Editing Cethlenn

{{Short description|Mythological Irish prophetess}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
In [[Irish mythology]], '''Caitlín''' ({{langx|sga|'''Cethlenn''', '''Cethleann''', '''Ceithlenn''', '''Ceithlionn'''|italic=no}}) was the wife of [[Balor]] of the [[Fomorians]] and, by him, the mother of [[Ethniu]]. She was also a prophetess and warned Balor of his impending defeat by the [[Tuatha Dé Danann]] in the second battle of [[Magh Tuiredh]]. During that battle she wounded [[the Dagda]] with a projectile weapon. She was also known by the nickname '''Cethlenn of the Crooked Teeth'''.<ref name="Monaghan Encyclopedia"/>

== Name ==
Ceithlinn in modern Irish is pronounced like "'''Kehlen'''", and her name is sometimes indicated by that spelling.<ref name=wood-martin/> '''Kethlenda''' is the form of the name that appeared in [[Roderick O'Flaherty]]'s ''Ogygia'' or ''Rerum Hibernicarum Chronologia'', written in Latin,<ref name=oflaherty-ogygia-eng/> reused as "Kethlenda of the Crooked Teeth" by story-reteller [[P. W. Joyce]].{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|In "The Fairy Palace of the Quicken Trees", which is his translation of {{illm|Bruidhean Chaorthainn{{!}}''Bruidhean Chaorthainn''|ie|Bruidhean Chaorthainn}}.}}<ref name=joyce-pw-quicken/>

;Nickname
Ceithlinn is called by the nickname '''Ceithlion Chaisfhiaclach''' "the crooked toothed" in the ''Oidheadh Chloinne Tuireann'',{{sfnp|O'Curry|1863|p=166–167}}{{Refn|As noted by [[William Gregory Wood-Martin|W. G. Wood-Martin]] (1884) in connection with "Ceithlean".<ref name=wood-martin/>}} also translatable as "twisted teeth", from Irish ''cas'' 'twisted'.{{sfnp|O'Duffy|1888|pp=8, 72, 180}} She is also glossed as being "buck-toothed".<ref name=mackillop/>

'''Ceitleann Chraos-Fhiaclach''' is the slightly different form of the nickname that occurs in the Fenian cycle story {{illm|Bruidhean Chaorthainn{{!}}''Bruidhean Chaorthainn''|ie|Bruidhean Chaorthainn}}<ref name=pearse/> ("The Fairy Palace of the Quicken Trees",<ref name=joyce-pw-quicken/> "Rowan Tree Palace",<ref name=pearse/> "The Story of the Rowan Tree Dwelling"<ref name=leabhar-na-feinne-v1-p086/>). The headword, ''craos'' ({{langx|sga|cráes}}) can mean a 'gap, gaping, yawning', as well as 'voraciousness',<ref name=odonaill-craos/><ref name=dil-craes/> but Pearse has accepted the latter sense, and glosses the name as "ravening tooth".<ref name=pearse/> This '''Ceaithlann ''' also appears in Scottish copies of this tale.<ref name=leabhar-na-feinne-v1-p086/>

== Attestations ==

=== Battle of Mag Tuired ===
Cethlenn is unmentioned in the narrative ''[[Cath Maige Tuired]]'', as she is not listed in the roster of [[Fomorians]] compiled by [[Whitley Stokes (Celtic scholar)|Whitley Stokes]] .{{sfnp|Stokes|1891|p=129}}{{efn|Except she is mentioned by Stokes under Balor's entry.}}

But in this Battle of Mag Tuired (The Second Battle of Moytura), Cethlenn hurled a javelin (''gae'') at [[the Dagda]] giving him a mortal wound, as recorded in the''[[Lebor Gabála Érenn]]''.<ref name=lge-para314&366/>  It took 120 years before the Dagda died of the wound.<ref>{{harvp|Macalister|1941|p=102}}: "120 years before!"</ref>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Since the LGE states that Lugh was subsequently in kingship for 40 years, and the Dagda for another 80 years.<ref name=lge-para314&366/>}}

The recounting of Cethlenn injuring the Dagda is repeated in the ''[[Annals of the Four Masters]]'',<ref>{{harvp|O'Donovan|1856}}, 23 and note x.</ref> [[Geoffrey Keating|Keating]]'s ''[[Foras Feasa ar Éirinn|History]]'',<ref name=keating/> and [[Roderick O'Flaherty|O'Flaherty]]'s ''Ogygia''.<ref name=oflaherty-ogygia-eng/>

Cethlenn presumably fell in battle, or so it has been commented on by [[John O'Mahony]] without clarification of source.<ref>O'Mahoney, translation and notes by, {{harvp|Keating|1857}}, pp. 139–140, note 13.</ref>

