Alba. Sometimes Albu or Albain. Scotland. The modern Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland is still Alba. The name came into general use when Coinneach Mac Alpin became High King of the united kingdoms of Dal Riada and the Tuatha Cruithin in A.D. 844. Later after the victoty of Carham, it included the Strathclyde kingdom and Cumbria.

Albion. An ancient Celtic name for Britain, referred to by Greek geographers. It was ousted by the Celtic "Britannia." The Romans thought Albion was connected with albus, Latin for "white" and referring to the cliffs of Dover. More likelY'it comes from the same root as the Celtic for "heights" or "high hills," which is found in the Alps, Albania, and so on. According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, claiming a Celtic tradition, Albion was a giant, begotten by a sea god, who ruled on the island, while Holinshed, in his Chronicle, makes Albina into a princess who arrived on the island with a band of 50 women banished for killing their husbands.

Ale of Goibhniu. [I] Whoever drank it gained immortality.

Alisanos. Gaulish god of stones.

Allen, Hill of.[I] Anglicised from the dative form Almain of the name, Almu. Nuada, chief druid of Cahir Mor, built the fortress there, "its ramparts enclosing many white-walled dwellings and a great hall towering high in its midst." Fionn Mac Cumhail, a descendant of Cahir Mor, made it his fortress. The story of "Cath Almaine," the battle of Allen, which is not to be confused with a historic battle in A.D. 722, was when the hero Fergal Mac Maile Duin fought with the warriors of leinster. He was slain and his head cut off. The head being where the soul reposes, it was treated well and set up on a pike while Badb, one of the triune goddesses of death and battle, hovered above it in the form of a crow. That evening the head of Donn Bo', who had also been slain and decapitated, began to sing a song of praise for Fergal. Donn Bo' had been famed for his song in life.

Amaethon.[W] See Amathaon.

Amairgen. [I] Son of Milesius, a warrior and poet who compares closely to Taliesin in Welsh myth. It is Amairgen who pronounced the first judgment in Ireland and decided that Eremon should be the first Milesian king of the country. Three poems are accredited to Amairgen. The first is his famous and extraordinary incantation to Ireland given in the Leabhar Gabhdla (Book of Invasions), in which he subsumes everything into his own being. The philosophical outlook of this poem parallels the Hindu concepts in the Bhagavadgita. More importantly, there is a parallel in the Welsh tradition in Taliesin's song at Arthur's court.
A second Amairgen appears in Irish myth in the person of the father of Conall Cearnach and foster father to the poet Athairne. He also is a poet, and during Bricriu's Feast he boasts of his valour, wisdom, fortune, and eloquence.

Amathaon. [W] The son of Don. He appears in the story about the tasks of Culhwch---some 40 tasks that have to be accomplished in order to win the hand of Olwen. In one case a great hill has to be ploughed, sown, and reaped all in a single day. Only Amathaon is capable of this task, but he refuses. He seems to be a god of agriculture but appears fighting against Bran in the battle of Achren.

Amr. [W] Son of Arthur by whom he was slain and buried.

Andoid. [I] One of four people who survived the Deluge outside Noah's Ark, the story obviously entering Irish myth with the coming of Christianity .

Aned. [W] One of two hunting dogs that can only be held by Cyledyr in the story of Culhwch and Olwen; the other is Aethlem.

Angus. [I] See Aonghus.

