View source for Manannán mac Lir

{{short description|Sea god in Irish mythology}}
{{redirect|Manannan|the Isle of Man Steam Packet ship|HSC Manannan}}
{{EngvarB|date=October 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|cs1-dates=ll|date=July 2024}}
[[File:Manannán mac Lir sculpture, Gortmore (geograph 4107287).jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.5|{{lang|ga|Manannán mac Lir}}, sculpture by John Sutton at Gortmore, [[Magilligan]], [[County Londonderry]], Northern Ireland.<ref>{{cite news |last=Jackson |first=Sheena |date=26 June 2015 |title=The return of sea god sculpture Manannán Mac Lir |work=[[Derry Journal]] |url= http://www.derryjournal.com/news/the-return-of-sea-god-sculpture-manannan-mac-lir-1-6819326 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20171213155653/http://www.derryjournal.com/news/the-return-of-sea-god-sculpture-manannan-mac-lir-1-6819326 |archive-date=13 December 2017}}</ref>]]
[[File:Broighter Gold, Dublin, October 2010 (03).JPG|thumb|The boat from the 1st century BC [[Broighter Hoard]], which was found near Magilligan and may be a [[votive offering]] to {{lang|ga|Manannán|italic=unset}}<ref>Wallace, Patrick F., O'Floinn, Raghnall eds. Treasures of the National Museum of Ireland: Irish Antiquities, 2002, Gill & Macmillan, Dublin, p. 138.</ref>]]
'''{{lang|ga|Manannán|italic=unset}}''' or '''{{lang|ga|Manann|italic=unset}}''', also known as '''{{lang|ga|Manannán mac Lir|italic=unset}}''' ('son of the Sea'),<ref>Charles Squire. ''Celtic Myth and Legend''.</ref> is a [[Water deity|sea god]], warrior, and king of the [[Tír na nÓg|otherworld]] in [[Irish mythology|Gaelic (Irish, Manx, and Scottish) mythology]] who is one of the {{lang|ga|[[Tuatha Dé Danann]]|italic=unset}}.

He is seen as a ruler and guardian of the [[Celtic Otherworld|otherworld]], and his dominion is referred by such names as {{lang|ga|[[Emain Ablach]]|italic=unset}} (or {{lang|sga|Emhain Abhlach|italic=unset}}, 'Isle of Apple Trees'), {{lang|ga|Mag Mell|italic=unset}} ('Plain of Delights'), or {{lang|ga|[[Tír na nÓg|Tír Tairngire]]|italic=unset}} ('Land of Promise'). He is described as over-king of the surviving Tuatha Dé after the advent of humans ([[Milesians (Irish)|Milesians]]), and uses the mist of invisibility ({{lang|ga|[[féth fíada]]}}) to cloak the whereabouts of his home as well as the {{lang|ga|[[sidhe]]}} dwellings of the others.

In modern tales, he is said to own a self-navigating boat named {{lang|ga|Sguaba Tuinne|italic=unset}} ('Wave-sweeper'), a horse {{lang|sga|[[Enbarr|Aonbharr]]|italic=unset}} which can course over water as well as land, and a deadly strength-sapping sword named {{lang|ga|[[Fragarach]]|italic=unset}}, though the list does not end there.

{{lang|ga|Manannán|italic=unset}} appears also in [[Scottish mythology|Scottish]] and [[Culture of the Isle of Man|Manx]] legend, where he is known as {{lang|ga|Manannan beg mac y Leir|italic=unset}} ('little Manannan, son of the Sea'). The Isle of Man ({{lang|gv|Mannin}}) is generally thought to be named after him, though some{{who?|date=July 2024}} have said he is named after the island. He is cognate with the [[Welsh language|Welsh]] figure {{lang|cy|[[Manawydan fab Llŷr]]|italic=unset}}.

== Names ==
{{lang|ga|Manannán|italic=unset}} is given several names, bynames, epithets, and surnames or [[patronymic]]s. His name is spelt {{lang|sga|Manandán}} in [[Old Irish]], {{lang|ga|Manannán}} in Modern Irish, {{lang|gd|Manannàn}} in [[Scottish Gaelic]], and {{lang|gv|Mannan}} in [[Manx language|Manx Gaelic]].

Some of the names equated with {{lang|ga|Manannán|italic=unset}} include:
* '''{{lang|sga|Oirbsiu|italic=unset}}''', '''{{lang|mga|Oirbsen|italic=unset}}'''<ref name="Skene" /> or '''Orbsen'''<!--No lang. markup; that's an anglicisation.--><ref name="oflaherty-ogygia-eng" /> {{crossref|printworthy=y|(see [[#Merchant Orbsen|§ Merchant Orbsen]] below)}}
* '''{{lang|ga|Duartaine Ó Duartaine|italic=unset}}'''
* '''{{lang|ga|Cathal Ó Cein|italic=unset}}''' ({{lang|ga|Cathal}} means 'great warrior')<ref>{{cite web |title=Cathal |url= https://www.babynamesofireland.com/cathal |website=Baby Names of Ireland |access-date=6 August 2019}}</ref>
* '''{{lang|ga|Gilla de|italic=unset}}''' ('Boyservant')
* '''{{lang|ga|Gilla Decair|italic=unset}}''' ('Troublesome Boyservant')

===Etymology===
According to some,{{who?|date=July 2024}} his name is derived from the [[Isle of Man]] with the {{lang|ga|-an}} suffix indicating 'one who is from' the named place. The island's name itself may come from a Celtic word for 'mountain' or 'rise', as the Isle of Man rises from the sea on the horizon.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kneale |first=Victor |chapter=Ellan Vannin (Isle of Man). Britonia |editor-last=Koch |editor-first=John T. |title=Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia |url= https://archive.org/details/celticculturehis00koch_128 |url-access=limited |page=[https://archive.org/details/celticculturehis00koch_128/page/n711 676] |date=2006 |place=Santa Barbara |publisher=ABC-CLIO}}<br />If the name of Man reflects the generic word for 'mountain', it is impossible to distinguish this from a generic 'he of the mountain'; but the patronymic {{lang|sga|mac Lir}}, interpreted as 'son of the Sea', is taken to reinforce the association with the island. See, e.g.:<br />{{cite journal |last=Wagner |first=Heinrich |title=Origins of Pagan Irish Religion |journal=[[Zeitschrift für Celtische Philologie]] |date=1981 |volume=38 |pages=1–28|doi=10.1515/zcph.1981.38.1.1 }}</ref> Alternatively, it may come from an earlier [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] root for 'water' or 'wetness'.<ref name="olmsted">{{cite book |last=Olmsted |first=Garrett |title=The Gods of the Celts and the Indo-Europeans |publisher=[[University of Innsbruck]] |date=1994 |page=306}}</ref> In medieval Irish tradition, it appears that Manannán came to be considered eponymous to the island (rather than vice versa).<ref>{{harvp|Moore|1891|p=2}}, invoking [[John Rhŷs]].</ref>{{clarify|date=July 2024|reason="Invoking" (citing) which work of Rhŷs?}}

=== Surname and Epithets ===
The most common epithets for {{lang|ga|Manannán|italic=unset}} reinforce his association with war and the sea. {{lang|ga|Mac Lir}} means 'son of the Sea' or 'son of {{lang|ga|[[Ler (mythology)|Ler]]|italic=unset}}', a sea god whose name means 'Sea'.

It has been suggested that his mythological father {{lang|ga|Ler|italic=unset}}'s role as sea god was taken over by {{lang|ga|Manannán|italic=unset}}. {{lang|ga|Manannán|italic=unset}}'s other surname {{lang|ga|mac Alloit}} or {{lang|ga|mac Alloid}} means 'son of the Soil/Land', so that Manannán is effectively son of the sea and land.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bourke |first1=Ulick J. |title=Pre-Christian Ireland |date=1887 |publisher=Browne & Nolan |location=Dublin, Ireland |page=47 |url= https://archive.org/stream/prechristianirel00bouriala/prechristianirel00bouriala_djvu.txt |access-date=1 August 2019}}</ref>

== In Irish mythology ==
{{lang|ga|Manannán|italic=unset}} appears in all of the cycles of [[Irish mythology]], although he only plays a prominent role in a limited number of tales.
*In the [[Ulster Cycle]]: {{lang|sga|[[Tochmarc Étaíne]]}} ('The Wooing of [[Étaín]]'), {{lang|sga|[[Serglige Con Culainn]]}} ('The Wasting Sickness of {{lang|ga|[[Cúchulainn]]|italic=unset}}' or 'The Sickbed of {{lang|ga|Cúchulainn|italic=unset}}'),<ref>{{Cite Serglige Con Culainn}}</ref> {{lang|sga|Tochmarc Luaine}} ('The Wooing of {{lang|ga|Luan|italic=unset}}')
*In the [[Cycles of the Kings]]: {{lang|sga|[[Immram Brain]] maic Febail}} ('The Voyage of {{lang|ga|Bran|italic=unset}} son of {{lang|ga|Febal|italic=unset}}'),{{sfnp|MacQuarrie|2004|p=}}{{page needed|date=July 2024}}{{better source needed|date=July 2024|reason=Edwin Mellen Press has been identified as a vanity self-publisher, and is on our blacklist.}} {{lang|sga|[[Echtra Cormaic|Echtra Cormaic maic Airt]]}} ('The Adventure of {{lang|ga|[[Cormac mac Airt]]|italic=unset}}'), {{lang|sga|[[Compert Mongáin]]}} ('The Birth of {{lang|ga|Mongán|italic=unset}}')
*In the [[Mythological Cycle]]: {{lang|sga|[[Lebor Gabála Érenn]]}} ('The Book of Invasions'), First Recension; {{lang|sga|Altram Tige Dá Medar}} ('The Nourishment of the Houses of Two Milk-vessels')<ref name="dobs-altram" /><ref name="duncan-altram" />
*other Old Irish texts: {{lang|sga|[[Sanas Cormaic]]}} ('{{lang|ga|Cormac|italic=unset}}'s Glossary')

