220 



nan, in his derivation of Columba or lona, deduces it from the 

 Hebrew.* 



The Irish language was not, however, suffered to sink into obh- 

 vion, in the ambition of foreign acquirements. -f- Giraldus says the 

 Irish had four prophets of this period, whose works, written in Irish, 

 were extant in his day ;:]: and it is particularly recorded, that when 

 Aidan preached in that dialect to the Northumbrians, their king, 

 Oswin himself, interpreted his discourse to the people. § 



Marts of literature, to which all nations flocked, were opened 

 throughout the island. The school of Armagh, according to the Tri- 

 partite, was the head of these academies, (" summum studium lite- 

 rale.") The English annals, cited by Magnesius,ll make mention of 

 no less than 7000 matriculated students resident there at one time ; 

 in fact, a division of the town was called Trian-Saxon, as long set 

 apart for English students, who then flocked to Ireland.** Besides 

 this academy. Saint Patrick was also the founder of another cele- 



* " Quod Hebraice dicitur lona, Graecitas vero Peristera vocitat, et Latina lingua 

 Columba nuncupatur.'" — Adamn. Vita Columb. secunda. praefat. 



f See ante, p. 215, for tbe "Libri Hibernici" found in Ireland.— Pos/, for the books 

 written in Irish by S. Columba, &c.; and also Period 3. sect. 4. for the prevalence of the Irish 

 language in the 11th century. 



X " Quatuor Hibernici prophetas habere dicuntur, Molingum, Braccanum, Patricium, 

 Columbkillum ; quorum etiam apud illos libri adhuc extant hibernice scripti." — Top. Hib. 

 lib. 2. c. 33. 



§ " Ubi pulcherrimo saepe spectaculo contigit, ut evangelizante Antistite qui Anglorum 

 linguam perfecte non noverit, ipse Rex Oswaldus suis ducibus ac ministris interpres verbi 

 exisleret ccElestis, quia nimirum tarn longo exilii sui tempore linguam Scottorum jam plene 

 didicerat."— Bede, Hist. Eccl. lib. 3. c. 3. 



II Apolog. p. 112. 

 *• "Trian-Saxon, id est tertia portio Saxonum appellata, quae nomen videtur adepta ex 

 eo, quod vel mercatores vel, quod verosimilius est, studiosi Anglo-Saxones illic inhabitarerint." 

 — Tr. Thaum. p. 300, and see Bede, Hist. Eccl. lib. 3. c. 2, and lib. 4. cs. 3. and 4. 



