DeDanaan

MacCool, Finn (MacCumhaill) : Finn MacCool (Fingal) is a traditional Irish folk hero who actually may have lived in the 3rd century but who figures heavily in Irish mythology. A leader of a band of warriors, Finn is often portrayed as a giant with great strength and wisdom. According to folk tradition, Finn assembled a rock formation known as the Giants’ Causeway along the coast of Northern Ireland to enable other giants to travel between Scotland and Ireland. He and his son, Oisin, appear in the Fenian Cycle of ancient Irish tales, the most famous of which is “The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Grainne.” Grainne, who loves Oisin, is pressured to marry the father instead, but escapes by eloping with Diarmuid, Finn’s nephew. Finn pursues them, Diarmuid is slain by a giant boar, and ultimately, Grainne becomes Finn’s wife.

In the 1760’s, the Scottish poet James Macpherson (1736-1796) claimed dubiously to have discovered and translated tales written by Finn’s son, Oisin, whom he called Ossian. Two of his popular books are Fingal, an Ancient Epic Poem in Six Books (1762) and Temore (1763), an epic that he claimed was translated from the Gaelic of Ossian. Both Finn and his son frequently appear in Irish myth and literature, most notably in the poetry of William Butler Yeats.

Fable : A fable is a story, usually but not always about animals with human qualities, that illustrates some moral truth or wisdom. The familiar fable of “The Fox and the Grapes,” for example, suggests that people will belittle what they cannot get. The fox, after using all his wiles to reach the grapes hanging beyond his reach, concludes that they are sour anyway. Though fables have been discovered even among the Egyptian papyri (500BC), the development of the fable is most often associated with the Greek slave, Aesop. The French fabulist Jean de La Fontaine made perhaps the most celebrated collection of fables. Uncle Remus fables by Joel Chandler Harris celebrate the exploits of Brer Rabbit. “Animal Farm” by George Orwell and “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson are more up-to-date examples of fables.

Answerer : Fragarach (Frecraid, Freagarthach) was also called the “Answerer”, a magical sword that had belonged to Manannan MacLir and Lugh Lamfada. Manannan wielded it as his weapon, before passing it on to Lugh (his foster son). It was said to be a weapon that no armour could stop. Possibly one of the Four Treasures of the Tuatha de Danaan (Sword of Findias made at Gorias, which also belonged to Nuada).

Frood : A really amazingly together guy; hence a phrase which has passed into hitchhiking slang, as in “Hey, you sass that hoopy Ford Prefect? There’s a frood who really knows where his towel is.”

Freagair : (Gaeilge-Irish) pron. “FRAG-ir”
1. Answer; respond
2. Attend to; observe
3. Appear on the surface; outcrop

Fort, Charles Hoy : (1874-1932) Charles Fort was an American journalist and writer who collected news articles of anything bizarre or unusual that challenged the scientific paradigms of his day. He was opposed to the practice of throwing out, or discarding data which did not conform to conventional scientific knowledge. He called such data “damned”. Fort wrote several books and put forth his theories and ideas, some of which were as strange as the data he collected. From his name, the word Fortean was derived, which encompasses the philosophy that all data must be examined, and not thrown aside merely because it does not conform to accepted paradigms. Fort wrote 10 novels, only one of which - “The Outcast Manufacturers” (1906) - was ever published. [unfinished] Fed up with the patent lack of interest in his books, Fort burnt the manuscripts of X and Y, as well as 10,000 pages of notes on various things, and started work on what became “Book of the Damned,” which his friend Dreiser bullied his own publisher to put out in 1919. Fort went on to write three more books of encyclopaedic diversity. After “Book of the Damned” came “New Lands” (1923) - written in London and largely a satirical attack upon the pomposity of astronomers, who, he accused, “were led by a cloud of rubbish by day and a pillar of bosh by night.” In 1929 he returned to New York and began work on “Lo!” (1931), which introduced his idea of teleportation and the organic universe. Fort wanted the book to be titled ‘God and the Fishmonger’ in reference to the great fall of periwinkles (sea life) at Worcester in 1881; Aaron Sussman suggested ‘If the Time has Come’ in reference to Fort’s idea that, say, steam-engines can only be invented when the time is right (despite the basic observations being available anytime someone, in any earlier period, observed water boiling). Thayer offered ‘Lo!’, referring to another of Fort’s themes, that of astronomers who calculate the reappearance of a new star or comet’s return, point to the sky saying “Lo!” and then nothing whatever can be seen there. Thayer noted: “Fort agreed to ‘Lo!’ at first hearing.

According to Fort’s biographer, Damon Knight, Fort’s friend Aaron Sussman pointed out a page of the proofs that was one line short. “Without hesitation, Fort picked up a pencil and wrote: ‘One measures a circle, beginning anywhere.’” He finished “Wild Talents” on 20 February 1932, while he became seriously ill. It dealt with occult or psychic abilities and was published posthumously, later that year, by his friend Claude Kendall.

Charles Fort was weird, wild, and wonderful. We think he would be pleased to see his listing here.

Foghlaim : (Gaeilge - Irish) pron. “FOU-lim”
ag foghlaim pron. “uh FOU-lim” = learning
1. Learn
2. Experience
3. Instruction; teaching

Fios : (Gaeilge-Irish) pron. “fis”
1. Knowledge

Fey, Fay, Fae : (adjs.) These homophones (pronounced FAI) in different ways mean “not of this world� but are in all other respects dissimilar. Fey has a general meaning of “able to see the future,� “otherworldly,� and so by extension, “demented,� “touched in the head�: Mediums often behave in peculiarly fey ways.

There is also an older and mainly Scottish sense of fey meaning “with second sight, especially of deaths and disasters,” and sometimes this sense occurs in literary contexts today: The old vagrant claimed to be fey, and he regularly predicted the end of the world. Fay means “elfin,” “elflike,” as in “The little children were dressed like elves and fairies and danced about in a mode their teacher apparently considered fay.” - From : Kenneth G. Wilson (1923-). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.