Oscar (mythology)

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Oscar [ 'oskar ] ( old Irish oscara , "who loves the deer") is in the Celtic mythology of Ireland the son of Oisín and the grandson of Fionn mac Cumhail . His mother is the elf Niamh . Another meaning of the name could be derived from the Central Irish word oscar , which means something like "newcomer", "stranger", "enemy", but from legend the meaning "who loves the stag" is the more likely.

mythology

Oscar's grandfather Fionn, whose youth name was Demne ("deer"), fathered his son Oisín ("deer") with an elf princess who was transformed into a hind (doe), who then became the father of Oscar. Birkhan suspects that this family history resonates with former totemic ideas.

Oscar and his father were members of the Fianna , the Young Warrior League, when Fionn was its leader. In the saga Diarmuid and Gráinne there is a serious rift between Oscar and Fionn when the latter refuses to help the fatally wounded Diarmuid . Only Oisín can prevent Oscar from chopping off his grandfather's head. After Fionn's death, Oscar took over the leadership of Fianna. The story Cath Gabhra ("The Battle of Gabhra") tells of the death of the Oscars and the destruction of Fianna by the High King Cairbre Lifechair . Oscar kills Cairbre, but also dies of his injuries. In one version of the legend, Fionn is still among the fighters. The slaughter site is said to have been either Garristown ( County Dublin ) or Gabhra ( County Meath ).

In the fabulous conversations between members of Fianna and St. Patrick of Ireland , handed down in the frame story Acallam na Senórach ("The conversation of men from the old days") from the 12th century, it is reported how St. Patrick long for some met deceased men of Fianna and learned about the Battle of Gabhra from them on a trip through Ireland.

Oscar in the "Ossian"

The Scot James Macpherson wrote down the alleged stories of Ossian, in which Oscar (Oskar) and his bride Malvina also play an important role, and presented the epic as a find from Celtic prehistoric times. Oscar is the son of the aged and blind poet Ossian and the grandson of Fingal . Oscar is killed in a duel by the usurper Cairbar , in which Cairbar also dies.

“Ard thou fall, O Oscar! In the midst of thy course? the heart of the aged beats over thee! "
(Did you fall, O Oscar! In the middle of your résumé? The hearts of the old beat because of it!)

literature

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bernhard Maier: Small lexicon of names and words of Celtic origin. P. 97.
  2. ↑ 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. 879.
  3. ↑ JG Campbell (Ed.): Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition. The Fians, or, Stories, Poems, & Traditions of Fionn and his Warrior Band. London 1891, p. 78; and Carmina Gaedelica II , p. 22 f.
  4. ^ 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. 237 ff.
  5. ↑ Myles Dillon, Nora Kershaw Chadwick: The Celts. From the prehistory to the Norman invasion . Kindler's cultural history, ISBN 3-89340-058-3 , p. 448.
  6. ↑ Barry Cunliffe: The Celts and Their History. 7th edition, Gustav Lübbe Verlag, Bergisch Gladbach 2000, p. 204.
  7. ^ Bernhard Maier: Lexicon of the Celtic religion and culture . P. 261.
  8. ↑ James Macpherson: The Poems of Ossian (Volume 4) , General Books LLC, 2010, pp. 405 f.