The Uaithni were a people of early Ireland, who in early medieval times lived in north-eastern

County Limerick County Limerick () is a western Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Reg ...

and the adjoining part of

County Tipperary County Tipperary () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary (tow ...

, and had traditions that they once lived west of the

River Shannon The River Shannon ( or archaic ') is the major river on the island of Ireland, and at in length, is the longest river in the British Isles. It drains the Shannon River Basin, which has an area of , – approximately one fifth of the area of I ...

. Their name derives from a reconstructed

Proto-Celtic Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, is the hypothetical ancestral proto-language of all known Celtic languages, and a descendant of Proto-Indo-European. It is not attested in writing but has been partly Linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed throu ...

''*Autēniī'', and they have been identified as the Auteini (Αύτεινοι) referred to in

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

's 2nd century ''

Geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

'' as living in approximately

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

. Two branches of the Uaithni are known: the Uaithni Cliach, corresponding to the later barony of

Owneybeg Owneybeg (, occasionally spelled ''Owenybeg'') is a Barony (Ireland), historical barony in northeast County Limerick, Ireland. Baronies were mainly cadastre, cadastral rather than administrative units. They acquired modest local taxation and s ...

in County Limerick, and the Uaithni Tire, corresponding to the barony of

Owney and Arra Owney and Arra ( Irish: ''Uaithne agus Ara'') is a barony in County Tipperary, Ireland. This geographical unit of land is one of 12 baronies in County Tipperary. Its chief town is Newport. The barony lies between Ormond Lower to the north (whos ...

in County Tipperary. The ''

Annals of the Four Masters The ''Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland'' () or the ''Annals of the Four Masters'' () are chronicles of Middle Ages, medieval Irish history. The entries span from the Genesis flood narrative, Deluge, dated as 2,242 Anno Mundi, years after crea ...

'' record the death of Ainle, son of Cathan, lord of the Uaithni Cliach, killed by

Vikings Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

in AD 914; of Dubhdabharc, son of Maelmordha, lord of the Uaithni Tire, in 949; of Eochaidh Ua Loingsigh, lord of the Uaithni Tire, in 1080; and of Cuilen Ua Cathalan, lord of the Uaithni Cliach, in 1107.

John O'Donovan John O'Donovan may refer to: *John O'Donovan (scholar) (1806–1861), Irish language scholar and place-name expert *John O'Donovan (politician) (1908–1982), Irish TD and Senator *John O'Donovan (police commissioner) (1858–1927), New Zealand pol ...

(ed. & trans.), ''Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters'' Vol II, Hodges, Smith & Co, Dublin, 1856, pp. 588 (note 4), 589, 667, 917, 985

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Uaithni Prehistoric Ireland Tribes of ancient Ireland

See also

References