An Chraobh Airgid

Person

Fionnuala

Fionnuala · Old Irish Finnguala

Say it: fin-OO-uh-luh /fʲɪn̪ˠˈuːəlˠə/

The eldest of the Children of Lir. Her name means “fair shoulder”.

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Twin of Aodh. Through nine hundred years as a swan she kept her brothers alive: under her wings on Carraig na Rón, and with her singing. Thomas Moore’s “Song of Fionnuala” (1808) carried her lament far beyond Ireland.

Kin and bonds

In the tales

  • The Children of Lir A jealous stepmother, a druid’s wand, and four children who must live nine hundred years as swans.

See also

  • Aodh Fionnuala’s twin. His name means “fire”.
  • Carraig na Rón The Rock of the Seals, in the Sea of Moyle.

Sources

Medieval manuscript. Written down by Irish scholars between the eighth and seventeenth centuries.

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