Editing Donn

{{Short description|Figure in Irish mythology}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
[[File:Oileán Baoi (Dursey Island), The Bull - geograph.org.uk - 284005.jpg|thumb|250px|[[Bull Rock]], off the southwest coast of Ireland, is often identified with Teach Duinn (the House of Donn)]]

In [[Irish mythology]], '''Donn''' ("the dark one", from {{langx|cel-x-proto|Dhuosnos}})<ref name=sacredisle>{{cite book |last=Ó hÓgáin |first=Dáithí |title=The Sacred Isle: Belief and religion in pre-Christian Ireland |publisher=Boydell & Brewer |year=1999 |pages=27, 58}}</ref><ref name=mythlegendromance>{{cite book |last=Ó hÓgáin |first=Dáithí |title=Myth, Legend & Romance: An encyclopaedia of the Irish folk tradition |publisher=Prentice Hall Press |year=1991 |pages=165–166, 154}}</ref> is an ancestor of the [[Gaels]] and is believed to have been a [[List of death deities|god of the dead]].<ref name=mythlegendromance/><ref name=monaghan>{{cite book |author=Monaghan, Patricia |title=The Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore |publisher=Infobase Publishing |year=2004 |page=135}}</ref><ref name=koch>{{cite book |author=Koch, John T. |title=Celtic Culture: A historical encyclopedia |url=https://archive.org/details/celticculturehis00koch_128 |url-access=limited |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2006 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/celticculturehis00koch_128/page/n636 601], 1133}}</ref> Donn is said to dwell in '''Tech Duinn''' (the "house of Donn" or "house of the dark one"),<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Müller-Lisowski |first=Käte|date=1948|title=Contribution to a Study in Irish Folklore: Traditions about Donn |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/20722853|journal=Béaloideas|volume= 18|issue=1/2 |pages=142–199|jstor=20722853 }}</ref> where the souls of the dead gather.<ref name=freitag>{{cite book |author=Freitag, Barbara |title=Hy Brasil: The metamorphosis of an island |publisher=Rodopi |year=2013 |pages=98–99, 101}}</ref> He may have originally been an aspect of [[the Dagda]]. Folklore about Donn survived into the modern era in parts of Ireland, in which he is said to be a phantom horseman riding a white horse.<!--sourced below-->

==Early literary sources==
A 9th-century poem says that Donn's dying wish was that all his descendants would gather at Donn's house or ''Tech Duinn'' (modern Irish ''Teach Duinn'') after death: "To me, to my house, you shall all come after your deaths".<ref name=sacredisle/> The 10th-century tale ''Airne Fíngein'' ("Fíngen's Vigil") says that Tech Duinn is where the souls of the dead gather.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://sejh.pagesperso-orange.fr/keltia/version-en/airne%20fingen.html |title=Airne Fingen |author=Stowe, R.I.A. |trans-title=Fingen's Night-Watch |translator1=Cross, T.P. |translator2=Brown, A.C.L.}}</ref> In their translation of ''[[Acallam na Senórach]]'', [[Ann Dooley]] and Harry Roe commented that "to go to the House of Donn in Irish tradition means to die".<ref name="freitag" /> This suggests that the pagan Gaels saw Donn as their ancestor and believed they would go to his abode when they died.<ref name="maier">Maier, Bernhard. ''Dictionary of Celtic Religion and Culture''. Boydell & Brewer, 1997. p. 97</ref> Tech Duinn may have been thought of as a place where the souls of the dead gathered before travelling to their final destination in [[Celtic Otherworld|the otherworld]], or before being [[Reincarnation|reincarnated]].<ref name="freitag" /> According to [[Julius Caesar]], the [[Gauls]] also claimed descent from [[Gaulish Dis Pater|a god whom he likened to Dis Pater]], the Roman god of the [[underworld]].<ref name="koch" />

The Christian writers who recorded the ''[[Lebor Gabála Érenn]]'' made Donn into [[Éber Donn]] one of the mythical [[Milesians (Irish)|Milesian]] ancestors of the Gaels.<ref name=freitag/> The Milesians invade Ireland and take it from the [[Tuatha Dé Danann]]. During their invasion, Donn slights [[Ériu]], one of the [[eponymous]] goddesses of Ireland, and he drowns in a shipwreck off the southwest coast. Donn is then buried on a rocky island which becomes known as Tech Duinn.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://celt.ucc.ie//published/T100028/index.html |title=The Irish version of the Historia Britonum of Nennius |page=223}}</ref> In the literature, Tech Duinn is said to lie at or beyond the western edge of Ireland.<ref name=mythlegendromance/> Tech Duinn is commonly identified with [[Bull Rock]], an islet off the western tip of the [[Beara Peninsula]]. Bull Rock resembles a [[dolmen]] or portal tomb as it has a natural tunnel through it, allowing the sea to pass under it as if through a portal.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ó hÓgáin |first=Dáithí |title=The Lore of Ireland |publisher=Boydell Press |year=2006 |page=179}}</ref> In Ireland there was a belief that the souls of the dead departed westwards over the sea with the setting sun.<ref name="sacredisle" />

