(pronounced ) is the
IrishIrish is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now only spoken natively by a small minority of the Irish population but also plays an important symbolic role in the life of the Irish state, and is used...
name for the island of
IrelandIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
and the
sovereign state of the same nameIreland is a country in north-western Europe. The modern sovereign state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned on 3 May 1921. It is a parliamentary democracy and a republic...
.
Etymology
The modern Irish
Éire evolved from the Old Irish word
ÉriuIn Irish mythology, Ériu , daughter of Ernmas of the Tuatha Dé Danann, was the eponymous matron goddess of Ireland. Her husband was Mac Gréine...
, which was the name of a
GaelicThe Gaels are an ethno-linguistic group which originated in Ireland and subsequently spread to Scotland and the Isle of Man. They are speakers of the Goidelic languages – Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx...
goddess.
Ériu is generally believed to have been the matron goddess of Ireland, a goddess of sovereignty, or simply a goddess of the land. The origin of
Ériu has been traced to the Proto-Celtic reconstruction *
Φīwerjon (nominative singular
Φīwerjō). This suggests a descent from the
Proto-Indo-EuropeanThe Proto-Indo-European language is the unattested, reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans. The existence of such a language has been accepted by linguists for over a century, and there have been many attempts at reconstruction...
reconstruction *
piHwerjon, likely related to the adjectival stem *
piHwer- (cf.
SanskritSanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India. It is also declared as a classical language by the government of India....
pīvan,
pīvarī and
pīvara meaning "fat, full, abounding"). This would suggest a meaning of "abundant land".
This Proto-Celtic form became
Īweriū or
Īveriū in
Proto-GoidelicThe Goidelic languages form one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic languages, the other consisting of the Brythonic languages. They historically formed a dialect continuum stretching from the south of Ireland, through the Isle of Man, to the north of Scotland. There are three modern Goidelic...
. It is highly likely that explorers borrowed and modified this term. During his exploration of northwest Europe (circa 320 BCE), Pytheas of Massilia called the island
Ierne (written ). In his book
Geographia (circa 150 CE),
Claudius PtolemaeusClaudius Ptolemaeus , known in English as Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Greek ancestry. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer and a poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under the Roman Empire, and is believed to have been born in the town of...
called the island
Iouernia (written ). Based on these historical accounts, the Roman Empire called the island
HiberniaHibernia is the Classical Latin name for the island of Ireland. The name Hibernia was taken from Greek geographical accounts. During his exploration of northwest Europe , Pytheas of Massilia called the island Ierne...
.
Thus, the evolution of the word would follow as such:
- Proto-Celtic *Φīwerjon (nominative singular Φīwerjō)
- Proto-Goidelic
The Goidelic languages form one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic languages, the other consisting of the Brythonic languages. They historically formed a dialect continuum stretching from the south of Ireland, through the Isle of Man, to the north of Scotland. There are three modern Goidelic...
*Īweriū or *Īveriū
- Old Irish Ériu
- Modern Irish
Irish is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now only spoken natively by a small minority of the Irish population but also plays an important symbolic role in the life of the Irish state, and is used...
Éire
Largely discredited etymologies
Other explanations for the
etymologyEtymology is the study of the history of words and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages, and texts about the languages, to gather knowledge about how words were used at earlier stages, and...
of
Éire are:
- Derived from a root word Ara (also spelt Arya, Aire or Aera) meaning noble, as in 'Aryan
Aryan is an English language loanword denoting variously*in historical or dated usage,**the Indo-Iranian languages and their speakers, viz. the Iranian and Indo-Aryan peoples**the Indo-European languages more generally and their speakers,...
'. Among the very many poetic names for the island of Ireland was Mág Ealga meaning plain of the nobles.
- Ar or Ir in the Irish language also meant land, and according to old manuscripts was the name given to the lands of the mythological
Mythology is the study of myths and or of a body of myths. For example, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece. The term "myth" is often used colloquially to refer to a false story;...
Celtic tribe of Goídel GlasIn Irish and Scottish Medieval myth, Goídel Glas is the creator of the Goidelic languages and the eponymous ancestor of the Gaels.-Scotland:...
who travelled from Scythia across Greece and eventually to Ireland.
