Thursday, April 3, 2014

Celtic Tale of the Slaying of the Giant Balor is the Etymological Root of "Bleary Eyed."

The Death of Balor and the Fomorians
The Etymological Root of "Bleary Eyed."

The story of a stone or spear being thrown into the eye of the Fomorian Balor is the etymological root of "Bleary Eyed," or "Balors Eye."

     The Fomorians bring on their champion, Balor, before the glance of whose terrible eye Nuada of the Silver Hand and others of the Danaans go down. But Lugh, seizing an opportunity when the eyelid drooped through weariness, approached close to Balor, and as it began to lift once more he hurled into the eye a great stone which sank into the brain, and Balor lay dead, as the prophecy had foretold, at the hand of his grandson. The Fomorians were then totally routed, and it is not recorded that they ever again gained any authority or committed any extensive depredations in Ireland. Lugh, the Ildánach, was then enthroned in place of Nuada, and the myth of the victory of the solar hero over the powers of darkness and brute force is complete.

Balor, death, Fomorians, defeated, Ireland