isle;" for he assumes that the suffix in signifies isle. It is true in innys, inys, and insh mean isle, but these are forms of the Latin insula, and belong to the Britannic rather than to the Erse dialects. The true Erse words for island are the Manx ellan, the Irish oilean, and the Scottish eilean. I rather think that the suffix in has been substituted for the diminutive an, and that Man-an would be a better orthography than Mann-in is. The origin of the name of a barbarous tribe may generally be traced to a word in the language of the tribe. It has already been suggested that the name Mannin or Mann is derived from Manninee, the name of the tribe by whom the island was originally occupied. The name Manninee or Mannanee dénotes the Tribe of the Kid or Fawn. The word mannan-kid or fawn, exists in the Erse and Britannic dialects, and in other tongues. Some of its forms appear below. A trace of the word appears in the Saxon and English hin-d, the female of the red deer. It is an element of the Latin hinn-a-hind or mule, and of hinn-ulus or hinn-uleus young hind, fawn, kid, or little mule; and also of the Greek ivvos. The Manx adjective mannanagh signifies belonging, or relating, to kids or fawns. The plural of this word is mannanee, the exact name of the natives of Mann. Among uncivilised races tribes are commonly named after chiefs or distinguished individuals, who are called after animals indigenous to their country. Professor Max Müller relates that "a celebrated war-chief Adjetatig (tombstone) of Wabojeeg, died on Lake Superior about 1793. He was of the clan of the Addik or American reindeer....................There is a grave board of the ruling chief of Sandy Lake on the Upper Mississipi. Here the reversed bird denotes his family name or clan, the Crane" ("Chips from a German Workshop," p. 317). I cannot further illustrate this part of the subject better than by quoting from a recent and admirable work by Sir John Lubbock, the learned President of this Institute. "" The Hottentots also generally named their children after some animal.........In China also the name is frequently 'that of a flower, animal, or such like thing.' In Australia we seem to find the totem, or, as it is there called, kobong, almost in the very moment of deification. Each family, says Sir G. Grey, adopts some animal or vegetable as their crest or sign, or kobong, as they call it.'......The totem of the redskins, says Schoolcraft, 'is a symbol of the progenitor-generally some quadruped, or bird, or other object, in the animal kingdom which stands, if we may so express it, as the surname of the family. It is always some animated object, and seldom or never derived from the inanimate class of nature. Its significant importance is derived from the fact that individuals unhesitatingly trace their lineages from it, By whatever names they may be called during their lifetime, it is the totem and not their personal name that is recorded on the tomb or adjeditig that marks the place of burial. Families are thus traced when expanded into bands or tribes, the multiplication of which in North America has been very great, and has increased in like ratio the labours of the ethnologist. The turtle, the bear, and the wolf appear to have been primary and honoured totems in most of the tribes, and bear a significant rank in the traditions of the Iroquois, or Delawares.' "Thus the Osages believe themselves to be descended from a beaver, and consequently will not kill that animal; so also among the Khonds of India, the different tribes "take their designation from various animals, as the bear tribe, owl tribe, deer tribe," etc., etc. The Kols of Nagpore also are divided into keelis or clans, generally called after animals, which in consequence they do not eat. "In Southern Africa the Bechuanas are sub-divided into men of the crocodile, men of the fish, of the monkey, of the buffalo, of the elephant, porcupine, lion, vine, and so on." (The Origin of Civilization and the Primitive Condition of Man, pp. 172-4.) Pliny, in a list of names of islands, stated by him to lie between Ireland and Britain, mentions Mann under the name Monapia. Ptolemy includes it among the islands on the eastern coast of Ireland, and calls it "Monaoeda (otherwise Monarina Monavia)." According to the last-named writer, a city of Ireland was called Menapia, which it is supposed stood in the present county of Wexford. The modern St. David's in Pembrokeshire was anciently called Menevia, and by some authors Menapia. In "Leges Wallica" we find "Meneuia est sedes principalis (episcopi) in Cambria"; and again, " Meneuia quia prima est ab omni debito soluta (est)." In the Laws of Howel Dda it is called Mynyw. It has been suggested that the Menapii of Ireland and the Menevii of Britain were colonies of the Menapii of Belgic Gaul. Palgrave, in his "History of the Anglo-Saxons" says, in reference to Carausius, that "he was a Menapian by birth. The nation whence he originated had been divided by its migrations into several colonies: one was settled in Hibernia, another was found on the islands of the Rhine, and the Menapia or Menevia of Britain, now St. David's, seems also to have belonged to these tribes.' The names Monapia, Monavia, Mevania, Menavia, Manavia, Menapia, and Menevia are all apparently modifications of the same word. It is probable that they were formed from the Britannic Mân-aw or Môn-aw (the Erse) Man-an or Mann-in. The suffix aw" seems to have undergone a Latinised mutation, and to have been assimilated to the termination of the pre-existing name applied to a tribe in Gaul. May not the citizens of the Menapia of Ireland, and of the Menapia or Menevia of Britain have been colonies of the ancient Mannanee? DISCUSSION. Mr. LEWIS observed, in reference to the religion of the early inhabitants of Man, that remains somewhat similar to those of Great Britain, which were attributed to the Celts, and which were believed by some to have been used for religious purposes, were found in Man, though those which he had seen presented some peculiarities which he had recently described to the Institute in his paper on the subject. We did not, however, possess such full information as could be desired as to the early religion of Great Britain itself, and we certainly had much less as to that of the Isle of Man. Dr. CHARNOCK said perhaps what might be termed far-fetched etymologies were often the most reasonable; he, however, considered the author's suggestions rather too far-fetched. Generally speaking, peoples were named by other peoples than themselves. Barbarous tribes no doubt frequently gave themselves names out of their own language: they very often called themselves by a name meaning men, as Kanaka, Aino, etc., or implying "nobility." He did not believe that any Keltic tribe had ever given to themselves a name meaning "the tribe of the kid or fawn. It would have been reasonable enough, if it had been possible, to name the Isle, in Manx, the "kids' isle" (ellan-mannyn, i mannyn, or mannyn-in). He did not think the author of the paper had improved upon the etymology of the name which had been suggested on the discussion of a paper lately read before the Society, viz., from mon, isolated; hence Mon ffynnydd, "Mon of the mountains," i.e., Anglesea; Mon aw, "Mon of the water." Indeed, from this Mon Aw we might have, by corruption, Menavia, Monapia; by inversion, Awmonia or Eumonia, and by change of m into b, Eubonia. Other probable etymologies of the name Man might be from the British mean in, the middle island, or myn in, the small island. The following paper was also read: |