Caladbolg ("hard cleft",[1] also spelledCaladcholg, "hard blade") is thesword ofFergus mac Róich from theUlster Cycle ofIrish mythology.[2]
Fergus calls his sword by that name inTáin Bó Cúailnge.Ailill mac Máta had stolen Fergus's sword when he caught himin flagrante withMedb. Fergus carved a dummy wooden sword to disguise the fact he was unarmed.[3]: pp. 154-155 Ailill returns the sword to him before the final battle, and Fergus speaks a poem over it, calling itCaladcholc in one version,[3]: pp. 121, 234 andCaladbolg in another.[4]: 266 It is said to have been "the sword of Leite from the elf-mounds. When one wished to strike with it, it was as big as a rainbow in the air."[4]: 268 Prevented from using it againstConchobar mac Nessa, Fergus instead cuts off the tops of three hills.[3]: 234–235
A poem in theDuanaire Finn traces the ownership of sword through various figures of classical mythology and history, passing down fromSaturn, via the heroes of theTrojan War, toJulius Caesar, toCú Chulainn, who gave it to Fergus. After Fergus's death, it was passed down through the generations from Medb, toFionn mac Cumhaill's grandsonOscar, and ultimately toSaint Patrick.[5]
T. F. O'Rahilly argues thatCaladbolg is the older form of the name, and interprets it as meaning "hard lightning". He connects it with theBuilg, an ancient people of Ireland (he identifies a subgroup of theMúscraige called theDál Caladbuilg), as well asMiddle Welsh:Caledfwlch, the Welsh name ofKing Arthur's swordExcalibur.[6] Other sources connect similarly named swords with the legends of Arthur,Cú Chulainn,Fergus mac Léti andFergus mac Róich.[7][8]
The name Caladbolg appears in the plural as a generic word for "great swords" in the 10th-century Irish translation of the classical tale The Destruction of Troy,Togail Troí.[9]
It [Caladfwlch/Excalibur] is also linked to the sword of the Irish heroes as Caladbou ("hard fighter") for Fergus mac Roich, and as Caladbol ("hard lightening") for CuChullain [..] another Irish hero named Fergus mac Leti had a kingly sword called Caladhcholg, with similar potency as Caladbolg
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