- Delbhna
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The Delbna or Delbhna were an ethnic group in Ireland. They had a number of branches in central and western Ireland.
Early peoples and kingdoms of Ireland, c.800
- The Delbhna Tir Dha Locha were the most westerly branch, based in Iar Connacht.
- The Delbhna Nuadat were lords of a large section of what is now County Roscommon, situated between the Suck and Shannon rivers. From the early historic era they were a subject people of the Ui Maine.
- The Delbhna Bethra were located on the east bank of the River Shannon, in what is now County Westmeath. They may have once formed a single kingdom with the Delbhna Nuada until subjugated by the Ui Maine. By the late 5th century they had fallen under the control of the Uí Néill.
The Delbhna took their name from Delbáeth who is stated as being a legendary High King of Ireland but was more likely a god of the Tuatha Dé Danann; he would have been their ancestor-deity in the same way that Woden was to the Anglo-Saxons.
Extract from MacFhirbhisigh's Cuimire
Dealbhaoth Draio [=the druid], i.e., Lughaidh s. Cas s. Conall Eachluath, had five (or seven) sons and a daughter named Aoife (and [=or?] Anghus). These are the names of the sons and territories that they inhabited; Gno Mor and Gno Beag in western Connacht, Baodan in Dealbhna of Eathair, Airdhealbhaigh in Dealbhan Mhor, Samthann, from whom are Dealbhna Nuadhad; Eanna Airgtheach and Eanna Teith, two other sons of Dealbhaoth who seized [territory] in Na Deise, and according to some it was the other Lughaidh, brother of Dealbhaoth, that those two Eannas were sons, and the two Gnos and Baodan, from whom are Ui Mhaoil Bhaodain, and therefore Lughaidh Dealbhaoth was left with only two sons: Aindealbhadh and Samthann. However, the most common [view] is that the two Gnos, Aindealbhadh, Baodan andSamthann were offspring of Dealbhaoth, and that seven Dealbhna came from that five: Dealbhna Mhor, Dealbhna Bheag, Dealbhna of Cuil Fhabhair, Dealbhna of Eathair in western Midhe (Mide), Dealbhna Duadhad, Dealbhna of Teannmhagh, and Dealbhna of Fiodh Tire Da Loch (or in Tir Dha Loch) in Connacht, i.e., Gno Mor and Gno Beg. (A different version: O hEanna (Heeney) over Gno Bheag, i.e., O hAdhnaigh was their chieftain, and Conroy over Gno Mhor.)
Mac Fhirbhisigh names the following families as descendants of various branches of the Delbhna:
- O Fionnallain of Dealbhna Mor,
- Mac Cochlain (Coughlan) of Dealbhna Beatha ("Dealbhna of Eathair in western Midhe"), County Westmeath
- Mac Con Raoi (Conroy) of Gno Mhor, Connemara
- O hEanna of Gno Beag, Connemara
- O Caibhdheanaigh of Gno Beag
- O Laoghog of Dealbhna Sith neannta
- O Scalaidhe over Dealbhna Iarthair [=western D.].
References
- Byrne, F.J. (2001) [1973]. Irish Kings and High-Kings (2nd ed.). Dublin: Four Courts Press.
- Leabhar na nGenealach, volume III, pp. 692–695
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