An Chraobh Airgid

People

The Fomorians

Fomhóraigh · Old Irish Fomóire

Say it: fuh-VOH-rukh (one), fuh-VOH-ree (many) fomhórach /fˠɔˈvˠoːɾˠəx/

Old enemies of the gods. In folklore, giants.

Open it on the full site There every name opens, and a web shows who is kin to whom.

In the Book of Invasions they are the adversaries of every people who come to Ireland. In Cath Maige Tuired they are kin by marriage before they are enemies: Balor’s daughter Ethne is the mother of Lugh, and Bres, the son of a Fomorian king, is made king of the Tuatha Dé, until under him the Fomorians lay their tribute on all Ireland. They carried off the Dagda’s harper. In later folk speech a fomhórach could simply be a giant, which is why the Giant’s Causeway was called Clochán na bhFomhórach.

In the tales

  • The Fate of the Children of Tuireann Three brothers stone Lugh’s father to death. His price sounds small: three apples, a pigskin, a spear, a hound’s whelp, and three shouts on a hill.
  • The Coming of the Tuatha Dé Danann They burned their ships on the shore, and for three days a druid’s mist hid them. Then they sent word to the people who held Ireland: half the land, or a battle.
  • The Second Battle of Mag Tuired A beautiful king who gives nothing, a stranger with every art, an eye no army can face, and a harp that plays sorrow, laughter and sleep.
  • Oisín in Tír na nÓg Niamh of the Golden Head carries Fionn’s son away to the Land of the Young. Three hundred years go by like three, and then he asks to go home.
  • Fionn and the Giant’s Causeway The strongest giant in Ireland is coming for Fionn. Fionn’s wife has a plan, a cradle and twenty-one iron griddles.

See also

  • Airmed Daughter of Dian Cécht, who sorted the herbs that grew from her brother’s grave.
  • Balor The Fomorian champion whose evil eye no army could face; Lugh’s grandfather.
  • Bres The beautiful king of the Tuatha Dé who gave nothing, son of a Fomorian king.
  • Cian Lugh’s father, stoned to death by the sons of Tuireann.
  • Clochán na bhFomhórach The Giant's Causeway. The stepping-stones of the Fomorians.
  • Coirpre Poet of the Tuatha Dé Danann, who made the first satire in Ireland.
  • The Dagda’s Harp “Oak of two greens” and “four-angled music”: a harp with two names.
  • Dian Cécht Physician of the Tuatha Dé Danann, who made Nuada’s hand of silver.
  • The Fir Bolg The people who held Ireland when the Tuatha Dé Danann came.
  • Goibniu The smith of the Tuatha Dé Danann.
  • Indech King of the Fomorians at the second battle of Mag Tuired.
  • Lugh The god of many skills.
  • Mag Tuired Moytirra, above Lough Arrow. The high ground above Lough Arrow where the gods fought the Fomorians.
  • Nuada of the Silver Hand King of the Tuatha Dé Danann, who lost a hand in battle and was given one of silver.
  • Ogma Champion of the Tuatha Dé Danann, and brother of the Dagda.
  • Tuatha Dé Danann The old gods of Ireland.

Sources

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

Each tale above lists the sources it is retold from. Every source the site draws on is listed on the full site.