NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Mórrígan

The Mórrígan (Morrígan, Morrighan, Morrigu, Modern Irish Mór-Rhioghain pronounced as more ree-en) ("great queen" or "phantom queen"), is an Irish goddess of war and destruction. She is typically depicted as being armoured and armed: wherever war occurs, there is the Mórrígan. She is reputed to have hovered over the battlefield in the form either of a crow or a raven. Small icon for merging articles File links The following pages link to this file: Friction Jacobin Private branch exchange Pro-feminist Rotary piston engine Tagalog language Saint Veronica Spoiler effect Parser Password length equation Sudovian language Wikipedia:Why arent these pages copy-edited Static scoping Maximum power theorem General... The Guises of the Morrigan Irish Goddess of Sex & Battle Available from Avalonia Books] By David Rankine & Sorita DEste Over his head is shrieking A lean hag quickly hopping Over the points of their weapons and shields She is the grey-haired Morrigan Dubhdiadh, The Druid The Morrígan... A goddess is a female deity in contrast with a male deity known as a god. A great many cultures have goddesses, sometimes alone, but more often as part of a larger pantheon that includes both of the conventional genders and in some cases even hermaphroditic (or gender neutral) deities. ...

Etymology of the Name

Though the first part of her name may be cognate with the Old English maere (see mara), which still persists within the modern English word "nightmare", it is possible that it be representive of the Old, Middle and Modern Irish word mór, meaning "great"; the second root is rígan meaning "queen". Yet this second possiblity would have to be reconstructed as *Māro-rīganīs in Proto-Celtic, and would in that language mean 'large queen,' which is clumsy and is less similar than the reconstruction for the first possiblity *Moro-rīganīs meaning 'nightmare queen.' Such a significant goddess in the Irish pantheon is unlikely to have been a late development. Equally, the semantics of the 'Nightmare Queen' relate more logically to horror, venom and scaldcrow aspects of her trinity. Cognates are words that have a common origin. ... Note: This page contains phonetic information presented in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) using Unicode. ... A mara or mare is a kind of malignant female wraith in Scandinavian folklore believed to cause nightmares. ...

Etymological lexical forms reconstructed in the University of Wales' Proto-Celtic lexicon (http://www.wales.ac.uk/documents/external/cawcs/pcl-moe.pdf ), suggest that the name is likely to be ultimately derived from the Proto-Celtic *Māro-rīganīs, *Moro-rīganīs , a word with the semantic connotations of ‘Great Queen.’ and 'Nightmare Queen' respectively.

Basic Nature

Whatever the original form of the name, her hyponyms as evidenced in the aspects of her trinity, as well as her character in the myths, indicate that she personifed lethality. This explains why She is seen in as a cause of death, synonymous with war and a bringer of victory for the winning side.

Mythic References

She appears in the Mythological Cycle of Celtic tales, where she is revered as one of the Tuatha Dé Danann, a race of shape-shifting magicians whom the Celts believed inhabited Ireland before them. She also contends with Cúchulainn in the Ulster Cycle. The Mythological Cycle is one of the four major cycles of Irish mythology, and is so called because it represents the remains of the pagan mythology of pre-Christian Ireland, although the gods and supernatural beings have been euhemerised by their Christian redactors into historical kings and heroes. ... This article is about a mythical people of Ireland. ... Young Cúchulainn, 1912 illustration by Stephen Reid. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...

Aspects of Her Trinity

The Mórrígan has three aspects: Macha, Nemain (or in Modern Irish Neamhain), and the Badhbh. These are translated respectively as Terror, Venomous, and Scaldcrow, and are pronounced : makh-uh, neh-wuhn, and bow (rhymes with cow). She also comes in the aspect of Badhbh Catha (pr. bow kaha), the Scaldcrow of Battle. This article is about the goddess in Celtic mythology. ... In Irish mythology Nemain (alternative spelling Nemhain) was a goddess of war, possibly another aspect of Morrigan. ... In Irish mythology, Badb (crow) or in modern spelling Badhbh was a goddess of war who took the form of a crow, thus known as Badb Catha (battle crow). ...

Worship

According to Seathrún Céitinn she was worshipped by Fodla, with whom she may be seen as equivalent. Seathrún Céitinn, known in English as Geoffrey Keating, was a 17th century Irish clergyman, poet and historian. ... In Irish mythology, Fodla, daughter of Ernmas, was one of the patron goddesses of Ireland. ...

Arthurian myth

There have been attempts to link the Arthurian witch, Morgan le Fay, with the Mórrígan. Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote the first stories that describe Morgan le Fay in "Vita Merlini" ("The Life of Merlin") written during the 12th century. King Arthur is an important figure in the mythology of Great Britain, where he appears as the ideal of kingship in both war and peace. ... Morgan le Fay, by Anthony Frederick Sandys (1829 - 1904), 1864 (Birmingham Art Gallery): A spell-brewing Morgaine distinctly of Tennysons generation In the mythology of King Arthur, Morgan le Fay, alternatively known as Morgaine, Morgain or Morgana and a slew of related name variants, is an important female figure... Geoffrey of Monmouth was a clergyman and one of the major figures in the development of British history. ... Merlin Ambrosius (Welsh: Myrddin Emrys, also known as Myrddin Wyllt [Merlin the Wild], Merlin Caledonensis [Scottish Merlin], Merlinus, and Merlyn), is the personage best known as the mighty wizard featured in accounts of Arthur of Britain starting with Geoffrey of Monmouths Historia Regum Britanniae. ...

Basic Nature

Mythic References

Aspects of Her Trinity

Worship

Arthurian myth

Further reading