Angus

Angus , council area (1993 est. pop. 111,020), 842 sq mi (2,181 sq km), and former county, NE Scotland. Under the Local Government Act of 1973, the county of Angus became part of the Tayside region in 1975. In the local government reorganization of 1996, Tayside was dissolved and the council area of Angus, roughly approximating the old county, was created. The county of Angus was formerly known as Forfar or Forfarshire.

Angus, Óengus, Áengus, Aonghus, Aonghas; anglicized: Eenis, Neese, Niece, Nicholas, Enos; once wrongly thought a cognate of Aeneas. Angus, though an anglicization of Scottish origin, appears often in Irish contexts [Ir., unique strength, substance (?)]. A man's name, under one spelling or another, borne by many figures in early Irish and Scottish Gaelic traditions, most notably Angus Óg, Óc, or mac-ind-Óc; the name is also borne by at least five Christian saints, and appears in the genealogies of numerous Irish and Scottish families.

Angus
1. The son of Áed Abrat and brother of Fand and Lí Ban, he sings of the healing to be given in the fairy world by his sisters and invites Cúchulainn there. Angus disappears, but later returns when he learns that Manannán mac Lir has abandoned Fand.

2. Also known as Óengus Céile Dé [Ir., client of God], or Angus the Culdee. An early Irish anchorite (fl. 800–50); author of the Féilire, a calendar of saints and festivals. His feast-day is 11 March.

3. A Fir Bolg leader for whom, fancifully, Dún Aonghusa on the Aran Islands is named. Sometimes called Angus Bolg; often thought of as an ancestor of the Déisi.

4. Chieftain of the Déisi whose aggressions helped to bring about the expulsion of his people from their homelands. First Angus killed Cellach, son of Cormac mac Airt, with his spear, and second he put out the father's eye with the spear butt. Angus had been seeking revenge for Cellach's rape of his niece, but retribution visited upon the Déisi was more terrible. Sometimes known as ‘Angus of the terrible spear’.