Reminders of Shee From Early Ireland

Much of the shee and she of Sheehan I find in the Bronze Age Irish of Ireland.

            At a time in Ireland, as in much of our world, an Iron Age culture overwhelmed a Bronze Age culture. Iron cuts bronze. Many overwhelm the few. However, with some investigation we find that in many ways Bronze cultures often seem superior to Iron Age cultures in a variety of ways. That superiority has been acknowledged by Iron Age people. You may notice that I am not putting much of what I note of what I believe to be historic Irish happenings in History my blog, but rather put it hear with my Mago Bill writings. I do not do so because my belief is weak, but rather because my ability to produce convincing evidence that historians would accept is weak.

            I suspect, and suggest to you, that Iron Age people who came to Ireland found the Bronze Age culture wondrous, a bit fearsome, and worthy of respect. Some of the Bronze Age people seemed magical and so, shee. Some of the Bronze Age people were seen as spiritually potent, as unusually skillful, and wise and so, shee. They seemed fay and faerie like; so they began to be called, shee. Shee began to be an Iron Age name for some of those Bronze Age people. And, just like that, our name was changed. 

            I am interested in this because my family name is Sheehan. The final syllable of Sheehan is -han and once meant "people" or "family" and formed the plural. So, we became the shee people, those who were overwhelmed by iron and greater numbers. It comes to me that there are more Sheehan than ever in Ireland, the US, and elsewhere. We may have been overwhelmed, but we are still here.

            One of us was a "shee" and a number of us were "han." She was the name of a people and han was the plural. There are many words in Irish containing "shee." You may have heard the word "banshee" used in English. "Ban" in Old Irish meant female or woman. So, a banshee is a shee woman. I will add more examples of  shee and sometimes she usage in Old Irish.

            My father's father told him to remember that all Irishmen are wits and you are half Irish. My father's mother was Norwegen. My mother was not Irish. That seems to leave me a quarter-wit. I am far from having an Iron Age or Bronze Age culture and am American. Even so, I do have the name and so do have some personal  connection with this essay.

            I have written elsewhere, some on this very blog, about Irish, English, and Old Irish words containing the syllable, shee, and so won't repeat them here. However, I have recently been reminded of some other uses of shee; so, I will share some here.

            Among other interesting happenings, doings, and beings is that the Dananns were likely to have been called "shee" by the Milesians. The Dananns represented the ending of the Bronze Age culture and the Milesians represented a strong Iron Age culture. 

            A usages of  of Old Irish relating to the term shee which I have forgotten may be written much like this "Tir na nOg" to denote the Old Irish. If you have any knowledge of  the phrase tell us about it in "comments" below.

            Their remain certain stone carvings, sometimes called idols that have been found in Western Europe, England, and Ireland. They show a female figure displaying an exaggerated vulva. They are not beautiful and are often without breasts. Some date to about 9,000 BC, so they certainly are not young. They would be be about 11,000 years old. They have been called shee. They may be old enough to have been Flood survivors. Those idols have long been call "Sheela na gig." An exact translation seems not to be agreed on. I think that "Sacred spirit of the vulva" may do. I believe that I have said elsewhere that "shee" has been used to indicate sacred or holy.

            In Wikipedia it says that one of the best examples of these ''sheela'' was found in the round tower of Rotton in county Kerry, Ireland. 

             At times the figures in these sculpted stone idols have been called witches hags and less complimentary terms. I remember passing through England years ago and hearing and hearing some young men in the streets referring to their girl friend as their sheela. I also remember that in the distant past a hag was a wise and respected older woman.

            Some of these same old stone sculptings have been removed from their original sites to then incorporated into older church buildings. Shee has gotten around.

            There is an old Irish dance called the "Sheela na gig." According to good old Wikipedia, the oldest written record of that dance goes back to only about 1650. 

            There is a ''myth," in Ireland and beyond, of a goddess who grants kingship. She might appear as a lustful old hag and most men would avoid her and reject her advances. The one man would sleep with her, found her transformed into a beautiful maiden who conferred royalty upon him and blessed his reign. She has been said to be shee.

