In the tale-cycle surrounding Boann and the birth of Aengus (Mac Óg), Elcmar appears as husband of the goddess Boann and steward of the Brugh (Brú na Bóinne). The Dagda sends Elcmar away on an errand around the time of Imbolc so that the Dagda may lie with Boann; the Dagda then alters temporal perception (holding back the sun) so that the pregnancy appears to last only a day, concealing it from Elcmar. The child, Aengus, is fostered by Midir. Later Oengus obtains the Brugh from Elcmar by a verbal trick and, after a cycle of abductions and killings involving Midir and Elcmar's daughter Englec, Oengus kills Elcmar. These episodes are attested in the Tochmarc Étaíne material and are summarized in modern narrative accounts of the cycle.
Primary tale texts emphasize Elcmar's social role rather than an extended physical portrait; however secondary summaries and related material describe him as bearing a fork of white hazel, a gold brooch, and a cloak. The Dindsenchas and later summaries also associate him with horses, sometimes styling him as a "lord of horses." The supplied primary quotations focus on his speech and stewardship at the Brug rather than detailed bodily description.
In the supplied sources Elcmar's notable capacities are social and political: he functions as the Dagda's chief steward, a landholder of the Brugh and surrounding three lands (he is granted the fruits of the Boyne in The Wooing of Étaín), and is presented as a judge in tradition. Narrative material does not ascribe to him overt miraculous powers in these extracts; his importance derives from rank, household authority, control of property, and involvement in feuding and juridical contests rather than demonstrable cosmic or magical abilities.
Aengus
Aengus (Óengus, Aonghus) is a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann in Irish myth, portrayed as a youthful, attractive figure associated with love, youth, poetic inspiration and seasonal/solar symbolism; he is linked to Brú na Bóinne (Newgrange) and appears as fosterer, protector, enchanter and avenger in multiple tales.
Boann
Boann (also Boand) is a figure of early Irish tradition associated with the River Boyne (Bóinn) and the Well of Segais. Presented in the Dindsenchas and other medieval sources as a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann, she functions as a mythic landscape-progenitor, mother of the god Aengus, and a woman whose transgressive actions at a sacred well bring the river into being.
Nechtan
Nechtan is a figure in Irish tradition associated with a sacred spring called Nechtan's Well or the Well of Wisdom, described as the source of the River Boyne. In the corpus he appears as the named owner/custodian of the well and as a personal name borne by historical figures; sources vary over whether he is the husband of Boann or whether other husband-names (e.g., Nemed, Elcmar) appear in different texts.
Abandinus
Abandinus is a locally attested Romano‑Celtic theonym known from a single inscribed bronze feather (votive object) dedicated at Godmanchester (the Roman fort Durovigutum) in Cambridgeshire. Scholars interpret him as a local god or male spirit tied to a specific place and possibly associated with a nearby spring or stream; this association is tentative and based on etymological readings of the name.
Abarta (Ábartach)
Abarta (also Ábartach) is a figure of Irish myth who, in surviving accounts, tricks Fionn mac Cumhaill's warriors by giving them a supernatural grey horse that bears them into the Otherworld. Sources variably identify him as a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann or as a Fomorian; after the incident he is compelled to release the captured warriors and is refused entry to the Fianna.
Abcán (Abhcán)
Abcán (modern spelling Abhcán) is a named dwarf poet and musician of the Tuatha Dé Danann in Irish myth. He appears in a small number of narratives as a musician whose art has soporific power and as the ferryman who brings the goddess Ruad from the Otherworld to the human world.
Abhean
Abhean is a named poet of the Tuatha Dé Danann in medieval Irish literature, described as a poet in particular of Lugh and recorded as having been killed by Óengus before Midir in a poem by Fland Mainistreach preserved in the Lebor Gabála Érenn.
Abnoba
Abnoba is a Gaulish theonym and toponym attested in Roman-era sources and inscriptions: a localized deity associated with woods, springs and the sources of rivers (notably the Danube) and simultaneously the name applied to a mountain or mountain range in the Black Forest/Baar/Odenwald region. Roman altars equate her with Diana, reflecting syncretic cult practice in frontier provinces.
Accolon
Accolon is a mortal knight of the Arthurian court, presented in the Post-Vulgate Merlin tradition and Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur as Morgan le Fay's paramour and instrument in a plot to supplant King Arthur; his tale centers on enchanted weapons (Excalibur and its scabbard), love-manipulation, and a tragic duel with Arthur.
Achall
Achall is an eponymous mortal woman in the Ulster Cycle of early Irish literature whose grief-induced death is given as the origin of the hill-name Achall (identified with the modern Hill of Skryne). She appears as a genealogical and etiological figure tied to Tara and later legendary events at the hill, rather than as a recurring supernatural agent.
Achtland
Achtland is a figure from Irish tradition who, according to the surviving account, was a mortal woman famed for rejecting mortal suitors who married a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann and crossed into the síde to become immortal as his wife.
Adar Llwch Gwin
Legendary large, intelligent birds from Welsh tradition said to understand human speech and obey their master's commands; best known for tearing their master Drudwas ap Tryffin to pieces when bound by a literal order in an Arthurian battle narrative. The term later came to be applied to raptors and metaphorically to brave men in medieval Welsh poetry.
Adar Rhiannon
Adar Rhiannon ('birds of Rhiannon') are a set of three magical birds in medieval Welsh narrative (the Mabinogi) whose song can 'wake the dead and lull the living to sleep.' They appear as otherworldly song‑beings tied to the figure Rhiannon and function within tales as providers of enchanted music that sustains and consoles characters.
Aderyn y Corff
Aderyn y Corff (literally 'bird of the corpse') is a bird-like death-porter in Welsh folklore said to call outside the door of a person about to die. Described as an avian portent that may lack feathers or wings and as existing on another plane when not manifesting, it is treated in Welsh ghost lore and sometimes naturalized as a screech owl in modern accounts.
Adhene
A class of Manx fairies (Cloan ny moyrn) described in Isle of Man tradition as a social people of beings said to be "fallen angels cast from heaven but too good for hell," who interact with human livelihoods and families, sometimes benevolent but often mischievous.
Community Record
- [1]The Wooing of Étaín (Tochmarc Étaíne). Tochmarc Étaíne (The Wooing of Étaín), CELT: The Corpus of Electronic Texts, University College Corkliterary
- [2]The Wooing of Etain (ancienttexts mirror). Tochmarc Étaíne (The Wooing of Étaín), English translation and summary (ancienttexts mirror)literary
- [3]Elcmar (Wikipedia). Wikipedia article 'Elcmar' (summarizes textual tradition and modern commentary)wiki
- [4]Elcmar (Celtsite summary). Celtsite summary of Elcmar and related Tuatha Dé Danann materialfolk
- [5]The Wooing of Étaín (mirror by Mary Jones). Tochmarc Étaíne (English rendering and notes) hosted by Mary Jones' Celtic Literature siteliterary