Celtic fairy traditions
Étaín
Jealousy drives Étaín from Fairyland, and she is carried on the winds before falling into a woman’s drinking cup. After being swallowed, she is born into a mortal household. She retains her name but not conscious recognition of Midir. His reappearance brings an earlier divine life into conflict with the relationships and obligations of her human one.
Also known as Étaín
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In the sources
Principal account
ReportedJealousy drives Étaín from Fairyland, and she is carried on the winds before falling into a woman’s drinking cup. After being swallowed, she is born into a mortal household.
Further detail
ReportedShe retains her name but not conscious recognition of Midir. His reappearance brings an earlier divine life into conflict with the relationships and obligations of her human one.
Context & interpretation
Evans-Wentz combines named informants, manuscript narratives, and his own psychical theory in a 1911 survey. This entry preserves those distinctions: collected belief and literary tradition do not establish the physical existence of an Otherworld.
Original passages
Source 1
The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries
recorded in the famous saga of the Wooing of Etain. Three fragments of this story exist in the Book of the Dun Cow. TheOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Celtic fairy traditions; active reader leaf 405
Exact passage checked against active scan text and original-leaf mapping; scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0045-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0045-E001-P0405
- Original scan leaf
- 406
- Recorded leaf number
- 406
- Current Reader position
- 401
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries
to the last begetting by Etar.' Etain, retaining her own name, grew up thence as an Irish princess.^ One day an unknown man of veryOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Celtic fairy traditions; active reader leaf 406
Exact passage checked against active scan text and original-leaf mapping; scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0045-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0045-E001-P0406
- Original scan leaf
- 407
- Recorded leaf number
- 407
- Current Reader position
- 402
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Continue exploring
Midir
Otherworld king whose reunion with Étaín crosses mortal memory.
Same subject and traditionAengus Óg
The youthful god associated with the enchanted palace of the Boyne.
Same subject and traditionDagda
Divine king who assigns the Sidhe palaces and negotiates with conquerors.
Same subject and traditionDana
The goddess whose name defines the Tuatha Dé Danann in Evans-Wentz’s survey.