Étaín

Étaín [' e ː dain ʴ ], also Edain, Aideen, Etaoin, Éadaoin, Aedin, Adaon is in Celtic mythology of Ireland, a descendant of the Tuatha Dé Danann and the main character of the story Tochmarc Etaine ( " The advertising to Étaín "). The linguist T.F. O'Rahilly (1883-1953) holds for a sun goddess; However, it also bears the nickname sometimes Echraide ( " rider " ), thus connecting the Welsh Rhiannon and the Gaulish goddess Epona.

Mythology

In Tochmarc Etaine she is the daughter of Ailill mac Máta king Connacht, in another narration, Togail Bruidne Dá Derga ( " The Destruction of Dá Derg House " ), she is the daughter Étars and marries the High King Eochaid Airem. Her daughter, also named Étaín will, the wife of Cormac mac Airt, the king of Ulster and is the grandmother of Conaire Mór. In a further descent version Étain is the daughter of the river goddess Boand and the Dagda and therefore also the sister of Oengus. This results in a row to some incestuous connections. Whether this is always the same legendary figure, can not be ascertained with certainty.

Étaín the second wife or lover of Midir, son of Dagda, who in Síd Bri Leith ( Slieve Callory, County Longford ) is inhabited. Midir's first wife Fuamnach Étaín hates and pursues it with druid spells and Fith - Fath. Again and again she turned her rival, for example, a seagull, a bee and a worm until it becomes an ethereal beings at the conclusion that the wind carries it. Oengus it grows and builds her a glass house, where they can again relax with the scent of flowers. But Fuamnach it transforms again and as she flies over Ireland seven years there.

When she is swallowed in the form of a fly by Ethar, the wife of a warrior of Ulster called ETAR and reborn as a human, she finally married Eochaid Airem, High King of Ireland, which she describes as "the most beautiful girl in Ireland ".

Eochaid brings them to his castle in the capital city of Tara, where the two live happily married first. However Eochaidhs brother Ailill Anguba falls in love Étaín. He suffers from a debilitating disease, caused by the unfulfilled passion for the new queen. Étaín remains steadfast in her love for Eochaid, but the sick Ailill her sorry too and finally it promises to save his life as the only way to give in to his desire. You want to meet secretly in a house outside of Tara. Ailill but is not, because it falls into an enchanted sleep.

In the complicated story with multiple versions Midir advertises again around her, she wins Eochaidh from the game and flies away with her as a pair of swans. In another version, Midir brought back the memory of Étaín and wins it back at chess. But despite being a long time living with Midir again Étaín finally returns to Tara back to her mortal existence to adopt as Queen Eochaidhs.