In the [[Ulster Cycle]] tale "The Wasting Sickness of {{lang|ga|Cúchulainn}}" , {{lang|ga|Manannán|italic=unset}}'s wife, {{lang|ga|[[Fand]]|italic=unset}}, has an ill-fated affair with the warrior {{lang|ga|[[Cúchulainn]]|italic=unset}}. When {{lang|ga|Fand|italic=unset}} sees that {{lang|ga|Cúchulainn|italic=unset}}'s jealous wife, {{lang|ga|[[Emer]]|italic=unset}}, is worthy of him (and accompanied by a troop of armed women), she decides to return to {{lang|ga|Manannán|italic=unset}}, who then shakes his cloak ({{lang|ga|brat[t]}}) of forgetfulness between {{lang|ga|Fand|italic=unset}} and {{lang|ga|Cúchulainn|italic=unset}} which causes them not be able to remember each other.<ref name="SCC">[http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/G301015/index.html "Serglige Con Culainn"], Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition</ref><ref name="SCC-English1">[http://www.manannan.net/library/cuchulain.html The Sick-Bed of Cuchulain] {{Webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090708123153/http://www.manannan.net/library/cuchulain.html |date=8 July 2009 }} transcribed from ''The Lost Yellow Book of Slane'' by Maelmuiri mac Ceileachair into the ''Leabhar na h-Uidhri'' in the 11th century</ref>{{sfnp|Arbois de Jubainville|1892|pp=215–216}}<ref name="paton" />

=== Characteristics ===
{{lang|ga|Manannán|italic=unset}} rode his chariot over the sea, meeting with {{lang|ga|Bran|italic=unset}} and his crew sailing by ship, in the tale "The Voyage of {{lang|ga|Bran|italic=unset}} son of {{lang|ga|Febal|italic=unset}}", considered an early work.<ref name="meyer-imram-brain" /> In this story, he told {{lang|ga|Bran|italic=unset}} that sea was not actually water to him but rather "I [{{lang|ga|Manannán|italic=unset}}] see in the Plain of Feats red topped flowers without fault".{{sfnp|MacQuarrie|2004|p=}}{{page needed|date=July 2024}}{{better source needed|date=July 2024|reason=Edwin Mellen Press has been identified as a vanity self-publisher, and is on our blacklist.}} He goes on to tell Bran about how he is heading to Ireland to have relations with Caintigern who would go on to bear {{lang|ga|[[Mongán mac Fíachnai|Mongán]]|italic=unset}}.{{sfnp|MacQuarrie|2004|p=}}{{page needed|date=July 2024}}{{better source needed|date=July 2024|reason=Edwin Mellen Press has been identified as a vanity self-publisher, and is on our blacklist.}}

In late sources, {{lang|ga|Manannán|italic=unset}} visits the land of the living, his movement is compared to the wind, a hawk or swallow, and sometimes takes the form of a thundering wheel rolling across the landscape, such as in the "Pursuit of the {{lang|ga|Gilla Decair|italic=unset}}",<ref name="Gilla">[https://celt.ucc.ie//published/T303025/index.html "The Pursuit of the Gilla Decair and His Horse"]</ref><ref>[https://celt.ucc.ie//published/T301042/index.html ''Scél Baili Binnbérlaig'']</ref> a 16th-century comic tale.<ref name="mackillop-ghiolla-dhecair" /> There is also the local lore that {{lang|ga|Manannán|italic=unset}} moved like a wheel turning on [[Coat of arms of the Isle of Man|his three legs]], a tradition widespread on the [[Isle of Man]], but also found in some eastern counties of Leinster according to John O'Donovan, though this folklore was unfamiliar to Whitley Stokes.<ref name="odonovan-cormacs-gl" />

====Abode====
{{lang|ga|Manannán|italic=unset}} is lord and guardian of the [[Blessed Isles]], {{lang|ga|Emhain Abhlach|italic=unset}} ('Isle of Apple-trees', cognate with the [[Avalon]] of the Welsh [[Arthurian cycle]]), and {{lang|sga|[[Mag Mell]]|italic=unset}} or {{lang|ga|Magh Meall|italic=unset}} ('Plain of Delights'). Manannán sings a verse describing his sea as {{lang|sga|Mag Mell|italic=unset}},<ref name="CCHE-imram" /> in "The Voyage of {{lang|ga|Bran|italic=unset}}", stating that the steeds on the plain cannot be seen, thus alluding to his concealment of his dwelling using the shroud of invisibility ({{lang|ga|féth fíada}}).{{efn|"In Mag Mell of many flowers&nbsp;/ There are many steeds on its surface&nbsp;/ Though them thou seest not".}}<ref>{{harvp|Meyer|1895}}, '''1''', str. 39, pp. 20–21. commentary by [[Alfred Nutt]], p. 149.</ref> {{lang|ga|Emhain Abhlach|italic=unset}} was the place of origin of the [[Silver Branch]] brought to {{lang|ga|Bran|italic=unset}}.<ref>{{harvp|Meyer|1895}}, '''1''', pp. 2–5 and str. 3, ''{{URL|1=https://archive.org/details/voyageofbransono01meye/page/2/mode/2up/ |2=Voyage of Bran}}''.</ref>

{{lang|ga|Manannán|italic=unset}} is also said to dwell in the Land of Promise ({{lang|ga|[[Tír na nÓg|Tír Tairngire]]}}), as in the tale "[[Echtra Cormaic|The Adventure of {{lang|ga|Cormac mac Airt|italic=unset|nocat=y}}]]".<ref name="stokes-echtra-cormaic" />

====Over-king====
An over-king's role for Manannán among the [[Tuatha Dé Danann]] is described in the narrative ''Altram Tige Dá Medar'' ('The Nourishment of the Houses of Two Milk-vessels') in the 14th to the 15th century manuscript, the ''[[Book of Fermoy]]''.<ref name="dobs-altram" /><ref name="duncan-altram" /> [[Máire MacNeill]] gave a summary of the work.<ref name="macneill-altram" />{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Manx writer [[Arthur William Moore]] gave a crude paraphrase from the Book of Fermoy as follows: "he was a pagan, a lawgiver among the Tuatha Dé Danann, and a necromancer possessed of power to envelope himself and others in a mist, so that they could not be seen by their enemies".{{sfnp|Moore|1891|p=3}}}}

After the Tuatha Dé Danann were defeated by [[Érimón]] of the [[Milesians (Irish)|Milesians]] (humans), [[Bodb Derg]] was chosen as king of the Tuatha Dé Danann, and Manannán as co-king or perhaps the king's overseer.{{efn|"Bodb Derg was made king by the men and Manannán&nbsp;... over them" (Duncan tr., p. 207)}} In one passage Manannán declares he has assumed over-kingship above the petty kings of the Tuatha Dé Danann.<ref>{{harvp|Duncan|1932|p=184–185}}: "Manannan&nbsp;... appears to have, and indeed claims, an overlordship over all the Tuatha De Danann kings".</ref><ref>{{harvp|Duncan|1932|p=209}}: "I am over-king of your kings".</ref>

Manannán was tasked with allotting which [[sídhe]] or fairy mounds the surviving members of the Tuatha Dé Danann were to be settled.{{sfnp|Duncan|1932|pp=206–207}} Manannán's own dwelling was at [[Emain Ablach]], in the city of Cruithin na Cuan, as the tale later reveals.{{sfnp|Duncan|1932|pp=215, 217}} Manannán ensured the welfare of the Tuatha Dé Danann by concealing in the ''[[féth fíada]]'' or a mist of invisibility,{{efn|Cf. Manannan's poem re Mag Mell in ''Imram Brain'', below.}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Cf. also O'Curry's copious notes for ''Feth Fiadha'' (n15), ''Fleagh Ghoibhneann'' or "Goibhneann's Banquet" and "Manannan's Pigs" (n17), in his recapitualation of this portion of the tale (which he calls the "Tale of Curchóg").<ref name="ocurry-altrom" />}} holding the Feast of Goibniu (Fleadh Goibhneann) which conferred eternal youth,{{Refn|A. C. L. Brown considered this to be the "ale of Góibniu the Smith".{{sfnp|Brown|1910|p=38}}}} and feeding them Manannan's Swine (Mucca Mhannanain) which gave an inexhaustible supply of food.<ref name="dobs-altram" />{{sfnp|Duncan|1932|p=207}}<ref name="macneill-altram" />{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Such a revivifying pig is also mentioned in {{lang|sga|Echtra Chormaic}},<ref name="stokes-echtra-cormaic" /> and in the modern version,<ref name="ogrady-faghail" /> seven such pigs belong to the youth who is Manannan in disguise.{{sfnp|O'Grady|1857|pp=220–223}}}} Arbois de Jubainville stated that these seven pigs here and {{lang|ga|Manannán|italic=unset}}'s swine of the ancient text parallel each other.{{sfnp|Arbois de Jubainville|1903|at=187 and note 2}} The routine for reviving the seven pigs was to put the bones in the sty (or manger).<ref>{{harvp|O'Grady|1857|pp=220–223}}; {{harvp|Arbois de Jubainville|1903|p=187}}</ref>{{efn|See [[#Parallels|§ Parallels]], below, for similar swine in other mythologies.}}

====Gifts to Cormac mac Airt====
Manannán in the tale "[[Echtra Cormaic]]" owned two magical items which he gave away to [[Cormac mac Airt]], high king of Tara: a soothing musical [[silver branch]] with [[Golden apple|apples made of gold]], and the Goblet of Truth.<ref name="stokes-echtra-cormaic" /><ref>{{harvp|Meyer|1895}}, '''1''', pp. 190–192, [https://archive.org/details/voyageofbransono01meye/page/190/mode/2up/ summary of "Cormac in Fairy"].</ref>{{efn|This tale exists in several manuscripts of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; i. e. Book of Ballymote, and Yellow Book of Lecan, as edited and translated by Stokes. There are also other recensions, edited from the [[Book of Fermoy]] by Vernam Hall, and from an unknown modern manuscript by Standish H. O'Grady.<ref name="hull-echtra-cormaic" /><ref name="ogrady-faghail" />}}

Manannán initially appeared in the guise of a warrior, and described without naming his homeland as a place where old age, sickness, death, decay, and falsehood were unknown. He eventually coaxed the king to arrive as guest to this Land of Promise ([[Tír na nÓg|Tír Tairngire]]).<ref name="stokes-echtra-cormaic" />