Animal Cults. Animals as gods, malevolent beings, and companions appear in profusion in Celtic mythology. In fact, they play as important a part in the myths as do the human characters. The divine bull and magical cows are an important motif, and perhaps the Tain bo Cuailgne is the most famous demonstration of this. Trigaranus, the three-horned bull of Gaul, is also found in Britain. We have the survival of the Gaulish name Donnotauros, "Brown, of Kingly Bull." Boann is one of several goddesses con- nected with cattle; her name seems to signify "she of the white cattle." The story of the cow of Buchat Buasach has an Otherworld bull owned by the Morrigan attempting to make off with it. Well known are stories of boars and magical pigs. The boar is the Celtic cult animal par excellence. The meat of the boar was a sacred dish served during the feasts of the gods in the Otherworld. Celtic myths are littered with destructive pigs and boars. Most famous in the Welsh sagas is the hunt for the great boar Twrch Trwyth, which features in the story of "Culhwch and Olwen." The parallel in Irish myth seems to be Torc Triath, the king of boars, who was one of the possessions of the goddess Brigid. Supernatural pigs also emerge from the Cave of Cruachan, the entrance to the Otherworld. The Gaulish "Mercury" appears with the epithet Moccus (Welsh moch, Irish muc, meaning "pigs"). Cats also appear, although they don't often play a prominent role. In Irish myth, one cat is guardian to an Otherworld treasure and is able to change itself into a ball of fire. Horses play their part. Horses of fantastic colours appear from the Otherworld. The wife of the Irish god Midir, Etain Echraide, is by her very name connected with horses. Some scholars have sug- gested her equivalent to be Rhiannon in Welsh saga. Epona, the Divine Horse, was a Gaulish divinity and won special favour among the cavalry of the Roman army, being the only Celtic goddess known to have been worshipped in Rome. Stags, deer, and fawns also have magical qualities. They often are gods and goddesses who have been shape-changed, such as Oisin's mother, Sadb. We have the Irish goddess Flidhais, who ruled over the beasts of the forest and whose cattle were the wild deer. Stags sometimes appear with three antlers to indicate their supernatural qualities. Indeed, horned animals usually have three horns-the mystical Celtic trinity. The bear is also a significant animal and the name Art (bear) occurs in many Irish proper names. In Gaul there was Dea Artio, as well as a Dea Arduinna, shown seated on a wild bore, and an Artaios, claimed as a "Mercury" equivalent. Math is another form of bear, as in Mac Mathghamhna (son of the bear). Fish, particularly salmon, are also mystical and repositories of wisdom and knowledge. Fionn Mac Cumhail eats of the Salmon of Knowledge and obtains wisdom. Dogs, particularly hunting hounds, also feature as animals to be treated with respect, and shape-changing into dogs or hounds features in the sagas. Fion Mac Cumhail's sister is so changed and gives birth to two hounds that always accompany Fionn. Finally, magic or divine birds are also a popular Celtic motif. Characteristic is the shape-change into swans, the wondrous birds of the Otherworld assigned to Rhiannon and who correspond, it would seem, to the birds accompanying a Gaulish goddess of surviving carvings. It is, of course, the crow or raven that symbolises the triune goddess of death and battles.

Anind. [I] A son of Nemed. Loch Ennell, Co. Westmeath, is said to have burst from his grave when it was being dug. He is associated with Dun na Sciath (Fort of Shields), a stone circular fort still standing on the west bank of the loch.

Anluan. [I] Son of Maga, a Connacht warrior who was slain by Conall Cearnach. Anluan was the brother of Cet. They went to battle against Ulster in the service of Ailill and Medb at the head of three thousand warriors. During the challenging for the hero's portion in the story of Mac Da Tho's boar, Conall,challenging Cet, produced the severed head of Anluan and threw it at him.

Annales Cambriae. Annals of Wales. Latin text of the tenth century that refers to Arthur. It mentions that Arthur wore a cross on his shield at the battle of Mount Badon where he defeated the Anglo-Saxons, and refers to the battle of Camluan, where Arthur fell with Medraut (Mordred) in A,D. 537.

Annwfn. [W] See Annwn.

Annwn. [W] A traditional name of the Cymric Otherworld. It is also referred to as Caer Feddwld, "Court of Intoxication," where sparkling wine is the normal beverage. It is also Caer Siddi, a land where a fountain flows with sweet wine and where age and sickness are unknown. Among its treasures is a magic cauldron, featured in "The Spoils of Annwn" (Preiddeu Annwn), which has become the basis for the Christian Arthurian legend of the Holy Grail. In this version, Arthur and his warriors make a disastrous expedition to Annwn to carry off the magic cauldron, a chief symbol of kingship and authority in the ancient Celtic world. But of the three shiploads of warriors who set out, only Arthur and seven men return. Gwydion also led a magical host against the dark gods of Annwn, helped by his son LIeu and his brother Amathaon. They fought the battle of Godeu, or the Trees. His enemies are Arawn, king of Annwn, who is aided, strangely, by Bran, ruler of the Island of the Mighty. The aim of the war is to secure for the human world the dog, deer, and lapwing. The quasi-mythical bard Taliesin says: " I have been in the battle of Godeu, with Lieu and Gwydion, "They changed the forms of the elementary trees and sedges."

Answerer, The. [I] See Freagarthach.

Anu. [I] The mother goddess. Sometimes given as Ana and also occurs as Buanann, "the lasting one," mother of all heros. It is generally accepted that she is one and the same deity as Dana or Danu. Hence the gods are the Tuatha De Danaan, children of Dana. The moun- tains called "The Paps of Anu" in Co. Kerryare named for her.