or , also known as ('son of the Sea'),Charles Squire. Celtic Myth and Legend. is a sea god, warrior and king of the otherworld in Gaelic (Irish, Manx and Scottish) mythology who is one of the .
He is seen as a ruler and guardian of the otherworld and his dominion is referred by such names as (or , 'Isle of Apple Trees'), ('Plain of Delights'), or ('Land of Promise'). He is described as over-king of the surviving Tuatha Dé after the advent of humans (Milesians) and uses the mist of invisibility () to cloak the whereabouts of his home as well as the dwellings of the others.
He is said to own a self-navigating boat named ('Wave-sweeper'), a horse which can course over water as well as land and a deadly strength-sapping sword named , though the list does not end there.
appears also in Scottish and Manx legend, where he is known as ('little Manannan, son of the Sea'). The Isle of Man () is generally thought to be named after him, though some have said he is named after the island. He is cognate with the Welsh figure .
Names is given several names, bynames, epithets and surnames or patronymics. His name is spelt in Old Irish, in Modern Irish, in Scottish Gaelic and in Manx Gaelic.
Some of the names equated with include: , or Orbsen
( means 'great warrior') ('Boyservant') ('Troublesome Boyservant')
Etymology According to some, his name is derived from the Isle of Man with the suffix indicating 'one who is from' the named place. The island's name itself may come from a Celtic word for 'mountain' or 'rise', as the Isle of Man rises from the sea on the horizon.If the name of Man reflects the generic word for 'mountain', it is impossible to distinguish this from a generic 'he of the mountain'; but the patronymic , interpreted as 'son of the Sea', is taken to reinforce the association with the island. See, e.g.: Alternatively, it may come from an earlier Proto-Indo-European root for 'water' or 'wetness'. In medieval Irish tradition, it appears that Manannán came to be considered eponymous to the island (rather than vice versa)., invoking John Rhŷs.
Surname and Epithets The most common epithets for reinforce his association with war and the sea. means 'son of the Sea' or 'son of ', a sea god whose name means 'Sea'.
It has been suggested that his mythological father 's role as sea god was taken over by . 's other surname or means 'son of the Soil/Land', so that Manannán is effectively son of the sea and land.
In Irish mythology appears in all of the cycles of Irish mythology, although he only plays a prominent role in a limited number of tales. In the Ulster Cycle: ('The Wooing of Étaín'), ('The Wasting Sickness of ' or 'The Sickbed of '), ('The Wooing of ') In the Cycles of the Kings: ('The Voyage of son of '), ('The Adventure of '), ('The Birth of ') In the Mythological Cycle: ('The Book of Invasions'), First Recension; ('The Nourishment of the Houses of Two Milk-vessels') other Old Irish texts: (''s Glossary')
In the Ulster Cycle tale "The Wasting Sickness of ", 's wife, , has an ill-fated affair with the warrior . When sees that 's jealous wife, , is worthy of him (and accompanied by a troop of armed women), she decides to return to , who then shakes his cloak () of forgetfulness between and which causes them to not be able to remember each other."Serglige Con Culainn", Corpus of Electronic Texts EditionThe Sick-Bed of Cuchulain transcribed from The Lost Yellow Book of Slane by Maelmuiri mac Ceileachair into the Leabhar na h-Uidhri in the 11th century
Characteristics rode his chariot over the sea, meeting with and his crew sailing by ship, in the tale "The Voyage of son of ", considered an early work. In this story, he told that the sea was not actually water to him but rather "a happy plain with profusion of flowers." He goes on to tell Bran about how he is heading to Ireland to have relations with Caintigern who would go on to bear .
In late sources, visits the land of the living. His movement is compared to the wind, a hawk or swallow and sometimes takes the form of a thundering wheel rolling across the landscape, such as in the "Pursuit of the ","The Pursuit of the Gilla Decair and His Horse"Scél Baili Binnbérlaig a 16th-century comic tale. There is also the local lore that moved like a wheel turning on his three legs, a tradition widespread on the Isle of Man, but also found in some eastern counties of Leinster according to John O'Donovan, though this folklore was unfamiliar to Whitley Stokes.
Abode is lord and guardian of the Blessed Isles, ('Isle of Apple-trees', cognate with the Avalon of the Welsh Arthurian cycle) and or ('Plain of Delights'). Manannán sings a verse describing his sea as , in "The Voyage of ", stating that the steeds on the plain cannot be seen, thus alluding to his concealment of his dwelling using the shroud of invisibility ()., 1, str. 39, pp. 20–21. commentary by Alfred Nutt, p. 149. was the place of origin of the Silver Branch brought to ., 1, pp. 2–5 and str. 3, .
is also said to dwell in the Land of Promise (), as in the tale "The Adventure of ".
Over-king An over-king's role for Manannán among the Tuatha Dé Danann is described in the narrative Altram Tige Dá Medar ('The Nourishment of the Houses of Two Milk-vessels') in the 14th to the 15th century manuscript, the Book of Fermoy. Máire MacNeill gave a summary of the work.
After the Tuatha Dé Danann were defeated by Érimón of the Milesians (humans), Bodb Derg was chosen as king of the Tuatha Dé Danann and Manannán as co-king or perhaps the king's overseer. In one passage Manannán declares he has assumed over-kingship above the petty kings of the Tuatha Dé Danann.: "Manannan ... appears to have, and indeed claims, an overlordship over all the Tuatha De Danann kings".: "I am over-king of your kings".
