Goban Saor

Gobán Saor ( Old Irish Gobbán Saer , "Gobán the Builder") was a famous builder in Irish history and legend. He is portrayed as a 7th century architect and is occasionally identified with Saint Gobán. The Catholic Encyclopedia assumes that he was a real person. Accordingly, he was born around 560 in Tuirbhe (Turvey), on what is now the Domhnach Bat ( Donabate ) peninsula north of Dublin. According to the legends, he built churches for various holy places. He is alluded to in a poem from the 8th century that was discovered in a monastery in Carinthia . The "Life of St. Abbán" states that "Gobbán's fame as a builder with wood and stone in Ireland will endure until the end of time."

The name probably goes back to Goibniu , the old Irish god of blacksmithing and is related to the old Irish gobae ~ gobann ' blacksmith ,' (Middle Welsh: gof ~ gofein , Gaulish: gobedbi , Lithuanian: gabija 'hallowed hearth fire' and gabus ' talented, capable '.)

The Wonder Smith and His Son is a retelling of fourteen stories about Gobán Saor by Ella Young ; illustrated by Boris Artzybasheff (1927). It won the Newbery Honor in 1928. From there came the legends in "The Young Folks Shelf of Books" and in "European Folk Tales" (Zsolnay).

literature

Ella Young: The Wonder Smith and His Son. 1927.
European folk tales. Erich Pabel-Arthur Moewig KG, Rastatt / Zsolnay, Berlin 1992. ISBN 3-552-04412-4
The Kiltartan History Book / Gregory, Lady, 1852-1932
"The ecclesiastical architecture of Ireland, anterior to the Anglo-Norman invasion; comprising an essay on the origin and uses of the round towers of Ireland, which obtained the gold medal and prize of the Royal Irish academy"

Individual evidence

↑ "the fame of Gobbán as a builder in wood as well as stone would exist in Ireland to the end of time."
↑ "Goban Saor" in "The Oxford companion to Irish literature"
↑ Blažek, Václav 2008, Celtic 'smith' and his colleagues, in Alexander Lubotsky, Jos Schaeken and Jeroen Wiedenhof (eds.) Evidence and counter-evidence: Festschrift for F. Kortlandt 1, Amsterdam – New York: Rodopi, 35–53 .

personal data
SURNAME	Saor, Goban
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Saer, Gobbán
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	builder
DATE OF BIRTH	7th century
DATE OF DEATH	7th century

[1] "the fame of Gobbán as a builder in wood as well as stone would exist in Ireland to the end of time."

[2] "Goban Saor" in "The Oxford companion to Irish literature"

[3] Blažek, Václav 2008, Celtic 'smith' and his colleagues, in Alexander Lubotsky, Jos Schaeken and Jeroen Wiedenhof (eds.) Evidence and counter-evidence: Festschrift for F. Kortlandt 1, Amsterdam – New York: Rodopi, 35–53 .