In Irish mythology

Irish mythology

The mythology of pre-Christian Ireland did not entirely survive the conversion to Christianity, but much of it was preserved, shorn of its religious meanings, in medieval Irish literature, which represents the most extensive and best preserved of all the branch and the Historical Cycle. There are...

, Danand, the daughter of Delbáeth

Delbáeth

In Irish mythology Delbáeth was the son of either Aengus or Ogma of the Tuatha Dé Danann, and Ethniu of the Fomorians. He succeeded his grandfather Eochaid Ollathair, aka the Dagda, as High King of Ireland. He was the father, by Ernmas, of the three eponymous Irish goddesses Ériu, Banba and Fodla...

, son of Ogma

Ogma

Ogma is a character from Irish mythology and Scottish mythology. A member of the Tuatha Dé Danann, he is often considered a deity and may be related to the Gallic god Ogmios....

, is often confused with the similarly named Danu

Danu (Irish goddess)

In Irish mythology, Danu is the mother goddess of the Tuatha Dé Danann . Though primarily seen as an ancestral figure, some Victorian sources also associate her with the land.-Name:...

, the primordial mother. This confusion is set straight in the following passage from Mythical Ireland:

"Next, it should be pointed out that nowhere in the Lebor Gabála Érenn

Lebor Gabála Érenn

Lebor Gabála Érenn is the Middle Irish title of a loose collection of poems and prose narratives recounting the mythical origins and history of the Irish from the creation of the world down to the Middle Ages...

(Book of Conquests of Ireland) -- our earliest source on the material related to the Tuatha Dé Danann

Tuatha Dé Danann

The Tuatha Dé Danann are a race of people in Irish mythology. In the invasions tradition which begins with the Lebor Gabála Érenn, they are the fifth group to settle Ireland, conquering the island from the Fir Bolg....

, compiled between the ninth and the twelfth centuries -- does Danu

Danu

The name Danu can mean:* A water goddess in Indo-European religion* An ancient Scythian word meaning "river". The commonly proposed etymology of the names of the Danube River, Dnieper River, Dniester River, Donets River and Don River...

 appear (under any form of her name) in the role of primordial mother. The one figure who appears prominently in the text and has a similar name is Danand (or Donand) daughter of Delbaeth son of Ogma, who cohabits with her own father and has three sons by him, Brian

Brian (mythology)

In Goidelic mythology, and especially in Scotland, Brian was a pompous man who helped Cailleach rescue Deò-ghrèine. He was a son of Tuireann, and brother to Iuchar and Iucharba ....

, Iuchar

Iuchar

In Irish mythology Iuchar was one of the sons of Tuireann, of the Tuatha Dé Danann, and Danand. He and his two brothers Brian and Iucharba murdered Cian, the father of Lugh, one of the greatest of the Tuatha Dé Danann. They also dismembered his body and tried to cover up their crime...

 and Iucharba

Iucharba

In Irish mythology, Iucharba was one of the sons of Tuireann, of the Tuatha Dé Danann, and Danand. He and his two brothers Brian and Iuchar murdered Cian, the father of Lugh, one of the greatest of the Tuatha Dé Danann. They also dismembered his body and tried to cover up their crime...

. These three come to be known as the tri Dé Danand, the "three gods of Danand", and we are told that all the Tuatha Dé Danann took their name from them, although no logical reason for this appears in the narrative, nor any sense of why the three alone are "gods".http://www.mythicalireland.com/mythology/tuathade/danubile.html