WkstkoPP — The Earthworks, Sfc, of 8. t'. Co. Limerick. 163 



may be applied, like tlie term "Fir Bolg" or "Milesian," without any allega- 

 tion as to blood kindred in the races so described. In Daire, Dcd, Mis, and 

 probably Lugaid Laegde we are dealing with gods, or demigod ancestors, not 

 with facts. 



Dergthene. — We find in the Ancient Laws' that " deirbhlinc and deirgh- 

 fine " were tribal divisions, so one suspects that the ancestors from whom the 

 Dergthene and Dairfhine are named were mythical and not even personal. 2 

 Perhaps the descendants of Nia Segamain, in the flush of their invasion of 

 Magh Femen, called themselves " The Tribe." In some of their pedigrees, 

 indeed, a triad " Dergfhota, Deirgthenie, and Deirg" 3 take the place of the 

 single ancestor, the father of Mog Neid. The Corca Laegde pedigree makes 

 him son of Nuada and great-grandson of "Lug macEthleann," a god con- 

 fessed. " Dairine " may also have been a goddess, as the name is identified 

 with Macha 4 and Sinann. We find a Core, son of Dairine, a king of the 

 Corca Duibiie, who accompanied St. Patrick to Ulster in late story. 5 Lairine 

 was also father of Nuada " Learg " or " Salfota," foster-father of Dergtbene's 

 grandson, Mogh Nuadat, and has been identified with Daire, son of Sen. 

 Lugaid mac Con, who is seventh in descent from Dergthene, is contemporary 

 with Oilioll Aulom, fourth in descent from him — the name Lugaid being as 

 common in the one pedigree as the epithet Dcarg in the other. Nothing can 

 show more clearly that these and similar tribal pedigrees are built out of 

 disconnected fragments, not consistent or truthful, but real, archaic tradition, 

 warped, but not pure fiction, and so worthy of critical study. 



Donn. — This god has the merit of being free from the family complica- 

 tions of the divine fathers of tribes. Donn Firinne 7 and Aine are the two 

 ancient deities who hold their own in Co. Limerick as Donn Dumach and 

 Aibinn do in Co, Clare. The word Donn* has yet to be studied. It occurs 

 in many a guise among the deities of Gaul, Britain, and Ireland, and is not 

 merely the name of men-like gods (of both sexes), but of the Donn Bull, in 



1 Ancient Laws of Ireland, iv, pp. 2S2-3. 



- Sanas Chormaic, p. 55. 



3 Book of Lecan, f. 215, also "Miscellany" ("Corca Laidhe ") as Dergtheucdh, 

 Deagha Dearg, and Deadh inannra, son of Sithbholg, p. 57. 



' Thus Duben, the sister-wife of Cairbre Muse, was made his son, audLugh's mother, 

 Eithliu, became his wife, Eithniu. Dairine was Macha, Nith, Neman, and Badbh (Rev. 

 Celt., xxii, p. 68) ; Mo Febhis, whose son is Mog Kuith, is mother in L. na h-Uidhre, 74, 

 and father in Ann. Four Masters, a.m. 3751. Hib. Lect., p. 526. 



5 Agallamh, ii, p. 198. 



''■ "Magh Leana," pp. xxi. 2, 117. 



■ Firinne\ the name of a Spanish Druid (ibid., p. 1(55). 



s "Social History of Ancient Ireland," i, p. 202. Dr. Joyce regards him as a son 

 of Mil. The name " Donnus " is found in a Gaulish inscription at Mimes (Rev. Colt., 

 xiii, p. 303). 



