Nuada Airgetlám

In Irish mythology, Nuada or Nuadu (later Nuadha), known by the epithet Airgetlám ("Silver Hand/Arm"), was a king of the Tuatha Dé Danann. He is cognate with the Gaulish and British god Nodens. His Welsh equivalent is Nudd or Lludd Llaw Eraint.

One of the Four Treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann was his sword, Fragarach, which cut his enemies in half (in other stories Fragarach is the sword of Manannan mac Lir). Nuada was king of the Tuatha Dé before they came to Ireland, but in the first Battle of Magh Tuiredh, in which they conquered Ireland from the Fir Bolg, Nuada had his hand or arm cut off by the Fir Bolg warrior Sreng (the Irish word lámh can mean either "hand" or "arm", so the extent of his loss is unclear). Since he was no longer physically perfect he could not continue as king, and so the half-Fomorian Bres became the first Tuatha Dé Danann High King of Ireland.

Bres turned out to be a tyrant, enslaving the Tuatha Dé, forcing them to pay tribute to the Fomorians and neglecting his duties of hospitality. So Nuada had his arm replaced by a working one of silver by the physician Dian Cecht and the artificer Creidhne, and he was restored to the kingship, gaining his epithet Airgetlám ("silver hand/arm"). Also it is interesting to note that a metal arm was found amongst the artifacts at the Lydney Park temple indicating that the tale of Nodons' (possible alternate name for Nuada) loss of an arm might be part of his original mythos. Later, Dian Cecht's son, Miach, replaced the silver arm with one of flesh and blood; Dian Cecht killed him out of professional envy. Nuada could not throw off the Fomorian yoke until the multi-talented Lug joined his court. He put Lug in command of the army, and he led them to victory against the Fomorians in the Second Battle of Magh Tuireadh, but Nuada was killed in the battle by Balor, the Fomorian leader.

Nuada is probably the same figure as Elcmar, and possibly Nechtan. Other characters of the same name include the later High Kings Nuadat Finnfail and Nuada Necht, and Nuada, the maternal grandfather of Fionn mac Cumhail. A rival to Conn of the Hundred Battles was Mug Nuadat ("Nuada's Slave"). The Delbhna, a people of early Ireland, had a branch called the Delbhna Nuadat who lived in County Roscommon.

Etymology

This theonym appears to be derived from Proto-Celtic  • Noudant-s, in turn derived from Proto-Indo-European *neu-d-, meaning 'acquisitive'. Following accepted sound laws elucidating systematic diachronic phonological sound change in Celtic proto-linguistics, the Romano-British form of this Proto-Celtic theonym is likely to have been *Nōdans or Nodens.

However, another plausible etymology is a Proto-Indo-European compound such as *Nou-da:nt-s meaning ‘nourishment-giving’ a possible byword for a deification of the notion of ‘wholesomeness’. This would tie in well with Nodens’ associations with water, as well as Nuada’s associations with youth, healing, sunlight, warriors and kingship. *Noudants may also be derived from Proto-Indo-European *sneudh- "fog" (cf. Avestan snaoda "clouds," Welsh nudd "fog," Gk. nython, in Hesychius "dark, dusky"), suggesting that Nodens was the deification of a weather pattern frequent in the British Isles.

Texts

• Lebor Gabála Érenn
• Cath Maige Tuireadh - The (second) Battle of Magh Tuireadh
• Oidheadh Chlainne Tuireann - The Death of the Children of Tuireann

References

• Cross, Tom Peete and Clark Harris Slover, Ancient Irish Tales, Henry Holt & Company, Inc (1936); ISBN 1-56619-889-5
• Ellis, Peter Berresford, Dictionary of Celtic Mythology(Oxford Paperback Reference), Oxford University Press, (1994); ISBN 0-19-508961-8
• MacKillop, James. Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998; ISBN 0-19-280120-1.
• Wood, Juliette, The Celts: Life, Myth, and Art, Thorsons Publishers (2002); ISBN 0-00-764059-5

• http://www.celtnet.org.uk/gods_n/nudd.html