Fresh Batch #123: A Sacred Mountain to Irish Phoenicians

The Transposition of Letters and Symbols

Apparently Palladius tried to get Loigaire, also known as Lóegaire mac Néill, to adopt the Roman liturgy, but he refused. While these details don’t concern me, there is something that peaked my interest in what William Betham wrote about it (Irish Ant. Res. pp. 291, 292.), “Although Loigaire was firm in his determination, and is declared a heathen, yet it appears Palladius applied to the king for permission to visit the holy mountain Croagh Egli, and he paid a donation of silver and gold, and also, for an escort of twelve men for protection, while on his journey (Dylan’s note: this reads like astrotheology). By this, it would appear, that Loigaire had no very violent desire to exterminate these missionaries, or even to meddle with their property, beyond the tribute the laws justified him in demanding. If they possessed gold and silver, and other property, in such abundance, it supposes Loigaire and his people, not to have been the barbarians they wish us to believe them, if they preserved all those tempting effects in perfect security.

Croagh Egli, now known as Croagh Patrick

“This visit to Croagh Egli, is a remarkable instance, that on all occasions, the Roman clergy have acted on the policy of using the prejudices and superstitions of nations, by adopting their institutions. This mountain of Croagh Egli, now called Croagh Patrick, is mentioned by Ptolemy, as a holy mountain in his day. The antient Phenician Irish held it in great veneration.”

The following is from Outsider, Ireland’s Adventure Magazine

The name Egli is interesting because it is similar to ecclesia. There doesn’t seem to be Irish words that begin with ecl- or egl-, but there are also spellings of Aigli. I did notice the word ec and ecc pertain to eclipse and death, which reminds me of Death Mountain (Ocarina of Time) in the Land of Hyrule, or rule of Hy, which is a former name for the Island of Iona, a seat of power for Great Britain long ago.

Some suggest that Egli is a Latinization of aigle, the French word for eagle, which would indicate that the mountain’s name was likely given by Gauls. But I’m not so sure. This word doesn’t appear in O’Reilly’s Irish Dictionary.

Ecc is philologically egg. Though anecdotal, it is interesting that egg signifies life (cosmic egg), but also death (in Irish; ecc). The root aighe does mean hill, so that’s likely the first part of the word’s etymology.

As for li, it has various meanings, but the ones that jump out at me are law, sea, or stone, which would make Aig-li the Hill of Law, the Hill of the Sea, or Stone Hill. Recall stone (rock) and lord being the same word in Phoenician, which Tyre was named after, which would make it Hill of the Lord or the Lord’s Hill. This is reminiscent of Areopagus, or the Hill of Ares, the judicial governing body of Athens, which may be an Egyptian or Phoenician colony.

The local village of Murrisk was called Muiresc Aigli, and muiresc signified sea swamp, so there may be validity to the encoding of the sea in the word Aigli or Egli. Even in something as well put together as The History of Croagh Patrick, the etymology is not clear. However, Aigli or Egli could be a corruption of the Irish word for eagle, which is aicheal. Or they could both be descended from a Etrusco-Phoenician invention, transposed differently by their posterity in different regions. But I’m looking for evidence or lore about the formation of this name, so we could see if it was coming from ancient Irish-Phoenicians or more modern Irish culture.

I suspect the lack of history about the etymology of this mountain’s name is a result of people ignoring what Betham touched upon, which was the claim that it was a location sacred to the Irish Phoenicians. To be fair, this claim doesn’t appear to be validated with evidence, so I won’t accept this is true yet, even though it’d support my work if it were.

Betham described more astrotheology regarding the story of Palladius, or Patrick (Ib. pp. 294, 295.), “It appears from the whole of the testimony of Tirechan, and the others, that this Palladius, or Patrick, travelled through Ireland in his chariot, with great consequence, circumstance, and importance, conquering and to conquer. And on his arrival at Croagh Egli, his charioteer died, and was buried naked, and that he adopted the custom of the heathen Scots, by collecting stones, to make a cairn to his memory, and said, “Let this be so for ever, and let it be visited even to the remotest ages.” Thus setting on foot a pilgrimage to the tomb of a man who had no other merit, at least none is mentioned, than being his charioteer. We are then told of his fasting forty days and nights, after the example of Moses, Helias, and Christ!!!”

If you’re intrigued why I’m so curious about ancient Ireland, it’s because their language has a strong affinity to Sicilian Phoenician (Punic). The ancient history of Europe has been obfuscated by the misleading ideas of Mosaic history, namely that the Phoenicians are from Asia Minor and descended from fictitious characters, when the indigenous languages of Italy, that have nothing to do with the orient, have stronger affinity to Phoenician than anything else and are admittedly Pelasgic, differing from each other more in name than in form. Invest in yourself to get brought up to speed with Spirit Whirled: The Holy Sailors.

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