Some Celtic Help...

A few good places to start:

http://www.englishirishdictionary.com/

http://www.nic.funet.fi/~magi/opinnot/gaelic/irish-dic.html (I've used this one a lot)

http://www.hoganstand.com/general/Identity/dictionary.htm

http://www.irishgaelictranslator.com/ (This one is a lot of fun.)

Good luck with it!

Have you talked to Medievalist? That's who I'd ask.

Saritams8 said:

... For my novel.

I have a sheep herder who is old and magical, I'm thinking Druid. He uses a more primitive base of magic to protect and care for his sheep, dogs, and family. His wife is a descendant of the Filid. I'm looking for some language to give to their spells. Basic stuff that will lend credibility to the text. It's based now, but they are both in their 70's living on Achill Island, Co. Mayo.

Click to expand...

First, the filid aren't a caste in the sense of inheriting the position/status, though obviously poetic gifts are quite frequently "in the family," so you do see poets who are from a line of poets.

For island life and folklore see
Blasket Memories: The Life of an Irish Island Community
by Padraig Tyers

A Pity Youth Does Not Last: Reminiscences of the Last of the Great Blasket Island's Poets and Storytellers by Micheal O'Guiheen and translated by Enright

Especially look for books by and about O'Guiheen's mom, Peig Sayers, like Peig: The Autobiography of Peig Sayers of the Great Blasket Island.


For models of the kinds of charms, you might look at Carmina Gadelica; it's Scottish Gaelic, thoroughly revised by nineteenth century scholars, but it gives you some idea of the blend of old and new, pagan and Christian. Much of it is on the Web, which is fortunate. http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/gaidhlig/corpus/Carmina/

Look for modern Irish folklore books but you might also try to interlibrary loan Fergus Kelly' s forthcoming book on the Irish agricultural laws, since there are bits of charms and folklore mixed in with the law texts.

Saritam you want to go to the UCD Folkore Center; they're lovely people. Email well in advance.

http://www.ucd.ie/folklore/

You might want to look at Béaloideas, the journal, if you can find it. It's the best Irish Folklore journal. Hands down.

Err. . .

You have looked at the stuff on my Web site, right?