====Gifts and Loans to Lugh====
[[File:4 Bear us swiftly, Boat of Mananan, to the Garden of the Hesperides.jpg|thumb|[[Stephen Reid (artist)|Stephen Reid]]'s illustration of the [[Sons of Tuireann]] in Manannán's boat]]
Manannán had other magical items according to the ''Oidheadh Chloinne Tuireann'', a romance that only survives in early Modern Irish recensions.{{sfnp|Bruford|1966|p=264}}

He had a self-navigating boat called "Manannán's [[currach]]" (coracle), {{lang|ga|Sguaba Tuinne}}<ref name="oduffy-sguaba" /> ({{lang|sga|Scuab-tuinne}}{{sfnp|O'Curry|1863|pp=191–192}}) or 'Wave-sweeper'<ref name="joyce-oct-wavesweeper" /> was self-navigating, as well as a horse that could travel over land or sea called Aonbharr of Manannan,<ref name="oduffy-sguaba" />{{sfnp|O'Curry|1863|pp=191–192}} translated in popular re-telling as "[[Enbarr]] of the Flowing Mane".<ref name="joyce-oct-wavesweeper" />{{efn|Note that Scuab-tuinné is not in O'Curry's Irish text and is interpolated by him. He glosses Scuab-tuinné as the 'besom or the sweeper of the waves'.}} Both the horse and boat were on loan to [[Lugh Lamhfada]], but the [[Brian (mythology)|Sons of Tuireann]] managed to borrow the boat.{{sfnp|O'Curry|1863|pp=191–192}}

Manannán also supplied Lugh with a full array of armor and weapon as the [[Tuatha Dé]] gathered their host to battle the [[Fomorians]]. Lugh rode Manannán's steed Aonbharr, and was girt with Manannán's sword [[Fragarach]] ("Retaliator"{{sfnp|O'Curry|1863|pp=162–163}} or "The Answerer"{{sfnp|Joyce|1894|p=38}}).{{Refn|Only rendered into English as "Freagarthach" by O'Duffy.<ref name="oduffy-fragarach" />}} Any wound this sword gave proved fatal, and its opponent was reduced to the weakness of a woman in [[childbirth]].<ref name="oct-fragarch">{{harvp|O'Curry|1863|pp=162–163}}, {{harvp|O'Duffy|1888|p=71}}, {{harvp|Joyce|1894|p=38}}</ref>{{sfnp|Spaan|1965|p=176}}

Lug also wore Manannán's helmet Cathbarr,<ref name="oduffy-fragarach" /> which O'Curry amends to Cennbhearr, which he regards as a common noun and not a proper name.<ref>{{harvp|O'Curry|1863|pp=}}, pp. 162 (Irish only); 176–177; note 177.</ref>{{refn|group="lower-alpha"|"Canbarr" in Joyce's retelling.{{sfnp|Joyce|1894|p=49}}}} This helm was set with two precious gems on the front and one in the rear.{{sfnp|O'Curry|1863|pp=162–163}} Manannán's {{lang|ga|lúirech}} or body armour<ref name="dil-luirech" />{{efn|{{harvp|O'Curry|1863|pp=162–163}}: "Manannan's Lorica"; {{harvp|O'Duffy|1888|p=71}} "armour of Manannain" (note genitive).}} and Manannán's ''scabal'' ([[gorget|neck-piece]]<ref name="dil-luirech" /> or [[breastplate]]<ref>{{harvp|O'Curry|1863|pp=162–163}}; {{harvp|O'Duffy|1888|p=71}}</ref>) were also part of Lugh's panoply.<ref name="oct-fragarch" />

====Gifts to the Fíana ====
;({{visible anchor|Crane-bag}})
Manannán was also the owner of the "crane-bag" ({{langx|ga|corrbolg}}) full of treasures,<ref name="duanaire-crain-bag" /> according to the Middle-Irish Fenian lay "The Crane-Bag" ({{lang|mga|Duanaire Finn}} Poem VIII) datable to the 13th century,{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|{{lang|mga|Duanaire Finn}} was copied by Aodh Ó Dochartaigh (O'Doherty) dated 12 February 1627.<ref>{{harvp|MacNeill|1908|pp=xix–xx, xxiv, 135}}, {{harvp|Murphy|1953|p=165}}: "the scribe".</ref>}}

To Manannán was sent a woman transformed into the shape of a crane. She was Aoife, daughter of Dealbhaoth ({{langx|ga|Áiffe ingen Dealbhaoíth|italic=no}}), and mistress of Ilbhreac of many beauties ({{langx|ga|Ilbric Iolchrothaigh|italic=no}}).<ref name="duanaire-crain-bag" /> Ilbhreac here may have been Ilbhreac son of Manannán.<ref name="matthews-BIM-crane-bag" />{{unreliable source|certain=y|date=July 2024|reason=Notorious peddler of wiccan/neopagan/neodruid "Celtic twilight" nonsense.}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Although he does not directly address Ilbhreac "of many beauties" of this crane-bag episode, [[George Lyman Kittredge]] remarks that Ilbhreac son of Manannán is mentioned in the ''[[The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Gráinne|Tóraigheacht Dhiarmada]]'', and that his name meaning "the variously spotted one" is connected with shape-shifting.<ref name="kittredge" /> Ilbrec's nickname in the crane-bag lay is shared by the protagonist of the werewolf tale, ''Eachtra Iollainn iolchrothaigh''. Kittredge also says another name mentioned alongside in the ''Tóraigheacht Dhiarmada'' Ábartach mac Alchaid Ioldathach (whose nickname means "of the Many-Colored Raiment"), also to be connected with shape-shifting.<ref name="kittredge" /> It is Iuchra daughter of Ábartach, the rival, who transforms Aoife into the crane. Ábartach also figures prominently in the Gilla Decair story (cf. ''infra'').}} Aoife was transformed by the druidery of her jealous love-rival (Iuchra daughter of Ábartach), whose spell was to last 200 years.<ref name="duanaire-crain-bag" />

When Aoife died, Manannán crafted her crane's skin into a magical treasure bag, whose contents were only visible when flooded during full tide, and would seem empty when the tide had ebbed.<ref name="duanaire-crain-bag" />{{sfnp|Spaan|1965|p=182}} The bag was in the possession of [[Lugh Lamhfada]], then taken by Lugh's killers, the three sons of Cermait. Later Manannán endowed it to [[Conaire Mór]] the high king at Tara.<ref name="duanaire-crain-bag" /> The crane-bag was eventually owned by Cumhall mac Trénmhóir, as told at the outset of this lay.<ref>"The Crane-bag", str. 1. {{harvp|MacNeill|1908|p=}} ed. p. 21, tr. p. 118.</ref>''[[Macgnímartha Finn]]''. This is assumed{{sfnp|MacNeill|1908|p=ix}}{{sfnp|Brown|1910|p=39}} to be the "treasure-bag" that was lost to Cumhall's "servant-turned-traitor", [[Liath Luachra]],<ref name="breatnach-nagy-review" /> who treacherously wounded Cumall in the [[Cath Cnucha]], but recovered later by [[Finn mac Cumhal|Cumhall's son, Finn]] when he grew up.<ref name="meyer-tr-macgnimartha" />
 
;({{visible anchor|Shield of Finn}})

Manannán also commissioned the craftsman Lucra (recté [[Luchta]]{{sfnp|Spaan|1965|p=182}}) to make him a shield to be made of wood, and this later passed on to Finn, according to the [[Ballad|lay]] ({{lang|ga|duan}}) "Shield of Fionn". The wood came from a withered [[hazel tree]], on the fork which Lugh had set the severed head of [[Balor]]. The venom had penetrated this tree, killing or blinding workers trying uprooting or handling it. Various owners are named, such as [[Tadg mac Nuadat]], but was given by Manannán to Crimall mac Trenmor, Finn's uncle, after the death of Finn's father.<ref name="duanaire-shield-of-fionn" /><ref name="buttimer" />

==== Parallels ====
Manannán is furthermore identified with several [[trickster]] figures including the Gilla Decair and the ''[[Bodach an Chóta Lachtna]]'' ('the Churl in the Drab Coat').<ref>[http://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095514704 Bodach an Chóta Lachtna] in the Oxford ''Dictionary of Irish Mythology''. ''Eachtra Bhodaigh an Chóta Lachtna'' ("Tale of the Carle in the Drab Coat") is the title of a 17th-century Fenian tale.</ref>

The similarity of Manannan's inexhaustible swine to [[Odin]]'s boar [[Sæhrímnir]] in [[Norse mythology|Scandinavian myth]] has been noticed.{{sfnp|Spaan|1965|p=185}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Aldhouse-Green |first=Miranda J. |author-link=Miranda Green (academic) |title=Celtic Myths |publisher=[[University of Texas Press]] |date=1995 |page= https://archive.org/details/celticmyths00aldh/page/17 p. 17]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Oosten |first=J. G. |date=1985 |title=The War of the Gods |publisher=[[Routledge]] |page=73}}</ref> Mannanán also owned a speckled cow that he and [[Aengus]] retrieved from India along with a dun cow, two golden goblets, and two [[spancel]]s of silk.<ref name="dobs-altram" />{{sfnp|Duncan|1932|pp=214–215}}

=== Familial relations ===
Manannán's father is the sea-god {{lang|sga|[[Lir|Ler]]|italic=unset}} ('Sea; Ocean'; {{lang|sga|Lir}} is the genitive form), whose role he seems to take over. As {{lang|sga|Oirbsen|italic=unset}}, his father is named as {{lang|sga|Elloth|italic=unset}}, son of {{lang|sga|[[Elatha]]|italic=unset}}.<ref>''[[Lebor Gabála Érenn]]'' [http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/lebor4.html#55 §64] {{Webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100715225248/http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/lebor4.html#55 |date=15 July 2010 }}</ref> In the {{lang|sga|Altram Tige Dá Medar}}, {{lang|sga|Manannán|italic=unset}} calls himself the foster-son of the {{lang|sga|[[Dagda]]|italic=unset}}.<ref name="dobs-altram" />

