Neit

Shadowy early Irish god of war, often grouped with the Fomorians. He is usually portrayed as having two wives or consorts, Badb and Nemain. This does not make him an adulterer; rather, he may be married to either, or the identity of one consort may drift to the other or to their husband. Additionally, his two grandsons Balor and Goibniu stand on opposite sides of the epochal Second Battle of Mag Tuired [Cath Maige Tuired]; T. F. O'Rahilly (1946) thinks both Balor and Goibniu derive from conceptions of the sun and may ultimately be identical. Although a divinity, Néit is killed at Mag Tuired.

For the Egyptian goddess, see Neith.

In Irish mythology Neit (Néit, Nét, Neith) was a god of war. He was the husband of Nemain, and sometimes of Badb. Also grandfather of Balor, he was killed at the legendary Second Battle of Moytura. The name probably derives from the proto-Celtic *nei-t-^[1] meaning fighting or passion. A similarly named deity appears on two Celtiberian inscriptions,^[2] as a Romanized Mars Neto and as Neito. Also known as Crilly>

1. ^ Proto-Celtic vocabulary: http://www.wales.ac.uk/documents/external/cawcs/PCl-MoE.pdf
2. ^ E-Keltoi Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies, vol. 6: http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/celtic/ekeltoi/volumes/vol6/6_6/marco_simon_6_6.html

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