=== Enniskillen ===

Some local historians in the 20th century and after refer to a legend that the Cethlenn was injured and swam to [[Enniskillen]] on [[Loch Erne]], [[County Fermanagh|Co. Fermanagh]], where she died.<ref name=livingstone/><ref name=mccusker/> The suggestion that Enniskillen is eponymous after Cethlenn is made in the early 17th century ''[[Annals of Clonmacnoise]]'', though nothing about her swimming there is remarked on by 19th century writers.<ref name=odonovan/><ref name=vinycomb/> The present-day town is still situated on a river island. The town centre can only be accessed by crossing a bridge from the surrounding mainland. The town was the location of an island fortress on the [[River Erne]] once maintained by the [[Maguire of Fermanagh]] and the castle river gate entrance still stands.<ref name=vinycomb/>

According to local lore, the town has taken the name of a smaller island, Innis Cethlenn, located just south of today's East Bridge. It was long ago foretold that if the island was flooded by Erne waters, it would fall to its enemies. Just before the Flight of the Earls (the old Gaelic rulers) the island did flood and the town of Enniskillen fell to the English. In the nineteenth century the Enniskillen borough took measures to prevent the town ever being taken by an enemy again, by filling in the narrow waterway between the smaller island and the mainland. At the same time, the island's elevation was raised to the level of the mainland with earth filling enclosed inside a stone wall. This piece of ground can still be seen, home now to a stand of mature chestnut trees that overhang the river. Innis Cethleen is still enclosed by the stone wall that has prevented it flooding for the past two centuries. <ref>{{cite journal |title=Ancient Maps of Enniskillen and Its Environs |author=Earl of Belmore |journal=Ulster Journal of Archaeology |volume=2 |number=4 |year=1896}}</ref>

[[Énrí Ó Muirgheasa]] suggested that this area ([[Breifne]]) which is the nexus between Ulster and Connacht should be investigated as the genuine location where the Balor legend was localized, rather than [[Tory Island]].<ref name=morris/>

=== Balor's wife ===
Cethlenn is not explicitly called Balor's wife in the LGE,<ref name=lge-para314&366/><ref name=lge-oclery/>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Or the Annals,<ref name=odonovan/> or by Keating.<ref name=keating/>}} but it is thus stated in the ''Ogygia'' ([[1685]]).<ref name=oflaherty-ogygia-eng/>{{efn|And the ''Ogygia'' for some reason considers her Lug's great-grand aunt rather than his grandmother.}}<ref name=oflaherty-ogygia-eng/>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|O'Donovan also footnotes she is Balor's wife.<ref name=odonovan/> O'Donovan heavily consulted the ''Ogygia''.<ref name=morris/>}}

=== Prognostication ===
In the early modern Romance ''Oidheadh Chloinne Tuireann'' (OCT), Balor's wife ('''Céithlionn''' or '''Ceithlinn''') identifies Lug as their grandson, and proclaims that once he comes into Erin, the days that they the Fomorians will remain in power are at an end.{{sfnp|O'Curry|1863|p=166–167}}<ref name=okearney-feis-tighe-chonain/>

Arthur C. L. Brown remarks on this prediction that comes true in the form of Balor's destruction by Lugh,<ref name=brown-sirperceval5/> but prefers not to make connection to the ancient version of the ''[[Cath Maige Tuired]]'' in which Lug uses a sling stone as the lethal weapon,<ref>{{harvp|Stokes|1891|pp=100–101}}, ''CMT'' §135.</ref> but rather to a folktale version in which Lugh uses a spear crafted by a particular swordsmith named Gavnin Gow.<ref name=curtin-p296-connemara/>

== Eponyms ==
The town of [[Enniskillen]] ([[Irish language|Irish]] ''inis Cethlinn'', "Cethlenn's island") in [[County Fermanagh]], [[Northern Ireland]] is named after her.<ref name="History of Irish Place Names">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2I_UAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA163 | title=The Origin and History of Irish Names of Places, Volume 1 | publisher=Longmans, Green | author=Joyce, Patrick Weston | year=1901 | pages=163 | isbn=1143292944}}</ref>

It has also been suggested that the name of Cethlenn may have influenced the name "Cathaleen's Fall(s)" used for the [[Assaroe Falls]] in [[County Donegal]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.logainm.ie/en/111066 |title=Eas Chaitlín/Cathaleen's Fall |access-date=2023-10-07 |website=[[Placenames Database of Ireland]] |page=AN111066-3 |quote=Más ainm nua-chumtha é Cathaleen's Falls, b'fhéidir gur faoi thionchar KETHLEN – a d'éirigh an fhoirm seo.}}</ref> This name is now used for the [[Cathaleen's Fall Hydroelectric Power Station|hydroelectric dam]] built at that location.

