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SCANDINAVIAN ANTIQUITIES OF DUBLIN. 133
place, when and where, the name first appeared, may BOOK "
be enforced by the question, If the name Gil la were
of Irish origin, why did it not appear among the
Irish in the first instance, and appear at an earlier
period, the Irish having been converted 500 years
prior
to the conversion of their invaders ? Nor
should it be unobserved, that although the term
' o
Gille is not found among the Irish until the tenth
century, the nearly synonymous Irish term " Mael "
was- in use among both their clergy and laity as
early as the sixth century, 1
and continued to be used
after the term Gille came into use in Ireland. 2
long
The names Maelphadriag and Maelbrighde are of
frequent occurrence. The name Maelbrighde, in
particular, appears in A.D. 645, 3 and subsequently in
almost every page of Irish history, having connected
with it the remarkable circumstance (seemingly cor-
roborative of our theory of the Scandinavian origin
of the term Gille), that although the Gillephadraig,
Gillechommain, &c., frequently occur, there is no
early trace of the name Gillebrighde
in the terri-
tories of the Ostmen ; doubtless owing to the well-
993. Gilla Cele, son of Cearb- Dublin, on having his sight re-
hall, heir of I^einster. stored. The name is rendered
995. Gilla Phadraigh, son of Dun- more uncertain by finding Gill-
chad, Lord of Ossraighe. Caeiinhghin, son of the heir of
Gill-Colom is the name given to Leinster, blinded in A.D. 98 1 , the
the chief of Clonlyffe, Katheny, period when Maelseachlain was
Kilbarroch, &c., in a grant of part king of Meath.
of his lands made by Strongbow to
' Ann. Four Must., A.D. 538 Tua-
Vivian de Curcy. Register of All thai Maelgarbh slain by Maelmor.
Hallows. * Ibid Maelbrighde, bishop of
In the Pocock MSS., 15rit. Mus., (Jill dara, died, 104-2 ; Maelbrighde,
No. 4813, he is called Gill Mohol- son of Cathasach, fosoirchinneach
moc, a blind chief, who, with Mael- of Ard M.icha,