Fingal

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The legendary third-century Gaelic warrior and leader, also known as Fionn mac Cumhaill ; a county in eastern Ireland lying just north of the capital, Dublin
2. A mythical Irish and Scottish hero who led a band of warriors ; an administrative county in Ireland located directly north of the city of Dublin
3. The figure of a legendary Celtic chieftain from old Gaelic folklore ; a local government area on the northeastern coast of Ireland next to Dublin

Etymology: The name Fingal is most famous from James Macpherson's 1762 "Ossian" poems, which he presented as translations of ancient Gaelic epic. Macpherson used Fingal as his rendering of the Irish hero Fionn mac Cumhail, but the name came to him from Scottish Gaelic "Fionnghall," built from "fionn," meaning "fair," and "gall," meaning "stranger." The "stranger" in question was the Norseman, so the name roughly means "fair stranger," a reference to the fair-haired Norse invaders of Ireland and Scotland. The Irish side of the story points the same way. The Irish "Fine Gall" means "race of the Norsemen," and the region of Fingal north of Dublin takes its name from that same Norse-related sense. The hero and the place thus share a name that once pointed to the Vikings, even though the legendary warrior has no direct connection to them.