==Explanatory notes==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
;Citations
{{reflist|30em|refs=

<ref name=brown-sirperceval5>{{citation|last=Brown |first=Arthur C. L. |author-link=<!--Arthur C. L. Brown--> |title=The Grail and the English Sir Perceval. V |journal=Modern Philology |volume=22 |number=1 |date=August 1924 |pages=87–88<!--79–96-->|jstor=433319}}</ref>

<ref name=curtin-p296-connemara>{{cite book|editor-last=Curtin |editor-first=Jeremiah |editor-link=Jeremiah Curtin |chapter=Balor of the Evil Eye and Lui Lavada his Grandson |title=Hero-tales of Ireland |publisher=Little, Brown |year=1911 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z-RGAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA304 |page=304 <!--296–311-->}}</ref>

<ref name=dil-craes>eDIL s.v. "[http://dil.ie/12717 cráes]".</ref>

<ref name=joyce-pw-quicken>{{citation |last=Joyce|first=Patrick Weston |author-link=Patrick Weston Joyce |title=The Fairy Palace of the Quicken Trees |work=Old Celtic Romances |publisher=[[D. Nutt]] |year=1894 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c98YAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA177 |page=178 (177–222)}}</ref>

<ref name=keating>{{cite book|last=Keating |first=Geoffrey |author-link=Geoffrey Keating |translator=John O'Mahony |translator-link=John O'Mahony |title=The History of Ireland from the Earliest Period to the English Invasion |place=New York |publisher=P. M. Haverty  |year=1857 |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofireland00keat|page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofireland00keat/page/143 143]}}</ref>

<ref name=leabhar-na-feinne-v1-p086>{{cite book|editor-last=Campbell |editor-first=John Francis |editor-link=John Francis Campbell |title=Am Bruighean Caorthuin, 1603; The Story of the Rowan Tree Dwelling |work=Leabhar na Feinne. Vol. I. Gaelic texts: Heroic Gaelic ballads collected in Scotland chiefly from 1512 to 1871 |publisher=Spottiswoode |year=1872 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eYcNAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA86 |pages=86–}}</ref>

<ref name=lge-para314&366>{{harvp|Macalister|1941}} ed. tr. LGE ¶314, 124–125 ('''Cetlenn'''); <!--¶ In 2nd Redaction not found--> ¶366, pp. 184–185; Poem LV, str. 32 on p. 237</ref>

<ref name=lge-oclery>{{citation|last=  O'Clery|first=Michael |author-link=Michael O'Clery |editor-last=Macalister |editor-first=R.A.S. |editor-link=R.A.S. Macalister |title=Leabhar gabhála: The book of conquests of Ireland. The recension of Micheál O'Cléirigh |location=Dublin |publisher=Hodges, Figgis |year=1916|url=https://archive.org/details/leabhargabhlab01cluoft/page/166/mode/2up/ }}. ¶109, pp. 166–167, ¶120 str. e', pp. 186–187</ref>

<ref name=livingstone>{{cite book|last=Livingstone |first=Peadar |author-link=Peadar Livingstone |title=The Fermanagh Story; a documented history of the County  |publisher=Cumann Seanchais Chlochair (Clogher Historical Society) |year=1969 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jlsTAQAAMAAJ&q=Ceithleann |page=390|isbn=9780950104706 }}</ref>

<ref name=mackillop>"[https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095541846 Caitlín]", Mackillop (1998) ed., ''Oxford Dictionary of Celtic Mythology''.</ref>

<ref name=mccusker>{{cite book|last=McCusker |first=Breege |author-link=<!--Breege McCusker, local historian--> |title=Fermanagh: Land of Lake and Legend |place=Donaghadee, N. Ireland |publisher=[[Dundurn Group|Dundurn]] |orig-year=1999 |year=2003 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pQ2xO1uRN2AC&pg=PA26 |page=26 |isbn=1900935104<!--9781900935104-->}}</ref>

<ref name="Monaghan Encyclopedia">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nd9R6GQBB_0C&pg=PA86 | title=The Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore | publisher=Infobase Publishing | author=Monaghan, Patricia | year=2009 | page=86 | isbn=978-1438110370}}</ref>

<ref name=morris>{{citation|last=Morris |first=Henry |author-link=Énrí Ó Muirgheasa |title=Where Was Tor Inis, the Island Fortress of the Fomorians?|journal=The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland |series=Sixth Series |volume=17 |date=30 June 1927 |issue=1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G5gxAQAAIAAJ |page=57<!--47–58-->|jstor=25513429}}: "..Enniskillen after his wife. Indeed, a folk-lorist would be prompted by this to seek in Breifne for the origin of the Balor legend"; p. 48: "there is hardly any writer whom O'Donovan quotes more frequently than O'Flaherty" (i.e. ''Ogygia'').</ref>

