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tensions: but Dr. Reeves has shown that there is in reality no such word 
as Jona, and that the island never was so called in any ancient or authentic 
document. The fact is that the m is a mistake for a u, a circumstance 
that was unknown even to Ussher, and which is now, for the first time, 
established beyond the possibility of a doubt by Dr. Reeves. The proper 
name of the island, as it is found in all the ancient sculptured monuments 
- there still extant, and in all authentic records, is I, or Hy—and I- [or 
Hy-Columkille, the I, or island, of Columcille—and Dr. Reeves has fur- 
ther shown that Ioua is an adjective—the adjective formed from the 
proper name I, and that Adamnan has always used it in connexion with 
insula, ‘‘ loua insula’’—the island of I. 
The change of w to » appears to have taken place in the fifteenth 
or beginning of the sixteenth century, and the error was favoured by the 
very slight distinction between the wu and m in the black-letter writing 
of that period. The m occurs in the ‘“ Breviary of Aberdeen,’’ printed 
in 1509-10; and it is found upon one tomb, and upon one only, in the 
island, which records the death of a Prioress of Hy, who died in 1549. 
It is remarkable that a similar error of nwm for mun occurs in the text of 
the Ze Deum, which originated at the same period, the beginning of 
the sixteenth century ; and it is curious that the present Churches of 
Rome and England agree in adopting the erroneous reading of numerarv 
instead of munerari, so that the mistake has had a still wider circulation 
than that of Iona for Ioua. 
I shall only just allude to another note which throws light upon the 
popular corruptions of ancient names, and gives some curious instances 
of the transformations of the name of Adamnan. By an aspiration of the 
d in this word the first syllable Ad- is pronounced, in many parts of Ire- 
land and Scotland, like Au, Hu, O, Ou,—the m is also aspirated, and pro- 
nounced like w, or its sound altogether dropped. Hence in Sligo the 
saint is termed Awnan or Aunan; in Raphoe he is St. Hunan; in 
the county of Londonderry he is Onan; and we find the same form in 
the topographical name Sy-onan (Sessio Adamnani) in the county of 
Meath. In the parish of Aboyne, in Aberdeenshire, the final ¢ of the 
word saint is added as the initial of his name; and Adamnan appears 
under the disguise of Zheunan; and in other parts of Scotland we have 
Teunan and Thennan; and with a still further change, Skewlan ; we find 
also the forms Honan and Fidamnan. 
These errors have led to serious confusions of history, and have mis- 
led some very high authorities. Thus, even Sir James Ware distinguishes 
between St. Adamnan and St. Eunan, making the latter the first Bishop 
of Raphoe—although there is no evidence from any ancient record of the 
existence of such a personage—nor was St. Adamnan ever a bishop. But, 
what is still more singular, the imaginary St. Hunan’s day has been kept 
on the 7th of September, as the patron saint and Bishop of Raphoe, 
whilst the real St. Adamnan’s day is the 23rd; and Dr. Reeves shows 
that one highly respectable writer divides the saint into three, giving 
St. Eunan at September 7th, St. Adamnan and St. Thennan at Sep- 
tember 23. 
