page_title: Mount Brandon
section_title: Naming
hierarchical_section_title: Mount Brandon / Naming
caption_attribution_description: Book illustration Manuscriptum translationis germanicae Cod. Pal. Germ. 60, fol. 179v (University Library Augsburg, Germany), published around 1460 AD English: upfront Brendan of Clonfert/Saint Brendan of Clonfert Deutsch: vorne: Brendan der Reisende Français&#160;: Brendan de Clonfert
context_page_description: Mount Brandon or Brandon, at 952 metres, is one of the ten highest peaks in Ireland, being the 8th–highest peak in Ireland on the Arderin list, and the 9th–highest on the Vandeleur-Lynam list. Brandon is the highest Irish mountain outside the MacGillycuddy's Reeks range and has the greatest prominence of any Irish peak except Carrauntoohil, Ireland's highest mountain.
  Mount Brandon is at the centre of a long high ridge called the Brandon Group range of mountains in the Dingle Peninsula in Kerry. The ridge contains seven other major peaks; one is the similarly named Brandon Peak. The positioning and dimensions of the Brandon Group ridge have made it the scene of several air accidents over the years. The mountain, and range, is named after Saint Brendan, and is the end of a Christian pilgrimage trail known as Cosán na Naomh. It is also well regarded for hill walking with routes such as the 4–5-hour Faha Route, and the 6–7-hour traverse of the entire range known as "one of the finest ridgewalks in Ireland".
context_section_description: The mountain is called Brandon Mountain, Mount Brandon and Brandon on various maps.
  Brandon takes its name from Saint Brendan the Navigator, or Bréanainn, who is said to have been born in what is now County Kerry in 484 AD, and is chiefly known for his legendary voyage in a boat of wood and leather to discover the "Isle of the Blessed", also called Saint Brendan's Island. In the story of Brendan's life (titled, the Beatha Bhréanainn, or the Latin version, the Vita Brendani), he spent three days fasting on the mountain before his voyage, was visited by an angel, and experienced a vision of "a great land to the west"; the mountain is described as being surrounded by the ocean, which fits with the topography of Mount Brandon.
  Irish academic Paul Tempan wrote in his 2010 Irish Hill and Mountain Names, that it is likely that the mountain was a source of pilgrimage even before both St. Brendan and the arrival of Christianity altogether. Its importance may be due to the fact that, being so far west and so high, it is the place where the sun can be seen the latest as it sinks below the horizon. Tempan notes that the medieval story about Brendan's life calls the mountain Sliabh nDaidche in the Irish version, or Mons Aitche in the Latin version; and that the Irish academic Dr Alan Mac an Bhaird, had translated this as "mountain of Faithche", as Brandon stands in the Faha townland. However, some believe that the Mons Aitche name refers to Slieve Aughty, rather than to Mount Brandon.
  Some sources link the name with the voyages of Bran mac Febail, however, this is considered less likely.
caption: Voyage of St. Brendan.
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