Young Writers Society

I'm trying to write a story set in ancient Ireland. I wouldn't call it historical fiction as it has some magic/supernatural elements and isn't set in any specific time period. It's not realistic; I'm trying to give the feel of a myth/legend/folktale.

Anyway, if anyone has any knowledge of Irish culture, Celtic mythology or folklore,Ireland's landscape, traditional Celtic/Irish names, ect. that they would like to share, I'd really appreciate it.

Well, I am pretty well versed in this sort of thing, so but since I could ramble on for the longest time, specific questions would be much, much better, feel free to post them here, and I'll check back, or PM me.

Cal.

Right. Sorry my post was so vague, I'll try to be more specific...

-Who exactly were the druids? A religious order? If so, did they have priestesses or only priests? What kind of customs and rituals did they have? Were they considered to be magic in Celtic culture, sort of like shamans were to Native Americans? Any info on them would be great, or book and site recommendations.

- I'm trying to give my characters traditional Irish names w/ appropriate meanings, preferably not totally impossible to pronounce. Yes, I've checked baby name sites, which were helpful; however, I can't find any female names meaning "wise." I found a male name, "Conor," which means wise, but no feminine form of it. As usual, most of the female names seemed to be some variation of either "beautiful" or "gentle." So freakin' sexist...

Okay, I'll spare you my feminist rants. I'm also looking for a male name meaning "musical" or something music/song related. I found a female name,"Shela" meaning "musical" but no masculine forms.

- Can you recommend any good books or sites on Irish mythology,folklore, gods and goddesses, etc? My story is going to be very loosely based on a myth about Rhiannon, a Celtic moon goddess, and I want an accurate retelling... books are probably more reliable than the internet, I suppose...

-To make my descriptions as vivid as possible, any info. on Ireland's landscape would be greatly appreciated, especially the sea and shoreline.

Okay, that's somewhat more specific. If there's anything you need me to clarify, let me know. Thanks! ^_^

The following website talks about druids, I don't know if it will answer all your questions about them, but it does include (down at the very bottom of the site) books and other websites you can go to get more information.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Druids

These are the celtic names that mean wise:
*Kyna-female
*Dallas-female or male
*Mackenzie-female or male
*Quinn-female or male
*Shannon-female or male (actually this one is an irish name)

These are the Irish male names that I found:
*Barde-male (means travelling musician/singer)
*Bayerd-male (means travelling musician/singer)
*Bayrd-male (means travelling musician/singer)

The following site has interesting landscapes found in Ireland:
http://www.iol.ie/~plugin/landscap.htm

Finally, this site talks about the physical landforms of Ireland:
http://www.wesleyjohnston.com/users/ire ... scape.html


I hope this will help you. If non of the sites on Irelands landscape doesn't help, try wikipedia or you could try https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/fa ... os/ei.html , but this site mostly gives out info on the population, languages, ect.

Wow, thanks so much! That's really helpful, especially the names and the page on druids.

Ooookay,

Sorry Kitkat I am going to have to shutdown most of your name suggestions. First, Quinn actually translates to the number five, the meaning of wise only came later. And MacKenzie is actually an anglizied version of Mac Coinnich which translates to son of Coinneach, Coinneach is the Irish term for handsome. Dallas is originally a masculine Scottish name meaning resting place, but it crossed over to Ireland and become Dallys or Dalyce. Kyna comes from the IRISH gaelic term cion meaning love, affection, esteem. And Shannon is a very anglizied name from the term for river abhann; it does have the meaning of wise, but I get the feeling you want ye olde names, or trad gaelic names.

So, now onto your questions, m'dear Fireweed.

Possible Names

Female
1. Emer: From Gaelic eimh "swift". In Irish legend she was the wife of Cuchulainn. She was said to possess the six gifts of womanhood: beauty, voice, speech, needlework, wisdom and chastity.
2. Fionna: Female version of Fionn. Means "fair" or "white" in Gaelic. Fionn mac Cumhail was a legendary Irish hero who became all-wise by eating an enchanted salmon.
3. Monca - Meaning wise. Monica is the anglizied version.
4. Sadb/Sadhbh/Sadhbba - Meaning wise, variant meanings include sweet and goodly. (Pronunciation: db = v // Sadhbh/Sadhbba = SAH-eev or SAYV))
5. Sybil/Sibeal - prophetess

Male
1. Rordan - From the older Irish name Ríoghbhardán, which meant "little poet king" from Irish Gaelic ríogh "king" combined with bard "poet" and a diminutive suffix.
2. Amargein - (pronounce: aw-VEER-een). Birth of song/singing. Old Irish=ama "singing, song" + gein "birth."
3. Oisin - (pronounce: osh + een) Means "little deer", derived from Irish os "deer" combined with a diminutive suffix. In Irish legend Oisin was a warrior hero and a poet, the son of Fionn mac Cumhail.
4. Tadhg - (pronounce: tieg) Means "poet" in Irish. This was the name of an 11th-century king of Connacht.
5. Teagan - Means "little poet", derived from Gaelic tadhg "poet" and a diminutive suffix.
6. Barden/Bardon - Minstrel: a singer-poet.


What part of Ireland are you basing it in? I have many pictures of Ireland I have taken, so maybe I can post the most pertinent ones.



Here are two websites I love which have loads of stuff on the gods and goddesses, and mythology.

www.pantheon.org
www.godchecker.com/





...

Yeah.

Hope this helps.
Cal.

Oops sorry. I guess that the website that I got those names from were inacurate...either that or those were the words that they originated from.

Having the name Shannon myself, I must insist that it comes from a myth that takes place along that river, and that I'm named after the goddess involved, not the river itself. It is very Anglicized, but there's an alternate spelling of it that's accepted as traditional and is pronounced about the same. ~End rant~

As for research books, I've had the most success with old books when learning about myths, from the 1920s-40s or earlier. Maybe you'll find some in a musty corner of a library? They're just helpful because writers today often take a lot of effort explaining the symbolism of a story or telling the reader why they should be interested in it, rather than just telling it.

But that's just me, I like to interpret things on my own time.