That stories from mythology, cognate with the early Irish tales, survived on the island in oral tradition is attested. However, the first written evidence does not occur until the eighteenth century. For example, the ballad Manannan Beg, Mac y Leirr, ny slane coontey jeh Ellan Vannin (Little Manannan, son of Leirr, an account of the Isle of Man) dates from 1770, when two versions were copied down by John Kelly from oral tradition [Manx Museum mss. 519 and 5072]. From the wording it would appear that the oral composition was composed, or added to, during the time of Thomas III of Man (1504–1521), whose landing on the island in 1507 is described. It is also clear from the wording that Thomas III was still alive when it was composed. There are fourteen examples of obsolete Manx grammatical forms in the poem, which places it to an early period.

Another example is the ballad Fin as Oshin (Fin and Oshin). This was copied by the Manx scholar Reverend Philip Moore, one of the supervisors of the translation of the Bible into Manx. The ballad concerns the heroes Fin and his son Oshin, Fionn Mac Cumhail and Oisín (Fingal and Ossian in Scots form). This Manx version adds a unique contribution to the myths known in Irish literature as the Fenian Cycle. It entwines “King Orry” (Godred Crovan) into the story. Moore copied the verses down from the recitation of an old Manx woman and gave a copy to Deemster Peter Heywood. In 1789 Heywood presented the manuscript to Professor Thorkelin of Copenhagen, who, in turn, presented it to the British Museum.

Maol

[I] The bald. A druid of Laoghaire who, with his brother Calpait, taught Laoghaire’s daughters Ethné and Fedelma.

Maponos

Gaulish, “The Divine Youth.” See Mabon.

Marbán

[I] A swineherd who became the chief poet of Ireland after contesting with Dael Duiled, the ollamh of Leinster.

March ap Meirchion

Welsh version of Mark of Cornwall.

Mark of Cornwall

Mark features in the medieval tales of Tristan and Iseult as the husband of Iseult and uncle of Tristan. He is generally depicted as an unsympathetic person, becoming a base figure in Malory’s Morte d’Arthur (ca. 1469). There is enough evidence to show that a historical King Mark existed in Cornwall in the sixth century a.d. The name Mark comes not from the Roman praenomen, “Marcus,” but from the Celtic word for “horse”