BOH-an
Goddess of the River Boyne and mother of Aengus by the Dagda.
Boann gives her name to the River Boyne, and the Dindsenchas (the medieval lore explaining Irish place-names) tells how the river came to be: she defies a taboo by walking around a forbidden well, which rises up and chases her to the sea, becoming the Boyne in the process.
Her affair with the Dagda produces Aengus — conceived and born, by trick of the Dagda's magic, within a single day, so that Boann's husband Elcmar never learns of it. That same trick is what later lets Aengus claim Newgrange, in the Boyne valley Boann herself is named for.
The place-name lore in the Dindshenchas gives the fullest account of Boann. The well in question, called the Well of Segais or Connla's Well, lay beneath hazel trees whose nuts held all knowledge, and only a few were permitted to approach it. Boann went to it and walked around it widdershins, against the sun. The waters rose up and, in some versions, took an arm, a leg or an eye from her as they chased her to the sea. The river that formed is the Boyne, and one explanation of its Irish name, Bóinn, connects it with "white cow".
The Brú na Bóinne, the Boyne valley complex that includes Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth, is the landscape most tied to her. Later tradition makes it the home of the Dagda and then of their son Aengus, who is said to have won it from his father by asking to hold it for "a day and a night", which in Irish reckoning means for ever. Boann is therefore a goddess whose story explains a river, a family and a sacred landscape at once.
As a name: Boann is still given to children today. See its meaning, pronunciation and popularity on NameCipher →
| Cycle | Entries here | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| The Mythological Cycle | 21 | The oldest of the four cycles, telling of the Tuatha Dé Danann and the successive invasions of Ireland. |
| The Fenian Cycle | 7 | Tales of Fionn mac Cumhaill and his band of warriors, the Fianna, set generations after the Ulster Cycle in a world of hunting, romance, and roaming adventure. |
| The Ulster Cycle | 12 | The heroic tales of Conchobar mac Nessa's court at Emain Macha, centered on Cú Chulainn and the great cattle raid of the Táin Bó Cúailnge. |
| The Historical Cycle | 1 | Also the Cycle of the Kings — legendary and semi-legendary tales of Ireland's High Kings, treated by medieval scribes as genuine national history. |
Boann is the goddess associated with the River Boyne, said to have formed the river itself when she defied a warning and walked around a forbidden well, which rose up and swept her to the sea.
Boann is the Dagda's lover and, in most versions, the mother of Aengus, conceived during the single day the Dagda magically extended into nine months so their affair would go undetected by her husband, Elcmar.
Yes — the River Boyne takes its name directly from Boann, and the Brú na Bóinne valley along it, home to Newgrange, is closely tied to her and to Aengus in the mythology.