Lugh

Major Tuatha Dé Danann figure; samildánach (master of all crafts) and lámfada (long-armed). King of the Tuatha Dé during the Second Battle of Mag Tuired campaign, when he killed his maternal grandfather Balor of the Evil Eye with a sling-stone through the eye. Inaugurator of the Lughnasadh harvest assembly at Tailtin in honor of his foster-mother Tailtiu. Continental cognate Lugus attested across Gaul and Iberia (Lugdunum, Lugudunum, Luguvalium, etc.). Father of Cú Chulainn by Deichtire under the dominant Compert Con Culainn tradition.

Parentage

• parent: Cian

Children

• Cú Chulainn

Domains

• master of all crafts
• kingship of Tuatha Dé
• oath and sworn truth
• solar luminous
• harvest

Powers

• Work the one-legged battle-curse

Epithets

• Lámfada / Lámfhada old-irish · cultOf the long arm/hand (Lug Lámfada)Cath Maige Tuired (Second Battle of Mag Tuired) (primary); Lebor Gabála Érenn (primary)
• Samildánach old-irish · cultSkilled in all the arts together; master of every craftCath Maige Tuired §53-74 (Lug's entry into Tara) (primary)
• Lonnbéimnech old-irish · cultThe fierce strikerGray (ed.), Cath Maige Tuired (Irish Texts Society) — Lug's epithets (secondary); MacKillop, Dictionary of Celtic Mythology, s.v. Lug (secondary)
• Macnia / Mac Ethlenn old-irish · cultBoy-warrior; son of Ethliu/Ethlenn (matronymic by-name)Cath Maige Tuired (primary); MacKillop, Dictionary of Celtic Mythology, s.v. Lug (secondary)

Relations

• enemy: Balor
• parent: Cian (Tuatha Dé Danann, son of Dian Cécht, biological father of Lugh by Ethniu) · IrishFather Cian (a Tuatha Dé Danann), mother Ethniu (daughter of the Fomorian Balor). Lugh is fully Tuatha-Dé-trained and sided with his paternal kin against his maternal grandfather Balor at Mag Tuired. Cian/Ethniu entries pending.Cath Maige Tuired §8; Lebor Gabála Érenn (primary)
• lover: DeichtireAppears in/at Brug na Bóinne (Newgrange) where Conchobar's hunting party takes shelter; the host's wife gives birth to a boy and the host reveals himself as Lugh; the boy is Sétanta who will become Cú Chulainn. In a parallel-or-alternate version, Deichtire swallows a mayfly with her drink and becomes pregnant, with Lugh appearing in a dream to claim paternity.Compert Con Culainn (Lebor na hUidre c. 1100 CE) (primary)
• father of: Cú ChulainnCompert Con Culainn (primary)
• equated with: LugusSame Celtic theonym *Lugus; Lugh samildánach matches Caesar's Gaulish 'Mercury, inventor of all arts' (BG 6.17), standardly decoded as Lugus — that Roman leg is out of scope. Gaulish epigraphy itself is thin.J. de Vries, Keltische Religionsgeschichte (1961) (secondary); J. T. Koch (ed.), Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia (2006), s.v. 'Lugus' (secondary)
• equated with: Lleu Llaw GyffesCognate names with matching epithets: Lámfada/samildánach ~ Llaw Gyffes 'skilful hand'. Lleu survives only euhemerized in the Fourth Branch, so the equation is philological plus motif-parallels (Gruffydd).W. J. Gruffydd, Math vab Mathonwy (1928) (secondary); J. T. Koch (ed.), Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia (2006), s.v. 'Lleu' (secondary)

Sources

• existence: Cath Maige Tuired (The Second Battle of Mag Tuired, surviving in 16th-c. Harleian MS 5280 from earlier compilation); Lebor Gabála Érenn (c. 11th c. CE); Compert Con Culainn (Lebor na hUidre c. 1100 CE); Tochmarc Emire (primary)