"EIRINN, "EIREANN, anciently H'ERNI. The "h" is no longer used in modern Gaelic. This woman was the mother of the Tuathan triad goddess Eire/Banbha/Fotla by the god Dibaeth. She confers with Anu or Danu, the matriarch of the Tuatha daoine, or "people of the side-hill." Ir. 'Eire, genitive 'Eireann, EIr. 'Eiru, "Danu the Burden-Bearer." This is the Cymric, i.e.Welsh, Ywerddon or Iwerddon, MCy. Ewyrdonicv. According to Ptolmey these words all equal Ioupvia, the Lat. Hiberniua or Ivernia or Ierne (4th century). EIr forms were Ivernili, Iverjon or Everjon, the place referred to as Piverjo in the Far East, perhaps from Skr. pivari, a "fat land." The Gaelic source of the the Norse Irlande may be related through iar, west. the Skr. avara, western. This is the English Earn or Findhorn. This also refers directly to the Gaelic local goddess Er, Ur or Ara, whose name appears in present day Scottish names such as Mo-Urie, Mourie or Moray, the English Murray. The crow-goddess goddess Mhor-righ-ann is obviously one of this kind. In every case her name was said to signify "Moon" and it was calimed that "the moon-title Ra was one of its variants." May well confer with Ioua or Iona. At least two Irish scholars agreed that the word comes from the "unpronounceable" Indo-European root-word Piera, which they say is the source of the modern English word fairy. An early Irish form is likely to have been fae, "a wild thing." This word continues in the modern Gaelic faolchu, a "wolf" or "wild dog." Note that h'Erni was the name of the Lady Cassir, leader of an expedition from the Mediterranena to the Emerald Isle in the days just before the World Flood. Her married name is given as Banbha Cass-ir, or Cesair (equating her with these other mortal-goddesses). Note that the ancient Gaelic tongue is identified as Old Gaelic or Old Irish while the version spoken in Scotland is still known as Erse, a word that has connotations with all of the above.

The text on this page is courtesy of Rod C. Mackay.