Editing Anu (Irish goddess)

{{short description|Irish goddess}}
{{for|the Mesopotamian god|Anu}}
{{Hatnote|Not to be confused with [[Annan (disambiguation)|Annan]].}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
[[File:The Paps of Dana-01.jpg|300px|thumb|[[Paps of Anu]]]]
'''Anu''' or '''Ana''' (sometimes given as '''Anann''' or '''[[The Morrígan|Anand]]''') is the name of a [[goddess]] mentioned briefly in [[Irish mythology]].

==Myths and sources==
The 9th century ''[[Sanas Cormaic]]'' (Cormac's Glossary) says in its entry for her:
: "Ana – [[Mother goddess|mother of the gods]] of Ireland; well did she feed the gods".
She may be a goddess in her own right,<ref name="McKillop1">{{cite book |author=MacKillop, James |year=1998 |title=Dictionary of Celtic Mythology |place=Oxford, UK |publisher=Oxford University Press |ISBN=0-19-280120-1 |pages=10, 16, 128}}</ref> or an alternate name for [[Danu (Irish goddess)|Danu]]. In the ''[[Lebor Gabála Érenn]]'', Anand is given as another name for [[The Morrígan]].<ref name="LGE">{{cite book |author=Macalister, R.A. Stewart |title=Lebor Gabála Érenn |trans-title=Book of Invasions of Ireland |at=Part&nbsp;IV, §&nbsp;VII |publisher=Irish Texts Society |place=Dublin, IE |year=1941 |edition=First Redaction}}</ref> As her name is often conflated with a number of other goddesses, it is not always clear which figure is being referred to if the name is taken out of context.<ref name="McKillop1"/> The name may be derived from the [[Proto-Celtic language|Proto-Celtic]] [[wikt:theonym|theonym]] *''Φanon-''.<ref name="CAWCS">{{cite web |title=Celtic Lexicon |department=The Celtic Languages and Cultural Identity |place=Cardiff, Wales |publisher=[[University of Wales]] |series=Centre for Advanced Welsh Celtic Studies |url=https://www.wales.ac.uk/en/CentreforAdvancedWelshCelticStudies/ResearchProjects/CompletedProjects/TheCelticLanguagesandCulturalIdentity/CelticLexicon.aspx}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Indo-European database |place=Leiden, NL |publisher=[[University of Leiden]] |url=http://www.indo-european.nl/cgi-bin/query.cgi?root=leiden&basename=%5Cdata%5Cie%5Cceltic |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060211181501/http://www.indo-european.nl/cgi-bin/query.cgi?root=leiden&basename=%5Cdata%5Cie%5Cceltic |archive-date=11 February 2006}}</ref>

Anu has particular associations with [[Munster]]: the pair of [[breast shaped hills]] known as the [[Paps of Anu]] (''Dá Chích Anann'' or "the breasts of Anu")<ref>{{cite web |title=The Paps of Anu |series=Prehistoric and Early Ireland |url=http://www.megalithomania.com/show/site/1413 |access-date=2011-03-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312172305/http://megalithomania.com/show/site/1413 |archive-date=2016-03-12}}</ref> in [[County Kerry]] are said to have been named after her.<ref name="LGE"/>

Her name has the meaning of "wealth, riches, and prosperity." Leaving her with a title of being the goddess of "good fortune and prosperity" in the land of Munster. <ref>{{Cite journal |last=MacLeod |first=Sharon Paice |date=1998 |title=Mater Deorum Hibernensium: Identity and Cross-Correlation in Early Irish Mythology |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20557350?seq=33 |journal=Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium |volume=18/19 |pages=340–384 |issn=1545-0155}}</ref>

While an Irish goddess, in Scotland (Alba) a similar figure is referred to as “Gentle Annie”, in an effort to avoid offence, a tactic which is similar to referring to the [[Fairy|fairies]] as “The Good People”.<ref>{{cite web |title=Black Annis, Gentle Annie |website=whitedragon.org.uk |url=http://www.whitedragon.org.uk/articles/blackann.htm}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|22em}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book |author=MacKillop, James |year=1998 |title=Dictionary of Celtic Mythology |place=Oxford, UK |publisher=Oxford University Press |ISBN=0-19-280120-1}} 
* {{cite book |author=Wood, Juliette |year=2002 |title=The Celts: Life, Myth, and Art |publisher=Thorsons Publishers |ISBN=0-00-764059-5}}

==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline}}

{{Celtic mythology (Mythological)}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anu}}
[[Category:Irish goddesses]]
[[Category:Tuatha Dé Danann]]
[[Category:Mother goddesses]]
[[Category:War goddesses]]
[[Category:Animal goddesses]]
[[Category:Agricultural deities]]
[[Category:Celtic goddesses]]