DOG 145 



of MarSj Bel being the name among the ancient Britons for that 

 " leading " god ; elsewhere the meaning is given — wrongly — as 

 " bright-coloured " dog. Cunoglasus (tawny or grey dog) was 

 another king's name. One of St Kentigern's names was "Conthi- 

 ^irnus/' dog-chief or king or lord of dogs, Latinised. Cumee, 

 Curaidhe, Cu-maidhe or Cu-maigh, means the dog or greyhound 

 of the plain, the dog of Meath, i.e., magh a plain, Anglicised also 

 into the corrupt form Coovey or Covey. In the Revue Celtiqtie 

 D. Fitzgerald says "one who has carefully examined the oldest 

 legends of Ireland and Wales would probably admit that the 

 most striking feature in these Celtic traditions is the extraordi- 

 nary prominence of names derived from the dog, Cu-chulaind, 

 Con-chubhar, Mael-gwn, Cyn-fael, Conan, Conall cearnach, Cu- 

 roigh (hound-of-the-arm — righ, i.e., fore-arm, wrist), Cuneglas, 

 Cu-glas, Ber-chon (spit dog), Cu-dinasc (hound-let-loose), Cu-gan- 

 mathair (the motherless, as Cu-gan-ainn the nameless hound), 

 Concancness (hound-without-skin)." As to this Whitley Stokes 

 says "Con-chubhar, Mail-gwn, Cyn-fael have nothing to do with 

 'cu' dog. They stand respectively for Cunocrobos, Moglocunos, 

 Cunomaglos. . . . There is no such name as Conancness. Mr 

 Fitzgerald means Conganchnes, which seems to signify ^horn 

 skin.' " Mr Stokes is very severe, he characterises Mr Fitzgerald's 

 work as "a farrago of bad Irish, doubtful English, etymological 

 guesswork and impossible etymology." 



Cu also signifies hero, and the above names referred to the 

 hero or chief of Meath, etc. Among the ancient Celts the term 

 "dog" was a designation of honour, hence the foregoing; Cu- 

 Uladh is now Anglicised Cowley and Cooley ; Cu-duilig, canis 

 avidus, or greedy dog, was once a proper name, viz., Cu-duilig 

 O'Sneain. The inhabitants of Connaught are said to be the 

 descendants of the dog-tribes. In the Yellow Book of Lecan, as 

 referred to in Revue Celtique, mention is made of " a fearful land 

 wherein dwelt men with heads of hounds, with manes of cattle 

 upon them." Lady Gregory, in her famous collection, gives a 

 tale in which dog-headed men are fought against and destroyed 

 by Fionn ; also Cu-Luachra the hero of Luachur, Cu-Munnir the 

 hero of Munster, Cu-Blaoma the hero of Sliabh Bloom (Bloom- Hill), 

 Cu Cois'l the hero of Cashel, etc., etc. ; Cu-Connaught is held to 

 mean Cu O'Connor or Constantine, while Cu-Chulainn bore the 

 additional sobriquet of Cu-an-cleasnaidh, the dog or hero of 

 the feats. 



Places also, as is generally known, took their names from the 

 dog, a place in County Monaghan being called Coinsi, cu-insi or 

 cu-innis, dog of the island or dog-island ; Ceathramh-na-madadh, 

 the quarter of the dogs, now Anglicised Carrownamaddoo, near 

 Ben Gulban, Sligo ; Maconsnava or snamha, son of swimming dog, 

 now ridiculously Anglicised into Forde ; the familiar Scoto-Celtic 

 name MacCulloch is said just to be Mac-con-Uladh, the son or 



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