Ritual and myths between Ireland and Galicia. The Irish Milesian myth in the Leabhar Gabhála Éireann: Over the Ninth Wave. Origins, contacts and literary evidence.

The aim of this dissertation is to investigate whether the Milesian myth in the Leabhar Gabhála Éireann is an accurate historical account and, therefore, this discussion explores the possibility that Galicia may share a Gaelic/Celtic cultural identity with Ireland. This dissertation proposes to compare the Milesians pre-Christian myths in the Leabhar Gabhála Éireann and their rituals, with those of Galicia, for example, The Ninth Wave. Early traces of Gaelic/Celtic Galician identity are difficult to identify, and the Celtic language of Galicia is no longer spoken; all that remain are place names which seem to have a foundation in Celtic lexis (Murguia, 2000, Caridad: 2006) This dissertation hypothesises that Galicia may have shared an early cultural identity with Ireland, as stated in the Milesian myth in the Leabhar Gabhála Éireann, chapter XIII. The framework for the thesis will be anthropological and I will therefore use anthropological methodologies in order to compare Irish/Galician myths and rituals, with a view to providing a description of a particular culture and the social foundations of this culture. For the first time, anthropological theory will be applied to the Milesian myth of the Leabhar Gabhála Éireann. The cultural studies comparison between Ireland and Galicia will focus firstly on diachronic written material: I will thus analyse chapter XIII, that is, the Milesian myth in the Leabhar Gabhála Éireann, in order to establish its historical accuracy. I will also analyse some of Galician toponymy, which have no meaning in any Latin-based languages, and I will compare it to the Irish/Gaelic. Secondly, contemporary written material will be analysed, namely, a poem by the contemporary Galician poet Luz Pozo Garza, as translated by Irish poet Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill. The literature review will be based on the examination of the meaning and function of myth and ritual according to the anthropological perspectives of Malinowski, Frazer, Eliade, Puhvel and Durand, among others. The value of the structural theory of Leví-Strauss will be assessed in the light of the meaning of myth in the construction of identity

Identidad céltica de Galicia. Toponimia comparada del gaélico-irlandés y el gallego

[Resumo] En este estudio se va a considerar la hipótesis de que Galicia pueda haber tenido un contacto lingüístico y cultural pre-cristiano con Irlanda como afirma el Leabhor Ghabála Eireann –El Libro de las Invasiones de Irlanda–. Por lo tanto, para establecer si este contacto linguístico y cultural entre Galicia e Irlanda pudiera tener una base histórica, esta presentación se va a enfocar hacia el análisis de la toponimia de Galicia, y por primera vez1 se va a comparar con la lengua irlandesa o gaélico.[Abstract] Neste estudo vaise considerar a hipótese de que Galicia puidera ter contacto lingüístico e cultural precristián con Irlanda, como afirma o Leabhor Ghabála Eireann, O Libro das Invasións de Irlanda. Daquela, para establecer se este contacto lingüístico e cultural entre Galicia e Irlanda podería ter unha base histórica, o traballo vaise enfocar cara á análise da toponimia de Galicia, que por vez primeira2 será comparada coa lingua irlandesa ou gaélico

Interview with Maria Giovanna Arcamone: a journey through Onomastics and Toponomastics

Il contributo dalla Prof.ssa Arcamone agli studi di onomastica e toponomastica in più di mezzo secolo di incessante lavoro è davvero di natura incalcolabile. Basti pensare ai suoi contributi pioneristici sugli studi dei toponimi longobardi o al contributo determinante dato alla scena onomastica letteraria italiana con la fondazione di il Nome nel testo insieme al compianto prof. Davide De Camilli e alla prof. Donatella Bremer. Ma ciò ovviamente è una goccia infinitesimale di una voce importante che ha saputo ispirare generazioni di studiosi non solo attraverso la caratura dei propri contributi ma anche con un’incessante riflessione sul metodo di ricerca. Detto questo, la presente intervista ci consente di ripercorrere alcune delle tappe di questo straordinario viaggio filologico, onomastico, linguistico ma soprattutto umano dove lo studio dei nomi non è solo un inerte materia per eruditi ma un mezzo per comprendere meglio e nel profondo il complesso mondo in cui viviamo.Prof. Arcamone's contributions to the studies of onomastics and toponymy in over half a century of incessant work are truly invaluable. One only needs to consider her pioneering work on Lombard toponyms or her decisive contribution to the Italian literary onomastic scene through the founding of il Nome nel testo with the late Professor Davide De Camilli and Professor Donatella Bremer. But this is obviously an infinitesimal drop of an important author that has been able to inspire generations of scholars not only through her essays and books but also with a never-ending reflection on research methodology. This interview allows us to revisit some of the stages of the key moments of Professor Arcamone's extraordinary lifelong research. Through her work, she has demonstrated that the study of names is not simply an inert academic subject, but rather a way to better and deeply understand the complex world in which we live

Remote origins - the case of "Water towns", of Olbicella, and of root *alb-*

Dieser Artikel beschreibt einen neuen angewandten epistemologischen Aspekt der sogenannten Konvergenztheorie, die eine Homogenisierung der unterschiedlichen Ansätze auf dem Gebiet der indoeuropäischen Linguistik anstrebt. Es wird versucht, anhand von Ortsnamen in Verbindung mit der Wurzel *alb- und den semantischen Bedeutungsverschiebungen über Jahrhunderte ein europäisches und italienisches "Makro-Gebiet" (bzw. "Mikro- Gebiet") zu rekonstruieren. Es scheint, dass Paleo-Ligurische Ortsnamen wie Alba, alteuropäische Flussnamen wie Albis und ihre ablautenden Formen Olb- (> Orb- im Romanisch-Ligurischen) nicht direkt auf das Proto-Indoeuropäische Adjektiv *albho-, ‘weiß’ zurückgehen, sondern auf die weitere Prä-proto-Indoeuropäische Wurzel *Hal-bh-, ‘Wasser’, verwandt mit dem Sumerischen ḫalbia (> Akkadisch ḫalpium, ‘Quelle’, ‘Brunnen’, ‘Wassermassen’, ‘Wasserloch’). Eine weitere Analyse von *Hal-bh- führt zum Vergleich mit der Proto-Indoeuropäischen Wurzel *Hal-, ‘ernähren’. Das Proto-Indoeuropäische Suffix *HwaH-r-, ‘Wasser’, weist eine ähnliche Verbreitung auf

Fetlar

This article rehearses the history of attempts to account for the name of the island of Fetlar in Shetland. It is concluded that explaining it as pre-Celtic is beset with philological difficulties, and that it is probably, after all, Scandinavian, though details of its etymology remain open to debate