15 



many ages, and revived about the middle of the fourth cen- 

 tury.^^- 



The emigration is supposed to have taken place from the north- 

 west parts of Spain, and from a similarity to Spanish names of 

 tribes, the Lucani, Concangi and Iberi, of the south-west coast 

 of Ireland, are selected for our notice by English, as the Mile- 

 sians are, by Irish writers. These relations, partly founded upon 

 interpolations in some of those corrupted editions of Ammianus 

 Marcellinus, an author of the fourth century, and of Nennius, a 

 British writer of the ninth, have formed the groundwork of ro- 

 mances. 



Leibnitz and Macpherson, on the authority of Larramendi's 

 Biscayan or Cantabric Dictionary, affirm that there is no con- 

 nection between the Irish and the Biscayan language, and INIe- 

 rula joined in this opinion. The reputed Spanish origin ofHe- 

 remon, the son of a fictitious Milesius,-^- is manifestly Irish; for the 

 name was derived from Ur or rather Oir-Mhumhan,''^- East Munster, 

 a territory inhabited by the family of a certain chieftain, not the 

 territory from his name. For a similar reason, the tract which 

 belonged to Fitz Thomas, the earl of Desmond, was called Deas 

 Mhumhan by the Irish, or South Munster ; and another, whicii 

 belonged to the family of O'Brien, was denominated Tuath 

 Mhumhan, or North Munster. Various considerations, combiiied 



28. Antiq. of Ireland, p. 3. 



29. Milcndh, otherwise named Gal-lamh, are appellations of the same import a? Cior-'^lir.l, a 

 champion or soldier, 



30. New Ross in the county of Wexford, according to Mr. Geogliegan's map, is the site of 

 this chieftain's fortress. It was situated at Aifgeadrois, upor> the Barrow, not the Nore, as 

 Keating and he represent it. The word Mhiimhan is not of Cantabrian origin. It is derived 

 by Dr. Keating from miimho, greater ; a name applicable to the comparative magnitude of this 

 province. The title Oir-mhiimkan, corruptly or designedly spelled Eireamhon, has been long 

 since transferred to the eldest branch of the illustrious house of Ormond. 



