THE LOATHLY LADY AND BRUIDHEANN ASPECTS OF LAOI NA MNÁ MÓIRE

Duane Long

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Abstract

The seventeenth-century Ossianic lay known as Laoi na Mná Móire (The Lay of the Big Woman) is the most widely attested lay in the oral tradition of twentieth-century Ireland. Versions have been recorded in Donegal, Cork, Kerry, Waterford, Mayo, Galway and Meath. It appears frequently in later manuscripts and has been published, in heavily edited form, in Leabhar na Laoitheadh and Laoithe na Féinne.
Laoi na Mná Móire is, in many aspects, a simple lay which applies a number of stock-Ossianic scenarios and portrays each member of the Fianna in terms of his most essential characteristic. The domina ting motif, however, is that of the Loathly Lady (D732 in Stith Thompson’s motif index), though there area number of variances from the motif’s traditional form.
This paper, by looking at manuscript versions and later oral developments, aims to discuss the portrayal of the large woman and her band of female warriors. Observations from the Bruidheann scenario will be incorporated in order to ask what we can read into the variances from the norm. It will be argued that the portrayal of the loathly lady create s a burlesque humour that would appeal to the Irish people of its period and ensure lasting popularity.
Original languageEnglish
Pages83
Number of pages1
Publication statusPublished (in print/issue) - 22 Jul 2019
EventXVI International Congress of Celtic Studies - Bangor University, Bangor, Wales, United Kingdom
Duration: 22 Jul 201926 Jul 2019

Conference

ConferenceXVI International Congress of Celtic Studies
Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
CityBangor, Wales
Period22/07/1926/07/19

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