainne Tuirenn ("The Death of the Children of Tuirenn") tells of her three sons with Tuirenn (according to another version Bress ), Brian , Iuchar and Iucharba . In Immacallam in dá Thuarad ("The Conversation of the Two Wise Men") in Lebor Laignech ("The Book of Leinster") the goddess Brigid is referred to as the mother of the Tri Dée Dána , which led Marie Henri d'Arbois de Jubainville to become Brigid and to equate Danu with one another. In Tochmarc Étaíne ("The wooing of Étaín") the Tri Dée Dána are identified with the Dagda , Lugh and Ogma, and elsewhere with the three gods of the craft Goibniu , Credne and Luchta .

etymology

Gerhard Köbler and Julius Pokorny reconstruct * dānu as a proto-Indo-European form with the meaning "flowing water", the old Irish forms - nominative danu , genitive danann , dative danainn - suggest a pre-Irish form * Danona , which implies the Contains ancient Celtic suffix -on- for "great" (as in Matrona - "great mother", Maponos - "great son"). Tri Dée Dána is also translated as "Three Gods of Art" or "Three Gods of Crafts", since Daná means "craft" in Old Irish, in this case Dánu would have to come from the Protoceltic * dƒnu- ("gift", "gift" ) derive.

Danu is probably also associated with the goddess Annea , as well as the British legendary figures Black Annis (Wales) and Gentle Annie (Scotland).

See also

literature

  • James MacKillop: A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. Oxford University Press, 2004, ISBN 9780198609674 .
  • Peter Berresford-Ellis: A Dictionary of Irish Mythology. Constable, London 2005, ISBN 9781841196459 .
  • Gerhard Köbler: Indo-European dictionary. 3rd edition, 2000, ISBN 9783884300626 . [1]
  • Julius Pokorny: Indo-European etymological dictionary. 2 vols. Francke, Bern / Munich 1947–66 (1st edition), 2005 (5th edition). ISBN 3-7720-0947-6 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ James MacKillop: A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. , P. 128.
  2. ↑ Peter Berresford-Ellis: A Dictionary of Irish Mythology. , Pp. 78 & 16.
  3. ↑ Julius Pokorny: Indo-European etymological dictionary. , Entry 313.

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