[148] From Ir or Eer, sacred, and in, an island.
[149] Iran or Irin, i.e. Eeran or Eerin.
[150] Each of these three preceding words means religion or revelation. And from them Era, denoting a period of time,—which with the ancients was a sacred reckoning,—has been so denominated; as well as Eric, which, in law phraseology, indicates a certain penalty attachable to certain crimes, and equivalent to Deodand, or a religious restitution—all Irish.
[151] I mean the “Græci vetustissimi,” not the “Græculi esurientes.”
[152] Namely, Ivernia:—u, v, and b are commutable.
[153] Should you hesitate as to this mode of accounting for the letter b, I can show you that the Greeks spelled Albion indifferently with or without a b; as they indifferently used b or v in one of the above names for Ireland; for instance—
Ἄι Βρετανιδες ειϛι δυο νησοι, Ουερνία και Αλουιον, ητοι Βερνια καὶ Αλβιων Eustath. ad Dion. Perieg.
[154] It is only the date, however, that I will share with any one. The derivation of the word and its true exposition are exclusively my own.
[155] “Quod nomen ob beati solum ingenium, in quo nullum animal venenosum vitale, facile assentior attributum” (Ogyg. pt. i. c. 21). So gratifying, however, has this been to the obsequious wisdom of subsequent historians (?), as to be echoed from one to the other with the most commendable fidelity. “O imitatores, servum pecus!”
[156] Pronounced Fiodhvadh—copied literally from the old manuscripts.