Fionn mac Cumhaill

Fionn mac Cumhaill [ fʲiᵊn̪ˠː mˠɑ̟k 'kuvˠil̠ʲː ], also Finn or Find Mac Cumail / Mac Umaill / MacCool , is a legendary hero of the Celtic mythology of Ireland . He is the eponymous main character in the Finn cycle .

mythology

Fionn is the son of Cumhall mac Basna and the grandson of King Tadg mac Nuadat . The stories of Fionn and his followers, the Fianna , his son Oisín and his grandson Oscar make up the Finn cycle.

In Macgnímartha Finn ("Fionn's youth deeds") his upbringing, the fight against Aillén and the achievement of the gift of prophecy are described. He also has “healing hands” - whoever he gives water to will get well again. He learns martial arts from his aunt Los Lurgann ("Schnellfuß") and receives his sword Mac to Luinn from his mother Muirne . Duanaire Finn ("Fionn's Songbook") is a collection of songs and anecdotes and Acallam na Senórach ("The Tales of the Ancients") is an account of the encounter with St. Patrick . All the narratives found their way into the oral, later written tradition. In the more recent reports Fionn has the character of a positively drawn warrior and seer, towards the end of his life he is portrayed as envious and vengeful ( Diarmuid and Gráinne ).

The meaning of the name Fionn / Finn is related to "bright" or "white". This is probably due to the coloring of his hair in the story about Áine , in which Fionn bathes in an enchanted lake that turns his hair gray prematurely. Many myths surround the development of his original name Demne ("deer calf"), which he got from his mother.

In the legend Fotha Catha Cnucha ("The cause of the battle of Cnucha"), King Cathair Mór hands over the hill of Almu ( Dun Aillinne Hillfort , County Kildare ) to the druid Nuada mac Aichi. This hill later became known as the residence of Nuada's great-grandson, Fionn mac Cumhaill.

As "Finn mac Cool's finger or Fingerstons" one are stone row and two stones called: One is located four kilometers east of Arvagh (Irish:. Ármhach, dt battlefield) on Lough Garty in County Cavan and broken. The Cloughmore boulder stands by the roadside 25 miles west of Sligo . Derryinver Stone Row, also known as Finn Mc Cool's Fingers, is in Connemara .

The Irish national movement Fenian Brotherhood took its name from these legends.

Fingal in the Ossian

Fingal , also Fionnghad or Fionn , is king of the Scottish-Irish empire Morven in the work Ossian of the Scottish poet James Macpherson . In this supposedly traditional Celtic epic, which was actually written by Macpherson himself, Fingal is the father of Ossian (the mythological Oisín) and the grandfather of Oscar . Fingal's childhood sweetheart is Agandecca , the daughter of his bitter enemy King Starno von Lochlin (Scandinavia, Lochlann in Old Irish ). In the poem Cath-Loda ("Battle for Loda"), Starno sets Fingal an insidious ambush by promising him Agandecca as his bride to lure him into his sphere of influence.

“Welcome me, the rocky King of Morvens ! he is welcome to me! ”said the gloomy Starno. (Ossian: Cath-Loda )

Agandecca warns her lover that Starno kills her out of anger. Fingal fights with Starno, defeats him and takes him prisoner, but gives him life and freedom because of his love for Agandecca.

When Starno's son and successor, King Swaran of Lochlin , attacks Ireland and defeats the general Cuthullin of the Irish King Cormac, Fingal comes to the aid of the ally, defeats Swaran and takes him prisoner. Fingal reminds him of the sacrificial death of his sister Agandeccas and is able to persuade him to conclude peace and return to Scandinavia.

There is no connection with the adventures of the mythological Fionn mac Cumhaill, whom Macpherson took as a model, and the Fianna.

The basalt formation of Fingal’s Cave ("Fingals Cave ") on the Hebridean island of Staffa is named after the hero.

literature

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 .
Helmut Birkhan: Post-ancient Celtic reception. Praesens Verlag, Vienna 2009, ISBN 978-3-7069-0541-1 , p. 354.
Bernhard Maier : Lexicon of Celtic Religion and Culture (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 466). Kröner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-520-46601-5 , p. 127 f.

Web links

James Macpherson, Michael Denis ( transl .): The Poems of Ossian, An Ancient Celtic Poet . Trattner, 1768 (today Bayerische Staatsbibliothek)

Individual evidence

↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 730.
↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 894.
↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 658.
↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Pp. 702, 879.
↑ James Macpherson, Michael Denis (trans.): The poems of Ossian, an ancient Celtic poet . P.56.

[1] Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 730.

[2] Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 894.

[3] Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 658.

[4] Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Pp. 702, 879.

[5] James Macpherson, Michael Denis (trans.): The poems of Ossian, an ancient Celtic poet . P.56.