Enbarr
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The Enbarr of Manannán, or Enbarr of the Flowing Mane[1], also written variously as Aenbharr, Aonbharr, Aonbárr, Énbarr, Enbhárr (Aonḃaɼɼ Mhanannáin) was the name of the horse that Lugh Lamh-fada (Luġ Láṁḟada) had which could travel over both land and sea. In the story [A]oidhe Chloinne Tuireann (The Fate of the Chirdren of Tuireann), Lugh refuses to loan it claiming that would constitute a loan of a loan, but afterwards had to concede the loan of the currach (or coracle or boat) called the Sguaba Tuinne, or "Wave-sweeper".
The meaning of this name has variously explained as "One Mane" (O'Curry)[2] [aon "one" + barr "hair, tip (as well as mane of a horse")], "Froth" (Cormac's glossary) [3] [én "water" + barr [cacumen,spuma] ], and "unique supremacy" (Mackillop's Dictionary).
The name Embarr (meaning "imagination"[?]) has been spuriously ascribed[4] as Niamh's horse, although the story of how a horse carried Oisín and his bride Niamh across sea to Tír na nÓg is well-known from the Laoi Oisín as ṫír na n-óg (The lay of Oisín in the land of youth) by Mícheál Coimín (1676-1760)
References
- ^ Joyce, P. W., tr. "The Fate of the Children of Turenn", in Old Celtic Romances (1894) pp.37-95
- ^ Eugene O'Curry ed., The Fate of the Chirdren of Tuireann, The Atlantis IV (1863), 157-240, p.163 n145
- ^ O'Donovan tr., Sanas Chormaic, (1868), p.66
- ^ Tena Bastian,Tami Zigo, Tips and Tidbits for the Horse Lover (2007), p.55