Thecaoineag (Scottish Gaelic pronunciation:[ˈkʰɯːɲak]) is a female spirit inScottish folklore and a type ofHighlandbanshee, her name meaning "weeper". She is normally invisible and foretells death in herclan by lamenting in the night at a waterfall, stream or Loch, or in aglen or on a mountainside. Unlike the related death portent known as thebean nighe, the caoineag cannot be approached, questioned, or made to grant wishes.[1][2]
TheScottish folkloristAlexander Carmichael inCarmina Gadelica states that she foretells the death of those slain in battle, and that her mourning and weeping cause much anxiety to parents whose sons are in the wars. Before theMassacre of Glencoe, the caoineag ofClan MacDonald was heard to wail night after night.[1][3] Those whose fears were roused by herkeening left the glen and escaped the fate of those who remained behind. Fragments of thedirges said to have been sung by the caoineag before the massacre were collected by Carmichael:
Little caoineachag of the sorrow
Is pouring the tears of her eyes
Weeping and wailing the fate of Clan Donald
Alas my grief that ye did not heed her cries
There is gloom and grief in the mount of mist
There is weeping and calling in the mount of mist
There is death and danger, there is maul and murder
There is blood spilling in the mount of mist[1]
Other local names for her includecaointeag,caoineachag,caointeachag, andcaoidheag.[1]
Thecaointeach is another version of this death spirit attached to various clans inIslay. When a death from illness was about to occur, she would appear outside the sick person's house wearing a green shawl and begin lamenting at the door. In one account, she is said to have been banished from the premises after having been pitied and given a gift of clothing to cover herself, much like traditions of thebrownie[4] and theCauld Lad of Hylton.[5] She is sometimes conflated with thebean nighe who haunts desolate streams and washes the clothing of those about to die, but in this context the caointeach is more formidable. If she is interrupted she will strike at a person's legs with her wet linen and the victim will lose the use of them.[6]
Caointeach is also the spelling alternative given byEdward Dwelly in his dictionary ofScottish Gaelic, where she is defined as a "femalefairy orwater-kelpie".[7]