            I've been told that many an Irish lad has been taken by a good tail and also that there are some tricky old ladies on the island.

            ''Shee" is found in much of the older Irish language a significantly in more modern Irish. I have written of examples elsewhere and, if you so wish, will write more of such examples in a future post.When you have anything to add to the content of this post (or any post of  mine) or corrections to make or comment to offer, use the comment app below.

            Shenandoah

            Sailors knew words and music to a song called Shenandoah very early and carried it far and wide.. The music was older than the lyrics. The words varied, but often had an ongoing similarity. We learned of that song from the English who mostly learned of it  from French voyageurs on rivers which became part of the land Americans call America. Those French voyageurs sang that song with their Indian friends and families. Those Voyageurs sang their versions of that song before the English had colonies in the land. Knowing this I believe the song is Irish. I believe that the title is Irish, in the Old Irish language.

            I believe that I am not the only one to believe the song has Irish roots. I suspect that the title meant something very like "wise people of long ago" or perhaps "wisdom of old." And who would question this old man's beliefs. Anyway, a song which still has some popularity today was sung long before there was a U.S.

           

 Thank you for the visit and for reading.

                                                                                                      rcs

Mago Bill Has a History

 

Mago Bill Inspired History Notes 

            You may remember Mago Bill as the name of some of my earlier blogs. Well, now in my dotage, I am beginning the resurrection of one or those Mago blogs. You may remember that I believed that the given name of my paternal great grandfather was Mago William. While that Mago may have been called Will, he may never been called Bill, but it makes me smile to do so.

            My, somewhat imaginary, Mago Bill has inspired my interest in history and supported my political vision.

            Thoughts of Bill, Mago Bill, lead me to the following. The Phoenicians had certainly heard of Atlantis, but that fabled land had been lost for thousands of years before these Phoenicians posted themselves near the Pillars of Hercules. Those pillars may have been called the Pillars of Atlas, or even the gates of Atlas. They certainly guarded the way to the great Atlantic Sea and to the isle beyond the Western Isle.

            The paragraph above led me to thoughts of many stories, but I will stick to my notes on those who knew the name “Mago” well.

            They were a knowledgeable people whom we might now begin to call Carthaginians. They knew much of trade and navigation. They also knew of mining, metallurgy, the writing of languages, and of defense and attack on land and sea. They were seamen. They that the islands not too far beyond the Pillars not only contained gold, silver, lead, and tin, but also contained men who knew about mining and metal working. They may have known about the little people who could follow the veins of metal deep into the earth. Those Carthaginians knew that men all around their smaller sea valued tin for making their bronze.

            The name and perhaps title of Mago was well known among those Carthaginian Phoenicians. I have found the use of title among them as early as 750 BC. You may find that it was used much earlier. I do find strong evidence that they were carrying on trade with the Western Isles from 500 BC to 400 BC.

            The Magonids were a political dynasty of Carthage room about 550 BC to 340 BC. The dynasty began with Mago I, under whom Cartage became prominent among the Phoenician colonies in the western Mediterranean. Under the Magonids the Carthaginian Empire expanded to include Spain, Sardinia, Libya, and Sicily. Diodorus and Herodotus often better tell us of the doings and happenings of the Magonids more honestly than do the Romans.

               There was a Mago II and then a Mago III who led the Carthaginians. There also seems to have been A Mago who commanded, or navigated for the trading fleet which connected the Western Isles to the Mediterranean. You may know, or have guessed, that the isle beyond the western Isle is the island nation we call Ireland.

           It might have been Mago, that knowledgeable ship-master, who so impressed a Sheehan as to name his, or her, son Mago. My great, great grandfather later called his son Mago William. That is a source of my inspiration to call a blog of mine “Mago Bill.”

            I am inspired to post more on Mago and Mago Bill.

            Thank you for reading this short which I hope you have found pithy. Would you enjoy a longer piece. What would you like to read more about?

       

 

                                                                                    RCS