Everything about Lochlann totally explained
Lochlann (earlier
Laithlind) is an uncertainly located land in
Classical Gaelic literature and in the history of
Early Medieval Ireland. In the modern Gaelic and Welsh (
Llychlyn) languages it signifies
Scandinavia, and more specifically
Norway. In
Irish Gaelic it has the additional sense of robber or raider.
The male name
Lachlan is a variant of Lochlann, and the family names
McLoughlin and
Maclachlan come from this root.
Historical uses
The earliest recorded use of the word may be the arrival of
Amlaíb "son of the king of Laithlind" in
Ireland, noted by the
Annals of Ulster in 853. While certainly of Scandinavian origin—Amlaíb is the
Old Irish representation of the
Old Norse name
Oláfr—the question of Amlaíb's immediate origins is debated. While the traditional view has identified Laithlind with
Norway, some have preferred to locate it in a Norse-dominated part of
Great Britain, perhaps the
Hebrides or the
Northern Isles.
Whatever the meaning of Laithlind and Lochlann in Ireland in the ninth century, it may have referred to different places later. The
Lebor Bretnach—a Gaelic adaption of the
Historia Brittonum perhaps compiled at
Abernethy—makes
Hengist's daughter "the fairest of the women of all Lochlann". In 1058
Magnus Haraldsson is called "the son of the king of Lochlann", and his nephew
Magnus Barefoot is the "king of Lochlann" in the reports of the great western expedition four decades later.
The adventures of Prince Breacan of Lochlann are part of the mythology of the naming of the
Gulf of Corryvreckan, a whirlpool between the islands of
Jura and
Scarba on the west coast of
Scotland. The story goes that the tidal race was named after this Norse Prince "said to be son to the King of Denmark" who was shipwrecked there with a fleet of fifty ships. Breacan is reputed to be buried in a cave at
Bagh nam Muc (bay of the swine) at the north-western tip of Jura.
The same story is associated with the
Bealach a' Choin Ghlais (pass of the grey dog), a tidal race further north between Scarba and
Lunga. The prince's dog managed to swim to land and went in search of his master. Failing to find him on Jura or Scarba he tried to leap across the strait to Lunga, but missed his footing on Eilean a' Bhealaich which sits in the middle of the channel between the two islands. He slipped into the raging current and drowned as well, giving his own name in turn to the strait where he fell.
Literary uses
Lochlann is the land of the
Fomorians, in the Irish
Lebor Gabála Érenn. A Scandinavian Lochlann appears in later Irish tales, generally concerning the King of Lochlann—sometimes called Colgán—or his sons, such as in the tales of
Lugh and the
Fenian Cycle.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Lochlann'.
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