Help
Add this page to your book
Show book (0 pages)
Suggest pagesClaíomh Solais
Claíomh Solais (reformed spelling), Claidheamh Soluis (unreformed Mod. Ir.) [1] (IPA:Irish pronunciation: [/kɫiːv ˈsɔɫɪʃ/]; an cloidheamh solais (variant spelling[2]) pronunc. roughly /kleeve-solish/), is an Irish term meaning "Sword of Light", or "Shining Sword", which appears in a number of orally transmitted Irish folk-tales esp. of the "adventure in the otherworld (giant's land)" variety. It also appears in numerous Scottish Gaelic folk-tales[3].
Recent popularized notions equate this weapon with swords from Irish mythology (Cúchulainn's sword Cruaidín[4], or Nuada's sword, one of the Four Treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann), but this is not founded on solid literary evidence. A paragraph at bottom will be devoted to the discussion of this comingling, but the present article centers on the survey of the sword of light as they actually occur in stories passe down in the olden days.
 |
This article relating to a Celtic myth or legend is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
Contents |
[edit] Overview
The folk tales featuring the claidheamh soluis typically compels the hero to perform (three) sets of tasks, aided by helpers, who may be a servant woman, "helpful animal companions", or some other supernatural being. The majority of are also 'bridal quests (or involve the winning of husbands in e.g., Maol a Chliobhain).
The adversary is usually described as a giant (guragach or fermór), who oftentimes cannot be defeated except by some secret means. Thus the hero or helper may resort to the sword of light as the only effective weapon against this enemy. But often the sword is not enough, and the supernatural enemy has to be attacked on a single vulnerable spot on his body. The weak spot, moreover, may be an external soul concealed somewhere in the world at large (inside animals, etc.), and in the case of "The Young King of Esaidh Ruadh" (listed below), this soul is encased within a nested series of animals.
The crucial secret to the hero's success is typically revealed by a woman, i.e., his would-be bride or the damsel in distress (the woman servant held captive by giants), etc. And even when the secret's revealant is an animal, she may in fact be a human transformed into beast (e.g. the great grey cat in "The Widow and her Daughters").
The woman as the possessor of the secret seems to be an element of preeminent importance, suggested by the fact that one tale bears the title "The Shining Sword and the Knowledge of the Cause of the One Story about Women" (and Kennedy's tale Fios Fath an aon Sceil or 'perfect narrative of the unique story' may be a corruption of this). A parallel to this is the question "What is it that women most desire?" posed in the Arthurian tale of The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle, which may be a basis for further comparative analysis.
[edit] Scottish Gaelic Folktales
The publication of tales from the Highlands (J. F. Campbell, Popular Tales of the West Highlands, 1860) predate the Irish tales becoming available in print. The magic sword sometimes appearing under variant names such as the "White Glave of Light" (Scottish Gaelic: an claidheamh geal soluis ).
- "The Young King of Esaidh Ruadh" (Campbell, No.1; Vol. I, p.1- )
- "Widow's Son" (Campbell, No.2, 2nd variant; Vol. I, p.47- )
- "Tale of Conal Crovi" (Campbell, No.6; Vol. I, p.125- )
- "Tale of Connal" (Campbell, No.7; Vol. I, p.143- )
- "Maol a Chliobain" (Campbell, No.17; Vol I, p.251- )
- "The Widow and her Daughters" (Campbell, No.41, 2nd variant; Vol II, p.41- )
- "Mac Iain Direach" (Campbell, No.46; Vol II, p.328- )
- "An Sionnach, the Fox" (Campbell, No.46, 4th variant; Vol II, p.353- )
There is also a Donegal tale ("Hung up Naked Man", summ. in English by Loomis; "Éamonn Ua Ciórrthais(?)" ed. Quiggin,) strikingly similar to the "Young King of Esaidh Ruadh" above, even though it does not mention a sword of light.[5][6]
[edit] Irish Folktales
See under #Primary Sources for bibliography of the compilations.
