The name Béḃinn / Bé Binn (modern orthography Béibhinn) functions in early Irish onomastics and myth: it appears frequently as a feminine personal name in medieval Irish annals and genealogical records (see Annála Connacht and Annals of Ulster entries) and in mythological material as a theonym. In some mythological sources Béḃinn is described as a goddess associated with birth and is named as a sister of the river-goddess Boann (source: Wikipedia entry summarising medieval sources). Other traditions place Béḃinn in an underworld sphere, associating her with the Irish otherworld Mag Mell or with the Welsh Annwn; the surveyed sources note both associations but do not resolve which is original (source: Wikipedia). The interplay of attestations in annals and mythic texts shows the name operating both as a historical personal name (index of names in the Irish annals; specific annal citations in the Annála Connacht and Annals of Ulster) and as a mythological figure tied to fertility and the otherworld (Wikipedia summary of medieval traditions).
No physical description, iconography, or consistent visual traits for Béḃinn are provided in the cited materials. The sources available document the name as used for historical women in annals and summarize mythological roles (birth goddess, underworld goddess) without supplying descriptions of form, attire, or visible markers (see Index of Names in Irish Annals; Annála Connacht; Annals of Ulster; Wikipedia). The absence of descriptive detail in the surveyed sources is noted explicitly in the modern summaries.
The cited sources attribute two broad functions to Béḃinn: (1) a goddess associated with birth — implying a role in childbirth, fertility, or related rites in some traditions (source: Wikipedia); and (2) an underworld goddess inhabiting Mag Mell (Irish otherworld) or Annwn (Welsh otherworld) in other accounts (source: Wikipedia). Beyond these general associations, the provided materials do not record specific acts, miracles, ritual formulas, or narrative behaviors (no recorded accounts of granting children, abducting souls, or other concrete deeds are present in the supplied sources).
Abandinus
Abandinus is a locally attested Romano‑Celtic theonym known from a single inscribed bronze feather (votive object) dedicated at Godmanchester (the Roman fort Durovigutum) in Cambridgeshire. Scholars interpret him as a local god or male spirit tied to a specific place and possibly associated with a nearby spring or stream; this association is tentative and based on etymological readings of the name.
Abarta (Ábartach)
Abarta (also Ábartach) is a figure of Irish myth who, in surviving accounts, tricks Fionn mac Cumhaill's warriors by giving them a supernatural grey horse that bears them into the Otherworld. Sources variably identify him as a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann or as a Fomorian; after the incident he is compelled to release the captured warriors and is refused entry to the Fianna.
Abcán (Abhcán)
Abcán (modern spelling Abhcán) is a named dwarf poet and musician of the Tuatha Dé Danann in Irish myth. He appears in a small number of narratives as a musician whose art has soporific power and as the ferryman who brings the goddess Ruad from the Otherworld to the human world.
Abhean
Abhean is a named poet of the Tuatha Dé Danann in medieval Irish literature, described as a poet in particular of Lugh and recorded as having been killed by Óengus before Midir in a poem by Fland Mainistreach preserved in the Lebor Gabála Érenn.
Abnoba
Abnoba is a Gaulish theonym and toponym attested in Roman-era sources and inscriptions: a localized deity associated with woods, springs and the sources of rivers (notably the Danube) and simultaneously the name applied to a mountain or mountain range in the Black Forest/Baar/Odenwald region. Roman altars equate her with Diana, reflecting syncretic cult practice in frontier provinces.
Accolon
Accolon is a mortal knight of the Arthurian court, presented in the Post-Vulgate Merlin tradition and Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur as Morgan le Fay's paramour and instrument in a plot to supplant King Arthur; his tale centers on enchanted weapons (Excalibur and its scabbard), love-manipulation, and a tragic duel with Arthur.
Achall
Achall is an eponymous mortal woman in the Ulster Cycle of early Irish literature whose grief-induced death is given as the origin of the hill-name Achall (identified with the modern Hill of Skryne). She appears as a genealogical and etiological figure tied to Tara and later legendary events at the hill, rather than as a recurring supernatural agent.
Achtland
Achtland is a figure from Irish tradition who, according to the surviving account, was a mortal woman famed for rejecting mortal suitors who married a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann and crossed into the síde to become immortal as his wife.
Adar Llwch Gwin
Legendary large, intelligent birds from Welsh tradition said to understand human speech and obey their master's commands; best known for tearing their master Drudwas ap Tryffin to pieces when bound by a literal order in an Arthurian battle narrative. The term later came to be applied to raptors and metaphorically to brave men in medieval Welsh poetry.
Adar Rhiannon
Adar Rhiannon ('birds of Rhiannon') are a set of three magical birds in medieval Welsh narrative (the Mabinogi) whose song can 'wake the dead and lull the living to sleep.' They appear as otherworldly song‑beings tied to the figure Rhiannon and function within tales as providers of enchanted music that sustains and consoles characters.
Aderyn y Corff
Aderyn y Corff (literally 'bird of the corpse') is a bird-like death-porter in Welsh folklore said to call outside the door of a person about to die. Described as an avian portent that may lack feathers or wings and as existing on another plane when not manifesting, it is treated in Welsh ghost lore and sometimes naturalized as a screech owl in modern accounts.
Adhene
A class of Manx fairies (Cloan ny moyrn) described in Isle of Man tradition as a social people of beings said to be "fallen angels cast from heaven but too good for hell," who interact with human livelihoods and families, sometimes benevolent but often mischievous.
Community Record
- [1]Béḃinn. Wikipedia, entry 'Béḃinn' (summary of medieval attestations and mythological associations).wiki
- [2]Index of Names in Irish Annals: Bébinn / Béibhinn. Index of Names in Irish Annals, entry for Bébinn / Béibhinn (catalogues annal occurrences of the personal name).other
- [3]Annála Connacht, Part 144 (example annal entry citing Bebinn). Annála Connacht, published text (example of Bebinn used as a personal name in annalistic material).literary
- [4]Annals of Ulster, Part 36 (example annal entry citing Bebinn). Annals of Ulster, published text (example of Bebinn used as a personal name in annalistic material).literary
- [5]Conchobar mac Tadg (mentions familial use of the name in related material). Wikipedia entry referencing instances where a Bebinn is named in genealogical/mythological contexts (used to support occurrence of the name in medieval sources).wiki