According to {{lang|sga|[[Táin Bó Cúailnge]]}} ('The Cattle-raid of Cooley'), his wife is the beautiful goddess [[Fand]] ('Pearl of Beauty' or 'A Tear' – later remembered as a "fairy queen", though earlier mentions point to her also being a sea deity). Other sources say his wife was the goddess [[Áine]], though she is at other times said to be his daughter. Manannán had a daughter, whose name was [[Niamh (mythology)|Niamh]] of the Golden Hair. It is also probable that another daughter was [[Clíodhna]], but early sources do not treat her consistently. Either way, she is a young woman from Manannán's lands, whose epithet is "of the Fair Hair". Manannán also had a yellow-haired daughter given also the name Curcog (meaning 'Beehive'{{sfnp|Duncan|1932|p=212}} or 'Bushy-tuft') who was given up to be fostered by [[Aengus]].<ref name="dobs-altram" />

Manannán is also given sons named Eachdond Mór<ref name="dobs-altram" /><ref name="Art" />{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Eachdonn the Great, son of Manannán.{{sfnp|Duncan|1932|p=20}}}} and Gaidiar, who raped Becuma Cneisgel.<ref name="Art">{{cite web |last1=unknown |title=The Adventures of Art son of Conn |url= http://maryjones.us/ctexts/art.html |website=The Celtic Literature Collective |publisher=MaryJones |access-date=8 November 2019}}</ref>

Another daughter of Manannán was said to be Saint Athrachta; according to oral legend, she tried to build a causeway across [[Lough Gara]] by carrying large stones in her petticoat but was prevented by modesty. In another legend of Athractha, she was said to live at the bottom of Lough Gara and only emerged every seven years to visit her sister Cé.<ref>{{harvp|Borlase|1897|p=788}}, citing O'Donovan, O.S.L. [Ordnance Survey Letters] Co. Sligo <math>\tfrac{14}{P. 14}</math> pp. 233, 238, 419</ref>{{full citation needed|date=July 2024|reason=Borlase's is a 3-volume work, so the vol. no. is needed.}} Athractha cured a woman, and once a dragon with the roar of a lion emerged from the sludge and was vanquished by the Holy Virgin.<ref>{{harvp|Borlase|1897|p=788}}</ref>{{full citation needed|date=July 2024|reason=Borlase's is a 3-volume work, so the vol. no. is needed.}} There is also folklore that Cé (or Céibh) the daughter of Manannan lost her beauty and wits due to an incantation, but recovered her beauty after [[Oisín]] provided her hospices after others all shunned her.<ref name="hennessy-ce" />

In "[[The Voyage of Bran]]", Manannán prophesied to Bran that a great warrior would be descended from him.<ref name="meyer-imram-brain" /> Thus Mongán mac Fiachnai becomes a late addition to the mac Lir family tree. The historical Mongán was a son of [[Fiachnae mac Báetáin]], born towards the end of the 6th century. According to legend, Fiachnae came home with a victory from a war in what is today Scotland because of a bargain made with Manannán (either by him, or by his wife) to let Manannán have a child by his wife. This child, Mongán, was supposedly taken to the Otherworld when he was very young, to be raised there by Manannán. The 8th-century saga ''[[Compert Mongáin]]'' tells recounts the deeds of a legendary son,<ref>{{Cite book |last=White |first=Nora |title=Compert Mongáin and Three Other Early Mongán Tales: A Critical Edition with Introduction, Translation, Textual Notes, Bibliography and Vocabulary |publisher=Department of Old and Middle Irish, National University of Ireland |date=2006 |isbn=978-0-901519-66-5}}</ref><ref name="Mongan1" /> In the ''Dinsenchas'', Manannán is also described as the father of Ibel, after whose death Manannán cast draughts of grief from his heart that became Loch Ruidi, Loch Cuan, and Loch Dacaech.<ref>{{Cite web |url= https://archive.org/stream/revueceltique16pari#page/50/mode/1up |title=Revue celtique |date=1870 |publisher=Paris}}</ref>

Manannán is often seen in the traditional role of foster father, raising a number of foster children including [[Lugh]] of the great hand and the children of [[Deirdre]].

Two brothers of Manannán are named, after whom cleared plains were named: Bron, who it is implied was slain by Fergus and Ceite.<ref>[https://celt.ucc.ie//published/T106500C/text078.html ''The Metrical Dindsenchas'' "Carn Amalgaid" Poem 78]</ref><ref>[https://www.ucd.ie/tlh/trans/ws.rc.16.002.t.text.html "Dinda HÚa n-Amalgada"]</ref> Similarly, in Welsh folklore [[Brân the Blessed]] is the brother of Manawydan.{{clarify|date=July 2024|reason=Well, who is the 2nd brother? We said there are two but only named one.}}

== Folklore ==
=== County Monaghan ===
There are many oral folktales about conflicts between Manannán and St. Patrick in County Monaghan. In many of them Manannán invites St. Patrick to his castle for a feast; however, Patrick is warned by a butler or servant not to eat the food because it is poisoned. In retaliation for the crime, Patrick turns Manannán into a giant eel or salmon,<ref>{{Cite web |title=St Peter's, Phibsboro {{!}} The Schools' Collection|url= https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4428244/4388010|access-date=25 December 2021|website=dúchas.ie}}</ref> and in some stories he is placed in a bottle and sent to the bottom of a lake to guard his iron treasure chest (or barrel) until the end of time.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Manann Castle |url= https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4723817/4716065/4743504 |access-date=25 December 2021 |website=dúchas.ie}}</ref><ref name="Manann Castle">{{Cite web |title=Manann Castle |url= https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4758587/4756881/4936445 |access-date=25 December 2021 |website=dúchas.ie}}</ref> The treasure is chained to a team of white horses, and the chain can be seen at the top of the lake.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Caisleán Mannan |url= https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4742041/4730189/4950954 |access-date=25 December 2021 |website=dúchas.ie}}</ref> In one story from County Monaghan, Manannán's castle was built with mortar from the blood of slaughtered animals, which allowed it to resist weathering for centuries.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St Peter's, Phibsboro {{!}} The Schools' Collection|url= https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4428244/4388009|access-date=25 December 2021|website=dúchas.ie}}</ref> When the top of the castle toppled over, the bottom part sank into the ground, but the ruins could still be seen owing to the power of Manannán. In some stories, Manann was said to ride a flying white steed and could transform himself into a dove and could be heard crying every seven years.<ref name="Manann Castle" />

In another story, Manann was a druid who challenged St. Patrick over whose god was more powerful. Manann covered the land in darkness, but St. Patrick placed his crozier in the ground, prayed to God, and dispelled the darkness. At the spot where St. Patrick placed his crozier, a well called ''Tobar Lasar'' sprang from the ground.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Taplach {{!}} The Schools' Collection|url= https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4758587/4756934/4936540|access-date=25 December 2021|website=dúchas.ie}}</ref>

In another story, villagers searching for Manann's treasure attempt to drain his lake, but just before they complete their task, a man on a white steed appears before them to send them on an errand. When they return a large rock is placed in the spot where they were digging, and no chisel or hammer can break it.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Composition - Hidden Treasure |url= https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/5162735/5159791/5163887 |access-date=25 December 2021 |website=dúchas.ie}}</ref> In a variant of this story, all the men's horses are killed, and the work they had completed to dig the channel was filled with silt.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St Peter's, Phibsboro {{!}} The Schools' Collection|url= https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4428244/4388011/4510330|access-date=25 December 2021|website=dúchas.ie}}</ref>

In another story, Manann was said to live in a castle and own a fabulous cow and calf that gave milk to everyone in the parish who wanted it. Some of the older people were jealous of the cow's abundance, and an old Protestant woman went to milk the cow into a sieve. When the cow saw what has happening, it was enraged and she and her calf ran to Dunany Point in County Louth, where they were turned to stone.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Inniskeen {{!}} The Schools' Collection|url= https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4758588/4757093|access-date=25 December 2021|website=dúchas.ie}}</ref>

=== County Mayo ===
In County Mayo, a pot of treasure was supposed to be buried in Manann's wood, and this treasure was guarded by a serpent.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Naomh Colmcille {{!}} The Schools' Collection|url= https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4427908/4356634|access-date=25 December 2021|website=dúchas.ie}}</ref>

In a variant to the story about the formation of [[Lough Cullin]] and [[Lough Conn]], Manann was said to have a huntsman named Cullen who had two hunting dogs.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Scoil na mBráthar, Cathair na Mart {{!}} The Schools' Collection|url= https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4428017/4368492/4471848|access-date=25 December 2021|website=dúchas.ie}}</ref> The dogs chased after a ferocious boar, and when they overtook the boar, the boar turned and killed the dogs in Lough Conn. Cullen was then drowned at Lough Cullin.

=== County Donegal ===
In a folktale from Donegal, St. Colum Cille broke his golden chalice and sent a servant to the mainland to have it repaired. While returning to the mainland in his currach, the servant met a stranger in a currach (later identified as Manannán), who blew his breath on the chalice, which then became whole again. Manannán then asked for a response from Colum Cille, who relayed that there would be no forgiveness for the man responsible for such works. When Manannán heard this, he said he would provide no more help to the Irish until they are "as weak as water", and then retired to the gray waves in the Highlands of Scotland.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fitzgerald |first1=David |url= https://archive.org/details/revueceltiqu04pari/page/176/mode/2up?view=theater |title=Popular Tales of Ireland |date=1880 |publisher=Revue Celtique |page=177 |access-date=6 November 2021}}</ref> In a variant of this story,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cor Críochach {{!}} The Schools' Collection|url= https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4723815/4715997|access-date=25 December 2021|website=dúchas.ie}}</ref> Manann was said to live in a castle near a lake, and at night, he would draw the lake around the castle like a moat, but each morning he would return the lake to its proper place. A boy gathering water from a well ran into Manann and accidentally broke his Delft pitcher. Manann offered to put the Dellft pitcher back together using witchcraft if the boy would ask Colum Cille what sort of people go to hell. Colum Cille told the boy that people such as Manann go to hell, and when he returned to report this to Manann, Manann was so enraged that he packed up his gold in a barrel and enchanted both the gold and himself. A diver from Dublin later went down into the lake and found Manann's barrel of gold with a monstrous serpent chained to it. Men from the village then tried to drain the lake, but the morning after drilling the drain, they found it all closed up with grass growing over it.

