View source for Caladbolg

{{short description|Legendary sword of Fergus mac Róich}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}[[File:Fergus mac Róich carrying Sétanta on his shoulder.png|thumb|Illustration of Fergus mac Róich carrying [[Sétanta]], with sword at his side. (George Denham, 1909)]]
'''''Caladbolg''''' ("hard cleft",<ref>{{ cite book | title = The Celts: History, Life, and Culture | editor1 = Koch, John T | editor2 = Minard, Antone | chapter = Caladbolg / Caledfwlch / Excalibur | first = John T | last = Koch | pages = 143–144 | isbn = 9781598849646 | date = 2012 | publisher= ABC }}</ref> also spelled '''Caladcholg''', "hard blade") is the [[sword]] of [[Fergus mac Róich]] from the [[Ulster Cycle]] of [[Irish mythology]].<ref name=dcm>James MacKillop, ''Dictionary of Celtic Mythology'', Oxford University Press, pp. 64-65</ref>

Fergus calls his sword by that name in ''[[Táin Bó Cúailnge]]''. [[Ailill mac Máta]] had stolen Fergus's sword when he caught him ''in flagrante'' with [[Medb]]. Fergus carved a dummy wooden sword to disguise the fact he was unarmed.<ref name=tbc1>Cecile O'Rahilly (ed. & trans.), ''Táin Bó Cúailnge Recension 1'', Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1976</ref>{{rp|pp. 154-155}} Ailill returns the sword to him before the final battle, and Fergus speaks a poem over it, calling it ''Caladcholc'' in one version,<ref name=tbc1 />{{rp|pp. 121, 234}} and ''Caladbolg'' in another.<ref name=tbc2>Cecile O'Rahilly (ed. & trans.), ''Táin Bó Cúailnge from the Book of Leinster'', Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1970</ref>{{rp|266}} It is said to have been "the sword of Leite from the elf-mounds. When one wished to strike with it, it was as big as a rainbow in the air."<ref name=tbc2 />{{rp|268}} Prevented from using it against [[Conchobar mac Nessa]], Fergus instead cuts off the tops of three hills.<ref name=tbc1 />{{rp|234-235}}

A poem in the ''Duanaire Finn'' traces the ownership of sword through various figures of classical mythology and history, passing down from [[Saturn (mythology)|Saturn]], via the heroes of the [[Trojan War]], to [[Julius Caesar]], to [[Cú Chulainn]], who gave it to Fergus. After Fergus's death, it was passed down through the generations from Medb, to [[Fionn mac Cumhaill]]'s grandson [[Oscar (Irish mythology)|Oscar]], and ultimately to [[Saint Patrick]].<ref>Eoin Mac Neill (ed. & trans.), "Oscar's Sword", ''Duanaire Finn: The Book of the Lays of Finn'', Irish Texts Society, 1908, pp. 153-162</ref>

[[T. F. O'Rahilly]] argues that ''Caladbolg'' is the older form of the name, and interprets it as meaning "hard lightning". He connects it with the [[Builg]], an ancient people of Ireland (he identifies a subgroup of the [[Múscraige]] called the ''Dál Caladbuilg''), as well as {{langx|wlm|Caledfwlch}}, the Welsh name of [[King Arthur]]'s sword [[Excalibur]].<ref>O'Rahilly, T.  F., Early Irish history and mythology, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1957, p. 68-69</ref> Other sources connect similarly named swords with the legends of Arthur, [[Cú Chulainn]], [[Fergus mac Léti]], and [[Fergus mac Róich]].<ref>{{cite book | title = Encyclopedia of Earth Myths: An Insider's A-Z Guide to Mythic People, Places, Objects, and Events Central to the Earth's Visionary Geography | first = Richard | last = Leviton | publisher = Hampton Roads Publishing | date = 2005 | isbn = 9781612832982 | quote = It [Caladfwlch/Excalibur] is also linked to the sword of the Irish heroes as Caladbou ("hard fighter") for Fergus mac Roich, and as Caladbol ("hard lightening") for CuChullain [..] another Irish hero named Fergus mac Leti had a kingly sword called Caladhcholg, with similar potency as Caladbolg }}</ref><ref>{{cite book| last = Lewis | first = Timothy | title = Bolg, Fir Bolg, Caladbolg | editor-last = Ryan | editor-first = John | work = Féil-sgríbhinn Eóin Mhic Néill: Essays and studies presented to professor Eoin MacNeill on the occasion of his seventieth birthday, May 15th 1938 | place = Dublin | publisher = Three Candles | date = 1940 | pages = 46–61}}</ref>

The name Caladbolg appears in the plural as a generic word for "great swords" in the 10th-century Irish translation of the classical tale The Destruction of Troy, ''Togail Troí''.<ref>Thurneysen, R. "Zur Keltischen Literatur und Grammatik", Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie, Volume 12, p. 281ff.</ref>

==See also==
* [[Claíomh Solais]]
* [[Gáe Bulg]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Celtic mythology (Ulster)}}
{{Notable swords}}

[[Category:Medieval European swords]]
[[Category:Fictional swords]]
[[Category:Mythological swords]]
[[Category:Ulster Cycle]]


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