Crom Cruach
deity
Crom Cruach (Old Irish: Cromm Crúaich [kɾom ˈkɾuːa̯xʲ]) was a pagan god of pre-Christian Ireland. According to Christian writers, he was propitiated with human sacrifice and his worship was ended by Saint Patrick.
He is also referred to as Crom Cróich, Cenn Cruach/Cróich ([kʲen̪ː ˈkɾuːa̯x]) and Cenncroithi ([kʲen̪ː ˈkɾoθʲi]). He is related to the later mythological and folkloric figure Crom Dubh.
The references in a dinnsenchas ("place-lore") poem in the 12th century to sacrifice in exchange for milk and grain suggest that Crom had a function as a fertility god. The description of his image as a gold figure surrounded by twelve stone or bronze figures has been interpreted by some as representing the sun surrounded by the signs of the zodiac, suggesting a function as a solar deity.
Name
Crom Cruach's name takes several forms. Crom (or cromm) means "bent, crooked, stooped" or according to O'Reilly is perhaps related to cruim meaning "thunder". Cenn means "head", and by extension "head, chief". Cruach (or crúach) is a noun meaning "pile, heap, mound, stack", generally of grain, hay, peat or other gathered goods, bounty, and so on, including slaughtered fighters.
The public source identifies “Crom Cruach” as deity. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Crom, Cruach and deity.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1140870. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Crom Cruach” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.