Dian Cecht
Encyclopedia
In Irish mythology
, Dian Cécht (Old Irish
pronunciation dʲiːən kʲeːxt), also known as Cainte, Canta, was the God of healing to the Irish people. He was the healer for the Tuatha Dé Danann
and the father of Cian
, Cú
, and Cethen. His other children were Miach
, Airmed
, Étan
the poetess, and Ochtriullach.
, located to the west of Magh Tuireadh and east of Loch Arboch, where the Tuatha Dé could bathe in when wounded; they became healed and continued fighting. It would heal any wound but decapitation
.
. The Morrígú
, the heaven-god's fierce wife, had borne a son of such terrible aspect that the physician of the gods, foreseeing danger, counselled that he should be destroyed in his infancy. This was done; and Dian Cecht opened the infant's heart, and found within it three serpents, capable, when they grew to full size, of depopulating Ireland. He lost no time in destroying these serpents also, and burning them into ashes, to avoid the evil which even their dead bodies might do. More than this, he flung the ashes into the nearest river, for he feared that there might be danger even in them; and, indeed, so venomous were they that the river boiled up and slew every living creature in it, and therefore has been called the River Barrow, the ‘Boiling’ ever since.
a silver arm which could move and function as a normal arm. Later, Dian Cecht's son, Miach
, replaced the silver arm with an arm of flesh and blood, and Dian Cecht killed him out of professional envy. Miach's sister, Airmed
, mourned over her brother's grave. As her tears fell, all the healing herbs of the world grew from the grave. Airmed arranged and catalogued the herbs, but then Dian Cécht again reacted with anger and jealousy and scattered the herbs, destroying his daughter's work as well as his son's. For this reason, it is said that no human now knows the healing properties of all the herbs.
Dian Cecht was also able to heal Mider after the latter lost an eye when struck with a twig of hazel.
Dian Cecht's healing powers were invoked in Ireland
as late as the 8th century.
knowledge about regular sound change
s in Celtic languages
(McCone, 1996) and analysis of the University of Wales
’ Proto-Celtic lexicon
and of Julius Pokorny
’s Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch
permit *Deino-kwekwto- ‘swift concoction’ as a plausible Proto-Celtic reconstruction for this theonym.
Irish mythology
The mythology of pre-Christian Ireland did not entirely survive the conversion to Christianity, but much of it was preserved, shorn of its religious meanings, in medieval Irish literature, which represents the most extensive and best preserved of all the branch and the Historical Cycle. There are...
, Dian Cécht (Old Irish
Old Irish language
Old Irish is the name given to the oldest form of the Goidelic languages for which extensive written texts are extant. It was used from the 6th to the 10th centuries, by which time it had developed into Middle Irish....
pronunciation dʲiːən kʲeːxt), also known as Cainte, Canta, was the God of healing to the Irish people. He was the healer for the Tuatha Dé Danann
Tuatha Dé Danann
The Tuatha Dé Danann are a race of people in Irish mythology. In the invasions tradition which begins with the Lebor Gabála Érenn, they are the fifth group to settle Ireland, conquering the island from the Fir Bolg....
and the father of Cian
Cian
In Irish mythology, Cían , son of Dian Cecht of the Tuatha Dé Danann, is best known as the father of Lug by the Fomorian princess Ethniu.He was born with a caul on his head, and was turned into a pig as a boy when struck by a druid's wand. Thereafter he could transform into a pig at will...
, Cú
CU
CU, Cu, or cu may refer to:* Copper, a chemical element* The ISO 639-1 code for Old Church Slavonic* The cu remote login command used on unix-like computing systems* "See you" in e-mail shorthand...
, and Cethen. His other children were Miach
Miach
In Irish mythology, Miach was a son of Dian Cecht of the Tuatha Dé Danann. He replaced the silver arm his father made for Nuada with an arm of flesh and blood; Dian Cecht killed him out of jealousy for being able to do so when he himself could not....
, Airmed
Airmed
In Irish mythology, the goddess Airmed was one of the Tuatha Dé Danann. With her father Dian Cecht and brother Miach, she healed those injured in the Second Battle of Magh Tuiredh....
, Étan
Etan
Etan is the name of:* Etan Boritzer , author* Etan Cohen , screenwriter* Etan Patz , disappeared person* Etan Thomas , basketball player...
the poetess, and Ochtriullach.
Dian Cecht's curative well
He blessed a well called SlaneSlane
Slane is a village in County Meath, in Ireland. The village stands on a steep hillside on the left bank of the River Boyne at the intersection of the N2 and the N51 . In 2006 Slane's population was 1,099, having grown from 823 in 2002. The population of the village and the surrounding rural area...
