Is the Nuala character in the Sandman books an actual mythical figure?
December 13, 2003 3:42 PM Subscribe
I have a cat Nuala, named after a character in The Sandman books. The origin is Gaelic/Celtic meaning 'white shoulders/lovely shoulders', and considering the characters in the series i've always thought Nuala must have some kind of mythical background. Googling hasn't provided anything and The Sandman Annotations don't mention her beyond the fictional role. Does anyone here know if Nuala was a mythical figure?
Fionnghuala (f) fyun OO la - meaning fair shouldered. Derivatives: Fenella; Finola; Fionnuala, Nuala
posted by zarah at 5:28 PM on December 13, 2003
posted by zarah at 5:28 PM on December 13, 2003
poopy thanks so much for posting this thread... we have a new kitten and haven't been able to come up with a name for her but when zarah went searching celtic names for you we found one that's super appropriate. our orange tabby is named finn (after the irish warrior poet fionn mac cumhail (aka finn macCool)) and he's bonkers for the kitten, grooming her, coming to her rescue when she mews loudly, etc. so we're naming her dorrin, which means "finn's daughter".
Dorrin - (DOHR-in) from Old Irish name Doireand, "daughter of Finn".
posted by t r a c y at 6:45 PM on December 13, 2003
Dorrin - (DOHR-in) from Old Irish name Doireand, "daughter of Finn".
posted by t r a c y at 6:45 PM on December 13, 2003
Response by poster: Thanks all. yes, it does look like Nuala comes from Fionnuala, and thanks to anathema, i found this nice little story.
t r a c y, that's such a cute kitty. my oldest cat recently passed away and i've been wanting to get a new one, but unlike the Nuala of legend, this Nuala wouldn't tolerate it :).
posted by poopy at 5:55 AM on December 14, 2003
t r a c y, that's such a cute kitty. my oldest cat recently passed away and i've been wanting to get a new one, but unlike the Nuala of legend, this Nuala wouldn't tolerate it :).
posted by poopy at 5:55 AM on December 14, 2003
Weird, I've just reread the entire Sandman series, including the companion. Although you've seemed to found the answer to your question, Neil Gaiman suggests that you can find out the meaning of most character's names by checking out "Brewer's dictionary of Phrase and Fable"
posted by drezdn at 4:33 PM on December 14, 2003
posted by drezdn at 4:33 PM on December 14, 2003
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by anathema at 4:16 PM on December 13, 2003