ERIN

This article appears in Volume V09, Page 744 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: EMS-EUD

ERIN , an ancient name for Ireland. The oldest form of the word is Eriu, of which Erinn is the

dative

DATIVE (Lat. dativus, giving or given, from dare, to give)

case. Eriu was itself almost certainly a contraction from a still more primitive form Iberiu or Iveriu; for when the name of the

island

land
- LAND
_.html">ISLAND (O.E. ieg =isle, +
land
- LAND
')

was written in ancient

Greek

GREEK
GREEK, ETRUSCAN AND

it appeared as'Iovepvia (Ivernia), and in Latin as Iberio, Hiberio or Hibernia, the first syllable of the word Eriu being thus represented in the classical 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 MSS., such as the

Confession

CONFESSION (Lat. confessio, from confiteor, acknowledge, confess)

of St

Patrick

PATRICK, SIMON (1626–1707)
PATRICK, ST

, and the same saint's Epistle to Coroticus. Further evidence to the same effect is found in the fact that the ancient

Breton

BRETON,
BRITTON
- BRITTON
- BRITTON, JOHN (1771–1857)
BRETON, JULES ADOLPHE

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

ISLAND (O.E. ieg =isle, +land')

the land of Eire, i.e. Ireland, the latter word being origin-ally pronounced in three syllables. (See IRELAND: Notices of Ireland in

Greek

GREEK
GREEK, ETRUSCAN AND

and Roman writers.) Nothing is known as to the meaning of the word in any of its forms, and Whitley Stokes's

suggestion

SUGGESTION

that it may have been connected with the Sanskrit avara, meaning "western," is admittedly no more than conjecture. There was, indeed, a native Irish legend, worthless from the standpoint of

etymology

ETYMOLOGY (Gr. grvµos, true, and X6yos, "account)

, to account for the origin of the name. According to this myth there were three kings of the Dedannans reigning in Ireland at the coming of the Milesians, named MacColl, MacKecht and MacGrena. The wife of the first was Eire, and from her the name of the country was derived. Curiously, Ireland in ancient Erse poetry was often called " Fodla " or " Bauba," and these were the wives of the other two kings in the legend.

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