Difference between Éire and Erin
While
Éire is simply the name for Ireland in the Irish language, and sometimes used in
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
,
Erin is a common poetic name for Ireland in English. The distinction between the two is one of the difference between
casesIn grammar, the case of a noun or pronoun indicates its grammatical function in a greater phrase or clause; such as the role of subject, of direct object, or of possessor. Usually a language is said to "have cases" only if nouns change their form to reflect their case. Others indicate cases in...
of nouns in Irish.
Éire is the
nominative caseThe nominative case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb, as opposed to its object or other verb arguments....
, the case that (in the modern Gaelic languages) is used for nouns that are the
subjectThe subject is one of the two main constituents of a clause, according to a tradition that can be tracked back to Aristotle. The other constituent is the predicate...
of a sentence i.e. the noun that is
doing something as well as the direct
objectAn object in grammar is a sentence element and is often part of the sentence predicate. It denotes somebody or something involved in the subject's "performance" of the verb...
of a sentence.
Erin derives from
Éirinn (pronounced ), the Irish
dative caseThe dative case is a grammatical case generally used to indicate the noun to whom something is given. For example, in "John gave Mary a book"....
of
Éire, which has replaced the nominative case in Déise Irish (and some non-standard sub-dialects elsewhere), in Scottish Gaelic (where the usual word for Ireland is ) and Manx Gaelic, where the word is spelled Nerin, with the initial n- is probably in origin a fossilisation of the preposition
in/
an "in" (cf. Irish
in Éirinn, Scottish
an Èirinn/
ann an Èirinn "in Ireland"). The
genitive caseIn grammar, the genitive case is the case that marks a noun as modifying another noun...
Éireann is used in the Gaelic forms of the titles of companies and institutions in Ireland e.g.
Iarnród ÉireannIarnród Éireann is the national railway system operator of Ireland. Established on 2 February 1987, it is a subsidiary of Córas Iompair Éireann . It operates all internal intercity, commuter and freight railway services in the Republic of Ireland, and, jointly with Northern Ireland Railways, the...
(
Irish Rail),
Dáil Éireannis the principal chamber of the Oireachtas . It is directly elected at least once in every five years under the system of proportional representation by means of the Single Transferable Vote . Its powers are similar to those of lower houses under many other bicameral parliamentary systems and it is...
(
Irish Parliament) or
Poblacht na hÉireannPoblacht na hÉireann is an Irish-language phrase which may refer to:*The revolutionary Irish Republic proclaimed in 1916 and 1919, also termed Saorstát Éireann*The Republic of Ireland, the legal description since 1949 of the modern Irish state...
(
The Republic of Ireland).
Éire as a state name
Article 4 of the Irish constitution adopted in 1937 provides that: "The name of the state is Éire, or, in the English language,
Ireland." The Constitution's English-language preamble also described the population as "We, the people of Éire". The
Republic of Ireland ActThe Republic of Ireland Act 1948 is an Act of the Oireachtas which declared that the state, Ireland, is a republic and that the President of Ireland has executive authority of any executive function of the state or in the external relations of the state...
enacted in 1948 makes clear that the "Republic of Ireland" is a description and not a name of the state. Ireland (in English) and Éire (in Irish) remain its two official names. Article 8 states that both Irish and English are the official languages of the state with Irish designated as the "national" and "first official" language. "Éire" has to some extent passed out of everyday conversation and literature.
The name "Éire" has been used on Irish
postage stampsThe postage stamps of Ireland are issued by the postal operator of the independent Irish state. Ireland was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland when the world's first postage stamps were issued in 1840. These stamps, and all subsequent British issues, were used in Ireland until...
since 1922; on all Irish coinage (including
Irish euro coinsIrish euro coins all share the same design by Jarlath Hayes, that of the harp, a traditional symbol for Ireland since the Middle Ages, based on that of the Brian Boru harp, housed in Trinity College, Dublin. The same harp is used as the official seals of the Taoiseach, and government ministers and...
); and together with "Ireland" on passports and other official state documents issued since 1937. "Éire" is used on the
Official Seal of the President of IrelandThe Official Seal of the President of Ireland is a seal used by the President of Ireland to be affixed to every "...order, commission, warrant, or other instrument..." which the president has witnessed...
