>aren't the danaan the people of the godess Danu?
If you are talking about the Tuatha De Danann ("Tribe of Gods of Danu" or
"Tribe of the Goddess Danu") of Irish legend (and not the Greek Danaan), yes
they are believed to be named for a goddess *Danu.
That having been said, it is important to note that there is actually no
figure from Irish legend known as *Danu (though she very well might have
existed, but her tales were lost) - this name is a modern scholarly back
formation from Danann of a possible nominative fem. sg. (Danann is a
genitive form).
It should also be noted that in the earliest texts, we only find the gods
simply named as Tuatha De ("Tribe of Gods" or "Tribe of the Goddess") - the
addition of Danann came later - and it appears to have been a gloss to
explain who the "goddess" was that the tribe belonged to (it is unclear as
to whether "De" was originally a genitive plural "of gods" or genitive fem.
sing "of the goddess" - but at some point it was interpreted by the clerics
recording the stories as "of the goddess").
- Chris Gwinn
_________________________________________________________________
MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos:
http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx