User:Nicknack009/Peoples of early Ireland

The ethnic and political organisation of early Ireland was in a constant state of change, with named population groups emerging from older groups, which themselves emerged out of still older groups, and it is difficult to tell where ethnic groups end and aristocratic family networks begin, or how far changes in group identity reflected changes in ethnic identity or political organisation.

Eoin MacNeill identified the stages in which group nomenclature evolved. The earliest names are plural nouns which appear to be ethnonyms, such as names given by Ptolemy in the 2nd century, and Old Irish names such as the Ulaid, Laigin, Érainn and Cruthin.

These began to give way in the prehistoric period to collective names based on the name of a reputed common ancestor, ethnonym or territory. Some were formed with suffixes like -acht(a) (Connachta, after Conn Cétchathach; Eóganachta, after Eógan Mór) or -rige, -raige (e.g. Cíarraige, from Cíar). Others were formed with the words Dál ("share") or Corcu (meaning obscure) followed by the antecedent's name in the genitive case (e.g. Dal nAraide, Corcu Duibne). Personal names could also mark group affiliation with the word moccu followed by the antecedent's name in the genitive: for example, the poet Luccreth moccu Chiara was a member of the Cíarraige. These forms were to a degree interchangeable: the Connachta were sometimes known as the Dál Cuinn, and Colm Cille, a descendant of Conn, is occasionally surnamed moccu Cuinn.

By the 4th century these forms were falling out of use, in favour of names formed with Uí ("grandsons", figuratively "descendants"), like the well-known Uí Néill (descendants of Niall Nóigíallach) and the Uí Cheinnselaig (descendants of Énnae Cennsalach). In the 5th century names based on cenél ("kindred") became popular, and from the 6th century on groups emerged with names based on cland ("offspring"), muinter ("adherents, followers"), síl ("seed"), slicht ("posterity"), and teglach or tellach ("household").

Mac Neill stage 1 - plural nouns
In Classical times, population groups in barbarian Europe tended to have names that were plural nouns - e.g. the Aedui, Atrebates or Suebi. The earliest known ethnonyms in Ireland, known from Ptolemy's Geography, follow this pattern. In historical times (from the 4th century on), a stratum of older population names still follows this pattern. Some of the group names mentioned by Ptolemy can be identified, by normal processes of linguistic development, with later names. Of the majority which cannot, some may have become corrupt in the manuscript transmission of the Geography, while others may have been subsumed by newly-emergent groups in the meantime.

Ptolemy

 * Auteini (Αύτεινοι)
 * Brigantes (Βριγαντες) in south Wexford, likely connected to the British tribe of the same name.
 * Cauci (Καυκοι)
 * Coriondi (Κοριονδοι)
 * Darini (Δαρινοι) or Darnii (Δαρνιοι)
 * Eblani (Έβλανοι), Ebdani (Έβδανοι), Blani (Βλανοι) or Blanii (Βλανιοι), north of County Dublin
 * Erdini (Έρδινοι) or Erpeditani (Έρπεδιτανοι)
 * Gangani (Γανγανοι) near the mouth of the Shannon. Ptolemy also records a headland of the Gangani (Γανγανὢν ᾶκρον) in north-west Wales.
 * Iuerni (Ίουερνοι) or Uterni (Ούτερνοι)
 * Manapii (Μαναπιοι), perhaps equivalent to the Gaulish Menapii and the later Irish Monaig or Manaig
 * Nagnatae (Ναγναται) or Magnatae (Μαγναται)
 * Robogdii (Ῥοβογδιοι), in north-east Antrim, the area later inhabited by the Dál Riata
 * Uellabori (Ούελλαβοροι), Uel(l)ebori (Ούελ(λ)εβοροι) or Utellabri (Ούτελλαβροι) (also recorded by Orosius as Velabri) in the south-west. The name Fellubar - whether it's a personal, ethnic or place name is unclear - is mentioned in a poem in the Book of Leinster
 * Uennicnii (Ούεννικνιοι) or Ennicnii (Έννικνιοι) in County Donegal, perhaps related to the Venicones of northern Britain
 * Uodiae (Ούσδαι, Ούοδαι) Udiae (Ούδιαι) or Usdiae (Ούςδιαι), which some have suggested is connected to later Osraige
 * Uoluntii (Οὐολουντιοι or Οὐσλουντιοι) in south Down. Probably a corruption of Uluti (Ούλουτοι) and equivalent to the later Ulaid.

(ref: O'Rahilly 1946, pp. 1-42)

Late prehistoric

 * Aidni
 * Arai
 * Coraind
 * Cruthin
 * Dáirine
 * Éli
 * Érainn
 * Féni
 * Fothairt
 * Galing
 * Gailióin
 * Laigin
 * Luaigne
 * Luigne
 * Monaig, Manaig
 * Mugdoirn, Maugdoirn
 * Sogain
 * Uaithni
 * Ulaid

The Déisi (plural of the common noun deis, tenant, vassal, rent-paying community), and the Airgíalla, which appears to mean "hostage-givers") probably don't belong among these names.

Mac Neill stage 2 - collective singular nouns
Before the 4th century the old plural names had begun to fall out of use or become used as the names of territories: e.g. the Ulaid became Cúige Ulad, the province of Ulster, and the Laigin became Cúige Laigean, the province of Leinster. More recently emerging subgroups tended to have singular collective names. Forms these names took included Dál ("part, share") or Corcu (meaning obscure) followed by the name of the supposed ancestor or territory in the genitive, or the territory or supposed ancestor's name with a suffix such as -rige/-raige, -ne or -acht(a). The forms MOCCU X and MUCOI X in ogham inscriptions appear to follow the same pattern.

Mac Neill stage 3-5 - dynastic or sept names

 * From 4th century: in Uí (grandsons)
 * From 5th century: in Cenél (kindred)
 * From 6th century: in Cland (offspring), Muinter (adherents, followers), Síl (seed), Slicht (posterity), Teglach or Tellach (household)

Draft prose
Early Irish genealogical texts distinguish a number of different population groups, each with their own origin legends. By the 12th century these legends were incorporated into the elaborate genealogical scheme of the Lebor Gabála Érenn, whereby all the important royal lineages of Ireland were made to descend from the sons of Míl Espáine, who supposedly conquered Ireland in the 2nd millennium BC, while less important or tributory people were held to descend from the aboriginal Fir Bolg. In the earliest versions of this scheme, only the Connachta (including the Uí Néill dynasties, who descended from them) and Eóganachta descend from the sons of Míl, but other groups, such as the Érainn, Cruthin and Laigin, would ultimately be incorporated into the Milesian scheme.