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Significance of Liffey's Name- The River Liffey

posted 16 years ago by Sitcom_Sally
5 replies | jump to latest

I'm not sure if the name Liffey is a nickname, but there is a river in Ireland called the River Liffey, which flows through the center of Dublin. Liffey means "a life" in Irish.

The river was previously named An Ruirthech, meaning "fast (or strong) runner".[1] The word Liphe (or Life) referred originally to the name of the plain through which the river ran, but eventually came to refer to the river itself. [2] It was also known as the Anna Liffey,[3] possibly from an Anglicization of Abhainn na Life, the Irish phrase that translates into English as River Liffey.[4]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Liffey

[–] bogwart-1 15 years ago

Your point being?

[–] Sitcom_Sally 15 years ago

Imparting information about the movie to those who are interested. Sorry that the concept is too complex for you.

I always liked the way a scraped knee looks on a girl. - Mrs. Harker

[–] bogwart-1 15 years ago

You're not imparting any information about the film; you're waffling on about the River Liffey, which has nothing to do with the film beyond the fact that the lead character happens for reasons known only to Fay Weldon to be called Liffey.

Lucky she wasn't called Mississippi, eh?

Do get over yourself. I realise that's asking quite a lot but you just might find yourself a better person for it.

[–] LuciaJoyce 15 years ago

This is probably covered in the Wikipedia link you've provided (which I haven't clicked), but the Liffey also provided the name of the woman in "Finnegans Wake," Anna Livia Plurabelle.

--
I should warn you -- he's a Fourierist.

[–] pearce-rachel 15 years ago

I wondered this myself, but I don't think it is relevant because the character is called Liffey in the original novel, which is not set in Ireland and in which none of the characters are Irish. So at best it is a nice coincidence.