Ériu

Middle Irish

Alternative forms

Hériu

Etymology

From Old Irish Ériu.

Pronunciation

(earlier) IPA^(key): /ˈeːrʲiu̯/, /ˈeːrʲu/
(later) IPA^(key): /ˈeːrʲə/

Proper noun

Ériu f

Ireland
- c. 1000, “The Tale of Mac Da Thó's Pig”, in Ernst Windisch, editor, Irische Texte, volume 1, published 1800, section 1:
  
  Ailbe ainm in chon, ocus lan Heriu dia aurdarcus.
  Ailbe was the dog’s name, and Ireland was full of his fame.
  
  Is í sein int ṡeised bruiden ro·boi i n‑Herind in tan sin […]
  That is one of the six halls that were in Ireland at that time […]
  (literally, “That is the sixth hall that was […] ”)

Declension

Accusative/dative singular: Érind, Érinn

Derived terms

Érennach (“Irish”)

Descendants

Irish: Éire
Manx: Nerin
Scottish Gaelic: Èirinn

Mutation

Mutation of *Ériu*
radical	lenition	nasalization
Ériu (pronounced with /h/ in h-prothesis environments)	unchanged	nÉriu

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in Middle Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Old Irish

Alternative forms

Hériu

Etymology

Probably, although the É is unexpected and unexplained, from Proto-Celtic *Φīweriyū.^[1]^[2]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈeːrʲiu̯/

Proper noun

Ériu f

Ireland (a country and island of Europe)
Synonyms: Banba, Elg, Fódla

Declension

Feminine n-stem
	singular	dual	plural
nominative	Ériu	—	—
vocative	Ériu	—	—
accusative	Érinn^N	—	—
genitive	Érenn	—	—
dative	Érinn^L, Ériu^L	—	—

Initial mutations of a following adjective:

^H = triggers aspiration
^L = triggers lenition
^N = triggers nasalization

Descendants

Middle Irish: Ériu, Hériu
- Irish: Éire
- Manx: Nerin
- Scottish Gaelic: Èirinn
→⇒ Old English: Īrland
- Middle English: Irlond, Irelond, Irland, Yrland, Yrloand
  - English: Ireland
    - → Japanese: アイルランド (Airurando)
    - → Tamil: அயர்லாந்து (ayarlāntu)
    - → Telugu: ఐర్లాండు (airlāṇḍu), ఐర్లాండ్ (airlāṇḍ)
  - Scots: Irland
  - Yola: Erelhoan, Irelonde
  - → Old French: Irlande, Yrlande
    - French: Irlande
      - Haitian Creole: Ilann
      - → Greek: Ιρλανδία (Irlandía)
      - → Persian: ایرلند (irland)
    - Norman: Irlande
    - Walloon: Irlande
→ Old Norse: írar
- Icelandic: Íri
- Faroese: íri
- Norwegian Nynorsk: ire
- Norwegian Bokmål: ire
- →? Old English: Īras

Mutation

Mutation of *Ériu*
radical	lenition	nasalization
Ériu (pronounced with /h/ in h-prothesis environments)	Ériu	n-Ériu

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in Old Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

References

^ Stüber, Karin (1998) The Historical Morphology of n-Stems in Celtic (Maynooth studies in Celtic linguistics; III), Department of Old Irish, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, →ISBN, page 95
^ Zair, Nicholas (2012) The reflexes of the Proto-Indo-European laryngeals in Celtic, Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 107