Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1866-06-08
Origin of tho Word "Fenian.n .

n
man sent "a polite note to James Ste
phens, the Fenian chief, asking the
origin of the term % Fenian, and stat
ing that he had failed to get any salts
factory answer from intelligent Irish
men Tin that city. In reply to this, Mr..
Stephens directed rather supercil ous
note to be written TO his correspondent,
in which Mr.. S. expressed his aston.
ishment" that his correspondent should
fail to be satisfied on that subject by
intelligent Irishmen of Cincinnati" He
then proceeds as follows Every stu
dent of Irish history will recollect that
chieftain existed in Ireland, just ante
rior to the Christian era, named Ffon
Nc Chol This parsonage was the com
mandant of the Feonin Erin OF Irish
MALTA, at a period when Ireland was a
nation, and her people protected them.
selves against the encroachments Of all
invaders.
IL the gentleman to whom this was
sent has accessto any, student OF Irish
history or any good work on irish
authorities, he will find that Mr. Stephens
could hardly have succeeded in getting
ders into the same space than ne has.
We have before us DR.. O'Halloran' $
History and Antiquities of Ireland,
Dublin, 1919, but written prior to 1902,
in which the origin of the term Fe-
nian" was explained more than sixty
years ago by quotation from an old
poem in the Irish character, written in
the ninth century. Far back in the
gloom of history the Irish were a pol
ished and learned people, when nearly
every other country Of Europe was in
the darkness of the barbarous ages.
This is not disputed even by the enc
/ mics of Ireland AT that time and both
before and after, the Irish nation was
known by variety of names, such as
MiIesians, Scots, Gathelians and Fe-
mans. These names were applied TO
the whole body of the people. 1t is
claimed by the Irish antiquaries that the
Irish people are descended from colony
of Scythians, who, nnder Fenius, made
lodgment in Egype about thousand
years before Christ. The son OF Fenlus
married Scotia, daughter of the Egyptian
King, and they had son called Gathe-
PEELED from Egypt and went to Grecoe,
where they lived about fifty years.
Thence they migrated to Spainaud after
wards passed over from Spain to Ireland
in thirty ships. Milesius, from whom the
Irish take one OF their names, was a
Spaniard.
This is the account of the Irish anti
uuaries, and has been for more than a
thousand years. twill be seen from, the
names given how the Irish got their sew
eral national appellations, and especially
that of "Fenians," in the olden time,
which is the original of all, On page
29S, vol. i, of DR.. O'Hallorsn's Histo-
tory and Antiquities" he quotes verse
of the old poem of me ninth century
above referred to, and prints II in the
original Irish character. The following
is a literal translation: Ii is clear the
Irish were called Fenians from Fenius;
Gaihelians Tor Gaels) from Gathelus;
and Scots from Scotia" Subsequently
the old name became root for words
applied TO military bodies aud great mil
itary men. The Irish national militia
were called Fionne Eirion. Sometimes
the general of this body was called Righ
Fionne, or King Of the militia
Ultimately it got to be used as a pro
per name for individual chiefs, as Fell
bbe Fionue, once Admiral of Munster
feet, and Fion MscCumbal, referred to
by Mr. Stephens, but who, by the way,
was not chieliain anterior TO Chris
tianity.1 htwas a general Of the Crown
army in the third century OF the Chris
tian era. In the foregoing observations
we have followed the traditions of the
Irish antiquaries without affirming their
absolute credibility. Our object has sim
ply been to trace the origin Of a word
that has made quite q noise in the world
for few years past