Ceirean,[1] Cirein-cròin[1] or cionarain-crò[2] was a large sea monster in Scottish Gaelic folklore. An old saying claims that it was so large that it fed on seven whales: Local folklores say this huge animal can disguise itself as a small silver fish when fishermen came in contact with it.[3] Other accounts state the reason for the disguise was to attract its next meal; when the fisherman would catch it in its small silver fish form, once aboard it changed back to the monster and ate him.[4]
A saying goes:[5]
| Gaelic | Translation | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Seachd sgadain, sath bradain; | Seven herrings, a salmon's fill; | |
| Seachd bradain, sath ròin; | Seven salmon, a seal's fill; | |
| Seachd ròin, sath mial-mòr-mara | Seven seals, a large whale's fill | (Mial here is archaic; killer whales eat seals, but baleen whales do not.) |
| Seachd mial, sath Cirein-cròin | Seven whales, a cirein-cròin's fill | |
| Seachd cionaraiu-cro, [crothaiu Sath mial mhor a chuaiu.' | Seven 'cionarain-cro,' Feast of great beast of ocean |
Poem collected by Alexander Carmichael[6] It was taken down in 1860, with much more old lore, from Kenneth Morrison, cottar, Trithion, Skye. Kenneth Morrison, old and blind, had much native intelligence and interesting lore. He says he didn't knew what cionaran-cro is unless it be the kracken. According to Alexander Robert Forbes, cionarain-cro is substituted for the cirein-croin in different saying, and ranks second to the "great sea animal".[2]
Forbes identifies the creature as a large sea serpent,[7] but this is arguable. He also proposes it as a dinosaur:[8]
It is not known what this monster animal was, though it may well have been one of these "Giant fish-destroyers," so ably, inler alia, described by Dr Carmichael M'Intosh, which waged war in sea and on land against all and sundry as well as against each other, viz., the gigantic Deinosaurs [sic], some of which, notably the Atlantosaurus, reached to one hundred feet in length with a height of thirty feet, and proportionately awful of aspect.
See also
edit- Jörmungandr - a large sea worm from Nordic mythology
- Stoor worm - a large sea worm from Orcadian folklore
References
edit- Forbes, Alexander Gaelic names of beasts (mammalia), birds, fishes, insects, reptiles, etc. (1905); available here
- This article incorporates text from Dwelly's [Scottish] Gaelic Dictionary (1911). (Cirein-cròin, ceirean)
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