Editing Skellig Michael (section)

==Etymology==
[[File:Skellig 1.JPG|thumb|View of the [[The Hag of Beara|Wailing Woman]] rock, with Little Skellig in the distance]]
The word "Skellig" derives from the [[old Irish]] word ''sceillec'', which translates as "small or steep area of rock". The word is unusual in Irish placenames and appears only in a few other instances, including Bunskellig, [[County Cork]], and the Temple-na-Skellig church in [[Glendalough]], [[County Wicklow]]. It may be of [[Old Norse]] origin, from the word ''skellingar'' ("the resounding ones"). An early but rarely used alternative Irish name for the island is ''Glascarraig'' ("the green rock").{{sfn|Bourke|Hayden|Lynch|O'Sullivan|2011|p=18}}

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 |quote=<poem>Irr lost his life upon the western main;
Skellig's high cliffs the hero's bones contain.
In the same wreck Arranan too was lost,
Nor did his corpse e'er touch Ierne's coast.{{sfn|S. M.|1913|p=164}}
</poem>}}

The first known reference to the Skelligs appears in the [[Irish annals]]; a retelling of a shipwreck occurring around 1400 BC, said to have been caused by the [[Tuatha Dé Danann]], a supernatural race in [[Irish mythology]]. According to legend, Irr, son of [[Míl Espáine]] (who is sometimes credited with the colonisation of Ireland), was travelling from the [[Iberian Peninsula]], but drowned and was buried on the island.{{sfn|Lavelle|1976|p=3}} Daire Domhain ("King of the World") is said to have stayed there c. 200 AD before attacking [[Fionn mac Cumhaill]]'s army in nearby [[Ventry]].{{sfn|Lavelle|1976|p=3}} A text from the 8th or 9th century records that Duagh, King of [[Iarmuman|West Munster]], fled to "Scellecc" after a feud with the [[List of kings of Munster|Kings of Cashel]] sometime in the 5th century, although the historicity of the event has not been established.{{sfn|Historical Background}} Other early mentions include in the narrative prose of the ''[[Lebor Gabála Érenn]]'' and ''[[Cath Finntrágha]]'', as well the medieval ''[[Martyrology of Tallaght]]''.{{sfn|Bourke|Hayden|Lynch|O'Sullivan|2011|p=17}}