Manann was king of the faeries and coveted a beautiful meadow in Carndonagh owned by Neill na hAirde (in some versions another faery king). Manann bought the land from Neill with pearls from the ocean and built a beautiful castle there. Neill's wife grew jealous, and she compelled her husband to go to war over the castle. Neill's army was defeated Manann's, but in retribution, Neill (or in a variant, Manann<ref>{{Cite web |title=Málainn {{!}} The Schools' Collection|url= https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4493809/4422986|access-date=25 December 2021|website=dúchas.ie}}</ref>) rode out to Bar Mouth; there he removed three enchanted rods that held back the ocean. The castle and land were subsequently submerged, but the gardens and castle can still be seen beneath the waves in Straghbregagh.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Clochar na Trócaire, Carn Domhnaigh {{!}} The Schools' Collection|url= https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4493773/4418844|access-date=25 December 2021|website=dúchas.ie}}</ref>

According to Donegal folklore, Manannán is said to be buried in the Tonn Banks off the coast of [[Inishowen]], which form part of a Triad called the Three Waves of Erin. When [[Cú Chulainn]] struck his shield, the three waves of Erin echoed the sound and roared across the ocean. Manannán's spirit is believed to ride the storms that occur when ships are wrecked. The three legs of Manannán "paradoxically" make up the [[Coat of arms of the Isle of Man|heraldic arms of Man]], and are said to represent the "storm-god careering over land and sea with whirling motion".<ref>{{Cite web |title=St Columb's Moville {{!}} The Schools' Collection|url= https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4493791/4420791|access-date=25 December 2021|website=dúchas.ie}}</ref>

=== Merchant Orbsen ===
The 9th century {{lang|sga|[[Sanas Cormaic]]}} ('Cormac's Glossary') [[Euhemerism|euhemerizes]] Manannán as "a famous merchant" of the Isle of Man and the best sailor in western Europe, who knew by "studying the heavens" when the weather would be good and bad.<ref name="odonovan-cormacs-gl" /> O'Donovan's annotation remarks that this merchant went by another name, Orbsen, son of Allot,<ref name="odonovan-cormacs-gl" /> and it is stated thus in [[Roderick O'Flaherty]]'s ''Ogygia'' (1685).<ref name="oflaherty-ogygia-eng" />

However, the ''[[Yellow Book of Lecan]]'' (written c.&nbsp;1400) separates these figures, stating there were four individuals called ''Manandán'' who lived at different times. They were: ''Manandán mac Alloit'', a "druid of the Tuath Dé Danann" whose "proper name was Oirbsen"; ''Manandán mac Lir'', a great sailor, merchant and druid; ''Manandán mac Cirp'', king of the Isles and Mann; and ''Manandán mac Atgnai'', who took in the [[Deirdre|sons of Uisnech]] and sailed to Ireland to avenge their deaths.<ref name="Skene">[[William F. Skene|Skene, William F.]] (1868) "[https://books.google.com/books?id=YN5fAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA78 Chapter VI. Manau Gododin and the Picts]", ''The Four Ancient Books of Wales'' '''1''', pp. 78–79. [https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/fab/fab008.htm#page_78 e-text] via Internet Archive</ref>

Tradition has it that Orbsen engaged in the Battle of [[Moycullen]] in Co. Galway, and fell on the brink of Lake Orbsen;{{sfnp|O'Flaherty|1793|pp=26–27}} the lake, named after him, is the present-day [[Lough Corrib]].<ref name="odonovan-cormacs-gl" /> The conflict in which Manannan mac Alloid was slain by Ullinn was recorded in verse by 11th century poet [[Flann Mainistrech]].{{sfnp|O'Flaherty|1793|pp=26–27}} There is a great stone pillar erected in the field of Moycullin, possibly marking the battle location.{{Refn|group-lower-alpha|Borlase makes Orbsen and Ullinn who fought here as "two giants", but that was not stated by his source, O'Donovan.}}<ref>{{harvp|Borlase|1897|p=795}} and note ††, citing O'Donovan, O.S.L. [Ordnance Survey Letters] <math>\tfrac{14}{D. 3}</math> {{URL|1=http://places.galwaylibrary.ie/letters/a18390727.html#pageAnchor_152|2=p. 152, 157, 164}}</ref>{{full citation needed|date=July 2024|reason=Borlase's is a 3-volume work, so the vol. no. is needed.}}

Oirbsen is also mentioned in the Lebor Gabala Erenn, where it gives his genealogy as follows: Galia s. Oirbsen s. Elloth s. Elada s. Delbaeth s. Net.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Lebor Gabala Erenn pt 4 |url= http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/lebor4.html |access-date=10 June 2024 |website=www.maryjones.us}}</ref>

It goes on to state: "Orbsen was the name of Manannan at first, and from him is named Loch Orbsen in Connachta. When Manannan was being buried, it is then the lake burst over the land, [through the burial]."<ref name=":0" />

=== O'Neill's Horse Race ===
There is a folk tale that an English horse racer challenges one of the [[O'Neill dynasty|O'Neills]] to a horse race. Manannán wants to defend the character of the Irish and knows that none of O'Neill's horses stands a chance against the Englishman's, so he appears in the form of a beggar and challenges the Englishman to a race that he himself runs from [[Shane's Castle]] to [[Dublin]]. By his enchantments, he wins the race and defends the pride of Ireland and the O'Neill clan.<ref>{{harvp|Borlase|1897|p=825}}, citing O'Donovan, O.S.L. [Ordnance Survey Letters] Co. Londonderry <math>\tfrac{14}{E. 12}</math> p. 30.</ref>{{full citation needed|date=July 2024|reason=Borlase's is a 3-volume work, so the vol. no. is needed.}} The tale bears some resemblance to the horse race of [[Macha]] and also the Roman tradition in which [[Neptune (mythology)|''Neptune Equester'']] oversaw horse races.

=== O'Donnell's Kern ===
In the story "O'Donnell's Kern", Manannan appears as a kern or serving man at the courts of various historical personages from 16th Century Ireland. As a kern, Manannan is repeatedly described as wearing thinly striped clothing and leather brogues (shoes) soaking with water, having ears and half his sword protruding from his mantle, and carrying three scorched holly javelins (elsewhere described as a single javelin) in his right hand. In this guise, he again appears as a trickster, walking into his hosts' homes uninvited and undetected by the guardsmen.

At Black Hugh O'Donnell's home in Ballyshannon, Manannan challenges the court musicians to a competition, and with a harp plays music so sweetly melodious that it can put anyone to sleep – including the suffering and dying. O'Donnell declares he has never heard such beautiful music and offers the kern new clothing; the kern refuses O'Donnell's gift and also refuses to stay in his court (indicating he must go to Cnoc Aine the next day), so O'Donnell has his men surround the kern to prevent his departure. Manannan again plays music, but this time the strain causes O'Donnell's men to hack each other to pieces with axes. When he leaves O'Donnell, Manannan extracts a fine of twenty cattle and land, and in exchange, rubs a magic herb on the gums of O'Donnell's slaughtered men that revives them to life.

At the kern's next stop near Limerick, Shane Mac an Iarla invites the kern into his home, having heard of Manannan's reputation with reading and music, to which Manannan declares he is not impotent. However, when Shane brings the kern an instrument and a book, the kern is unable to read or play until Shane lampoons him. When Shane asks Manannan whether he has visited Desmond before, he declares that he was there with the Fianna, several millennia earlier.

Next, the kern travels to Leinster to visit MacEochaidh, who is incapacitated with a broken leg and blood poisoning. When asked about his art, the kern declares that he is a healer and tells MacEochaidh that if he will put his stingy, churlish behavior past him he would be healed. Manannan then dresses MacEochaidh's leg with a healing herb, who immediately recovers from his affliction. MacEochaidh then throws a feast for Manannan and offers him his buxom daughter along with three hundred each of cattle, horses, sheep, and hogs. Before he can receive his reward, however, the kern flees MacEochaidh's house to his next destination.

He goes to Sligo where he encounters O'Conner, who is about to make war with Munster. After some ridicule from O'Conner's men, the kern offers his military services to O'Conner if he agrees that nothing unfair will be done to the kern. O'Conner's men engage in cattle raiding, and when the men of Munster attempt to steal them back, Manannan kills them with a bow and 24 arrows. He then drives all the cattle across the Shannon and back to O'Conner in Sligo. At a feast to celebrate the victory, O'Conner slights Manannan by drinking the first toast without a thought to the kern, so Manannan recites some verses indicating his displeasure and then vanishes from the company.

Then, the kern goes to Teigue O'Kelly's home and describes his art as conjuring. He bluffs O'Kelly with two spurious tricks (wagging an ear and making a reed disappear), then from a bag conjures a thread that he throws into the air and fixes to a cloud, a hare, a beagle, and a dog boy. From another bag he pulls a woman, and all the characters go running up the thread into the clouds. The king remarks that something bad will happen, such as the boy ending up with the woman, and the dog eating the hare. When Manannan reels in his thread, this is indeed, exactly what the men discover has happened, and O'Kelly, in anger, beheads the dogboy. The kern then replaces the dog boy's head backward, but after O'Kelly's complaints turns it back to the right side.

Finally, the kern visits the King of Leinster, whose musicians he declares sound worse than the sledgehammer's thunder in the lowest regions of hell. The King's musicians and men then jump the kern, but each blow they make on the kern inflicts the same wound on themselves. In retaliation, the King has the kern taken out 3 times to the gallows to be hanged, but each time, they find in the kern's place one of the king's confidants at the end of the rope. The following day at sunrise, the kern returns to the king's castle and offers to heal all the men who were killed the previous day, which he revives with a healing herb.