The ''Metrical [[Dindsenchas|Dindshenchas]]'' entry for "Tech Duinn" recounts the tale:<blockquote>Through the incantations of the druids a storm came upon them, and the ship wherein Donn was foundered. 'Let his body be carried to yonder high rock', says [[Amergin Glúingel|Amairgen]]: 'his folk shall come to this spot.' So hence it is called Tech Duinn: and for this cause, according to the heathen, the souls of sinners visit Tech Duinn before they go to hell, and give their blessing, ere they go, to the soul of Donn. But as for the righteous soul of a penitent, it beholds the place from afar, and is not borne astray. Such, at least, is the belief of the heathen. – Translation by [[Edward Gwynn|E. Gwynn]]''<ref>{{cite web |url=https://celt.ucc.ie//published/T106500D/index.html |series=The Metrical Dindshenchas |at=story&nbsp;113 |title=Tech Duinn}}</ref></blockquote>

In the tale ''[[Togail Bruidne Dá Derga]]'' ("The Destruction of Dá Derga's Hostel"), king [[Conaire Mór]] meets his death in Bruiden Dá Derga (the "great hall or hostel of the red god"). On his way to the hostel, Conaire meets three red men riding red horses from the otherworld. They foretell his doom and tell him "we ride the horses of Donn ... although we are alive, we are dead".<ref name=mythlegendromance/> Donn is called "king of the dead" in the tale.<ref name=mythlegendromance/> It has been suggested that Dá Derga and Dá Derga's Hostel is another name for Donn and his abode.<ref name=freitag/> It may be a name for the death god in the context of violent death or sacrifice, hence the name "red god".<ref name=mythlegendromance/>

In the tale ''Tochmarc Treblainne'' ("The Wooing of Treblann"), the otherworld woman Treblann elopes with the mortal man [[Fráech]], who sends her to safety in Tech Duinn while he embarks on a quest. In this tale, Donn is said to be the son or foster-son of [[the Dagda]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Reinhard, John |title=The Survival of Geis in Mediaeval Romance |publisher=M. Niemeyer |year=1933 |page=26}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Zeidler, J. |url=http://www.uni-trier.de/fileadmin/forschung/projekte/ZAT/CEL/17icm.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160913203933/http://www.uni-trier.de/fileadmin/forschung/projekte/ZAT/CEL/17icm.pdf |archive-date=2016-09-13 |url-status=live |title=Ancient and Medieval Celtic Myths of Origin |pages=10–11}}</ref> Dáithí Ó hÓgáin notes similarities between the two and suggests that Donn was originally an epithet of the Dagda.<ref name=mythlegendromance/>

Donn is the father of [[Diarmuid Ua Duibhne]], whom he gave in [[fosterage]] to the god of youth, [[Aengus|Aengus mac Óg]], to raise.

==Modern sources==
Folklore about Donn survived into the [[early modern period|early modern era]]. In [[County Limerick]], a Donn Fírinne was said to dwell in the sacred hill of Cnoc Fírinne (Knockfeerina or Knockfierna), and folklore told of people being brought into the hill to be with Donn when they died.<ref name=mythlegendromance/> He was said to appear as a phantom horseman riding a white horse. He was also associated with the weather: thunder and lightning meant that Donn Fírinne was riding his horse through the sky, and if clouds were over the hill it meant that he was gathering them together to make rain. This imagery may have been influenced by the lore of [[Odin]] and his horse [[Sleipnir]] from the [[Norse–Gaels|Norse settlers]] in [[Limerick]].<ref name=mythlegendromance/> Donn Fírinne was also said to appear and warn anyone who interfered with his hill. On the west coast of [[County Clare]] there was a Donn na Duimhche or Donn Dumhach ("Donn of the dunes"), who "was also often encountered as a night-horseman".<ref name=mythlegendromance/> In later folklore, the name 'Donn' came to mean an 'otherworld lord' in general.<ref name=mythlegendromance/>

In modern [[Irish language|Irish]] ''donn'' is the most common word for the colour [[brown]], and by extension can also mean "sturdy (like) wood". This is one possible etymology of the English colour "dun" (greyish brown).

==See also==
* [[Danu (Irish goddess)]]
* [[Dôn]]
* [[Hy-Brasil]] – legendary island to the west of Ireland

==References==
{{reflist|25em}}

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

{{Celtic mythology (Mythological)}}

[[Category:Celtic gods]]
[[Category:Irish gods]]
[[Category:Death gods]]