Chapter X: (pp. 127-141)

Developing this last argument, our author shows that, while _Iran_ (or “the sacred _land_”) was a name applied to both Persia and Ireland, the form _Irin_ (Sacred _Island_) is exclusively applied to Ireland, and that _Irc_, _Eri_, _Ere_, and _Erin_ are but modifications of the latter. The Greeks commuted this name of _Irin_ into _Ierne_, which is merely a translation (ἱερός + νῆσος); and the Latins, by putting an _H_ for the rough breathing of ἱερός, and interpolating a _b_ for sound’s sake, transformed the latter into _Hibernia_, the meaning “Sacred Island” being preserved. But by its own inhabitants it continued to be known as _Fuodhla_, _Fudh-Inis_, and _Inis-na-Bhfiodhbhadh_, names associating the worship which prevailed therein with the profession of the worshippers, for they respectively denote the land or island of _Fuodh_ or _Budh_ and _Budhism_. The _Budh_ here mentioned was identical with the phallic deity worshipped by the Tuath-de-danaans under the name of _Buodh_ (known also as Moriagan and Fareagh or Phearagh), which name the Scythian invaders afterwards adopted as their war-cry (_Boo_ or _A-boo_). The peculiar tenets of Irish Budhism were embodied in a mass of literature committed to the flames by Saint Patrick; but the history of pagan Ireland still survives in MSS. scattered over Europe, whilst an image of _Buodh_, or _Fareagh_, bearing a close resemblance to those of the Eastern _Buddha_, and to the idols of _Matambo_ “whose priests are sorcerers or magicians” (afterwards shown to be the meaning of _Tuath-de-danaans_), has been unearthed at Roscommon, and is now in the Museum of Trinity College, Dublin.