, located to the west of Magh Tuireadh and east of Loch Arboch, where the Tuatha Dé could bathe in when wounded; they became healed and continued fighting. It would heal any wound but decapitation
Decapitation
Decapitation is the separation of the head from the body. Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation, e.g., as a means of murder or execution; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, knife, wire, or by other more sophisticated means such as a guillotine...
.
Dian Cecht's 'boiling' of the River Barrow
It was Dian Cecht who once saved Ireland, and was indirectly the cause of the name of the River BarrowRiver Barrow
The Barrow is a river in Ireland. It is one of The Three Sisters; the other two being the River Suir and the River Nore. The Barrow is the longest and most prominent of the three rivers...
. The Morrígú
Morrígan
The Morrígan or Mórrígan , also written as Morrígu or in the plural as Morrígna, and spelt Morríghan or Mór-Ríoghain in Modern Irish, is a figure from Irish mythology who appears to have once been a goddess, although she is not explicitly referred to as such in the texts.The Morrigan is a goddess...
, the heaven-god's fierce wife, had borne a son of such terrible aspect that the physician of the gods, foreseeing danger, counselled that he should be destroyed in his infancy. This was done; and Dian Cecht opened the infant's heart, and found within it three serpents, capable, when they grew to full size, of depopulating Ireland. He lost no time in destroying these serpents also, and burning them into ashes, to avoid the evil which even their dead bodies might do. More than this, he flung the ashes into the nearest river, for he feared that there might be danger even in them; and, indeed, so venomous were they that the river boiled up and slew every living creature in it, and therefore has been called the River Barrow, the ‘Boiling’ ever since.
Dian Cecht's healing of Nuada's arm
He made King NuadaNuada
In Irish mythology, Nuada or Nuadu , known by the epithet Airgetlám , was the first king of the Tuatha Dé Danann. He is cognate with the Gaulish and British god Nodens...
a silver arm which could move and function as a normal arm. Later, Dian Cecht's son, Miach
Miach
In Irish mythology, Miach was a son of Dian Cecht of the Tuatha Dé Danann. He replaced the silver arm his father made for Nuada with an arm of flesh and blood; Dian Cecht killed him out of jealousy for being able to do so when he himself could not....
, replaced the silver arm with an arm of flesh and blood, and Dian Cecht killed him out of professional envy. Miach's sister, Airmed
Airmed
In Irish mythology, the goddess Airmed was one of the Tuatha Dé Danann. With her father Dian Cecht and brother Miach, she healed those injured in the Second Battle of Magh Tuiredh....
, mourned over her brother's grave. As her tears fell, all the healing herbs of the world grew from the grave. Airmed arranged and catalogued the herbs, but then Dian Cécht again reacted with anger and jealousy and scattered the herbs, destroying his daughter's work as well as his son's. For this reason, it is said that no human now knows the healing properties of all the herbs.
Dian Cecht was also able to heal Mider after the latter lost an eye when struck with a twig of hazel.
Dian Cecht's healing powers were invoked in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
as late as the 8th century.
Etymology
LinguisticLinguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
knowledge about regular sound change
Sound change
Sound change includes any processes of language change that affect pronunciation or sound system structures...
s in Celtic languages
Celtic languages
The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic"; a branch of the greater Indo-European language family...
(McCone, 1996) and analysis of the University of Wales
University of Wales
The University of Wales was a confederal university founded in 1893. It had accredited institutions throughout Wales, and formerly accredited courses in Britain and abroad, with over 100,000 students, but in October 2011, after a number of scandals, it withdrew all accreditation, and it was...
’ Proto-Celtic lexicon
Lexicon
In linguistics, the lexicon of a language is its vocabulary, including its words and expressions. A lexicon is also a synonym of the word thesaurus. More formally, it is a language's inventory of lexemes. Coined in English 1603, the word "lexicon" derives from the Greek "λεξικόν" , neut...
and of Julius Pokorny
Julius Pokorny
Julius Pokorny was an Austrian linguist and scholar of the Celtic languages, particularly Irish, and a supporter of Irish nationalism. He held academic posts in Austrian and German universities.-Life:...
’s Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch
Indogermanisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch
The Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch was published in 1959 by the Austrian-German comparative linguist and Celtic languages expert Julius Pokorny...
permit *Deino-kwekwto- ‘swift concoction’ as a plausible Proto-Celtic reconstruction for this theonym.