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Some Historical Fact about Isle of
Man:
The name of the Island, Man,
has long been a puzzle to philologists, and it cannot be said
with confidence that the right solution has been found. The
present local name is Ellan Vannin, or, more
affectionately, Ellan Vannin Veg Veen,
"The Dear Little Isle of Man" Caesar in 54 B.C. called
it Mona. Nennius in A.D. 858 referred to it by
the name of Eubonia, while the Welsh Annals of
A.D. 1154 call it Manaw and the Scandinavian
Sagas use Mon or Maon.
Broadly speaking all of these
appear to be derived from a root meaning mountainous or
hilly land.
It has been suggested that the
Island took its name from Mannanan, the Celtic Neptune, but the
reverse is more probably the case.
The Islands story could almost be
guessed from its situation. The lot of the grain between
the millstones is rarely a happy one. Overrun from time
to time by its powerful neighbours, the Island has been
successively Irish, Scandinavian, Scottish and English, and yet
today is politically independent of them all. Quocunque
jeceris stabit is its motto: Whichever way you
throw me I shall stand.
