In Irish mythology, the Badb (/baðβ/ "crow" in Old Irish; modern Irish Badhbh /bəiv/ means "vulture" or "carrion-crow") was a goddess of war who took the form of a crow, and was thus sometimes known as Badb Catha (battle crow). She often caused confusion among soldiers to move the tide of battle to her favored side. Battlefields were called the land of the Badb, and were often said to include the Badb taking part as a crow or as a wolf. The Badb is associated with the beansidhe, and is said to have been crucial in the battle against the Fomorians. The mythology of pre-Christian Ireland did not entirely survive the conversion to Christianity, but much of it was preserved, shorn of its religious meanings, in medieval Irish literature, which represents the most extensive and best preserved of all the branches of Celtic mythology. ... Species See text. ... Old Irish is the name given to the oldest form of the Irish language which can be more or less fully reconstructed from extant sources. ... Irish (), a Goidelic language spoken in Ireland, is constitutionally recognised as the national and first official language of the Republic of Ireland, is an official language of the European Union, and has official recognition in Northern Ireland as well. ... Orders Falconiformes (Fam. ... Statue of Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture A goddess is a female deity, in contrast with a male deity known as a god. Many cultures have goddesses. ... Wolf Wolf Man Mount Wolf Wolf Prizes Wolf Spider Wolf 424 Wolf 359 Wolf Point Wolf-herring Frank Wolf Friedrich Wolf Friedrich August Wolf Hugo Wolf Johannes Wolf Julius Wolf Max Franz Joseph Cornelius Wolf Maximilian Wolf Rudolf Wolf Thomas Wolf As Name Wolf Breidenbach Wolf Hirshorn Other The call... Look up banshee in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In Irish mythology, the Fomorians, Fomors, or Fomori (Irish Fomóiri, Fomóraig) were a semi-divine race who inhabited Ireland in ancient times. ...

In the mythological account of the second battle of Mag Tuired, wherein the Tuatha De Danann defeated the Fomorians in battle, Badb is said to have recited the following prophecy of the end of the world: In Irish mythology, Magh Tuiredh (Mag Tuired, Magh Tuireadh, anglicised as Moytura) is the name of the locations of two battles said to have been waged by the Tuatha Dé Danann. ...

"Summer without flowers,
kine without milk,
women without modesty,
men without valour;
captives without a king,
woods without mast,
sea without produce." (Ó Cuív 37)

With her sisters Macha and the Morrígan, daughters of Ernmas, she was part of a trio of war goddesses. According to Seathrún Céitinn she was worshipped by Ériu, with whom she may be seen as equivalent. She is sometimes the wife of Neit, and may be equivalent with Nemain, Neit's more usual wife. In Irish mythology, Macha is a goddess linked with war, horses and kingship. ... The Morrígan (terror or phantom queen) or Mórrígan (great queen) (aka Morrígu, Mórríghan, Mór-Ríogain) is a figure from Irish mythology who appears to have once been a goddess, although she is not referred to as such in the texts. ... Ernmas is an Irish mother goddess. ... Seathrún Céitinn, known in English as Geoffrey Keating, was a 17th century Irish clergyman, poet and historian. ... In Irish mythology, Ériu, daughter of Ernmas of the Tuatha Dé Danann (Tribes of the god(ess) Danu), was one of the patron goddesses of Ireland. ... In Irish mythology Neit was a god of war, and husband of Nemain. ... In Irish mythology Nemain (or Nemhain) was a goddess of war, and possibly an aspect of the Mórrígan. ...

She is likely related to the Gaulish deity Catubodua, known from an inscription in Haute Savoie in eastern France. Gaulish is name given to the now-extinct Celtic language that was spoken in Gaul before the Romans, the Franks and the British Celts invaded. ... Look up deity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Catubodua (battle-crow) is a Gaulish goddess known from a single inscription in Haute Savoie, eastern France. ... Haute-Savoie is a French département, named Upper Savoy for its location in the Alps mountain range. ...

The Badb is not to be confused with Bodb, a male deity. In Irish mythology, Bodb Dearg mac an Daghda (Bodb the Red) was a son of the Dagda and succeeded him as King of the Tuatha De Danaan. ... Look up deity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

What Badb embodies

W. M. Hennessy (in Rev. Celt., i. 39-40. In place of badb, Dr. Hyde (Lit. Hist. Irl., p. 440) uses the word vulture)) has shown that the word bodb or badb, aspirated bodhbh or badhbh (pronounced bov or bav), originally signified rage, fury, or violence, and ultimately implied a witch, fairy, or goddess; and that as the memory of this Irish goddess of war survives in folklore, her emblem is the well-known scald-crow, or royston-crow. By referring to Peter O'Connell's Irish Dictionary we are able to confirm this popular belief which identifies the battle-fairies with the royston-crow, and to discover that there is a definite relationship or even identification between the Badb and the Bean-sidhe or banshee, as there is in modern Irish folklore between the royston-crow and the fairy who announces a death. Badb-catha is made to equal 'Fionog, a royston-crow, a squall crow'; Badb is defined as a 'bean-sidhe, a female fairy, phantom, or spectre, supposed to be attached to certain families, and to appear sometimes in the form of squall-crows, or royston-crows'; and the Badb in the threefold aspect is thus explained: 'Macha, i. e. a royston-crow; Morrighain, i. e. the great fairy; Neamhan, i. e. Badb catha nó feannóg; a badb catha, or royston-crow.' Similar explanations are given by other glossarists, and thus the evidence of etymological scholarship as well as that of folk-lore support the Psychological Theory. Folklore is the body of expressive culture, including tales, music, dance, legends, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, customs, material culture, and so forth within a particular population comprising the traditions (including oral traditions) of that culture, subculture, or group. ...

Related Links

• The Tumulus of Badbh
• Badbh

References

• Brian Ó Cuív. Irish Sagas. Ed. Myles Dillon. Cork: Mercier, 1968.