It is only at the end of the tale that the kern is revealed as Manannan, who is offered a dish of crabapples and bonnyclabber at Shane O'Donnellan's house in Meath. As the kern, Manannan repeatedly calls himself sweet one day and bitter or sour the next and describes himself as a stroller or traveler who was born in "Ellach of the kings". He also gives the following names for himself "Duartaine O'Duartaine", "Cathal O'Cein", "Gilla de", and "Gilla Decair" during his travels. O'Donnell's Kern is an example of the folk memory of the Irish gods long after Christianization.<ref name="MacCulloch">MacCulloch, John Arnott (1916-1932) [[wikisource:The Mythology of All Races/Celtic Mythology/Chapter 4|online "Chapter 4: Mythic Powers of the Gods"]] in ''The Mythology of All Races''.</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20170829111719/http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/polisci/faculty/boneill/index_files/kern.html ''O'Donnell's Kern'']</ref>

=== The Pursuit of the Gilla Decair and His Horse ===
As the Gilla Decair, a name also referenced in "O'Donnell's Kern", Manannán appears in the Fenian story "The Pursuit of the Gilla Decair and his Horse". In this tale the Fianna encounter the Gilla on [[Samhain]] while pursuing the hunt through the forests of Ballachgowan in [[Munster]]. The Gilla is described as a gigantic, virile ruffian with black limbs, devilish, misshapen, and ugly, leading a gaunt horse with grey hindquarters and thin legs with an iron chain. Additionally, the Gilla is dressed as a warrior with a convex, black shield hanging from his back, a wide grooved sword at his left thigh, two long javelins at his shoulder, and a limp mantle about him, all reminiscent of Manannan's description in "O'Donnell's Kern". After greeting Finn with a lay that begins, "May the gods bless thee, [[Fionn mac Cumhaill|Finn]], O man of affable discourse&nbsp;...", the Gilla tells Finn that he is a [[Fomorians|Fomorian]] who visits the kings of Christendom to earn a wage, and that his name was given because of the great personal sacrifices he makes on behalf of his retainers. The Gilla then asks Finn if he will hire him as a horseman, to which Finn assents, and then asks to release his horse to graze with those of the Fianna. When Finn grants his permission, the Gilla unbridles his horse to graze with the others and proceeds to mutilate and kill all the horses of the Fianna.

After seeking the Fianna's counsel, Finn tells [[Conán mac Morna]] to mount the Gilla's horse and ride him to death, but though he tries violently to make the horse move, he won't budge. Thirteen other Fianna then mount the horse in an attempt to weigh the horse down as much as the Gilla, but still the horse refuses to budge. The Gilla then tells Finn and the [[Fianna]] that were he to serve the rest of his term under Finn's contemptuous frivolity, he would be pitied and mocked, so he tells them that he will be parting, and leaves the [[Fianna]] with such a fierce, thundering rapidity that it is compared to the speed of a swallow and noise of a March wind over a mountain. As soon as the Gilla's horse loses sight of his master, he speeds off after him with fourteen of the [[Fianna]] on his back. Finn and the remaining Fianna then track the Gilla and his horse until they arrive at the sea, where another of the Fianna grabs the horse's tail as it alights over the water with the fifteen men.

Finn then travels to Ben-Adar, where the [[Tuatha Dé Danann]] promised the [[Goídel Glas|children of the Gael]] that should they ever need to leave Ireland, they would encounter a ship outfit for them. As the Fianna approach the sea, Finn encounters a pair of men, described as "bulkiest of heroes, most powerful of fighting men, hardiest of champions". Both men bear shields with lions, leopards, and griffins, "terrible" swords, crimson cloaks with gold fibulae, gold sandals, and gold bands on their heads. They bow to Finn and tell him they are the sons of the King of India, who have the ability to create ships with three fells of the axe and can carry the ships over land and sea. One of the brothers tells Finn that his name is Feradach.

After three days on [[Feradach|Feradach's]] ships without seeing any land or coastline, the Fianna reach a craggy island where they spot the Gilla's tracks. Here it is determined that [[Diarmuid Ua Duibhne|Dermot]], who was fostered by Manannan and Aengus Og, is shamed into vaulting onto the island using the javelins of Manannan, which he possessed. Dermot leaves the Fianna behind and ventures a beautiful forested land, filled with buzzing bees and birds. In the midst of the forested plain, Dermot beholds a massive tree with interlacing branches, beneath which is a well of pure water with an ornamented drinking horn suspended above it. Dermot lusts after the water in the well, pursues it and is confronted with a loud rumbling noise indicating that none should drink of its waters. Dermot drinks the water, and a hostile wizard appears who upbraids Dermot for roaming his forests and drinking his water. Dermot and the wizard battle each other, and the wizard jumps into the well, leaving Dermot behind. Dermot then kills a stag with his javelin, cooks it, and falls asleep. The next day, he finds the wizard, and the two continue their fight for three days with the wizard jumping into his well at the end of each day. On the third day, Dermot follows the wizard into the well and finds upon his emergence, a wide open flowery plain with a regal city. He follows the wizard into the city where he fights the host until he is bleeding, injured, and on the ground. When Dermot awakens, a burly wizard kicks him in the back and explains that he is not there to do Dermot harm but to explain that he is in a dangerous place of enemies. The wizard then takes Dermot on a long journey to a towering fortress, where his wounds are healed with herbs, and he is taken to feasting with the wizard's men.

When Dermot asks where he is and whom he is, the wizard tells him he is in [[Tír na nÓg|''Tir fo Thuinn'']], that he is the Wizard of Chivalry who is an enemy of the Wizard of the Well, with whom Dermot had fought, and that he was hired o work under Finn for a year. While Dermot is detained with the Wizard of Chivalry, Finn and the Fianna craft rope ladders and also scale the cliffs onto the island. There they encounter a king on horseback who takes them to his kingdom where they enjoy feasting. The Fianna wage war with the king against the King of Greece, who is attempting to invade the island. After winning the war, there is a great celebration with the kings of other lands, and there Finn is reunited with Dermot. Dermot explains that the Gilla's true name is Abartach son of Allchad, and he lives in the Land of Promise.

The daughter of the King of Greece promised herself to Finn prior to the King's defeat, so the Fianna split into groups again, one to pursue Abartach, and the other to Greece. The Fianna retrieve the King of Greece's daughter Taise for Finn, and return to the Land of Promise. There they reunite with Finn, who has found Abartach. Abartach challenges Finn to determine what debt is owed for the long journeys, adventures, and victories of the Fianna, to which Conan demands payment in the form of fourteen women from the Land of Promise along with Abartach's own wife, who are to ride on his horse, as the Fianna had, back to Ireland. Abartach agrees to the terms, vanishes before the Fianna, and the company returns to Ireland.

Although none of the characters in the story are explicitly called Manannan, the setting of the tale in ''Tir fo Thuinn'', the use of the name Gilla Decair, which is explicitly one of Manannan's bynames in O'Donnell's Kern, and the description of the Gilla's behavior all clearly point to his being the central character on the island.<ref name="Gilla" /> Additionally, the name Abartach is used in the context of Manannan's family as the right-hand man of Manannan's son Eachdond Mor.<ref name="dobs-altram" /> In the ''Book of Lecan'' Abartach and Manannan are listed together as two celebrated chiefs of the Tuatha De known for being, respectively, a great musician and a great navigator.<ref>{{harvp|Borlase|1897|p=826}}, citing the [[Book of Lecan]]</ref>{{full citation needed|date=July 2024|reason=Borlase's is a 3-volume work, so the vol. no. is needed.}} Elsewhere Abartach, whose name means dwarf, and who also goes by the name Averty, was a magician of dwarfish size that terrorized part of Ireland. Abartach was only vulnerable in one part of his body, and [[Fionn mac Cumhaill]] was able to slay him by sticking his thumb into his mouth to determine the vulnerable spot before spearing him. Abartach was then buried upside down in his grave to prevent his rising from the dead.

== In Manx mythology ==
=== Manx folklore ===
[[File:South Barrule.jpg|thumb|South Barrule, reputed home of Manannán on the Isle of Man]]
According to the local lore of the [[Isle of Man]], Manannán was the island's first ruler.

;First ruler
A document called the "Supposed True Chronicle of Man" (16th century) asserts that Manannan was the first "ruler of Mann" and "was as paynim (pagan), and kept, by necromancy, the Land of Man under mists", and imposed as tax a bundle of green rushes, which was due every [[Midsummer Eve]] at a place called Warfield (the present-day [[South Barrule]]).{{sfnp|Moore|1891|p=6}} More or less the same thing is stated in verse within "[[Manannan Ballad|The Traditionary Ballad]]" aka "Manannan beg va Mac y Leirr" (1504), whose third quatrain ran:<ref name="train-manannan-beg" />{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|[[Arthur William Moore|A. W. Moore]] edited and gave a different translation to 6 strophes relevant to Manannan.{{sfnp|Moore|1895|pp=41–42}} [[Sophia Morrison]] reprinted Moore's translation as old ballad.<ref name="morrison-manannan" />}}
{{Verse translation
 | lang = gv
 | italicsoff =
 |Manannan beg va Mac y Leirr<br />Shen yn chied er ec row rieau ee<br />Agh myr share oddym's cur-my-ner<br />Cha row eh hene agh An-chreestee
 |Little Manannan was a son of Leirr;<br /> he was the first that ever had it [the island];<br /> but as I can best conceive,<br /> he was himself a heathen.
 | attr1 =Anonymous (1504). [[Joseph Train|Train, Joseph]] ed. tr. (1864)<ref name="train-manannan-beg" />
 | attr2 =Translated by Joseph Train (1854), as modified with annotation in the ''Dublin Review'' (1865)<ref name="dublin-review1865">''The Dublin Review'' 57 (1865), [https://books.google.com/books?id=Ih4YAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA83 83f.]</ref>
}}

The poem thus identified the [[King of Mann|king of the island]] as one {{lang|gv|Manannan-beg-mac-y-Lheirr}}, 'little Manannan, son of the Sea' (or, 'son of [[Leir of Britain|Leir]]'). Manannan was later banished by Saint Patrick according to the poem.<ref name="train-manannan-beg" />{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|[[Sophia Morrison]] also prints a prayer invoking Manannan Beg that was known to her.<ref name="morrison-manannan" /> [[W. Y. Evans-Wentz]] remarked this prayer was a product of substituting St. Patrick's name with Manannan's.<ref name="evans-wentz" />}}

As to the Manx offering [[Juncus|rushes]] to Manannán, there is evidence these wild plants—which typically grow in wetlands—were sacred to him.<ref name="ohogain">Ó hÓgáin, Dáithí. ''Myth, Legend & Romance: An encyclopaedia of the Irish folk tradition''. Prentice Hall Press, 1991. pp.286-288</ref>

