B0YAL IEISH ACADEMY. 
231 
tlier 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 , “ Ioua insula”—the island of I. 
The change of u to n 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 u and n in the black-letter writing 
of that period. The n 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 num for mun occurs in the text of 
the Te Beum, which originated at the same period, the beginning of 
the sixteenth century; and it is curious that the present Churches of 
Borne and England agree in adopting the erroneous reading of numerari 
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, JEu, 0, 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 Baphoe he is St. Eunan; 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 t of the 
word saint is added as the initial of his name ; and Adamnan appears 
under the disguise of Theunan ; and in other parts of Scotland we have 
Teunan and Thennan ; and with a still further change,- Shewlan ; we find 
also the forms Eonan 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 Baphoe—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. Eunan’s day has been kept 
on the 7th of September, as the patron saint and Bishop of Baphoe, 
whilst the real St. Adamnan’s day is the 23rd; and Dr. Beeves 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. 
Errors such as these may seem to some trivial, but it is impossible to 
overrate the importance of correcting them; they are corruptions at the 
very fountain-head of history; they lead to a confusion that propagates 
itself and generates other more serious errors. Important, however, as 
these corrections are, they are far from being any measure of the value 
and interest of Dr. Beeves’s notes; I regret that time will not permit me to 
go into further particulars; but I must stop to call the attention of an¬ 
tiquaries to the note in which Dr. Beeves has given a list of the various 
