Uirne

{{Short description|Mother of Bran and Sceólang}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''Uirne''', or '''Tuirn(e)''',<ref name="nagy" /> ("sharp-mouth") was the sister of Muirne and the aunt of Fionn mac Cumhail in the Fenian Cycle of Irish mythology.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chadbourne |first1=Kate |title=The Beagle's Cry: Dogs in the Finn Ballads and Tales |journal=Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium |date=1996 |volume=16/17 |pages=1–14 |jstor=20557312 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20557312 |access-date=March 19, 2021}}</ref>

The daughter of the druid Tadg mac Nuadat, Uirne is married three times. First, she and Conall have a son named Dáire. Then, she is wed to Imcad, the son of the king of Dal n-Araide. The queen transforms a pregnant Uirne into a dog, and her offspring from that union, Bran and Sceólang, are born as dogs. Finally, she and her third husband, Lugaid Lága, have three human children: Eogan Ruad, Sciath Brecc, and Cael Croda.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Reinhard |first1=John R. |last2=Hull |first2=Vernam E. |title=Bran and Sceolang |journal=Speculum |date=January 1936 |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=42–58 |doi=10.2307/2846874 |jstor=2846874 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2846874 |access-date=March 19, 2021|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

It has been argued by at least one scholar that Uirne is actually a variant of Muirne, and not a separate figure.<ref name="nagy">{{cite book |last1=Nagy |first1=Joseph Falaky |title=The Wisdom of the Outlaw: The Boyhood Deeds of Finn in Gaelic Narrative Tradition |date=1985 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley and Los Angeles, California |isbn=0-520-05284-6 |page=95 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M0ycAAAACAAJ |access-date=March 19, 2021}}</ref>

== References == {{reflist}}

Category:Fenian Cycle