korrigantsionnach:

aondeug:

korrigantsionnach:

wanderingartificer:

ravenscannotsing:

Lugh, Celtic Sun God

I really do love this picture. One small thing though. *ahem*
LUGH IS NOT A SUN GOD

*AHEM* THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A CELTIC GOD

I live ever in waiting for “Lugh is a sun god” to pop up. Living in fear and also anticipation. The moment has arrived once more.

For explanation for those not aware the Lugh is a sun god thing popped up during the Victorian era from what I’m aware. It was born out of a need to shoehorn all religions into some sort of sun based cult wherein we all had sun gods. Lugh was picked. The claims get made based off etymology of his name and descriptions of his showing up, namely that it was bright and shining. It was thought that his name was ultimately derived from the root leuk, light. That etymology is questionable and there are other individuals who get described as bright and shining or are associated with light in some fashion. Either way none of the stories really present anything that would make him out to be a sun god. He isn’t the sun, he doesn’t drive it or anything. We do know that he knows many skills, made a board game, and had a son whose name went down in history though. Among other things.

Now I have found references to the “winds of Lugh” and associating him with storms and lightning, however. Which definitely is not the sun. That doesn’t make him a “storm god” though. He seems to have more associations with that than the sun in my experience though.

There is Grian, whose name means “sun”. Also she’s a woman and the word is feminine. Which isn’t to say that she’s a sun goddess and really the Irish seemed to lack gods of THINGS in the sense that the Romans and Greeks had them from what I understand. I also don’t know too much about her sadly. Simply that she exists and her name means sun which is a feminine word.

The etymology of the name being associated in some fashion with light is still possible, although irregular, and that would in reference to lightning, not to the sun. I recall reading that there are places in Mayo where thunderstorms are or were once referred to as battles between Balor and Lugh. People have offered the epithets “Lamfada” or “Long-Arm” and “Lonnbeimnech” or “Fierce-striker” as further reference to lightning. The epithet “Bright One” that is most often used as an argument for sun-god-Lugh is not even an epithet OF Lugh, it is an epithet of Llew Llaw Gyffes.

The other possible interpretation of the name is that it derives from the root meaning “oath” and that would likely make him cognate to the Gaulish Lugus, the etymology of which is often given the same. Julius Caesar describes a Gaulish figure who is the “father of all arts” but he doesn’t give a transcription of the Gaulish name for this deity, instead just calling him Mercury. If he was talking about Lugus, then that really doesn’t offer much up in terms of the etymology of either name. But then, it doesn’t either way, so.