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132 THE SCANDINAVIANS, AND
BOOK ii. hefore the Saint's name in Ireland, the "Gil" hav-
CHAP VI
Gille first used
as an Irish
adjunct in
Ostman
districts,
ing been placed after Thor's name in Scandinavia.
This is exemplified in the life of Harold who suc-
ceeded his father, Magnus Barefeet, on the throne of
Norway, for, when he landed from Ireland, where he
was born, " he said his name was Gille Christ but
his mother Thora (who accompanied him) said his
other name was Harold/' 1
and hence Norwegian
historians always call him " Harold Gille," the Gille
which was prefixed to his name in Ireland being
affixed to it in Norway.
The suggestion may be strengthened by observing
that the name " Gilla," as a religious adjunct, is first
found in or adjoining the territories of the Ostmen,
and at the period when the Ostmen began to be
converted. In the Annals of the Four Masters the
earliest notice of the name Gilla is A.D. 978, record-
ing the death of " Conemhail, son of Gilla Arri, and
the orator of Ath Cliath." The first notice of Gilla
Mocholmog, chief of the O'Byrnes,
in the southern
district of Dublin, being A.D. 1044, and of Gilla
Chomghaill, chief of the kindred sept of O'Tuathail
(O'Toole), being A.D. 1041 ; nor can we trace any-
where, before the year 981, the name of Gill Colen,
and not until who appears to have been the chief of the Scandina-
vian district of sea-coast north of Dublin. 2
And this argument derived from the period and
1
Heimsk, vol. iii., p. 280, ''Gilli,
Kristr." //'