. Before the 1937 Constitution, "Saorstát Éireann" (the Irish name of the
Irish Free StateThe Irish Free State was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand....
) was generally used.
During the Emergency (as
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
was known), Irish ships had "EIRE" and the
Irish tricolourThe national flag of Ireland is a vertical tricolour of green , white, and orange. It is also known as the Irish tricolour. The flag proportion is 1:2...
painted large on their sides and deck, to identify them as neutrals.
From 1938 to 1962 the international plate on Irish cars was marked "EIR", short for Éire, until statutory instrument no. 269 of 1961 allowed "IRL". In 1922-1938 it was "SE", and from 1962 "IRL" has been adopted. Irish politician Bernard Commons
TDA Teachta Dála is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower chamber of the Oireachtas of Ireland. The official translation of Teachta Dála is Deputy to the Dáil, a more literal translation isAssembly Delegate...
suggested to the Dáil in 1950 that the government examine "
the tourist identification plate bearing the letters EIR" "
with a view to the adoption of identification letters more readily associated with this country by foreigners". "EIR" is also shown in other legislation such as the car insurance statutory instrument no. 383 of 1952 and no. 82 of 1958.
Under the
1947 ConventionThe Convention on International Civil Aviation, also known as the Chicago Convention, established the International Civil Aviation Organization , a specialized agency of the United Nations charged with coordinating and regulating international air travel...
Irish-registered aircraft have carried a registration mark starting "EI" for Éire.
From January 2007, the Irish government nameplates at meetings of the
European UnionThe European Union is an economic and political union of 27 Member States, located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community...
have borne both
Éire and
Ireland, following the adoption of
IrishIrish is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now only spoken natively by a small minority of the Irish population but also plays an important symbolic role in the life of the Irish state, and is used...
as a
working language of the European UnionThe languages of the European Union are languages used by people within the member states of the European Union. They include the twenty-three official languages of the European Union along with a range of others...
.
Use of Eire in Britain
In 1938 the British government provided in the
Eire (Confirmation of Agreements) Act 1938The Eire Act 1938 was an Act of the British Parliament passed on 17 May 1938. It was the British implementing measure for the 1938 Anglo-Irish Agreements which were signed at London on 25 April 1938 by the Governments of Ireland and the United Kingdom...
that British legislation could henceforth refer to the Irish Free State as "Eire" (but not as "Éire"). The 1938 Act was repealed in 1981, and in the meantime Eire became a rare but accepted spelling in
British EnglishBritish English, or UK English or English English , is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere...
, but has now passed out of general use.
Other uses
Éire has also been incorporated into the names of Irish commercial and social entities, such as "
eircom plcEircom Group plc is an Irish Telecommunications company, and former state-owned incumbent. It is currently the largest telecommunications operator in the Republic of Ireland and operates primarily on the island of Ireland, with a point of presence in the UK....
" (formerly "Telecom Éireann") and its former mobile phone network, Eircell and the pop group ScaryÉire. In 2006 the Irish electricity network was devolved to
EirGridEirGrid plc is the state-owned electric power transmission operator in the Republic of Ireland. It is a public limited company registered under the Companies Acts; Its shares are held by the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources who appoints the board and the Minister for Finance...
. The company "BetEire Flow" (
eFlowThe eFlow "barrier free" tolling system was introduced on the M50 motorway around Dublin on 30 August 2008.Like other eToll systems, it allows cashless payment on all of Ireland's toll roads...
), named as a
punA pun, or paronomasia, is a form of word play that deliberately exploits ambiguity between similar-sounding words for humorous or rhetorical effect...
on "better", is a
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
consortium running the electronic tolling system at the
West-LinkThe West-Link is a toll bridge on the M50 motorway to the west of Dublin, Ireland, operated by BetEire Flow Limited for the National Roads Authority.- Structure :...
bridge west of Dublin. According to the Dublin
Companies Registration OfficeThe Companies Registration Office registers and incorporates companies in the Republic of Ireland as well as filing their annual returns. It also has the Office of the Registry of Friendly Societies which registers charities and trade unions...
in 2008, over 500 company names incorporate the word Éire in some form.