Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

Ancient and ArchaeologyΒ  permalink

The Tuatha De Danann

• Message 1.Β 

  Posted by GoldenOak (U9497749) on Saturday, 5th July 2008

  Hi, never posted on here before but I'm a poster on the R&E message boards.
  
  Been thinking about something recently.
  
  The De Danann were a mythical people who invaded Ireland in pre-history. When the present day humans arrived they drove the De Danann under the ground to live in mounds and tumulii, and so they became the Fairies, or Sidhe-Folk, of legend.
  
  Now then,the name Tuatha means people, De means a deity, and Danann seems to be a name. So Tuatha De Danann means "People of the Goddess Danann". Could this Goddess Danann be the same as the GGoddess Danu, or Anu, an ancient earth deity? Quite possibly. Could rivers and places such as the Danube be named after her?
  
  Could the term Dane, from which we get Denmark come from this word?
  
  Finaly we come to the question I've been thinking of:Could the Tuatha De Danann actualy be Scandinavians? Records suggest they were fair -haired, like the Danes. The De Danann eventualy lived in barrow like hills, didnt the Vikings live in houses covered with turf?
  
  Could the De Danann be descendants of the Danes?
  
  George

  Link to this forum: The Tuatha De Danann

  Report message1

• Message 2

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by TwinProbe (U4077936) on Saturday, 5th July 2008

  Hi GoldenOak,
  
  Welcome. There are some real Irish history experts on this messageboard, although sadly I'm not one.
  
  I've no idea of the etymology of the Dan in Danmark, but I think I can do Danube. It resembles the name of the Roman fort of Danum, which is the Yorkshire town of Doncaster, with its river the Don. Those people who named rivers in Britain were rather unimaginative and called them 'swift', 'black' or 'oak-lined' etc. I think that Danube and Don come from *danu - a hypothetical Celtic word meaning flowing. You would perhaps know if there is a modern Irish equivalent.
  
  People living underground in tumuli remind me of those Iron Age souterrains. They are common in Cornwall and many parts of Scotland. They were found in Ireland I know. They were often associated with Iron Age dwellings although their exact function (or functions) remain uncertain.
  
  I like your idea of a Scandinavian link very much. Bede records that the Picts first came to Ireland from Scythia, before being dispatched to modern Scotland. Where did he think Scythia was in this context? Scandinavia is certainly one possibility. The difficult in confirming this link is the lack of definite Scandinavian artefacts in Britain prior to the Viking Age. Do you know if this is also the situation in Ireland?
  
  Best wishes,
  
  TP

  Link to this forum: The Tuatha De Danann

  Report message2

• Message 3

  , in reply to message 2.

  Posted by giraffe47 (U4048491) on Monday, 7th July 2008

  I think these people came to Ireland soon after the Ice Age, so I would doubt if they were from Scandinavia, which would have been still pretty inhospitable at that time - South/Central Europe would be more likely, of even N. Africa, via the sea.
  
  The 'Danes' did not arrive in Iteland till 800AD or so, so these are hardly their 'descendants'.
  
  I thought the 'De Dannan' were driven out/driven underground/driven to the Western Bogs/ by the Celts from about 800BC onwards, and were the small, dark, 'beaker' people, who were into a lot of 'Earth Magic', etc, and so started the 'Fairy' legends. They were called the 'rent payers' by the Celts, who were tall, red/fair haired people, with better weapons, who took over the best land, and must have feared the 'revenge' of the 'little people' they had dispossessed.
  
  

  Link to this forum: The Tuatha De Danann

  Report message3

• Message 4

  , in reply to message 3.

  Posted by Jim Reuss (U10298645) on Monday, 7th July 2008

  I understood that the claim for the Tuatha origin was Spain; Perhaps a linguistic comparison of Basque and Gaelic terms would be a better starting place?

  Link to this forum: The Tuatha De Danann

  Report message4

• Message 5

  , in reply to message 4.

  Posted by giraffe47 (U4048491) on Wednesday, 9th July 2008

  The Celtic people were supposed to have come from Spain to Ireland, and the Tuatha name was what the Celts called the small, dark-haired previous inhabitants, whom they dispossesed.
  
  The Celtic Irish now have the cheek to complain about the Normans and the English dispossessing them!
  
  (I happen to be a small, dark-haired Irishman, but no hard feelings, etc!)

  Link to this forum: The Tuatha De Danann

  Report message5

• Message 6

  , in reply to message 5.

  Posted by Offtothepub (U12629144) on Thursday, 10th July 2008

  The Book of Invasions [Crith Gablach - ?not sure of the spelling!] written in the early Christian period give about six groups of people who inhabited Ireland before the sons of Mil [Milesians]. The Tuatha de Danaan were the last of these groups, the Formorians and Fir Bolg are among the others, but I can not recall the rest ...
  
  i think recent DNA evidence points to a Spanish connection, but not Basque, more likely Gallician.

  Link to this forum: The Tuatha De Danann

  Report message6

Back to top