Above : Ancient Ireland (A.D 420)

The one fact of which we can be certain, therefore, is that when first we get a definite view of early Ireland we find it inhabited by a people who called themselves Caels. They spoke a Celtic language which they called Gaelic, and which still lives under that name. Gaelic was the language of the earlier of the two Western waves of Celtic immigration whose tongues are still spoken. The second wave—which did not reach Ireland—was that of the Brythons or Cymry. To the Gaelic branch belong Irish and Scottish Gaelic, and Manx : Welsh, Cornish, and Armoric or Breton (spoken in Brittany in France) are of the Brythonic branch of the ” Celtic ” group of languages.

The country thus inhabited by the Gaels was an island fringed almost entirely by mountain chains. The interior was mostly a level plain, much of which consisted of bog and swamp, from which numerous rivers flowed slowly to the sea. The plains and the mountain sides were thickly wooded, and in many places covered with dense forests. The early settlers had gradually established themselves in scattered bands in the cleared spaces on the slopes of the mountains, or on the banks of the rivers along which they had penetrated into the country.

The island was known amongst the Gaels by various names which figure prominently in our literature. Of these the chief was 6i^e (Eire); while fot)lA (Fodhla) and t>AnbA (Banba) were also common. The three are said to have been the names of three queens of the Tuatha De Danann. Another name which is still in common use was that of 1mf £.411 (Inis Fail) or the Isle of Destiny. To Latin writers it was known chiefly as Hibernia or Scotia. The Irish were known on the Continent as the Scots until as late as the fifteenth century.

Tradition tells of various divisions of the country, but of these the names of only two survive. The first was the five-fold division into the ” Cuig CO151 ” or ” Five Fifths ” attri­buted to the Firbolgs (page 4): tttAro (Ulaidh) or Ulster*; tAigin (Laighin) or Leinster ; Conn-dcca (Connachta) or Connaught; and X)& niuiiiAin (Da Mumhain) or the two Munsters. To these was afterwards added the central territory of mroe (Midhe) or Meath (page 13). The second division was that made in the time of Conn of the Hundred Battles into te&t Cuirm (Leath Chuinn) or Conn’s Half—-Northern Ireland—and te^t ItlojA (Leath Mogha) or Mogha’s Half— Southern Ireland .

These divisions, however, were not permanent political divisions, but their names continually occur in our literature, and they are still in ordinary use amongst Gaelic speakers.