War-goddesses, furies and scald crows: The use of the word badb in early Irish literature

Abstract

The word badb occurs frequently in early Irish literature. In this thesis I have tried to create a new definition of this confusing word. I believe this word has the following meanings: Badb, the name of one of the three war-goddesses; a generic term for other demonic creatures, namely furies, witches and battle demons; a word meaning "scald-crow" and the genitive form of the word, badba, which can be used in an adjectival sense. In this thesis I describe these different meanings according to the early irish texts in which the word badb occurs. In the conclusion I describe the possible development of the word.