;Illusory magic
According to tradition, Manannan once held [[Peel Castle]], and caused a single man guarding its [[battlements]] to appear as a force of a thousand, thus succeeding in driving out his enemies.{{sfnp|Moore|1895|p=43}} Manx storyteller [[Sophia Morrison]] repeats this story except reducing the amplification to hundredfold men, and referring to the rampart "a great stone fort on [[St Patrick's Isle|Peel Island]]".<ref name="morrison-manannan" /> She also appends a story that Manannan once crafted makeshift boats out of [[sedge]]s, creating an illusion of a larger fleet, causing the Viking invaders to flee in terror from the bay of Peel Island.<ref name="morrison-manannan" />

==Toponymy==
There are places named after Manannán in Ireland, the Isle of Man and Scotland. In Ireland, most of them are on the coast or contain water features.<ref name="carrickmannon">[https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/9b31e0501b744154b4584b1dce1f859b/page/Place-Name-Info/?data_id=dataSource_1-PlaceNames_Gazeteer_No_Global_IDs_3734%3A20852 Carrickmannon]. Place-Names NI.</ref> They include Mannin Lake ({{lang|ga|Loch Mhanainn}}) in [[County Mayo]],<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.logainm.ie/en/1166389 |title=Mannin Lake |work=[[Placenames Database of Ireland]]}}</ref> Mannin Bay ({{lang|ga|Cuan Mhanainn}}) in [[County Galway]],<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.logainm.ie/en/1165958 |title=Mannin Bay |work=[[Placenames Database of Ireland]]}}</ref> Mannin Island ({{lang|ga|Manainn}}) in [[County Cork]],<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.logainm.ie/en/13488 |title=Mannin Island |work=[[Placenames Database of Ireland]]}}</ref> Cashelmanannan ({{lang|ga|Caiseal Mhanannáin}}, 'Manannán's [[Ringfort]]')<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.logainm.ie/en/1410349 |title=Cashelmanannan |work=[[Placenames Database of Ireland]]}}</ref> and Sheevannan ({{lang|ga|Sí Mhanannáin}}, 'Manannán's Fairy-mound')<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.logainm.ie/en/43645 |title=Sheevannan |work=[[Placenames Database of Ireland]]}}</ref> in [[County Roscommon]], Derrymannin ({{lang|ga|Doire Mhanainn}}, 'Manann's Oak') in County Mayo,<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.logainm.ie/en/34636 |title=Derrymannin |work=[[Placenames Database of Ireland]]}}</ref> and Carrickmannon ({{lang|ga|Carraig Mhanainn}}, 'Manannán's Rock') in [[County Down]].<ref name="carrickmannon" /> Also in Ireland, [[Lough Corrib]] takes its name from Manannán's alternate name {{lang|sga|Oirbsiu}} or {{lang|mga|Oirbsen}}.<ref>By [[Rebracketing|misdivision]] from {{lang|mga|Loch Oirbsean}}. Macalister, Vol. 4 (1941), p. 104.</ref>{{complete citation needed|date=July 2024|reason=Missing most of the publication informatiaon, including title of work and full name of author. There is no way to verify this citation.}} The placenames [[Clackmannan]] ({{lang|gd|Clach Mhanainn}}) and [[Slamannan]] ({{lang|gd|Sliabh Mhanainn}}) in Scotland may also refer to {{lang|gd|Manannàn}}.

== See also ==
*[[Manawydan fab Llŷr]]
*[[Irish mythology in popular culture#Manannán mac Lir|Irish mythology in popular culture: Manannán mac Lir]]
*[[Charon (mythology)|Charon]] – Ferryman of the dead from [[Greek mythology]].
*[[Fisher King]]

==Explanatory notes==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{reflist|30em|refs=
<ref name="breatnach-nagy-review">{{cite journal |last=Breatnach |first=Padraig |title=Review of Joseph Falaky Nagy, ''The Wisdom of the Outlaw: Boyhood Deeds of Finn in Gaelic Narrative Tradition'' |journal=[[Éigse: A Journal of Irish Studies]] |volume=24 |date=1930 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=CTRKAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Liath+Luachra%22 |pages=163}}</ref>

<ref name="buttimer">{{cite journal |last=Buttimer |first=Cornelius G. |title=Loegaire Mac Néill in the Bórama |journal=Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium |volume=1 |date=1981 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=sWIpAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Criomhall%22 |pages=63–78 |jstor=20557103 |isbn=9781879095021}}</ref>

<ref name="CCHE-imram">{{Cite Celtic Culture |last=Mac Mathúma |first=Séamus |title=Imram Brain maic Febail |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=f899xH_quaMC&pg=PA959 |page=959}}</ref>

<ref name="dil-luirech">{{cite web |title=lúirech |work=Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language (eDIL) |url=http://dil.ie/31029 |quote=(a) breastplate, cuirass, corselet}}</ref>

<ref name="dobs-altram">{{cite journal |last=Dobs |first=Maighréad Ní C. |title=Altromh Tighi da Medar |trans-title=The Fosterage of the House of the Two Goblets |journal=[[Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie]] |volume=18 |issue=1 |date=1930 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=CgBGAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Fosterage%22 |pages=189–230 |doi=10.1515/zcph.1930.18.1.189 |s2cid=202046305}}; re-edited/re-titled as "[http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/celtic/ctexts/fosterage.html The Fosterage of the House of the Two Pails]" via CTC</ref>

<ref name="duanaire-crain-bag">''Duanaire Finn'' Poem VIII "The Crane-bag", ed. {{harvp|MacNeill|1908|at=ed. pp. 21–22, tr. pp. 118–120}}</ref>
<ref name="duanaire-shield-of-fionn">''Duanaire Finn'' Poem XVI "The Shield of Fionn", ed. {{harvp|MacNeill|1908|at=ed. pp. 34–38, tr. pp. 134–139}}</ref>

<ref name="duncan-altram">{{cite journal |last=Duncan |first=Lilian |title=Altram Tige Dá Medar |trans-title=The Nurture of the Houses of two Methers |journal=[[Ériu (journal)|Ériu]] |volume=11 |date=1932 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=b2LwAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Methers%22 |pages=184–225 |jstor=30008101}}</ref>

<ref name="evans-wentz">{{cite book |last=Evans-Wentz |first=W. Y. |author-link=W. Y. Evans-Wentz |chapter=In the Isle of Man |title=The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries |date=1911 |url= http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/fulltext/wernt.htm}}</ref>

<ref name="hennessy-ce">O'Donovan, Ordnance Survey Letters, Co. Sligo, pp. 412–413. cited by: {{cite book |editor-last=Hennessy |editor-first=William Maunsell |editor-link=William Maunsell Hennessy |title=The Annals of Loch Cé: A Chronicle of Irish Affairs from A.D. 1014 to A.D. 1590 |volume=1 |place=London |publisher=Longman |date=1871 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=OvwKAAAAYAAJ&pg=PR35 |pages=xxxv–xxxvi}}</ref>

<ref name="hull-echtra-cormaic">{{cite journal |editor-last=Hull |editor-first=Vernam |title=Echtra Cormaic Maic Airt, 'The Adventure of Cormac Mac Airt' |journal=[[Publications of the Modern Language Association]] |volume=64 |number=4 |date=September 1949 |pages=871–883 |jstor=459637 |last1=Hull |first1=Vernam |doi=10.2307/459637 |s2cid=163684387}}</ref>

<ref name="joyce-oct-wavesweeper">{{cite book |last=Joyce |first=Patrick Weston |author-link=Patrick Weston Joyce |chapter=The Fate of the Children of Turenn; or, the Quest for the Eric-Fine |title=Old Celtic Romances |publisher=[[David Nutt (publisher)|David Nutt]] |date=1894 |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=c98YAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA60 |pages=60–61 (37–96)}}</ref>

<ref name="kittredge">{{cite book |last=Kittredge |first=George Lyman |author-link=George Lyman Kittredge |title=Arthur and Gorlagon |place=Boston |publisher=Ginn and Company |date=1903 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=0g9LAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA106 |page=106, n1 |series=Harvard studies and notes in philology and literature 8}}</ref>

<ref name="mackillop-ghiolla-dhecair">{{cite book |last=Mackillop |chapter=Tóraigheacht an Ghiolla Dhecair |date=1998 |title=Oxford Dictionary of Celtic Mythology |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |url= https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803104953377}}</ref>

<ref name="macneill-altram">{{cite journal |last=MacNeill |first=Máire |author-link=Máire MacNeill |title=The Legends of the False God's Daughter |journal=[[The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland]] |volume=79 |number=1/2 |date=1949 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=HxMSAAAAIAAJ&q=%22feth%22 |pages=102–103 |jstor=25510690}}</ref>

<ref name="matthews-BIM-crane-bag">{{cite book |last=Matthews |first=Caitlín |author-link1=John and Caitlin Matthews |chapter=Crane bag |title=British and Irish Mythology: An Encyclopedia of Myth and Legend |publisher=Diamond Books |date=1995 |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=62V1DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT148 |page=195 |isbn=9780261666511 |quote=Crane Bag&nbsp;... formed from the skin of Aoife, Manannan's son's mistress"}} {{unreliable source|certain=y|date=July 2024|reason=Notorious peddlers of wiccan/neopagan/neodruid "Celtic twilight" nonsense.}}</ref>

<ref name="meyer-imram-brain">{{cite book |editor-last=Meyer |editor-first=Kuno |editor-link=Kuno Meyer |title=Voyage of Bran |volume=1 |place=London |publisher=[[David Nutt (publisher)|David Nutt]] |date=1895 |isbn=9780404535803 |url= https://archive.org/details/voyageofbransono01meye/page/16/mode/2up |at=§32 pp. 16–17, str. 49–57 pp. 24–27, commentary by [[Alfred Nutt]], pp. 136–139}}</ref>

<ref name="meyer-tr-macgnimartha">{{cite journal |last=Meyer |first=Kuno |author-link=Kuno Meyer |title=The Boyish Exploits of Finn |journal=[[Ériu (journal)|Ériu]] |volume=1 |date=1904 |at=¶2, p. 180; ¶16, p. 185.}} A translation of {{lang|mga|Macgnimartha Find}}.</ref>

