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Gancanagh
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{{Short description|Fairy in Northern Irish mythology}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Culture of Ireland}} A '''gancanagh''' ({{IPAc-en|ɡ|æ|n|ˈ|k|æ|n|ə}}) ({{etymology|ga|gean cánach|love talker}})<ref name="yeats">{{cite book |date=1888 |editor-last=Yeats |editor-first=W. B. |title=Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry |url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/yeats/fip/fip89.htm}}</ref> is a male [[fairy]] from the [[Irish mythology|mythology]] of Ireland, known for seducing women. == Etymology == The name has been rendered under various spellings including geancánach or ganconer. Sources collected from County Meath by the [[Irish Folklore Commission]] indicate that the word (pronounced gankanah or gankaneh) could also mean a small or precocious child, indicating fairylike smallness.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Focla Gaeilge atá in Úsáid Fós san gCeantar Seo |url=https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/5008892/4964444/5082253 |journal=The Schools' Collection |volume=0682 |pages=100}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |title=Focla Gaeilge atá in Úsáid Fós i mBéal na mBéarlóirí i gCo. na Mí |url=https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/5008895/4964518/5083601 |journal=The Schools' Collection |volume=0682 |pages=174}}</ref> == Legend == In 1888, [[W. B. Yeats]] noted that the gancanagh was not found in dictionaries and the fairy was not well-known in Connacht.<ref name="yeats"/> In a story collected in ''The Dublin and London Magazine'' in 1825, ganconer is defined as "a name given to the fairies, alias the 'good people,' in the North of Ireland." They are described as little men who live in caves, led by Captain Dearg (The Red Captain). One ganconer kidnaps a human woman, and her sweetheart must win her back on Halloween night. He catches her at a crossroads, but she is caught between him and the ganconers and dies.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1825 |title=Superstitions of the Irish Peasantry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i4AEAAAAQAAJ |journal=The Dublin and London Magazine |pages=311–315}}</ref> In another story in the same magazine, a group of ganconers plays hurling, and carries off a widow’s cow to a fairyland beneath the lake of Loughleagh. The owner retrieves the cow, but the moment someone says the name of God nearby, the cow sinks into the ground never to be seen again.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1825 |title=Superstitions of the Irish Peasantry, No. VIII |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i4AEAAAAQAAJ |journal=The Dublin and London Magazine |pages=352–354}}</ref> According to Nicholas O’Kearney writing in 1855, the Geancanach was a little man similar to the Leprechaun, but lazier. He appeared in lonesome valleys with a dudeen, a short clay pipe which was consequently known as “the Geancanagh’s pipe.” (The dudeen was also associated with the Cluricaune, another fairy.)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Croker |first=Thomas Crofton |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=omkWAAAAYAAJ&dq=dudeen+cluricaune&pg=PA155 |title=Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland |publisher=J. Murray |year=1826 |pages=155}}</ref> The Geancanagh seduced shepherdesses and milkmaids. It was considered highly unlucky to meet him, and any man who had wasted his money chasing after women was said to have met a Geancanagh.<ref>{{Cite book |last=O'Kearney |first=Nicholas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f_le1_sG53oC&dq=nicholas+o%27kearney+%22love-talker%22&pg=PA18 |title=Feis tighe chonain chinn-shleibhe or The festivities at the house of Conan of Ceann-Sleibhe |publisher=Ossianic Society |year=1855 |pages=18–19}}</ref> Captain Dearg and an army of ganconers appeared in the poetry of [[John O'Hanlon (writer)|John O’Hanlon]] as fairy soldiers who ride through the air. O’Hanlon identified ganconer as an alternate name for the fairies or little folk.<ref>{{Cite book |last=O'Hanlon |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7RwkAAAAMAAJ&dq=ganconer&pg=PA120 |title=Legend Lays of Ireland |year=1870 |pages=120}}</ref> Irish poet [[Ethna Carbery]] characterized the “Love-Talker” as a handsome incubus-like fairy with black eyes. He has no shadow, and his approach is accompanied by a mist. He seduces maidens, leaving them to waste away and die afterwards. He is banished by the [[sign of the cross]], but too late for the protagonist of the poem, who has already kissed him.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Carbery |first=Ethna |title=The Four Winds of Eirinn |year=1902 |location=Dublin}}</ref> In one 20th-century story collected by the Irish Folklore Commission, a geancanagh stars in a leprechaun-like role. He is captured and forced to show where his gold is buried, only to trick his captor.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Reilly |first=Philip |title=A Fairy Story - Geancánach. |url=https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/5170141/5169210/5196355 |journal=The Schools' Collection |volume=0983 |pages=370–371}}</ref> ==In popular culture== * W.B. Yeats used "Ganconagh" as a pseudonym.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Yeats |first=William Butler |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OnajqAlyRd0C&dq=gonconer&pg=PT244 |title=The Collected Works of W.B. Yeats Vol. VI: Prefaces and Introductions, Volume 6 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=2008|isbn=9781439106235 }}</ref> * In the series of books "''[[Melissa Marr#Wicked Lovely series|Wicked Lovely]]''" of [[Melissa Marr]], two characters, Irial and Niall, are gancanaghs. * In the series of books "''[[Holly Black#The Folk of the Air|The Folk of Air]]''" of [[Holly Black]], the characters of Liriope and her sons, Locke and Oak, are gancanaghs. == See also == * [[Clurichaun]] * [[Incubus]] * [[Leanan sídhe|Leanan Sidhe]] * [[Leprechaun]] * [[Trauco]] ==References== {{reflist}} {{Scottish mythology}} {{Fairies}} [[Category:European legendary creatures]] [[Category:Aos Sí]] [[Category:Fairies]] [[Category:Irish folklore]] [[Category:Irish legendary creatures]] [[Category:Tuatha Dé Danann]]
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