Bird Gods in Ancient Europe 



Kelts, the population was of a stock similar to 

 Esthonian, Finnish, etc. Now Setanta may be 

 explained by Finnish for uncle, seta (genitive 

 -dan) and may have meant " son of his uncle " 

 for reasons about to be explained. But the 

 curious word Cuchullaind is explained by 

 Esthonian Kukkulind "cuckoo bird." With- 

 out doubt he is a survival of a bird god of the 

 Finnic tribes in Ireland conquered by the Kelts. 

 The word "lint" for bird remains in the Suf- 

 folk dialect of England in lint-white, a local 

 name for the lark. 



The accepted description of CuchuUaind^s 

 birth shows his bird origin very clearly ; no 

 other cuckoo demigod is so plainly a bird. 

 His mother was Dechtire, who was sister of 

 King Conchobar of Ulster and also his char- 

 ioteer. One legend says that there were griev- 

 ous scandals regarding Conchobar and his 

 car-driving sister. But a more veiled account 

 is as follows : One day Dechtire and her maids 

 disappear and soon after news is brought to 



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