In Celtic mythology, Ecne (Wisdom,

Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic ( sga, Goídelc, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ga, Sean-Ghaeilge; gd, Seann-Ghàidhlig; gv, Shenn Yernish or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive writt ...

''ecna, ecne'', wise, enlightened) was one of the

Tuatha Dé Danann The Tuath(a) Dé Danann (, meaning "the folk of the goddess Danu"), also known by the earlier name Tuath Dé ("tribe of the gods"), are a supernatural race in Irish mythology. Many of them are thought to represent deities of pre-Christian Gae ...

and was the god of wisdom, or knowledge.MacCulloch, John Arnott: ''The Religion of the Ancient Celts'' (1911) - chapter V, The Tuatha Dé Danann
online at sacred-texts.com (accessed 23 October 2007) Ecne had three fathers,

Brian Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish and Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. It is possible that the name is derived from an Old Celtic word me ...

Iuchar In Gaelic mythology, Brian (or Uar) was one of the three Sons of Tuireann along with Iuchar and Iucharba. Name In many extant institutionally-held manuscripts of the ''Oidheadh Chlainne Tuireann'', Brian is actually called Uar (or Uair), but t ...

, and

Iucharba In Gaelic mythology, Brian (or Uar) was one of the three Sons of Tuireann along with Iuchar and Iucharba. Name In many extant institutionally-held manuscripts of the ''Oidheadh Chlainne Tuireann'', Brian is actually called Uar (or Uair), but ...

, who were all sons of

Brigid Brigid ( , ; meaning 'exalted one' from Old Irish),Campbell, MikBehind the Name.See also Xavier Delamarre, ''brigantion / brigant-'', in ''Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise'' (Éditions Errance, 2003) pp. 87–88: "Le nom de la sainte irlandais ...

and

Tuireann In Irish mythology, Tuireann (Old Irish: Tuirenn or Tuirill Biccreo) was the father by Danu (or Brigid) of Creidhne, Luchtaine, and Goibniu. His other sons, by his daughter Danand, included Brian, Iuchar, and Iucharba, who killed Lugh's father ...

, also known as

Delbáeth Delbáeth or Delbáed (modern spelling: Dealbhaoth or Dealbhaodh) was one of several figures from Irish mythology who are often confused due to the repetition of the name in the mythological genealogies. Name According to the Dindsenchas, the nam ...

.Gods & Goddesses: Ecne
at shee-eire.com (accessed 23 October 2007) They are called the ''tri dee Donand'', meaning the three gods of Danu, which can also be read as the three gods of ''dán'', or knowledge. Related attributes are personified as their descendants, and Wisdom is the son of all three. For Ecne to be the son of three brothers also recalls the early Celtic practice of

fraternal polyandry Polyandry (; ) is a form of polygamy in which a woman takes two or more husbands at the same time. Polyandry is contrasted with polygyny, involving one male and two or more females. If a marriage involves a plural number of "husbands and wives" ...

. Ecne's three fathers killed Cian, the father of

Lugh Lugh or Lug (; ga, label= Modern Irish, Lú ) is a figure in Irish mythology. A member of the Tuatha Dé Danann, a group of supernatural beings, Lugh is portrayed as a warrior, a king, a master craftsman and a savior.Olmsted, Garrett. ''The Go ...

, and Lugh's deadly revenge is recounted in ''The Fate of the Children of

''. In ''Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions'', James Bonwick reports Ecne as female and as the goddess of

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

.Bonwick, James: ''Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions'' (London, Sampson Low, Marston & Co, 1894) p. 141

References

Irish gods Tuatha Dé Danann Wisdom gods {{celt-myth-stub