- "The Story of the Sculloge's son from Muskerry (Sceal Vhic Scoloige)" (Kennedy (1866), p.255-)
- "Fios Fath an aon Sceil" (perfect narrative of the unique story) (Kennedy (1866), p.255-)
- "The Thirteenth Son of the King of Erin", (Curtin, 1890, p.157-174)
- "The Weaver's Son and the Giant of the White Hill", (Curtin (1890), pp.64-77)[7]
- "Morraha; Brian More, son of the high-king of Erin, from the Well of Enchantments of Binn Edin" (Larminie (1893) pp.10-30)
- "Simon and Margaret" (Larminie (1893) pp.130-138)
- "Beauty of the World" (Larminie (1893) pp.155-167)
- "The King who had Twelve Sons" (Larminie (1893) pp.196-210)
- "The Shining Sword and the Knowledge of the Cause of the One Story about Women" (O'Faharta, ZCP 1 (1897) pp.477-92)
- an untitled tale of Finn's three sons by the Queen of Italy collected at Glenties in Donegal, (Andrews (1919), p.91-)
- "An Claidheamh Soluis" (Ó Ceocháin, ed. summ., Béaloideas I, i (1927), pp.277-282)
- "The History of Kitty Ill-Pretts" (MacDonald & Bruford (1994), No. 21 )
[edit] Popular Culture
[edit] Comingling with Mythological Swords
The assertion that Calidheamh soluis is "a symbol of Ireland attributed in oral tradition to Cúchulainn" (Mackillop[8]) does not seem very representative, since in the body of folktales that mention the sword of light (listed above), few (if any) names Cuchulainn as the protagonist. And T. F. O'Rahilly only went as far as to suggests that the "sword of light" in folk tales was a vestige of Cúchulainn's Cruaidín Catutchenn.[9] This sword (aka "Socht's sword") is said to have "shone at night like a candle" acording to a version of Echtrae Cormaic("Adventures of Cormac mac Airt")[10].
In some circles, the Claidheamh Soluis has been asserted to be the sword of Nuada Airgedlamh, one of The Four Treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann. This has practically become gospel among a considerably large populace in Japan, where this information was dissemeniated by the fantasy related mythology reference, Takebe et al., Koku no kamigami (1990) and derivative literature. It has been reported that artist Jim Fitzpatrick had been the one who identified Nuada's sword as the Claidheamh Soluis in his novels (Book of Conquests (1978), The Silver Arm (1981), Érinsaga (1985))[verification needed], and that this was Takebe's original source.
There is slim literary grounds for calling Nuada Airgedlamh's sword the Claidheamh Soluis. One scrap of text that might encourage the notion is found in the Scéla Conchobuir meic Nessa, where one of the eighteen shields (or swords[11]) of Ulstermen is called "the Candle of Nuada" (Irish: Chaindel Nuadat, Kinsella tr. "Nuadu's Cainnel — a bright torch ") [12][13]. This Nuada here is presumably an Ulster warrior but difficult to identify so that one is tempted to speculate the deity is meant.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] References
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Mackillop, Dict. Celt. Mythol.
- ^ O'Rahilly, EIHM, p.68; Kennedy
- ^ J. F. Campbell, Pop. Tales, I, 24, "The sword of light is common in Gaelic stories;.." etc.
- ^ "the Divine Hero overcomes his father the Otherworld-god with that god's own weapon, the thunderolt, known variously in story-telling by names such as the Gaí Bulga (Cú Chulainn's weapon), the Caladbolg (Arthur's Escalibur), or the Claidheamh Soluis of our halfpenny postage-stamps." G.M., review of O'Rahilly's EIHM, in: Studies, An Irish Quarterly Review ,Vol. 35, No. 139 (Sep., 1946), pp. 420-422 JSTOR p.421
- ^ Loomis, Celtic Myth and Arthurian Romance, p.18ff
- ^ The Irish text is Edmund Crosby Quiggin, Dialect of Donegal (1906), 201wikisource
- ^ sword of sharpness. Noted by A.C.L. Brown, "Bleeding Lance", PMLA 25, p. 20
- ^ Dict. Celtic Mythol. (1998)
- ^ O'Rahilly, EIHM, p.68, "Cúchulainn possessed not only the spear of Bulga, but also a sword, known as in Cruaidín Catutchenn, which shone at night like a torch. In folk tales the lightning-sword has survived as 'the sword of light' (an cloidheamh solais), possessed by a giant and won from him by a hero."
