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:

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

^[3]

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^[4], 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."^[5]

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)

1. ^ ^{a b} Forbes p7; Dwelly
2. ^ ^{a b} Forbes, p385
3. ^ Forbes, pp61, 226, 384, 385; Dwelly
4. ^ Forbes, p384
5. ^ Forbes, p61