#old-irish — Public Fediverse posts

Banshees

A banshee (Bean si in Modern Irish & ben side, in Old Irish, meaning “woman of the fairy mound,” or “fairy woman”) is a female spirit in Irish folklore who heralds the death of a family member. She usually does this by screaming, wailing, shrieking, or keening. Keening is a traditional form of vocal lament for the dead in the Gaelic Celtic tradition. This is known to have taken place in Ireland & Scotland.

Banshees are strongly associated with specific Irish families. The belief is that the banshee is a family spirit attached to a particular lineage. Her mournful wail/cry is heard only by family members as a warning of an imminent death.

Another of the banshee characteristics is their unwavering attachment to certain Gaelic families such as the O’Neills, O’Brians, O’Connors, O’Grady, & Kavanaghs, among others. Some traditions hold that the banshee is the ghost. This is perhaps a mother of a famous poet/singer from the family who died tragically. In this sense, she’s an ancestral spirit tied to the bloodline & the land.

She appears or is heard only to mourn & warn the family of an impending death. Often before anyone has received news of it. This direct, specific role makes her an inherently familiar guardian or omen for that clan/family.

They aren’t family pets, the banshees presence is a known, if terrifying, part of the family’s history & destiny, linking her fate to theirs across generations.

A banshee is an autonomous entity, a powerful fairy-woman (bean sidhe) or ghost, isn’t under the control of any living person.

Sometimes she has long streaming hair, which she may be seen combing, with some legends specifying she can only be keen while combing her hair. She wears a gray cloak over a green dress. Her eyes are red from continual weeping. She’s sometimes dressed in white with red hair & a ghastly complexion.

In Ireland & parts of Scotland, a traditional part of mourning is the keening woman (bean chaointe), who wails a lament. This keening woman may be a professional, in some cases. The best Keeners would be in high demand.

Irish legends talks about a lament being sung by a fairy woman, or banshee. She would sing it when a family member died or was about to die. Even if the person had died far away & news of their death hasn’t come yet. In those cases, her wailing would be the 1st warning the household had of the death.

The banshee is also a predictor of death. If someone is about to enter a situation where it’s unlikely they’ll come out alive, she’ll warn people by screaming/wailing. This gives rise to the banshee also being known as a wailing woman. The banshee was also linked with the death coach. The banshee is said to either summon the death coach with her keening or travel in tandem with it.

When several banshees show up at 1 time, it usually indicates the death of someone holy or great. The story sometimes tells that the woman (though called a fairy) was a ghost. She’s often a specific murdered woman, or a man who passed away in childbirth.

In some parts of Leinster, she’s referred to as the bean chaointe or ban nigheachain (“little washerwoman”) or nigheag na h-ath (“little washer at the ford”). She’s seen washing bloodstained clothes or armor of those who are about to die.

In Welsh folklore, there’s also a similar being known as the cyhyraeth. The cyhyraeth gives a disembodied moaning voice before the person’s passing.

Some sources suggest that the banshees Laments only the descendants of pure Milesian stock of Ireland. The Milesians were the final race to settle in Ireland. The original belief appears to be associated with a number of ancient Irish families. According to tradition, a banshee wouldn’t lament or visit someone of Saxon or Norman descent or those who came to Ireland later.

Most, not all, of the last names associated with banshees have the “O” or “Mc/Mac” prefix. That means people with the last names of Goidelic origin. This means a family native to the Insular Celtic lands. Rather than those of the Norse, Anglo-Saxon, or Norman.

There are some exceptions to the banshee lore. A banshee may lament a person who’s been gifted with music & song.

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#AngloSaxon #BanNigheachain #Banshees #BeanChaointe #BeanNighe #BeanSi #beanSidhe #BenSide #Celtic #Cyhyraeth #DeathCoach #Gaelic #Goidelic #InsularCeltic #Ireland #IrishFolklore #Kavanaghs #keening #KeeningWoman #Milesian #ModernIrish #Norman #Norse #OBrians #OConnors #OGrady #ONeills #OldIrish #Poet #Saxon #Scotland #ScottishFolklore #Singer #WelshFolklore

In #OldIrish (well up into Classical Gaelic) relative clauses with ‘whose’ relation (‘the man whose son is there’ type of thing) often didn’t contain any possessive pronoun.

Eg. the above ex. could be expressed in Classical Gaelic as ‘an fear fhuil mac ann sin’ (or ‘… a-tá mac ann sin’). 2/n

Do·uic carae lemm lebor dam indé, forin #Pyrkon.

#Sengoidelc #Goidelc #OldIrish #Goídelc #Sengoídelc

Yesterday, I voiced a question to my goddess, the Morrigan, a doubting if my interpretation of her prophecy that I am living is correct. Today, I got my answer.

"Trust the truth.
Believe the truth.
Live the truth."

#Rosc #OldIrish #SpokenMagic

Today I came across the Old Irish word danmargach, which is derived from Danmarg (Denmark) and means "ferocious foreigner, fierce warrior, marauder." It's often found alongside díbergach "marauder, bandit, pirate, etc." and allmarach "foreigner, outlander." This reminds me of another reference to Denmark in medieval Irish: in the text Aided Guill ocus Gairb "The Violent Death of Goll and Garb," Denmark is referred to as inis Danmarg "the island of Denmark." #OldIrish #Irish #Medieval #Celtic

Prehistoric layers of loanwords in Old Irish [pdf 46pp] #OldIrish #Goidelic #Gaelic #linguistics #CelticLanguages https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783111337920-006/pdf?licenseType=open-access

The next Celtic Studies Summer School at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies will be held July 14-25, 2025. Registration opens October 1, 2024. I attended the 2008 school and it was absolutely amazing. This will be a wonderful experience for anyone able to attend. #CelticStudies #OldIrish #MiddleWelsh #IrishLanguage #WelshLanguage #CelticLanguages #Academia #SummerSchool https://www.dias.ie/2024/07/05/celtic-studies-summer-school-2025/

A great article by Mícheál Hoyne showing that #MiddleIrish was developing an absolutive-ergative alignment in its personal pronouns. This survived to an extent in Classical Gaelic, but (mostly) disappeared later.

The use of “object” pronouns with the copula in Modern #Irish are a remnant thereof too.
https://dair.dias.ie/id/eprint/1104/

#syntax #OldIrish #linguistics #ergative #splitergativity #Gáoidhealg #Gaoidhealg #Sengoídelc