Editing Lugh (section)

==Name==
===Etymology===
The meaning of Lugh's name is still a matter of debate. Some scholars propose that it derives from a suggested [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] root ''*(h2)lewgh-'' meaning "to bind by oath" (compare [[Old Irish]] ''luige'' and [[Welsh language|Welsh]] ''llw'', both meaning "oath, vow, act of swearing" and derived from a suffixed [[Proto-Celtic language|Proto-Celtic]] form, ''*lugiyo-'', "oath"),<ref>Matasović, Ranko, Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 9, Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2009, p. 247.</ref> suggesting that he was originally a god of oaths and sworn contracts.<ref name="ohogain"/> When Balor meets Lugh in the Second Battle of Moytura he calls Lugh a "babbler".<ref name=cmt-ss134/> 

In the past his name was generally believed to come from another suggested Proto-Indo-European root *''leuk-'', "flashing light", and since the Victorian era he has often been considered a [[sun god]], similar to the Greco-Roman [[Apollo]]. However, the figure of Lugh in Irish mythology and literature seems to be a better match with a [[Gallo-Roman religion|romanized]] god identified with [[Mercury (god)|Mercury]], described by Julius Caesar in his ''[[De Bello Gallico]]''.<ref name="ohogain"/> There are serious phonological issues with deriving the name from ''*leuk-'', notably that Proto-Indo-European ''{{PIE|*-k-}}'' never produced Proto-Celtic ''{{lang|cel-x-proto|-g-}}'';,<ref>Peter Schrijver, Studies in British Celtic Historical Phonology, Rodopi, 1995, pp. 348-348</ref> for this reason, most modern specialists in Celtic languages no longer accept this etymology.<ref>See, however, Matasović, Ranko, Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 9, Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2009, p. 248: "''*Lugu'' … perhaps originally 'the shining one'".</ref>

===Epithets===
* {{lang|ga|Lámfada}} ({{IPA|ga|ˈl̪ˠaːβˠ ad̪ˠə|}} ("long hand") – possibly for his skill with a [[spear]] or his ability as a ruler<ref name=koch1200/>
* {{lang|ga|Ildánach}} ("skilled in many arts"){{cn|date=September 2024}}
* {{lang|ga|Samildánach}} ("equally skilled in all the arts")<ref name=cmt-ss053-083/>
* {{lang|ga|Lonnansclech}} ("fierce / strong, combative")<ref name=cmt-ss055/>
* {{lang|ga|Lonnbéimnech}} ("fierce striker")<ref>{{cite web |last=Carmody |first=Isolde |date=16 December 2012 |title=Lug comes to Tara |website=storyarchaeology.com |url=https://storyarchaeology.com/lug-comes-to-tara/ |url-status=live |access-date=16 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240916223011/https://storyarchaeology.com/lug-comes-to-tara/ |archive-date=16 September 2024 }}</ref>
* {{lang|ga|Macnia}} ("young warrior / hero")<ref name=koch1200/>
* {{lang|ga|Conmac}} ("dog-youth / lad of hounds")<ref>{{cite book |last=MacNeill |first=Eoin |year=1953 |title=Duanaire Finn: The book of the lays of Fionn |publisher=Irish Texts Society |page=205 }}</ref>