crushing of Fomori and Fir Bolg, the death of their king and the nullifying of their malignant spells, and as the triumphant return of Lug with peace and plenty to marry the maiden Erinn and to enjoy a well-earned banquet, at which the fairy host of dead ancestors was probably not forgotten. Marriages were solemnized on the auspicious occasion; and no prince who failed to be present on the last day of the fair durst look forward to prosperity during the coming year.[1] The Lugnassad was the great event of the summer half of the year, which extended from the calends of May to the calends of Winter. The Celtic year was more thermometric than astronomical, and the Lugnassad was, so to say, its summer solstice, whereas the longest day was, so far as I have been able to discover, of no special account.
We have not yet done with the name of Lug and Lleu: the genitive of the former is Loga, so it is known from the analogy of other words that if Lug were put back into its Gaulish form, we should have a noun of the u declension making in the nominative singular Lugus, and in the genitive Lugovos, with a nominative plural Lugoves. It requires no great stretch of imagination to see also that we have the same word in the Gaulish name which has become in French Lyons; in Latin authors it is usually Lugdunum; but there is, however, evidence which places it beyond doubt that the older Gallo-Roman form was Lugudunum,[2] that is to say, in Gaulish Lugudûnon or Lugudounon, which would mean the town of Lug.
