Names...

[Freebeard]

yes, but it is also quite possible that irish lads that did the same thing were also called "genti". as far as i know there are few ways of telling exactly who was part of the group that undertook the raiding, unless hinted strongly at.
for the most part history around this time is very hazy - what is recorded in the annals can be cross referenced to get a clearer picture.

anyway, as far as i gather, vikings were called "genti" due to their raiding on church sites. and its not impossible to assume this as the first major references in annals refer to "genti" attacking churhc sites, and these co-incide with the arrival and subsequent raids by vikings in ireland. i refer you to the Annals of Ulster entry for the year 795 AD where most translations read "Burning of Rechriu by heathens, and Scí laid to waste". the irish reads : "Loscadh Rechrainne o geinntib & Sci do choscradh & do lomradh."
"geinntib" here is the dative plural of "gentid(e)". this is only one example, there are many more.
is this event in irish history not accepted by most as THE initial viking attack in ireland, and they recorded down here as heathens? according to the dictionary of the irish language as wel, heathen is trasnlated as "gentide". so it can be taken that the irish called the vikings "genti"

now it may not be entirely accurate, but very little is 100% pure accurate.

but keep in mind that "genti" can also be translated as "pagan" - but if you were a devout christain, would you not call a non-believer who does sacrilidge to your god a heathen? most definitely.

[Vendel]

The Scandinavian name for Ireland is Irland, pronounced "Eerlaand" with a strogn E and a long A.

[Kirst]

Pretty much.

The vikings were quite good for keeping on a lot of native names in new countries, since townlands were pretty much named for they're defining attributes. The townland of dubhlinn stayed on as dublin to them, and cork. But oddly other places didn't like Wexford. (Scotland is not a good example of this given that it has practically no townland names pre-dating the norse and Irish settlement of the land)

Eire/Eirinn (whatever version you like), is the irish world for the Irish people/irish island, so they gladly called them that, and since it's their land it was referred to as Irelande.

They were quite prone to naming places after they person who owned an area and whether is was land control they had or harbour/port control (vik) e.g. Scotland, Ireland, Finnland, Petricsvik, Smerwick, Reykjavík. The Irish preferred to name places after physical features in that land.

Scot/Ivernia(angelised form is hibernia) are all Latin derived and the Vikings would not have known this until they became christainised and learned latin.

P.S. Andrew I think I have a clue as to were we might find the elusive norse term for the irish in one of the saga's or old poems, I'll talk to ya later about it.

[Kirst]

i forgot that "genti" means pagan or heathen, and wasn't only attribted to teh vikikngs, but to irish people as well. but w know that vikings were called genti due ot their raiding on church sites

That's hardly the reason. Church sites were raided by Irish a lot more frequently than by vikings - main difference was that the Irish had local contacts & would ransom back the goldware & books...the vikes would head home and melt down the gold, and sell the books outside Ireland for better prices.

John

Mightened have done them much good melting it down, condsidering most monastic work is gold and silver plated. They just hacked bits off, stuck on a pin and a new brooch was made.

Church sites were raided pretty 50/50 irish and Vikings according to the annals, and they joined up for a lot of raiding too.

Vikings also preferred silver to gold given that their economy was silver buillion. They were also the main providers of silver to the Irish, even then it was scarce. There wasn't much gold going around Ireland or Scandinavia at that time either.
Monastic pieces are rich (nowadays) for their economising techniques of the silver and gold when they have it than the actual abundance of material in them. Other than that a lot of pieces just have enamel and coloured glass stuck to them, no precious stones at all.

And I've never heard anything about Vikings giving a toss about books for anything other than the fancy cases they were in, but that could just be lack of preservation...

[claimhteoir]

yes, but it is also quite possible that irish lads that did the same thing were also called "genti". as far as i know there are few ways of telling exactly who was part of the group that undertook the raiding, unless hinted strongly at.
for the most part history around this time is very hazy - what is recorded in the annals can be cross referenced to get a clearer picture.

anyway, as far as i gather, vikings were called "genti" due to their raiding on church sites. and its not impossible to assume this as the first major references in annals refer to "genti" attacking churhc sites, and these co-incide with the arrival and subsequent raids by vikings in ireland. i refer you to the Annals of Ulster entry for the year 795 AD where most translations read "Burning of Rechriu by heathens, and Scí laid to waste". the irish reads : "Loscadh Rechrainne o geinntib & Sci do choscradh & do lomradh."
"geinntib" here is the dative plural of "gentid(e)". this is only one example, there are many more.
is this event in irish history not accepted by most as THE initial viking attack in ireland, and they recorded down here as heathens? according to the dictionary of the irish language as wel, heathen is trasnlated as "gentide". so it can be taken that the irish called the vikings "genti"

now it may not be entirely accurate, but very little is 100% pure accurate.

but keep in mind that "genti" can also be translated as "pagan" - but if you were a devout christain, would you not call a non-believer who does sacrilidge to your god a heathen? most definitely../quote]]/quote]

I think it more likely that considering some Christian Irish chiefs themselves raided monasteries aligned to their political rivals that the term "genti" was used because they were pagan and did not adhere to the Christian faith, which was widespread in Ireland at the time of the Viking raids. Also remember that it was clerics, strongly biased in terms of religion, who recorded such entries in annals and written records, whether those records were written down at the time or much later based on oral tradition. It's widely accepted such terms are examples of scribal Christain bias. With what I know, I'd concur, but if you've any evidence against such opinions it's always good to challenge the accepted.