- ^ p.218, in: Stokes, Whitley, ed. tr., Scél na Fír Flatha, Echtra Chormaic i Tír Tairngiri ocus Cert Claidib Chormaic (the Irish Ordeals, Cormac's Adventure in the Land of Promise, and the Decision as to Cormac's Sword ), in Irische Texte III, 1 (Leipzig 1891) pp. 183-229.
- ^ Harry Mountain's Celtic Ency." calls Cormac's Croda a sword, etc., Kinsella calls Leochain the hacking sword)
- ^ tr. ed. Scéla Conchobair maic Nessa "The Tidings of Conchobar son of Ness" in Ériu 4 (1910), 18-33. (books.google)
- ^ Kinsella, "How Conchobar was begotten, and how he took the kingship of Ulster" in The Táin (1969). Kinsella uses the tale from the Book of Leinster here (rather than the 1st recension of TBC). See his endnotes.
[edit] Dictionaries
- Mackillop, James, Dictionary of Celtic Mytholgy (1998)
[edit] Primary sources
(Gaelic texts provided)
- Campbell, J. F. , Popular Tales of the West Highlands, 1860. ([books.google]: Vol. I [Vol. II])
(Sacred-Texts site: Vol. 1 Vol. 2 Vol. 3 Vol. 4
- O'Faharta, D., "An Cloidheamh Soluis Agus Fios Fáth an Aon Sgeil ar na Mnáibh" (The Shining Sword and the Knowledge of the Cause of the One Story about Women) Zeitschrift für Celtische Philologie 1 (1897) 477-92 ([books?id=JQwLgAiIGxkC&pg=PA477 books.google])
- Ó Ceocháin, Domhnall 1855-1966, ed. summ. "An Claidheamh Soluis ", Béaloideas The Journal of Folklore of Ireland Society, Iml[eabhar] 1, uimh[ir] 1, meitheamh 1927 [= Vol 1, No. 1, June 1927], pp.277-
[edit] Secondary sources
(Translation only or Summaries)
- Andrews, Elizabeth Ulster Folklore (1919) (books.google)
- Curtin, Jeremiah, Myths and Folk-Lore of Ireland (1890) ([books?id=8DA9AAAAIAAJ books.google])
- Kennedy, Patrick, Legendary Fictions of the Irish Celts (1866), p.255- books.google sacred-texts (1891 ed.)
- Larminie, William, West Irish Folk-Tales and Romances (1893)
[edit] Popularized Versions
- Mac Manus, Seamus, "Sword of Light" in Lippincott's monthly magazine: a popular journal of general literature, 80 (1907) (books.google)
- Takebe, Nobuaki and Kaihei-tai, Koku no kamigami Japanese: 健部伸明と怪兵隊の『虚空の神々』 (1990). According to this dicitionary, Nuadha wore a shining sword called the Claimh Solais (phonetisized Klau-Solas) - fiery sword, sword of light. The Claimh Solais was a magic sword carved with spells (runes), and reputedly an Undefeatable Sword such that once unsheathed, no one could escape its blows. And also, it was one of the Four Treasures of Erin brought from the mystical Isle of Findias in the North." (tr. Kiyoweap (talk) 26 January 2012 (UTC)) Japanese: 「クラウ・ソラス（Claimh Solais - 炎の剣、光の剣）」と呼ばれる輝く剣を身につけていました。クラウ・ソラスは呪文が刻んである魔剣で、一度鞘から抜かれたら、その一撃から逃れられる者はいない不敗の剣であるとも伝えられています。そしてまた、北方にある神秘島のフィンジアス（Findias）市からもたらされた、エリン四至宝のうちの一つでした。 (p.58)
