or Tuath(a) Dé Donann (Old Irish pronunciation ). This is generally translated "folk of the goddess Danu". It may also have been a way of humanizing them: instead of 'god-folk' they were now the folk of a particular goddess. Early Christian writers also referred to them as the fir dé (god-men) and cenéla dé (god-kindreds), again possibly to avoid calling them simply 'gods'. Some of the Tuath Dé are occasionally called the clann Eladan, "children of art". Danann is generally believed to be the genitive of a female name, for which the nominative case is not attested. It has been reconstructed as *Danu, of which Anu (genitive Anann) may be an alternative form. Anu is called "mother of the Irish gods" by Cormac mac Cuilennáin. This may be linked to the Welsh mythical figure Dôn. Hindu mythology also has a goddess called Danu, who may be an Indo-European parallel. However, this reconstruction is not universally accepted. It has also been suggested that Danann is a conflation of dán ("skill, craft") and the goddess name Anann. The name is also found as Donann and Domnann, which may point to the origin being proto-Celtic *don, meaning "earth" (compare the Old Irish word for earth, doman). Tírechán described the sídh folk as dei terreni, "earthly gods". The name could be cognate with the mythical Fir Domnann and the British Dumnonii. Description The Tuatha Dé Danann are described as a supernatural race, much like idealized humans, who are immune from ageing and sickness, and who have powers of magic. The powers most often attributed to the Tuath Dé are control over the weather and the elements, and the ability to shapeshift themselves and other things. They are also said to control the fertility of the land; the tale De Gabáil in t-Sída says the first Gaels had to establish friendship with the Tuath Dé before they could raise crops and herds. They live in the Otherworld, which is described as either a parallel world or a heavenly land beyond the sea or under the earth's surface. Many of them are associated with specific places in the landscape, especially the sídh mounds; the ancient burial mounds and passage tombs which are entrances to Otherworld realms. The Tuath Dé can hide themselves with a féth fíada ('magic mist') and appear to humans only when they wish to. In some tales, such as Baile in Scáil, a