Monday, April 07, 2008

Áine, Aynia, potato, potato

I've grown up knowing that my name was found in a fairy tale book and that I was named after the Irish Fairy Queen of Ulster but I can't believe that I haven't done proper research in to the origins of my namesake before this but I'm quite interested in it now. I'll let you all know what other interesting tidbits I come up with.

From Wikipedia:
In Irish mythology, Áine (pronounced "awnya" in Connacht Irish and "enya" in Ulster Irish) is a goddess of love, growth, and cattle, also perhaps associated with the sun. She is the daughter of Egobail, and sister of Aillen and/or Fennen. In some of the tales that mention her, she is the wife of Gearoid Iarla. In other tales, rather than having a consensual marriage, he raped her, and she exacted her revenge by either changing him into a goose, killing him, or both. In yet other versions of her myth, she is the wife or daughter of the sea god Manannán mac Lir. The feast of Midsummer Night was held in her honor. In County Limerick, she is remembered in more recent times as a "fairy queen".

I have to say, that sounds a little mild for my kind of style but suitably quirky. Rape me and I'll turn you goose then kill you. Be warned. Having a feast held in my honour sounds right down my alley really.

2 comments:

pschlup said...

How come you didn't think the goddess of cattle is an important aspect to comment on? ;-)

aynz said...

Never having felt any particular affinity with cows myself, I was hoping to sweep that less glamorous aspect under the carpet. But thank you so much for bringing it up. ;-)