54 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



That her parentage is different (as we noted) proves little. The Celtic 

 mythology suffered from a plague of alias-names, which obscure the 

 identity of the various gods, so many risks beset questions of their identitv. 

 However, several, like Lug, Xuada, and Segomo, are safely identified in 

 Gaul, Britain, and Ireland.' Taranis, the thunder-god, was worshipped as 

 Terun (or Etherun) at Tara, 2 another hazel-ridge. Segomo, the war-god. had 

 devotees, perhaps reputed descendants or kindred, in Co. Waterford, and 

 among the Dal I rth Minister.' Erigid, or Brigend, or Berecynthia, 



a w. _ - -as reverenced in Gaul. Spain, Britain, and Ireland, as the 

 names Brigantia, Brigantee Bregond, and Ptolemy's Brigantes (the last two 

 in Monster) attae 



Hut the Irish gods were eventually degraded. Nuada Argetlamh (" the 

 grea - god N r Ludens, in Uritain), gradually fell to be a dead hero, 



and, worse, a mean. " ill-conditioned fellow." 1 a wizard, and pestilent 

 magician. Lug, 1 the glorious sun-god, the patron of the towns called 

 " Lugdunum," on the Continent, became a dead king. 



i Ither religious features are common to Gaul and Ireland. To take a 

 .ample, the h p - the fi'Ut nemidh of the Irish;' 



hut, with us. the yew and the hazel, perhaps, ranked above the oak, although 

 great b> red trees (like the Eo Mughna and Eo Bo^ 



ral subject of the Irish gods see Rhys (Hibbert Lectures, voL iv) ; 

 I>Arbois de Jabainville, "Irish .ncal Cycle." and article on Celtic gods 



Culloch). " En '.y.l.ipsdia of Religion and Ethics," vol. iii, especially pp. 284 sqq., 

 and vol. vii, pj . 



■ Ethei in, id ■! of the Britons " (Dindsenchas of Temar). 



. imes in the Bw o B d L nd also on British and Gaulish monuments, 



we have Art, Ada: .rnul, Cass, Coman, Cona ; the prefix Cum., Cathall, 



War*. Garmanos. Lugus, Lu^ud**. Mor, Neden, Nem, Xemet, Segomo, and Vlattu. 

 - 



>da, so described in AgalUmh, p. 132. The estuary was, doubtless, his "silver 

 hand" (nx«t vivid picture of a distant river-mouth), as ISoanii - fore-arm," is 



the 1 The epithet wis probably invented in Britain, where the <_'reat river- 



mouths impressed the Gauls. We see Nuada silver hand" in a poem of 



'umba (Ossianic Society, vol. I 



.-h. like the sun in splendour, men were not able to look on his face" (Atlantis. 

 v..l iv. p IC1 . 



5 j>mar . . . made Belisama the crafts goddess) this Htmcton" (Rhys, Hibbert 

 Lectures, vol. iv, p. id). See Anc. Irish Lavs, toL i, p. II Fidh nemidh" and 



" Defidh " ; also burninir of FidX nemidh, Armagh. a.i>. 990. Drunemeton was a chief 

 sanctuary in Galatia. The nemeta were scenes of human sacrifice iTucan, Pharsalia. 

 book ill). Taranis. Teutatea. and Hesus were the Gaulish triad to whom human beings 

 were offered. Perhaps the Irish equivalents of the first two, Etherun and Segomo, at 

 Tara and in South Munster, were thus honoured. Cenn Cruach was perhaps .i "hill-god'' 

 id "f the mountain '*) ; he received human offerings ; and the summit of the Cruacb 

 -<*ghpatnck. in Co. . great dry-stone rampart, appears as the scene 



of a spiritual straggle of SI k with the denmns and with " Crom Dubh." 



