Tír na nÓg

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Lettering Tír na nÓg on a boat

Tír na nÓg ( Old Irish : Tír na n-Oc - tʲiːɾˠ n̪ˠə ˈn̪ˠoːɡˠ freely translated as land of eternal youth ) is one of the most famous mystical places in the Otherworld in Irish-Celtic mythology .

description

According to its most famous description, the place is said to be in the west of Ireland . However, this does not apply to all variants of the “Land of Youth”: The localizations of the otherworld (or actually the many different individual otherworlds) of Irish mythology fluctuates from source to source, and such otherworlds were settled in very different places: on islands in the far west as well as on islands near the coast, in hills (especially prehistoric burial mounds), under the surface of the sea or on the bottom of inland waters. The Síde or Túatha Dé Danann lived there . Tír na nÓg plays an important role in the tale of Oisín - one of the few mortals who lived there - and the elven woman Niamh . Their son is the legendary hero Oscar .

Tír na nÓg was considered a place that could only be reached through an arduous journey or an invitation from one of its residents. In Oisín's case, Niamh played the role of escort. They traveled together on a magical horse that was able to gallop on water.

Other names

Tír na nÓg is comparable to other mystical places in Ireland such as Mag Mell and Emain Ablach and actually the Irish counterpart to the Germanic Valhalla , the Greco-Roman Elysion and the underworld , the Christian heaven and hell and other time or place-related ideas of the afterlife. It has other names in Irish mythology

  • Oilean na mBeo - Island of the Living,
  • Tír na mBuadha - Land of Virtues,
  • Hy na Beatha - island of life,
  • Tír na mBeo - Land of the Living,
  • Hy Breasil, the "Land of Bresal",
  • Land of promise.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ James MacKillop: Oxford dictionary of celtic mythology. Oxford University Press 2004. ISBN 0-198-60967-1
  2. ↑ Oxford dictionary of celtic mythology: Tír na nÓg
  3. ↑ Tír na nÓg (English)

literature

  • Matthias Egeler: Avalon, 66 ° North. On early history and the reception of a myth. (= Supplementary volumes to the Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde 95), Berlin - Boston: de Gruyter 2015.
  • Matthias Egeler: From the land of women and Celtic heroes. Irish tales from the islands of immortality: 'Bran's Sea Voyage', 'Connle's Voyage to the Other World' and 'Cú Chulainn's Sick Camp'. (= Praesens TextBibliothek 11), Vienna: Praesens 2016.
  • Isabella Augusta Gregory : The Great Book of Irish Myths and Legends . Pattloch Verlag , Munich 2001, ISBN 3-629-01624-3

See also