Fir Bolg

Analysis

Most scholars regard the Lebor Gabála as myth rather than history, written to provide an epic origin story for the Irish that reconciled native myth with Christian views. The Fir Bolg are likened to the Israelites through their escape from slavery and journey to a Promised Land, while the pagan Tuath Dé are depicted as a people with sorcery. The name Fir Bolg is usually translated as 'men of bags', from Irish fir meaning 'men' and bolg meaning belly, bag, or sack.

Kuno Meyer and R. A. Stewart Macalister argue the name derives from Fir i mBolgaib, meaning 'breeches wearers', a term of contempt for lower orders, and that later writers created the bag story to explain an obsolete expression. Another suggestion is that it originally meant men 'bulging' with battle fury. The name may be cognate with Belgae, a group of tribes in northern Gaul, and some propose the writers named a fictional race after a real one.

T. F. O'Rahilly linked Fir Bolg to the Érainn and Belgae, but his theory is no longer accepted. John Rhys and Macalister suggest the Fir Bolg are the Fomorians under another guise, noting the Fir Bolg are the only settlers not harried by the Fomorians, and that the Tuath Dé fight similar battles at Mag Tuired against both groups. The Fomorians represent harmful or destructive natural forces, while the Tuath Dé represent gods of growth and civilization.

Did You Know?

• The Fir Bolg left Greece at the same time as the Israelites escaped from Egypt, according to Lebor Gabála Érenn.
• During the First Battle of Mag Tuired, Sreng, the champion of the Fir Bolg, cut off Nuada's right hand with one sweep of his sword.