// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did Fódla say to the soil? You're the root of all my love.
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In Irish mythology, Fódla or Fótla (modern spelling: Fódhla, Fodhla, Fóla), daughter of Delbáeth and Ernmas of the Tuatha Dé Danann, is one of the tutelary goddesses of Ireland. Her husband is Mac Cecht. Her name, pronounced [ˈfˠoːl̪ˠə] (FOE-lah), is believed to derive from Old Irish fót ('sod, land'), indicating her nature as a goddess of the land.[1] A fanciful etymology in the Book of Leinster reads it as fót for Díl, "a sod upon Díl," memorialising the death of a daughter of Míl Espáine.[2]
With her sisters, Banba and Ériu, she is part of an important triumvirate of goddesses. When the Milesians arrived from Spain, each of the three sisters asked the bard Amergin that her name be given to the country. Ériu (Éire, and in the dative 'Éirinn', giving English 'Erin') seems to have won the argument, but the poets hold that all three were granted their wish, and thus 'Fódhla' is sometimes used as a literary name for Ireland, as is 'Banba'. This is similar in some ways to the use of the poetic name 'Albion' for Great Britain.[citation needed]
In the Tochomlad mac Miledh a hEspain i nErind, Fótla is described as the wife of Mac Cecht, reigning as Queen of Ireland in any year in which Mac Cecht ruled as king.[3] The text goes on to relate that as the Milesians were journeying through Ireland, Fótla met them ‘with her swift fairy hosts around her’ on Naini Mountain, also called the mountain of Ebliu. A footnote identifies the Naini Mountain of Ebliu as the Slieve Felim Mountains in County Limerick.[citation needed]
According to Seathrún Céitinn she worshipped the Mórrígan, who is also named as a daughter of Ernmas.[citation needed]
In De Situ Albanie (a late document), the Pictish Chronicle, and the Duan Albanach, Fotla (modern Atholl, Ath-Fotla) was the name of one of the first Pictish kingdoms.[4]
See also
[edit source]Notes
[edit source]- ↑ "eDIL - Irish Language Dictionary". dil.ie.
- ↑ Ériu: Founded as the Journal of the School of Irish Learning Devoted to Irish Philology and Literature. (1988:13). Ireland: Royal Irish Academy.
- ↑ "Tochomlad mac Miledh a hEspain i nErind: The Progress of the Sons of Mil from Spain to Ireland". www.maryjones.us.
- ↑ Broun, "Kingship", for Ireland see, e.g. Byrne, Irish Kings and High-Kings, and more generally Ó Cróinín, Early Medieval Ireland