João wrote:
> Is "Ivernian" related to Hibernia? I know Hibernia ~ Iwerddon <
*Iwerion >
Yes, very definitedly. Eber is the putative ancestor of all
Hibernans.
> Eiriu, all < *Piweria "opulent land".
> Is the Irish Flood of Celtic origin or just a copy of Biblic Flood?
Maybe
> similar to Norse Bergelmir's flood?
There seems to be two sets of confusing stories here. Southern
Britain has been the location of land sinking beneath the waves for
generations, part of the isostatic recovery of Scotland and
Scandinavia following the Ice Age. Stories of the Scilly Isles off
Cornwall, kept alive in Welsh and Breton traditions hold tales of
these movements. Grafted onto this was the stories of the Biblical
Noachite flood, that had a huge impact.
From what I have heard though, Celts were more afraid of "the skies
falling" than anything else. Arian mentioned in his biography of
Alexander, that they admitted there were afraid of nothing but the
skies falling at that time. This theme remains in the cildren's
story of Chicken-Little and Henny Penny.
It may be that there was a vicious meteorite imapact that had some
effect upon the Celts, that explains the origin of this belief. A
Tunguskaya Event, for instance would induce a "fear of the sky
falling" for anyone.
Regards
John