6/30/21 Dinnseanchas: Indigeny of Language
Excerpt from ‘The Night Watchman’ by Louise Erdrich
Handout of Map of Ireland and Counties
Glossary & Distribution Maps of words commonly found in Irish placenames
>>>Consider utilizing Logainm.ie to find the meanings of Irish place-names that might has significance to your travels in Ireland, to your ancestry, etc.<<<
The Debility of the Ulstermen explains the meaning of the name Emain Macha (Navan, Co. Armagh), and later is referenced in the Táin Bó Cuailnge (Cattle Raid of Cooley). This story shows that Macha, as goddess of the land and sovereignty, was vengeful when disrespected, and how the rule of a bad king leads to disaster.
More on Ard Mhacha
The story of Abhainn a’ Scáil (Annascaul–the river of Scál or the crossing of Scál) was related to me when traveling through the peninsula of Dingle. There is a scenic lake situated in a gorge to the north of the village in which are strewn wildly shaped boulders. Legend tells of Cúchulainn battling a giant there by throwing great boulders at each other for over a week. Cúchalainn had come to the aid of a woman ‘Scál Ní Mhurnáin’ who lived by the lake and was threatened by the giant. Cairns on nearby Dromavally peaks are known as the bed, house and grave of Cúchulainn.
Here’s a poem I wrote about it around 2002ish (BE KIND, I WAS A KID!):
There is a fountain that runs through Annascaul
From where pours liquid myths—
Milk from the paps of the mountains
Down slopes a million colors of brilliant;
Flows whisperings of the tragedies of lore—
Fair Scál long, long ago.
And here nestled in her pearly breast
As a traveler the story I heard
Again and again:
One far too beautiful Scál
Bathing within a mountain glen
Away from the eyes of all men
Save one giant without name or shape in my mind,
Who spies her pale cream form rippling the lake.
Hiding away his atrocities in those mountains
Cat-calls her to a stony bed—
Threats of rape after from his famine lust.
Her throat like ripping sheets cries Champion—
Hound of Ulster appearing in the flesh,
In a flash, a breath—gae bolga in hand
Cúchulainn contends the giant to scorn, Scál forgotten.
And like pebbles these supernaturals toss boulders at will
Among the mountains of Kerry—awakened by this ferocity.
Éiru shakes with fear and dread
As Culann’s hound is pebble struck down.
Scáll seems prize once more to giant lust,
Demi-god knocked dumb, not dead, by his hand.
Yet Scál shamed, defiant, refusing defeat
Drowns within the glen’s lake icy deep
Its waters heaving, churning in sorrow
Her fair memory bright in its still reflection
Overflows with the tears of a clear fountain—
A stream renting the mountain’s slope.
Abhainn a’ Scáil, the fair maiden lives
Forever among the mountains of Dingle;
Where the flowing waters whisper her name.