<ref name="Mongan1">{{cite web |last1=Jomes |first1=Mary |title=The Conception of Mongan and Dub-Lacha's Love for Mongán |url= http://maryjones.us/ctexts/mongan2.html |website=Celtic Literature Collective |publisher=Mary Jones |access-date=20 October 2019}}</ref>

<ref name="morrison-manannan">{{cite book |last=Morrison |first=Sophia |author-link=Sophia Morrison |chapter=Manannan Mac Y Leirr |title=Manx Fairy Tales |place=London |publisher=[[David Nutt (publisher)|David Nutt]] |date=1911 |chapter-url= https://archive.org/details/manxfairytales00morr/page/n185 |at="Old Ballad" pp. 169–170; prose tale pp. 171–173}}</ref>

<ref name="ocurry-altrom">Summary of a portion of The "Tale of Curchóg" in: {{cite journal |last=O'Curry |first=Eugene |author-link=Eugene O'Curry |title=Mr. O'Curry on 'The Exile of the Children of Uisnech' |journal=Atlantis |volume=III |date=1862 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=yOsAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA396 |pages=384–389}}</ref>

<ref name="odonovan-cormacs-gl">{{cite book |editor-last=O'Donovan |editor-first=John |editor-link=John O'Donovan (scholar) |author=Cormac mac Cuilennáin |author-link=Cormac mac Cuilennáin |others=notes and index by Whitley Stokes |chapter=Manannan mac Lir |title=Cormac's Glossary |place=Calcutta |publisher=O. T. Cutter |date=1868 |orig-date=c. 900 |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=-ZANAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA114 |page=114}}</ref>

<ref name="oduffy-fragarach">{{harvp|O'Duffy|1888|p=}}, ¶5 pp. 3–5, 70–72. Aonbharr. Freagarthach, Cathbarr.</ref>
<ref name="oduffy-sguaba">{{harvp|O'Duffy|1888|p=}}, ¶35 pp. 29–30, 98–99</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 XIV |title=Ogygia, or, A chronological account of Irish events |volume=2 |date=1793 |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=pD0IAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA25 |pages=25–26 |quote=Allad had three sons, Orbsen, Broin&nbsp;... and Keat&nbsp;... The merchant, Orbsen&nbsp;... was commonly called Manannan Mac Lir.}}</ref>

<ref name="ogrady-faghail">{{cite book |editor-last=O'Grady |editor-first=Standish Hayes |editor-link=Standish Hayes O'Grady |chapter=Faghail Craoibhe Chormaic mhic Airt |trans-chapter=How Cormac mac Airt Got his Branch |title=Toruigheacht Dhiarmuda Agus Ghrainne, or The Pursuit After Diarmuid O'Duibhne and Grainne, the Daughter of Cormac Mac Airt, King of Ireland in the Third Century |series=Transactions of the Ossianic Society |volume=3 |date=1857 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=OrUsAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA212 |pages=212–229}}</ref>

<ref name="paton">{{cite journal |last=Paton |first=Lucy Allen |title=Merlin and Ganieda |journal=[[Modern Language Notes]] |volume=18 |number=6 |date=Autumn 1903 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=tyZHAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA165 |page=165 |doi=10.2307/2917618 |jstor=2917618}}</ref>

<ref name="stokes-echtra-cormaic">{{cite book |editor-last=Stokes |editor-first=Whitley |editor-link=Whitley Stokes (Celtic scholar) |chapter=Echtra Cormaic i Tir Tairngiri ocus Ceart Claidib Cormaic |trans-chapter=The Tale of the Ordeals, Cormac's Adventure in the Land of Promise, and the Decision as to Cormac's Sword |title=Irische Texte |volume=3 |publisher=S. Hirzel |date=1891 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=FWc7AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA185 |at=pp. 185–202 (text); 203–221 (translation); 222–229 (notes)}}</ref>

<ref name="train-manannan-beg">{{cite book |last=Train |first=Joseph |chapter=Manannan beg va Mac y Leirr; ny, slane coontey jer Ellan Vannin |trans-chapter=Little Mannannan son of Leirr; or an account of the Isle of Man |title=An Historical and Statistical Account of the Isle of Man |volume=1 |place=Douglas, Isle of Man |publisher=Quiggin |date=1845 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=E_09AAAAcAAJ&pg=RA1-PA50 |pages=50–55}}</ref>

}}

== Bibliography ==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last=Arbois de Jubainville |first=Henri d' |author-link=Henri d'Arbois de Jubainville |chapter=Cúchulainn malade et alité; grande jalousie d'Émer |trans-title=Serglige Con Culainn |title=L'épopée celtique en Irlande |volume=1 |place=Paris |publisher=E. Thorin |date=1892 |chapter-url= https://archive.org/details/lpopeceltiqueeni00arbo/page/170/mode/2up |pages=170–216}}
* {{cite book |last=Arbois de Jubainville |first=Henry d' |author-link=Henri d'Arbois de Jubainville |translator-first=R. I. |translator-last=Best |translator-link=Richard Irvine Best |title=The Irish Mythological Cycle and Celtic Mythology |place=Dublin |publisher=Hodges, Figgs & Co. |date=1903 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=7EPXAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA67}}
* {{cite book |last=Borlase |first=William Copeland |author-link=William Copeland Borlase |title=The Dolmens of Ireland |date=1897 |publisher=Chapman & Hall |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=wvJMAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA802}} {{full citation needed|date=July 2024|reason=Borlase's is a 3-volume work, so the vol. no[s]. is/are needed.}}
* {{cite journal |last=Brown |first=Arthur C. L. |title=The Bleeding Lance |journal=[[Publications of the Modern Language Association]] |volume=25 |number=1 |date=1910 |url= https://archive.org/details/jstor-456810/page/n1/mode/2up |pages=1–59 |doi=10.2307/456810 |jstor=456810 |hdl=2027/mdp.39015014539368 |s2cid=163517936 |hdl-access=free}}
* {{cite journal |last=Bruford |first=Alan |title=Gaelic Folk-tales and Mediæval Romances: A Study of the Early Modern Irish 'Romantic Tales' and Their Oral Derivatives |journal=Béaloideas |volume=34 |date=1966 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=9xTaAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Ghaibhleann%22 |pages=i–v, 1–165, 167–285 |doi=10.2307/20521320 |jstor=20521320}}
* {{cite book |last=MacQuarrie |first=Charles W. |date=2004 |title=The Biography of the Irish God of the Sea from 'The Voyage of Bran' (700 A.D.) to 'Finnegan's Wake' (1939): The Waves of Manannán |series="Studies in Irish Literature" ser. |volume=13 |location=Lampeter, Wales |publisher=[[Edwin Mellen Press]] |isbn=9780773463820}} Excerpts, edited and illustrated for children, were reprinted under the title: {{Cite book |title=Waves of Manannan mac Lir: The Irish God of the Sea |date=2013 |publisher=Lily Publications |isbn=9781907945298 |oclc=925504286}} {{better source needed|date=July 2024|reason=Edwin Mellen Press has been identified as a vanity self-publisher, and is on our blacklist. In our case, every citation to him is him citing someone else, so just get the original sources and cite those directly.}} The 471-page original book should not be confused with the 59-page children's book.
* {{cite book |last=MacNeill |first=Eoin |author-link=Eoin MacNeill |title=Duanaire Finn: The Book of the Lays of Fionn. pt. 1 |publisher=[[David Nutt (publisher)|David Nutt]], for [[Irish Texts Society]] |date=1908 |series=ITS 7 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=u1zpAAAAMAAJ}}
* {{cite book |last=Moore |first=A. W. |author-link=Arthur William Moore |title=Folk-lore of the Isle of Man |place=Douglas, Isle of Man |publisher=Brown & Son |date=1891 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=PW3gAAAAMAAJ}}
* {{cite journal |last=Moore |first=A. W. |author-link=Arthur William Moore |title=Further Notes on Manx Folklore |journal=[[The Antiquary (magazine)|The Antiquary]] |volume=31 |date=1895 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=5VBUUlsTmQAC&pg=PA39 |pages=38–43}}
* {{cite book |last=Murphy |first=Gerard |others=index by Anna O'Sullivan |title=Duanaire Finn: The book of the Lays of Fionn. pt. 3 |publisher=[[David Nutt (publisher)|David Nutt]], for [[Irish Texts Society]] |date=1953 |series=ITS 43 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ZAoOAQAAIAAJ&q=%22crane-bag%22}}
* {{cite journal |last=O'Curry |first=Eugene |author-link=Eugene O'Curry |title=The Fate of the Children of Tuireann ([A]oidhe Chloinne Tuireann) |journal=Atlantis |volume=IV |date=1863 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Z5JEAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA157 |pages=157–240}}
* {{cite book |editor-last=O'Duffy |editor-first=Richard J. |title=Oidhe Chloinne Tuireann: Fate of the Children of Tuireann |publisher=M. H. Gill & Son, for [[Society for the Preservation of the Irish Language]] |date=1888 |url= https://archive.org/details/clannuisnigbeing00crai/page/n6/mode/2up}} A second edition was produced from the same publisher in 1901, but some of the earlier edition's notes about the manuscript materials were omitted.
* {{cite journal |last=Spaan |first=David B. |title=The Place of Manannan Mac Lir in Irish Mythology |journal=[[Folklore (journal)|Folklore]] |volume=76 |number=3 |date=Autumn 1965 |pages=176–195 |doi=10.1080/0015587X.1965.9717007 |jstor=1258585}}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite web |url= http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/fim/fim04.htm |last=Moore |first=A. W. |author-link=Arthur William Moore |title=Folk-lore of the Isle of Man: Chapter I. Myths Connected with the Legendary History of the Isle of Man |publisher=Sacred-texts.com |access-date=16 January 2014}}
{{refend}}

{{Celtic mythology (Mythological)}}
{{Celtic mythology (Ulster)}}
{{Celtic mythology (Fenian)}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manannan Mac Lir}}
[[Category:Death gods]]
[[Category:Fomorians]]
[[Category:Irish gods]]
[[Category:Sea and river gods]]
[[Category:Trickster gods]]
[[Category:Tuatha Dé Danann]]
[[Category:Ulster Cycle]]
[[Category:Underworld gods]]