<ref name=odonaill-craos>Gabshegonal Ó Dónaill (1977) ''Focloir'' "[https://www.teanglann.ie/en/fgb/craos craos]": '2. deep opening; vent'; '4 voracity, greed'.</ref>

<ref name=odonovan>{{cite book|last=O'Donovan |first=John |author-link=John O'Donovan (scholar) |title=Annála Ríoghachta Éireann: Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters |volume=1 |place=Dublin |publisher=Hodges, Smith, and Co. |year=1856 |orig-year=1848 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8LHSAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA23 |page=23 and note x}}</ref>

<ref name=oflaherty-ogygia-eng>{{cite book|last=O'Flaherty |first=Roderic |author-link=Roderic O'Flaherty |others=tr. by Rev. James Hely |chapter=Part III, Chapter XII |title=Ogygia, or, A chronological account of Irish events |volume=2 |year=1793 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pD0IAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA22 |pages=21–22}}: "Kethlenda, the wife of Balar, gave Dagda.. a desperate wound from some missile weapon"; p. 23: "Lugad.. Mac Kethlenn, from is great grand-aunt, the wife of Balar".</ref>

<ref name=okearney-feis-tighe-chonain>{{cite book|editor-last=O'Kearney |editor-first=Nicholas |editor-link=<!--Nicholas O'Kearney--> |title=Feis Tighe Chonain Chinn-Shleibhe, or the Festivities at the House of Conan of Ceann-Cleibhe |year=1854 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pD0IAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA22 |series=Transactions of the Ossianic Society, Vol. 2 |pages=23–25}}</ref>

<ref name=pearse>{{cite book|editor-last=Pearse |editor-first=Padraic |editor-link=Padraic Pearse |title=Bruiḋean Ċaorṫainn: sgéal Fiannaiḋeaċta |publisher=Ċonnraḋ na Gaeḋilge |year=1908 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YWoGAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA44 |pages=2, 44, 50}}</ref>

<ref name=vinycomb>{{citation|last=Vinycomb |first=John |author-link=John Vinycomb |title=The Seals and Armorial Insignia of Corporate and other Towns in Ulster (cont.) |journal=Ulster Journal of Archaeology |volume=1 |year=1895|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uF4NAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA119 |page=119<!--111–119-->}}</ref>

<ref name=wood-martin>{{citation|last=Wood-Martin |first= W. G. |author-link=William Gregory Wood-Martin |title=Battle-ground and Ancient Monuments of Northern Moytirra  |journal=Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland |volume=6 |series=Fourth series |date=1884 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AGbKAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA448 |page=448<!--442–470-->}}</ref>

}}

;Bibliography
{{refbegin}}
* {{citation|editor-last=Macalister |editor-first=R.A.S. |editor-link=R.A.S. Macalister |title=Section VII: Invasion of the Tuatha De Danann |work=Lebor gabála Érenn, Part IV |series=<!--Irish Texts Society vol. XLI--> |year=1941 |url=https://archive.org/details/leborgablare04macauoft/page/134 }}
* {{citation|editor-last=O'Curry |editor-first=Eugene |editor-link=Eugene O'Curry |title=The Fate of the Children of Tuireann ([A]oidhe Chloinne Tuireann) |journal=Atlantis |volume=IV |year=1863 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z5JEAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA157 |pages=157–240}}
* {{citation|editor-last=O'Duffy |editor-first=Richard J.|editor-link=<!--Richard J. O'Duffy--> |title=Oidhe Chloinne Tuireann: Fate of the children of Tuireann |publisher=M.H. Gill & Son (for the Society for the Preservation of the Irish language) |year=1888 |url=https://archive.org/details/clannuisnigbeing00crai/page/n6/mode/2up }}
** {{cite book|editor-mask=2 |editor-last=O'Duffy|editor-first=Richard J.|editor-link=<!--Richard J. O'Duffy--> |title=Oidhe Chloinne Tuireann: Fate of the children of Tuireann |publisher=M.H. Gill & Son (for the Society for the Preservation of the Irish language) |year=1901 |url=https://archive.org/details/oidhechloinnetui00oduf }} (Some of the earlier notes on MSS in the earlier edition are wanting)
*{{citation|last=Stokes |first=Whitley |author-link=Whitley Stokes (Celtic scholar) |title=The Second Battle of Moytura |journal= Revue Celtique |volume=12 |year=1891 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WjVKAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA52 |pages=52–130, 306–308 }}: [https://archive.org/details/revueceltiqu12pari text] via Internet Archive
{{refend}}

{{Celtic mythology (Mythological)}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cethlenn}}
[[Category:Fomorians]]
[[Category:Irish goddesses]]

[[pl:Cethlenn]]