'Mann' or 'Man'.

  • Isle of Man Natural History and Antiquarian Society.
Date:
[1888]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: 'Mann' or 'Man'. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    [53 Manniae, which had » Kelto-Latin ring, quite equal ia their ears to Rex Britanniw. It mattered not to them whether the name-root of their Island was thus entirely destroyed, so Jong as the title pleased him for whom it was coined. This ridiculous blunder has been more or less perpetuated, but it soon fell into disuse, and we only find it here and there subsequently commit- ted, either by illiterate copyists or by those who affect an irrational reverence for old forms, whe- ther good or bad, so long as they belong to a past age. This is not antiquarianism, and is certainly not progress. It is but just to say that when the monks of Rushen Abbey used the English language they spelled the name Man. In an indenture, the mongrel word Mannia having been formed, it had to be reduced again to Eng- lish, which at all events gave it a chance of re- suming its original form, but this it was not al- lowed to do; the added p was made to stick to it, and hence Mann. There ai'e two n'« in Britannia, but no one would think of «pelling Britain with two n's. In Bishop Wilson's Short History of the Isle of Man, the name is invariably spelt Man, Some are of opinion that the spelling Mann is taken from Mannin, which occurs as the name of the Island in a Manx ballad of the sixteenth century. Had the monks had this name to deal with, they would have rejoiced in the grandeur of Manninia. Rex Manninia; would have suited their ambitious views to perfection, and saved them from Mania. Camden writes the name Maning or Maninge. Buchanan says in the old language it is called Manin : it is evidently a modification of the old Irish Manand or Manaind, not a vestige of which is to be Seen in Mann. I have examined all the old maps of the Island from Durham's (1595) up to the present date, and in no instance is the word Mann used. In the LexiconGeogvaphicum, Ferrarius Baudrand, Parisiis 1870, is the following :— Man, Anglis, et Menavo Britannics, teste Lhuydo, insula Albionis sen Britannia, inter illam et Hiber- niam, media fere inter Monara (Anglesey) ad meridiem et Gallovidiam regionem Scotis ad Boream (Galloway). Monicda—The Yleof Man, Anglis, incolis Maning, et I'isle de Man, Gallis, insula est Anglia in mare Hibernico, a septen- trione in meridiem extensa 2^ mill. pass, lata ver« 12, In ea sunt parochisB 17, et oppida ^, nempe Rusain ad Austium, Duglas ad ortum, Peel ad occasum, et Bala curri, ubi commoratur insulse episcopus, qui suffiragatur Archiepiscopo Eboracensi. Alias, Reges hatiut proprios; Buncque comes Derbiensis nabuit insulse Regulus dicitur, sub dominio tamen Regis Angliie.'' In what have been called The Acts of Stanley, prefixed to the Statute Book, the name of the Island is written Man, Mann, and Manne. In the more accurate and complete copy of the Acts found by the Rev Mr Mackenzie in the British Museum, the name is invariably written Man. I have before me a list of between 40 and 50 dis- tinguished writers, all of whom spoil the name ai it was spelt in the most recent translated Acts