Hibernia

Ireland is called the Emerald Isle. Intense green vegetation, primarily grassland, covers most of the country except for the exposed rock on mountaintops.

Hibernia (Latin: [(h)ɪˈbɛr.n̪i.a]) is the Classical Latin name for Ireland. The name Hibernia was taken from Greek geographical accounts. During his exploration of northwest Europe (c. 320 BC), Pytheas of Massalia called the island Iérnē (written Ἰέρνη). In his book Geographia (c. 150 AD), Claudius Ptolemaeus ("Ptolemy") called the island Iouerníā (written Ἰουερνία, where "ου"/ou stands for w). The Roman historian Tacitus, in his book Agricola (c. 98 AD), uses the name Hibernia.

Ἰουερνία Iouerníā was a Greek rendering of the Q-Celtic name *Īweriū, from which eventually arose the Irish names Ériu and Éire. The name was altered in Latin (influenced by the word hībernus) as though it meant "land of winter", although the word for winter began with a long 'i'.

The Romans called the conquered province Britannia, Scotland Caledonia and Ireland Hibernia on the basis of existing "Celtic" terminology. By the 18th century, the use of Hibernia had revived in some contexts, just as had the use of Caledonia, one of the Latin terms for Scotland, and Britannia for Britain. Hibernia was used on Irish coins in the 1700s, and on a 2016 2 euro coin.

See Also

Newgrange

Tuatha Dé Danann

Triskelion

Trinity Gates

King Arthur

Planetary Gates