See [p. 114].
I cannot agree with Mr. O'Grady's identification of this goddess with Dana, though the name appears to mean “The Great Queen.”
Gerald, the fourth Earl of Desmond. He disappeared, it is said, in 1398, and the legend goes that he still lives beneath the waters of Loch Gur, and may be seen riding round its banks on his white steed once every seven years. He was surnamed “Gerald the Poet” from the “witty and ingenious” verses he composed in Gaelic. Wizardry, poetry, and science were all united in one conception in the mind of the ancient Irish.
“Popular Tales of Ireland,” by D. Fitzgerald, in “Revue Celtique,” vol. iv.
“The Voyage of Bran,” vol. ii. p. 219.
In Irish, Sionnain.
Translation by R.I. Best.
The solar vessels found in dolmen carvings. See Chap. II. p. 71 sqq. Note that the Celtic spirits, though invisible, are material and have weight; not so those in Vergil and Dante.
De Jubainville, “Irish Mythological Cycle,” p. 136. Beltené is the modern Irish name for the month of May, and is derived from an ancient root preserved in the Old Irish compound epelta, “dead.”
“Irish Mythological Cycle,” p. 138.