Cirein-cròin
Ceirean,[1] Cirein-cròin[1] or cionarain-crò[2] was a large sea monster in Scottish Gaelic folklore. An old saying claims that it was so large that it fed on seven whales: Local folklores say this huge animal can disguise himself as a small, silver fish when fisherman come in contact with it.[3] Other accounts state the reason for the disguise was to attract its next meal; when the fisherman would catch it in its small silver fish form, once aboard it changed back to the monster and ate him.[4]
| Gaelic | Translation | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Seachd sgadain, sath bradain; | Seven herrings, a salmon's fill; | |
| Seachd bradain, sath ròin; | Seven salmon, a seal's fill; | |
| Seachd ròin, sath mial-mòr-mara | Seven seals, a large whale's fill | (Mial here is archaic; killer whales eat seals, but baleen whales do not.) |
| Seachd mial, sath Cirein-cròin | Seven whales, a cirein-cròin's fill |
According to Forbes, "[In another saying] cionarain-cro here is substituted, as Avill be seen, for the cirein-croin in the former saving, and ranks second to the "great sea animal."[2]
Forbes identifies the creature as a large sea serpent,[6] but this is arguable. He also proposes it as a dinosaur -
"It is not known what this monster animal was, though it may well have been one of these "Giant fish-destroyers," so ably, inler-alia, described by Dr Carmichael M'Intosh, which waged war in sea and on land against all and sundry as well as against each other, viz., the gigantic Deinosaurs,[sic] some of which, notably the Atlantosaurus, reached to one hundred feet in length with a height of thirty feet, and proportionately awful of aspect."[7]
References
- Forbes, Alexander Gaelic names of beasts (mammalia), birds, fishes, insects, reptiles, etc. (1905); available here
- This article incorporates text from "Dwelly's [Scottish] Gaelic Dictionary" (1911). (Cirein-cròin, ceirean)