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ERIN
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ERIN , an See also:ancient name for See also:Ireland. The See also:oldest See also:form of the word is Eriu, of which Erinn is the See also:dative See also:case. Eriu was itself almost certainly a contraction from a still more See also:primitive form Iberiu or Iveriu; for when the name of the See also:island was written in ancient See also:Greek it appeared as'Iovepvia (Ivernia), and in Latin as Iberio, Hiberio or See also:Hibernia, the first syllable of the word Eriu being thus represented in the classical See also:languages by two distinct vowel sounds separated by b or v. Of the Latin variants, Iberio is the form found in the most ancient Irish See also:MSS., such as the See also:Confession of St See also:Patrick, and the same See also:saint's See also:Epistle to Coroticus. Further See also:evidence to the same effect is found in the fact that the ancient See also:Breton and Welsh names for Ireland were Ywerddon or Iverdon. In later Gaelic literature the primitive form Eriu became the dissyllable Eire; hence the Norsemen called the island the See also:land of Eire, i.e. Ireland, the latter word being origin-ally pronounced in three syllables. (See IRELAND: Notices of Ireland in Greek and See also:Roman writers.) Nothing is known as to the meaning of the word in any of its forms, and Whitley See also:Stokes's See also:suggestion that it may have been connected with the See also:Sanskrit avara, meaning "western," is admittedly no more than conjecture. There was, indeed, a native Irish See also:legend, worthless from the standpoint of See also:etymology, to See also:account for the origin of the name. According to this myth there were three See also:kings of the Dedannans reigning in Ireland at the coming of the Milesians, named See also:MacColl, MacKecht and MacGrena. The wife of the first was Eire, and from her the name of the See also:country was derived. Curiously, Ireland in ancient Erse See also:poetry was often called " Fodla " or " Bauba," and these were the wives of the other two kings in the legend. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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