Erainn

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Érainn. Historical population of early Ireland that first settled the island in perhaps the 5th century BC. Centred in what is now Co. Cork, the Érainn were identical with the Iverni or Everni noted by Ptolemy (2nd cent. AD), adapting those names from the Érainn subdivision, the Corcu Loígde. Scholars no longer believe that the Érainn were the aboriginal population of Ireland. Received opinion today asserts that the Érainn were preceded by the Cruithni[Picts] and followed by the Lagin and Féni. T. F. O'Rahilly argued several provocative theses concerning the Érainn in Early Irish History and Mythology (1946): (a) that the Érainn were a P-Celtic people who preceded the Q-Celtic Goídels who eventually dominated Ireland; (b) that they could be identified with the Belgae who left what is today the Low Countries and crossed Britain to reach Ireland; (c) that the Nemedians and Fir Bolg of the pseudo-history Lebor Gabála[Book of Invasions] are based on them. Further, he thought that Togail Bruidne Da Derga[The Destruction of Da Derga's Hostel] was based on the memory of defeat by the Lagin.

Although many scholars doubt the Érainn's identification with the P-Celts, and therefore the British, O'Rahilly's views have not been overturned. Several important smaller groups were actually subdivisions of the Érainn, notably the already cited Corcu Loígde, the Corcu Duibne of Kerry, the Déisi of Waterford, the Múscraige[Muskerry], the Osraige[Ossory], who allied themselves with the Q-Celtic Eóganacht, and, in the north of the island, the Dál Riada who colonized Gaelic Scotland and the Ulaid who gave their name to Ulster. Their principal ancestor-deity was Dáire mac Dedad. The territorial goddess Mór Muman[Great of Munster] apparently was first a goddess of the Érainn.

Érainn, a name given to one of the ancient people of Ireland, was extended to include the entire population of the island. The name is probably reflected in Greek Iernoi (later Iernē) and ultimately in Latin Hibernia, the oldest names recorded for Ireland in classical sources. It also appears as Ériu, a goddess who granted sovereignty to whomever she mated with. As a more specific ethnic name the Érainn are often equated with the Iverni, a tribe which Ptolemy located in Munster. In this more restricted meaning the term was applied to several septs in Munster and when Érainn was extended to embrace northern tribes such as the Dál Fiatach of Ulster, these were provided with a fictitious Munster origin. The coincidence of these Munster Érainn with the distribution of ogam inscriptions indicates that they spoke Irish. The scope of the term varied, however, according to author, date, social status, and political agenda. In the Táin, for example, the Fir Eireann (‘men of Ireland’) are contrasted with the Ulaid (‘Ulstermen’), yet annalistic entries from the same period speak of the whole ‘island of the Érainn (Ireland)’ and the genealogies of the Ulaid indicate that they too were of Érainn stock. In social terms, Érainn was employed to distinguish the common people of Ireland from the aristocracy, especially after the Érainn tribes of Munster were subjugated by the Eóganacht dynasty of Cashel. By the 7th and 8th centuries the name was replaced by Goídel (Gael) as the ethnic designation of the inhabitants of Ireland, although Érainn was retained to designate the island itself.

J. P. Mallory