that the name Sirona referred to the goddess as one who was held to be aged and long-lived. This may be corroborated by a related Irish name, Siorna Saoghlach,[1] mentioned in the mythic history of Ireland: the epithet Saoghlach means long-lived, but it was probably added on as an after-thought, for Siorna may have already conveyed the same meaning; at any rate, Siorna may be regarded, according to the ordinary rules of Irish phonology, as representing an early Celtic form, Sîronjos. The person called Siorna is said to have been engaged in the government of Ireland for a century and a half; and his entire lifetime may be reckoned as considerably longer. I venture accordingly to regard Siorna's name as glossed by Saoghlach or long-lived, and to treat the goddess Sirona's name in a similar manner. Thus we seem to have in the Celtic Apollo and Sirona the ever-young sun-god and an old goddess: the pair invite comparison with the young Apollo of the Greeks and his mother Leto; but Greek mythology sheds no decided light on the agedness of the mother as represented by Gaulish remains.
The same remark applies to what I take to be the equivalents in Welsh mythology, of which a word must now be said; for it has already been mentioned that Maponos is in Welsh mabon; but it should be added that it also occurs as a proper name in the Welsh story of Kulhwch and Olwen; to be more correct, one should say that the proper name was Mabon mab Modron or 'Mabon son of
- ↑ See The Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland [compiled, in the 17th century, by the Four Masters, and edited by O'Donovan (second edition, Dublin, 1856), a work which will briefly be referred to as the 'Four Masters' in the rest of this volume], A.M. 4003, 4019, 4020, 4169, 4178.
