Ossian

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Ossian or Oisin , legendary Gaelic poet, supposedly the son of Finn mac Cumhail , hero of a cycle of tales and poems that place his deeds of valor in the 3d cent. AD These traditional tales were preserved in Ireland and in the Scottish Highlands, with Ossian as the bard who sang of the exploits of Finn and his Fenian cohorts. A later cycle of Ossianic poetry centered on Cuchulain, another traditional hero. Ossian is generally represented as an old, blind man who had outlived both his father and his son. The name is remembered by most people in connection with James Macpherson , who published translations of two poems that he said had been written by Ossian; scholars subsequently proved that they were actually a combination of traditional Gaelic poems and original verses by Macpherson himself.

Bibliography: See J. Macpherson, The Poems of Ossian (1805, repr. 1974).

Ossian, son of Fingal, father of Oscar, whose death—so James MacPherson claimed—marked the end of Celtic civilization in Scotland. MacPherson asserted Ossian's Scottish ancestry in spite of stiff and compelling counter-claims by the Irish and in spite of the fact that many thought that his translations of Ossian's ‘poems’ (1762–5) were forgeries. Nevertheless, the poems caused a literary sensation. They were translated into most European languages and even into Gaelic. In the event they turned out to be a mixture of genuine verses handed down by oral tradition and imaginative translation and pastiche by their editor. However, the Scottish tourist industry has every reason to be grateful for them.

Nicholas Phillipson

Ossian. Nominal narrator of James Macpherson's Poems of Ossian (1760–3), based on the character of Oisín as found in Scottish Gaelic ballad tradition; in the late 19th century the name Ossian displaced that of Oisín in popular retellings of Fenian stories. Son of Fingal and Roscranna, husband of Everallin, he was the father of Oscar (3), whose mistress Malvina was also his companion in old age.

Ossian, son of Fingal, father of Oscar, whose death—so James MacPherson claimed—marked the end of Celtic civilization in Scotland. MacPherson's translations of Ossian's ‘poems’ (1762–5) caused a literary sensation. In the event they turned out to be a mixture of genuine verses handed down by oral tradition and imaginative translation and pastiche by their editor.

Ossian ♂ (Scottish) Anglicized form of Irish Oisín, Scottish Gaelic Oisein, originally a byname representing a diminutive of os ‘stag’. It was coined by James Macpherson, author of the ‘Ossianic’ poems. See also Oisín and Osian.

Ossian a legendary Irish warrior and bard, whose name became well known in 1760–3 when the Scottish poet James Macpherson (1736–96) published his own verse as an alleged translation of 3rd-century Gaelic tales. The Irish version of his name is Oisin.

Ossian, the name commonly given to Oisin, a legendary Gaelic warrior and bard. See Macpherson and Fingal.

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