Dáire is anOld Irish name which fell out of use at an early period, remaining restricted essentially to legendary and ancestral figures, usually male. It has come back into fashion since the 18th century. The anglicised form of this name isDara orDarragh.
BothEoin MacNeill[1] andT. F. O'Rahilly believed that most, if not all of those listed may derive from the same prehistoric or mythological figure,[2] or have adopted each other's features to such an extent as to all be composites. The latter states that Daire andCú Roí "are ultimately one and the same",[3] and refers to him as "the god of theOtherworld".[4]
The meaning is both sexual ("fruitful, fertile, rutty") and tumultuous ("violent"). The reconstructed form is*Dārios,[5] cognate to theGaulishDari(o) ("tumult, rage"), a form widely attested on the Continent, especially in personal names.[6]
TheDarini were a population group or kingdom located byPtolemy's 2nd centuryGeography in southAntrim and northDown.[7][8]Julius Pokorny believed this to be a mistake forDarioni, from the ground form*Dārio-nion, reconstructed from the proto-historicalDairine,[9] descendants ofDaire Doimthech /Daire mac Dedad and ancestors of the historicalCorcu Loígde. They were probably also ancestral, at least in part, to theDál Fiatach, the descendants ofFiatach Finn mac Daire and known as the historicalUlaid (<*Uluti /Uoluntii), mentioned by Ptolemy living adjacent to the Darini.
Closely associated with Daire in Irish legend is the heroic figureLugaid.[10] According to O'Rahilly he was the son of Dáire,Lugaid mac Dáire or Lugaid Loígde, son of Dáire Doimthech (or Sírchrechtach), but was chiefly remembered in the person of his 'descendant'Lugaid Mac Con. His other principal emanation wasLugaid mac Con Roí, son of Cú Roí and famously known from theUlster Cycle. In addition, the revoltingLugaid Riab nDerg has been suggested as a relation to these,[11] or alternatively a very different individual and King of Tara once known as Lugaid Réoderg.
^This character, Lugaid Riab nDerg, does not have any Munster-specific or Ulster-specific origins (equivalent to saying this Lugaid is given no descent from any Dáire), and thus if another emanation of the original Lugaid he can only be a literary corruption or invention from outside the original source traditions. In fact he has been made a grandson ofEochu Feidlech and thus nephew of QueenMedb of Connacht.
Eoin MacNeill,Celtic Ireland. Academy Press. 1981 (reissue with new intro. and notes byDonnchadh Ó Corráin of original Martin Lester Ltd edition, 1921).
Michael A. O'Brien (ed.) with intr. by John V. Kelleher,Corpus genealogiarum Hiberniae.DIAS. 1976. / partial digital edition:Donnchadh Ó Corráin (ed.), Genealogies from Rawlinson B 502. University College, Cork: Corpus of Electronic Texts. 1997.
Whitley Stokes (ed. & tr.), "Cóir Anmann (Fitness of Names)", in Whitley Stokes andErnst Windisch,Irische Texte mit Wörterbuch. Volume 3, Parts 1–2. Leipzig: Verlag von S. Hirzel. 1891 (1); 1897 (2). pp. 285–444. alternative scan Ialternative scan II
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