Ériu

In Īriscre stǣrlāre, Ériu, dohtor Ernmase þæs Tuatha Dé Danann (Cynn þǣre/þæs godes/gydenne Danu), wæs ān þāra foresprecendra gydenna Īrlandes. Hire hūsbonda wæs Mac Gréine (Sunne Sunu). Hēo wæs sēo mōdor Bres mid Elathan Æðelinge þāra Fomorwarena.

It is a great claim that Ireland was named after her. Se Englisca nama Īrlandes is of þǣre Englisc-Seaxiscan miscweðunge þæs naman Ériu mid þǣm Englisc-Seaxiscan worde land.

Stǣr þæs Naman

Entries in the University of Wales' reconstructed Proto-Celtic lexicon (http://www.wales.ac.uk/documents/external/cawcs/pcl-moe.pdf ) suggest that the name is likely to be ultimately derived from the Proto-Celtic * Hīwerjōnīā, a phrase with the Proto-Celtic semantic connotations of ‘Earthy Terrain,’ which aspect of nature she seems to embody. This would make her comparable to the Roman Ceres, Greek Demeter and Egyptian Isis. Apparently, an inherited form of the Proto-Celtic was transcribed in Ancient Greek as Ierne and in Latin as Hibernia. The word is alternatively the same origin as the Sanskrit Arya(n), and the Iranian Iran (the name of the land), i.e. a common Indo-European term for the land (of the people) and the goddess representing the land of the people, in contrast to Danu, the goddess of the land/earth.

Role & Mythic Portrayal

With her sisters, Banba and Fodla, she was part of an important triumvirate of goddesses. When the Milesians arrived from Spain each of the three sisters asked that her name be given to the country. Ériu (Éire) won the argument, but Banba and Fodla are still sometimes used as poetic names for Ireland, much as Albion is for Great Britain.

Eriu, along with Banba and Fodhla, is the goddess of sovereignty.

It is quizzical that in one moment this goddess was portrayed as being a beautiful queen and in the next moment a sharp beaked crow.

According to Seathrún Céitinn she worshipped the Badb, who is also sometimes named as a daughter of Ernmas. The two goddesses may therefore be seen as equivalent.

ang:Ériu