Man, Isle of

Man, Isle of [Manx Mannin, Ellan Vannin; cf. L Mona; OE Maenig; ON Maun]. Island of 220 square miles, of Celtic heritage, in the Irish Sea, a Crown dependency of the United Kingdom, with its own independent parliament, the Tynwald, which pre-dates the English parliament at Westminster. With a population of about 65,000 Man is by far the smallest of the six European Celtic cultures, even smaller in both population and area than the Highland settlement in Nova Scotia. Although the island is English-speaking today, the last native speaker of Manx, Ned Maddrell, having died on 27 December 1974, traditional culture and lore are closely linked to that of Ireland, 32 miles to the west, and Gaelic Scotland. The story from Irish oral tradition that has Fionn mac Cumhaill create the Isle of Man by ripping up a huge sod of earth, thus creating Lough Neagh, and throwing it into the Irish Sea is a plausible metaphor, except that Man's ties are more to Leinster than to the region around the Lough. After the Norse domination of the island, 8th-12th centuries, the kings of Man held sway over the Scottish Hebrides until the Battle of Largs (1283); see SOMERLED; LORD OF THE ISLES. The extensive Norse settlement merged with the native Goidelic population that had come from Ireland several centuries previously, which means that ethnically the current population of Man is highly similar to that of Gaelic Scotland.

Although the original form of the name for Man is still a matter of some conjecture, contemporary informed opinion holds that the sea-god Manannán mac Lir takes his name from the island, rather than the other way around. Ptolemy's geography (2nd cent. AD) calls the island Manavia, even though the Romans in Britain used the term Mona for Man, Anglesey, the coast of Scotland, and another island, probably Arran. Manannán's realm in Irish tradition, Emain Ablach, is frequently confused with Man. Manannán has also played a dominant role in Manx tradition. The first recording of local oral tradition in the 18th century was John Kelly's Manannán Beg, Mac y Leirr, ny slane coontey yeh Ellan Vannin [Little Manannán, Son of Leirr (Lir), or an account of the Isle of Man]. More fancifully, the three-legged triskelion, the symbol of Man of undoubtedly ancient origin, is often popularly attributed to Manannán's facility for riding over the waves. Veneration of Manannán continued until the end of the 19th century.

Allusions to the Isle of Man appear commonly in Irish and to a lesser degree in Scottish Gaelic stories. The legendary Manx St Maughold derives from Mac Cuill of the Tuatha Dé Danann. The shaggy-haired Fir Fálgae were speciously associated with Man, as was the otherworldly Dún Scáith. Additionally, the early physical culture of the Isle of Man, the Neolithic chambered tombs and the Bronze Age cairns and ring-forts, correlates with that found in Ireland.

The language of the earliest settlers is not known, although speculation favours Brythonic. The Manx language [Manx Gaelg] clearly derives from Old Irish, but is more closely connected with Scottish Gaelic. Since it was first written, in a translation of The Book of Common Prayer (c.1625), Manx has been spelled as it would sound to English ears. Compare the words for ‘fish’: OIr. íasc; ModIr. iasc; ScG iasg; Manx eeast. Collections from oral tradition did not begin until the mid-19th century, e.g. William Harrison, A Mona Miscellany (Douglas, 1869). Notwithstanding the distinctive fenodyree, many characters in Manx folklore find parallels in Irish and Scottish Gaelic traditions, e.g. Finn McCooil and Oshin for Fionn mac Cumhaill and Oisín. OIr. Mana; ModIr. Manainn; W Manaw; Bret. Manev. See Bibliography under ‘Manx’ for collections of Manx traditions.