Cattle raiding in medieval Ireland (and elsewhere)
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Cattle raids were often depicted in Irish mythology, such as the famous Táin Bó Cúailnge (The Cattle Raid of Cooley).
Cattle raiding is the act of stealing live cattle, often several or many at once. In Australia, such stealing is often referred to as duffing, and the perpetrator as a duffer. In other areas, especially in Queensland, the practice is known as poddy-dodging with the perpetrator known as a poddy-dodger. In North America, especially in the Wild West cowboy culture, cattle theft is dubbed rustling, while an individual who engages in it is a rustler.
TIL cattle thievery still goes on in a big way in Pakistan, where it is sometimes referred to as "lifting". See here. I wonder if its roots go back to pre-Islamic (i.e., Indo-Iranian) times.
Oh, I forgot to draw attention to the video narrator's pronunciation of "cattle". Mea culpa.
Selected readings
- J. P. Mallory, In Search of the Irish Dreamtime : Archaeology & Early Irish Literature (London: Thames & Hudson, 2016) — Ulster Cycle; Táin Bó Cúailnge (Cattle Raid of Cooley)
- Bruce Lincoln, "The Indo-European Cattle-Raiding Myth", History of Religions, Vol. 16, No. 1 (Aug., 1976), pp. 42-65
- "The cattle-keeping Bai of Yunnan" (1/18/22)
- "Indo-European 'cow' and Old Sinitic reconstructions: awesome" (1/16/20)
- "Galactic glimmers: of milk and Old Sinitic reconstructions" (1/8/19)
- "Know your Narts: cattle rearing and cattle raiding" (6/6/20)
- "Cattle raid, spray, whatever" (12/21/13) — be sure to read all the comments
- "Translating the I ching (Book of Changes)" (10/11/17)
[Thanks to Sunny Jhutti]
Philip Taylor said,
July 19, 2025 @ 4:02 pm
"Cattle raiding is the act of stealing live cattle, often several or many at once" — I am not convinced that one can steal only one cattle : one can steal one cow, one bull, or one heifer (etc) but "cattle", by definition, is plural, although there is at least one attested instance of the word being used to denote a singular beast — A cattle, when it goes into a drinking pit […] throws the chief part of its weight upon its fore feet. William H. Marshall • The rural economy of Yorkshire • 1788 (1796).
Anna said,
July 19, 2025 @ 5:13 pm
What's noteworthy about his pronunciation of "cattle" then?
Victor Mair said,
July 19, 2025 @ 7:45 pm
Here's British vs. American pronunciation of "cattle".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whUQJBzZF7M
Steve Morrison said,
July 19, 2025 @ 8:20 pm
@Philip Taylor: Here is a Straight Dope message board discussion of what the singular of cattle should be.