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[I] A class of poets, sometimes referred to as filí. Their duties included being learned in history, genealogy, as well as literature. They were honoured and respected in ancient Irish society and seem sometimes akin to Brahmins. The Brehon Laws note that it took a filidh twelve years of study to qualify.
Manx equivalent of Fionn Mac Cumhail.
[I] “Fair eyebrows.” A daughter of Ailill and Medb who fell in love with Fraoch and helped him kill the water demon or dragon. She was offered to Ferdia by her parents in order to coax him into single combat with Cúchulainn during the Táin war.
[I] A druid who taught Fionn Mac Cumhail. It was actually Finegas who caught the Salmon of Knowledge and gave it to Fionn to cook. Fionn burnt his thumb while cooking it and sucked the burn, thus acquiring knowledge. Finegas, realising that he was not destined to eat of the Salmon of Knowledge, gave it to Fionn to eat.
Scots equivalent of Fionn Mac Cumhail. This form was made famous by MacPherson in his Ossian and by Mendelssohn with his overture movement “Fingal’s Cave,” which was not inspired by Ossian but rather by a visit to Fingal’s Cave in Scotland. The name is not actually cognate with Fionn, for Fingal means “fair foreigner.” The name was also borne by a king of the Isle of Man called Fingal Mac Godred (1070–1077), a name demonstrating the intermarriage between Gael and Viking.
[I] The White Horned Bull of Connacht, born into the herd of Medb of Connacht. The bull was originally the swineherd of Ochall of Connacht and archrival of the swineherd of the Bodb Dearg. Finnbhenach considered it unseemly that he should be born into the herd of a woman and so transferred himself to the herd of Ailill, thus starting off the chain of events that led to the war of the Táin.
[I] First appears as the husband of Cesair, the first “invader” of Ireland. He survives the Deluge by changing himself into a salmon. It is argued that Fintan, the Salmon of Knowledge, is actually a separate entity. The fish ate of the Nuts of Knowledge before swimming to a pool on the River Boyne. Finegas the druid caught him but gave him to Fionn Mac Cumhail to cook. Fionn burnt his thumb while cooking the fish and thus acquired wisdom.
[I] While there are many named Fionn who emerge in the Irish sagas, the most famous is undoubtedly Fionn Mac Cumhail, often
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