Anglicised as Finn Mac Cool. He is one of the most celebrated heroes in Irish myth, and the stories related to him have been argued as the basis of many of the Arthurian tales, which were developed in the medieval period when the tales of Fionn and the Fianna were at their most popular.

His father was Cumal of Clan Bascna. He fell in love with Murna but was opposed by her father, a druid. He eloped with her but her father sends Goll of the Clan Morna after him. Goll kills him, but Murna bears his son Demna. The child is so fair that he becomes known as Fionn. He received his education from the druid Finegas, who catches the Salmon of Knowledge and gives it to him to cook. Fionn burns himself while doing so and sucks his thumb, thus acquiring knowledge. He set out on his adventures, killing Lia, lord of Luachtar, the keeper of the Treasure Bag of the Fianna. He saves the life of Cormac Mac Art, the High King, and is made head of the royal bodyguard, the Fianna. From then on there occurs a series of adventures involving hunting, fighting, sorcery, love, and passion. Fionn has many romances but it is with the goddess Sadb that he begets his famous son, Oisín (Ossian). In the story “Cath Fionntragha” (Battle of Fionn’s Strand, which is in Ventry, Co. Kerry), Fionn overcomes Daire Donn, the King of the World, in one of the great military exploits of his career. This is described in a fifteenth century manuscript now kept in the Bodleian Library.

Accounts of Fionn’s death vary. Some tales record he was killed by Aichleach while trying to quell an uprising among his own Fianna. Another version contains a typical Celtic motif; the tale concludes that Fionn is not dead but sleeping in a cave, waiting for the call to help Ireland in her hour of need. This is, of course, paralleled in the legends of Arthur of Britain.

Fionnbharr

[I] A Dé Danaan assigned to the sídhe of Meadha (Knockma, five miles west of Tuam). He took part in the war between Midir and the Bodb Dearg. His wife was Oonagh. As the memories of the old gods faded, they degenerated in folk memory as fairies, and Fionnbharr and Oonagh became king and queen of all the fairies in Ireland.

Firbolg

[I] The name signifies “bag men.” They came to Ireland after the Nemedians and may represent a genuine pre-Goidelic population of Ireland. In some accounts it is said they descended from the Nemedian survivors who had fled to Thrace, where they became