Cuchulainn’s name derives from his childhood vow to replace a slain hound

Evidence

The boy had no weapon but his hurling-ball and stick. As the enormous hound leaped at him, Setanta hurled his ball with all his might straight down the beast’s throat, and then seized the great dog and dashed it against a stone, killing it — saving his own life through sheer courage and skill. The feasters rushed out, amazed and relieved that the boy lived. But Culann the smith, though glad the boy was safe, grieved for his faithful hound, now dead: ‘Who will guard my house and herds now?’ Then the boy Setanta did an honorable thing. ‘I will make it right,’ he said. ‘I myself will guard your house and lands until a pup of that hound is grown and trained to take its place — and until then, I will be your hound.’ And so the boy was given a new name, Cu Chulainn — ‘the Hound of Culann’ — and bore it ever after, the name of the great hero who, even as a child, both defended his own life with courage and took responsibility to repair the loss his deed had caused. — , A Year of World Stories, 14343

Categorization

• DEFINE: Explains the actual etymology and origin story of the name Cu Chulainn, ‘Hound of Culann’.