Meanings
- Irishhuman sciencesThe Land of (eternal) Youth; one of the names for the Celtic otherworld (or possibly a part thereof).
Grafting Tír na nÓg, the mythical land of eternal youth in Irish mythology, onto the Greek tragic tale is a stark and unexpected move.
2020, Isabelle Torrance, “Post-Ceasefire Antigones and Northern Ireland”, in Isabelle Torrance, Donncha O'Rourke, editors, Classics and Irish Politics, 1916-2016, Oxford University Press, page 3382 more examples
In the old Irish folklore, this is a land where no one gets old or sick and where heroes live in comfort and tranquillity. But the land of Tír na nÓg only materialises to mere mortals at certain times, under certain circumstances.
2013, John Jacob English, Fragile Blue, AuthorHouse, page 40Tír na nÓg is not an afterlife analogous to the Christian concept of heaven but an Otherworld of earthly paradise that is home to the genealogical ancestors of the fairies, the Tuatha Dé Danaan.
2016, Christopher Collins, Theatre and Residual Culture, Springer Nature (Palgrave Macmillan), page 261
Origin
- Old IrishTír inna nÓc
- IrishTír na nÓg
- EnglishTír na nÓg
Borrowed from Irish Tír na nÓg (literally “land of the young”), from Old Irish Tír inna nÓc. Cognate with Scottish Gaelic Tìr nan Òg, Manx Çheer ny Aeg.
More words from Irish, Old Irish
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Irish Tír na nÓg
- Tír na nÓgmythological location
Scottish Gaelic Tìr nan Òg
- Tìr nan Ògmythological location
Cite this entry
Tír na nÓg. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/T%C3%ADr%20na%20n%C3%93g
“Tír na nÓg.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/T%C3%ADr%20na%20n%C3%93g. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Tír na nÓg,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/T%C3%ADr%20na%20n%C3%93g.
Source: Tír na nÓg on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.