Dublin City
and the River Liffey |
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Dublin (Irish: Baile Átha Cliath) is the capital and
largest city in Ireland, near the midpoint of Ireland's east
coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey and at the centre of
the Dublin Region. Founded as a centre of Viking settlement,
Dublin city has been Ireland's capital since mediæval times.
The name Dublin is an Hiberno-English derivative of 'Dubh Linn'
(Irish, meaning 'black pool'). Historically, in the traditional
Gaelic script used for the Irish language, 'bh' was written with
a dot over the 'b', viz 'Du? Linn' or 'Du?linn'. The French speaking
Normans omitted the dot and spelled the name variously as 'Develyn'
or 'Dublin'. The common name for the city in Modern Irish is
'Baile Átha Cliath' ('The Settlement of the Ford of the
Reed Hurdles'), which refers to the settlement, founded in 988
by High King Mael Sechnaill II, that adjoined the town of Dubh
Linn proper at the Black Pool. |
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