Manannán was tasked with allotting which sídhe or fairy mounds the surviving members of the Tuatha Dé Danann were to be settled. Manannán's own dwelling was at Emain Ablach, in the city of Cruithin na Cuan, as the tale later reveals. Manannán ensured the welfare of the Tuatha Dé Danann by concealing in the féth fíada or a mist of invisibility, holding the Feast of Goibniu (Fleadh Goibhneann) which conferred eternal youth, and feeding them Manannan's Swine (Mucca Mhannanain) which gave an inexhaustible supply of food. Arbois de Jubainville stated that these seven pigs here and 's swine of the ancient text parallel each other. The routine for reviving the seven pigs was to put the bones in the sty (or manger).;
Gifts to Cormac mac Airt Manannán in the tale "Echtra Cormaic" owned two magical items which he gave away to Cormac mac Airt, high king of Tara: a soothing musical silver branch with apples made of gold, and the Goblet of Truth., 1, pp. 190–192, summary of "Cormac in Fairy".
Manannán initially appeared in the guise of a warrior. He described, without naming, his homeland as a place where old age, sickness, death, decay and falsehood were unknown. He eventually coaxed the king to arrive as guest to this Land of Promise (Tír Tairngire).
Gifts and Loans to Lugh
Manannán had other magical items according to the Oidheadh Chloinne Tuireann, a romance that only survives in early Modern Irish recensions.
He had a self-navigating boat called "Manannán's currach" (coracle), () or 'Wave-sweeper' was self-navigating, as well as a horse that could travel over land or sea called Aonbharr of Manannan, translated in popular re-telling as "Enbarr of the Flowing Mane". Both the horse and boat were on loan to Lugh Lamhfada, but the Sons of Tuireann managed to borrow the boat.
Manannán also supplied Lugh with a full array of armor and weapon as the Tuatha Dé gathered their host to battle the Fomorians. Lugh rode Manannán's steed Aonbharr and was girt with Manannán's sword Fragarach ("Retaliator" or "The Answerer"). Any wound this sword gave proved fatal and its opponent was reduced to the weakness of a woman in childbirth., ,
Lug also wore Manannán's helmet Cathbarr, which O'Curry amends to Cennbhearr, which he regards as a common noun and not a proper name., pp. 162 (Irish only); 176–177; note 177. This helm was set with two precious gems on the front and one in the rear. Manannán's or body armour and Manannán's scabal (neck-piece or breastplate; ) were also part of Lugh's panoply.
Gifts to the Fíana () Manannán was also the owner of the "crane-bag" () full of treasures, according to the Middle-Irish Fenian lay "The Crane-Bag" ( Poem VIII) datable to the 13th century,
To Manannán was sent a woman transformed into the shape of a crane. She was Aoife, daughter of Dealbhaoth (), and mistress of Ilbhreac of many beauties (). Ilbhreac here may have been Ilbhreac son of Manannán. Aoife was transformed by the druidery of her jealous love-rival (Iuchra daughter of Ábartach), whose spell was to last 200 years.
When Aoife died, Manannán crafted her crane's skin into a magical treasure bag, whose contents were only visible when flooded during full tide, and would seem empty when the tide had ebbed. The bag was in the possession of Lugh Lamhfada, then taken by Lugh's killers, the three sons of Cermait. Later Manannán endowed it to Conaire Mór the high king at Tara. The crane-bag was eventually owned by Cumhall mac Trénmhóir, as told at the outset of this lay."The Crane-bag", str. 1. ed. p. 21, tr. p. 118.Macgnímartha Finn. This is assumed to be the "treasure-bag" that was lost to Cumhall's "servant-turned-traitor", Liath Luachra, who treacherously wounded Cumall in the Cath Cnucha, but recovered later by Cumhall's son, Finn when he grew up.
()
Manannán also commissioned the craftsman Lucra (recté Luchta) to make him a shield to be made of wood, and this later passed on to Finn, according to the lay () "Shield of Fionn". The wood came from a withered hazel tree, on the fork which Lugh had set the severed head of Balor. The venom had penetrated this tree, killing or blinding workers trying uprooting or handling it. Various owners are named, such as Tadg mac Nuadat, but was given by Manannán to Crimall mac Trenmor, Finn's uncle, after the death of Finn's father.
Parallels Manannán is furthermore identified with several trickster figures including the Gilla Decair and the Bodach an Chóta Lachtna ('the Churl in the Drab Coat').Bodach an Chóta Lachtna in the Oxford Dictionary of Irish Mythology. Eachtra Bhodaigh an Chóta Lachtna ("Tale of the Carle in the Drab Coat") is the title of a 17th-century Fenian tale.
The similarity of Manannan's inexhaustible swine to Odin's boar Sæhrímnir in Scandinavian myth has been noticed. Mannanán also owned a speckled cow that he and Aengus retrieved from India along with a dun cow, two golden goblets and two spancels of silk.
Familial relations Manannán's father is the sea-god ('Sea; Ocean'; is the genitive form), whose role he seems to take over. As , his father is named as , son of .Lebor Gabála Érenn §64 In the , calls himself the foster-son of the .
According to ('The Cattle-raid of Cooley'), his wife is the beautiful goddess Fand ('Pearl of Beauty' or 'A Tear' – later remembered as a "fairy queen", though earlier mentions point to her also being a sea deity). Other sources say his wife was the goddess Áine, though she is at other times said to be his daughter. Manannán had a daughter, whose name was Niamh of the Golden Hair. It is also probable that another daughter was Clíodhna, but early sources do not treat her consistently. Either way, she is a young woman from Manannán's lands, whose epithet is "of the Fair Hair". Manannán also had a yellow-haired daughter given also the name Curcog (meaning 'Beehive' or 'Bushy-tuft') who was given up to be fostered by Aengus.
Manannán is also given sons named Eachdond Mór and Gaidiar, who raped Becuma Cneisgel.