the site of Dublin.[1] The coast from the mouth of the Liffey to that of the Newry river may have been the first part of Ireland settled by Celtic invaders; and so far the mythological division into Ultonians and the Men of Erinn may have had a historical basis. This may be compared from that point of view with Welsh literature giving Vortigern (pp. 151-5) as his allies Picts and Scots and Saxons.
Greek and Norse Comparisons.
To return to Llûᵭ, the older form of his name was Nûᵭ, the exact equivalent of Nodens, in Irish Nuada; and his surname was Llawereint or Silver-handed, of the same import as the surname of Nuada; but in the case of Nuada we have the story, how, having lost one of his hands, he came to be provided with one of silver (pp. 120, 381), while the corresponding Welsh account is not extant. Had it been, it would have probably been something similar to the Irish version. At any rate, one cannot help seeing that the wars, in which Nuada engaged with the Fir Bolg and the Fomori, have their Welsh counterparts in those between Llûᵭ and the scourges just mentioned, though the treatment of the story is somewhat different. In both cases the hostile forces were identical—the blighting fogs, the malarious mists, the cold and stormy winds and the other hurtful forces of nature. If one wishes for comparisons beyond the limits of the mythology of the Celtic nations, one has only to
- ↑ Compare what was said at p. 455 respecting Cúchulainn's name Setanta and that of the British people of the Setantii. As to the southern boundary of ancient Ulster, see p. 140 above, and O'Curry, p. 269; also the Rev. Celt. viij. 52-5.
