46 



tribe, and laigheun, Leinster ; because Ijaighean was the family 

 name ol' t!ie people of the counties Dublin and Meath, a name 

 said to be obtained from the being expert at throwing the 

 laigheun or spear. And from Ibh-laighcm, tlie name of the territo- 

 ry, with tir, a country, affixed, is derived Laihanslir, Leinster, and 

 hence the Eblana of Ptolemy"* But dii, aoi, i, or ibh, are synoni- 

 mons, all signifying land or territory, and Camden informs us, that 

 the province was called Laynestr^'^^- hy the Danes: consequently 

 this definition is inadmissible, as the Danes as Germans spoke a 

 different lanaua<>e, and had not arrived in Ireland until the end of 

 the eighth century ; beside family names in early ages were nomi- 

 nated after the territories they occupied. 



If the similitude of names should be considered as illustrative of 

 colonization, {hi Diablintes or Diablintse, of the west coast of Gaul, 

 have a strong claim to the attention of antiquarians, as well from 

 the similarity of Diablindum,^^'^- their metropolis in Gaul, to that of 

 of Dun Dubhlin in Ireland, as from their history. This tribe, in 

 conjunction with the Veneti, Namnatas, Menapii, and others, was 

 vanquished in a naval conflict with Caesar's fleet, about the time that 

 Mr. Whitacre assigns for the emigration of the Ordovices. Having 

 lost their fleet and the flower of tdeir army, Caesar treated the sur- 

 vivors with unusual severity, in consequence of their having thrown 

 his ambassadors into prison and loaded them with chains. The se- 



1 14. Camd. Bvit. p. 335. 



This author, Mr. Dutton, in his Statistical Survey of the County of Dublin, is proba- 

 bly indebted for this definition to Keating, who tells us that Leinster owes its name to the 

 spears used by the Gauls in aiding Labhra Loinscacli against Cobhthach Coillbreagha. 

 O'Brien's Diet. 1 15. p. 32+. 1 16. Nolitia oibis antiqui, Christ. Cellarii, 1703. 



