Fenian

sb. and a. [f. OIr. féne ‘one of the names of the ancient population of Ireland’ (Windisch), confused in modern times with fíann fem. collect., the name of a body of warriors who are said to have been the defenders of Ireland in the time of Finn and other legendary Irish kings.]

  A.  sb.

  1.  (See quot. 1879.) Obs. exc. Hist.

1816.  Scott, Antiq., xxx. [A pretended translation from Ossian].

1861.  E. O’Curry, Lect. MS. Materials Anc. Ir. Hist., 302. The first of these five poems is devoted to an account of the exploits and death of Goll Mac Morna, the great chief of the Connacht Fenians.

1879.  Encycl. Brit., IX. 75/1. According to popular tradition the Fians, or Fenians, were mercenary tribes acting as a permanent military force for the support of the Ard Rig, or king of Eire.

  2.  One of an organization or ‘brotherhood’ formed among the Irish in the United States of America for promoting and assisting revolutionary movements, and for the overthrow of the English government in Ireland.

1864.  Leeds Mercury, 11 March. The men known under the general name of Fenians … are regarded with no friendly eye by the Roman Catholic clergy in Ireland and America.

1865.  The Saturday Review, XIX. 4 March, 240/2. The people of Ireland, according to their unsparing censor, may be divided into three classes, consisting of rebels (of late called Fenians), of factious Protestants, and of Catholics controlled by a bigoted and ignorant priesthood.

1880.  McCarthy, Own Times, IV. liii. 139. The Canadian authorities hurried up reinforcements; several Fenians were taken and shot; others recrossed the river, and the invasion scheme was over.

  B.  adj.

  1.  Of or pertaining to the Fenians (FENIAN sb. 1).

1861.  E. O’Curry, Lect. MS. Materials Anc. Ir. Hist., 299. The earliest of all … are the poems or metrical tales called the Fenian Poems, many of which are attributed to Oisín and Fergus, the sons of the celebrated Finn Mac Cumhaill, some of them to Finn himself, and some to his cousin Caeilté.

1862.  W. F. Skene, in Bk. of Lismore, Introd. 80. Districts in which the Fenian names enter most largely into the topography of the Highlands.

  2.  Of or pertaining to the Fenians (sb. 2) or to Fenianism. Fenian Brotherhood (see quot. 1890.)

1865.  Ann. Reg., 172. The new conspiracy commonly known by the name of ‘Fenian.’ Ibid., 175. A … secret society called the Fenian Brotherhood.

1890.  C. L. Norton, Polit. Americanisms, 43. As generally understood in America, the ‘Fenian Brotherhood’ is a league pledged to the liberation of Ireland.