Diarmuid (legendary figure)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Diarmuid , also Diarmait , Diarmaid , completely Diarmuid Ua Duibhne , Diarmait ua Duibne [ 'dʴiarmidʴ ua' duvʴnʴe ] Diarmid O'Dyna ("The envious, son of Ó Duibhne" or "The non-envious dark one", after his dark brown hair) is the main hero of the legend of Tóragheacht Dhiarmaida agus Ghráinne (“The persecution of Diarmuid and Gráinne”) in the Celtic mythology of Ireland .

mythology

Diarmuid is the son of Ó Duibhne and the foster son of the god Aonghus Óg ( Oengus ). He is a famous member of the Fianna when this troop of young warriors is led by Fionn mac Cumhail . Once a woman he scorned laid the curse on him that every girl who saw his head would fall in love with him. When Gráinne sees him for the first time, this happens and she forces him through geis to kidnap her before he marries Fionn. Thereby he makes this a mortal enemy; the persecution across Ireland, the attempts to kill him, the apparent reconciliation and finally the deadly trap are the content of Tóragheacht Dhiarmaida agus Ghráinne . This legend is part of the Finn cycle , the southern Irish saga about Fionn mac Cumhail.

Diarmuid is the predecessor of Tristan and almost identical to Naoise from the Northern Irish saga. Birkhan sees in him a humanization of a god of vegetation and fertility, comparable to Mediterranean gods with a similar fate (death on the boar hunt).

A small Bronze Age cairn near Strontoiller in Argyll and Bute is known as the tomb of the legendary figure.

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Ingeborg Clarus: Celtic myths. Man and his otherworld. Walter Verlag 1991, ppb edition Patmos Verlag, Düsseldorf, 2000, 2nd edition, ISBN 3-491-69109-5 , p. 231 f.
  2. ↑ Myles Dillon, Nora Kershaw Chadwick: The Celts. From the prehistory to the Norman invasion . Kindler's cultural history, ISBN 3-89340-058-3 , p. 447.
  3. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 , p. 455.