such as the Red Branch Cycle, they might have already been passed down orally for a thousand years. In the myths we learn that the Irish literati had a secret literary language, bérla na filied (the language of the poets), which only the initiated could understand.

Orc-Triath

[I] See Torc Triath.

Oriel

[I] The Irish form for Airgialla, signifying “subject people.” The kingdom of Oriel consisted of the modern countries of Armagh, Monaghan, Tyrone, and most of Fermanagh and Derry.

Orlam

[I] A son of Ailill and Medb slain by Cúchulainn.

Orna

[I] The sword of Tethra, the Fomorii king, which could speak and recount its deeds. Having killed Tethra at the second battle of Magh Tuireadh, Ogma claimed the sword.

Oscar

[I] Son of Oisín and Eibhir and grandson of Fionn Mac Cumhail and Sadb. The name—Os (deer) and car (lover)—reflects that of his father, whose mother was the goddess Sadb, who had been turned into a deer by the Dark Druid. Oscar was the mightiest warrior of the Fianna, a man of hard strength with a heart “like a twisted horn sheathed in steel.” He was given command of a battalion of the Fianna that was called “The Terrible Broom” because it would not retreat an inch but swept its enemies from the field. He married Aidín. When Cairbre the High King sought to curb the power of the Fianna, which Oscar now commanded, Oscar led them in the battle at Gabhra (Garristown, Co. Dublin). The battle saw the destruction of the Fianna. Oscar, however, killed Cairbre in single combat but was himself mortally wounded. His wife, Aidín, died of grief. Fionn Mac Cumhail returns from the Otherworld to lament him, and his father, Oisín, comes to carry his bier with the hero Celta.

Oshin

Manx equivalent of Oisín, son of Fionn Mac Cumhail.

Ossar

[I] The hound of Mac Da Thó that was coveted by Ailill and Medb and also by Conchobhar Mac Nessa. In another version, the hound is called Ailbe. At the end of the story of “Mac Da Thó’s Boar,” the dog chases Ailill’s chariot and is killed by his charioteer.

Ossian

Scottish equivalent of Oisín, son of Fionn Mac Cumhail.

Otherworld

A general term for the various lands of the gods, both good and evil, and for the place where one was reborn after death. The Celts were one of the first European peoples to evolve a doctrine of immortality of the soul. The basic belief was that death was only a changing of place and that life went on with all its forms