In Irish mythology, Dian Cécht (; also known as Cainte or Canta) was the god of healing, the healer for the Tuatha Dé Danann, and son of the Dagda according to the Dindsenchas.
He was the father of Cu, Cethen and Cian. His other children were Miach, Airmed, Étaín the poet and Ochtriullach (Octriuil). Through Cian, he is also Lugh's paternal grandfather.
Etymology
The name Dian Cecht may be a combination of the Old Irish common words dían 'swift' and cécht, glossed as 'power', hence the literal meaning may be literally "swift power". but this makes "little sense in the light of his activities", and this lexical meaning is "presumably not relevant". Cu, Cethen and Cian were called the "three sons of Cainté" in the late modern narrative Aided Chlainne Tuirenn. when the Second Battle of Magh Tuireadh (Cath Maige Tuired) was fought. this he presumably accomplished using the Tipra Sláíne.
Boiling of the River Barrow
It was Dian Cecht who once saved Ireland, and was indirectly the cause of the name of the River Barrow. The Morrígú, the Dagda's fierce wife, had borne a son of such terrible aspect that the physician of the gods, foreseeing danger, counselled that he should be destroyed in his infancy.
Additional appearances
In Tochmarc Étaíne, Dian Cecht healed Mider after the latter lost an eye when struck with a twig of hazel.
In the St. Gall incantations, there is a spell that mentions Dian Cécht:
<blockquote>
I save the dead-alive. Against eructation, against spear-thong (amentum), against sudden tumour, against bleeding caused by iron, against... which fire burns, against.... which a dog eats, ...that withers: three nuts that... three sinews that weave (?). I strike its disease, I vanquish blood...: let it not be a chronic tumour. Whole be that whereon it (Diancecht's salve) goes. I put my trust in the salve which Diancecht left with his family that whole may be that whereon it goes.<br />
This is laid always in thy palm full of water when washing, and thou puttest it into thy mouth, and thou insertest the two fingers that are next the little-finger into thy mouth, each of them apart.
</blockquote>
Dian Cécht's harper and poet was named Corand.
An early Irish legal text on the law of illegal injury, Bretha Déin Chécht ("Judgements of Dian Cécht"), is attributed to Dian Cécht. A late-historical preface to the Senchas Már details the codification and Christianization of Irish law by Saint Patrick and his commissioners. Dian Cecht is explicitly listed as among the pre-Christian authors whose judgements were accepted because they did not contradict Christian teaching.
See also
- Borvo
- Healing
- List of health deities
Explanatory notes
References
Citations
Sources
- ¶304–¶377 pp. 106–211; Verses LIII–LXVI pp. 212–291; Notes pp. 292–
- McCone, Kim (1996). Towards a Relative Chronology of Ancient and Medieval Celtic Sound Change. Maynooth: Department of Old and Middle Irish, St. Patrick's College. .