Page:Origin and Growth of Religion (Rhys).djvu/87

Rh in a district where Abbey O'Dorney has perpetuated the ancient designation; while a certain family called O'Cuirres, connected with the barony of Kerrycurrihy in the county of Cork, are also styled Clann Torna, 'Children of Toranis,' in an old poem, and the name seems to have been pretty widely spread in the kingdom of Munster. The genitive Toranjas implies a nominative Toranis, differing only in its o from Lucan's Taranis, which with its a is probably less original than the Irish one. Now the later form which Toranis should take in Irish would be Toirn, and that is also the nominative which should have as its genitive Torna. But just as the Welsh word gwynt, corresponding etymologically to Vintios, the name of the Gaulish god associated with the wind, has lost all reference to the divinity, and become simply a masculine noun meaning wind, so Toirn, the Irish equivalent of the older Toranis, Gaulish Taranis, has ceased to be a proper noun, and come down to modern times in the signification of 'a great noise or thunder;' and it is noteworthy that it is feminine.