Grian or Greaney is the name of a river, a lake, and region in the portion of the Sliabh Aughty mountains in County Clare. It formed part of the boundary of the kingdom of Síol Anmchadha.

Grian (literally, "Sun") is also the name of an Irish figure, presumed to be a pre-Christian goddess, associated with County Limerick and Cnoc Greine ("Hill of Grian, Hill of the sun"), located seven miles from Knockainey (Irish: Cnoc Áine).[1][2]

While Grian's name literally means "the sun" in modern Irish, her name is derived from the Proto-Indo European word *gwher-, meaning "to be hot" or "to burn" rather than the derivations for sun in other Indo-European languages.[3]

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References

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  1. ^ MacKillop, James (1998) Dictionary of Celtic Mythology, p.92. Oxford: Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-280120-1
  2. ^ Cotterell, Arthur (2007) The Encyclopedia of Mythology, page 96. Hermes House ISBN 1-84038-894-3
  3. ^ Nikolaev, A. (2009). "The Germanic word for 'sword' and delocatival derivation in Proto-Indo-European". Journal of Indo-European Studies. 37 (3/4): 462–488. ISSN 0092-2323. OCLC 505892611.