A B C E F I K L M O P Q R S T U V Y Z

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A

acajou (China Roses)
The mahogany tree. The word can also refer to the colour of the wood which is dark reddish-brown.

Afer Ventus (Afer Ventus, Caribbean Blue)
In Latin, in means “African wind”.

Africus (After Ventus, Caribbean Blue)
The Roman personification of the south-western wind.

Aldebaran (Aldebaran)
Aldebaran (Alpha Tauri) is the brightest star in the constellation Taurus and one of the brightest stars in the nighttime sky. Because of its location in the head of Taurus, it has historically been called the Bull’s Eye. The name Aldebaran comes from the Arabic al-dabaran meaning “the follower” and refers to the way the star follows the Pleiades in its nightly journey across the sky.

amaranthine (Flora’s Secret)
An imaginary dark-purple flower that never fades. In Flora’s Secret, it signifies the colour purple and the eyes of a flower looking up to heavens.

Amarantine (Amarantine)
The everlasting flower. Amarantine is a song about love.

Angel’s tears (China Roses)
Also known as Narcissus triandrus albus, they are miniature daffodil flowers.

Avalon (Orinoco Flow)
A legendary island featured in the Arthurian legend, famous for its beautiful apples. It’s the place where King Arthur’s sword Excalibur was forged and where he was taken to recover from his wounds after his last battle at Camlann. The concept of such an “Isle of the Blessed” has parallels in the Irish Tír na nÓg and the Greek Hesperides.

Ariel (After Ventus)
The second moon of Uranus. It was named after the ghost in Shakespeare’s drama The Tempest.

B

Babylon (Orinoco Flow)
A city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which can be found in present-day Al Hillah, Iraq.

Bali (Orinoco Flow)
An island in Indonesia located to the east of Java.

bard (Bard’s Dance)
A professional poet and singer, as among the ancient Celts, whose occupation was to compose and sing verses in honor of the heroic achievements of princes and brave men.

Bissau (Orinoco Flow)
The capital and important port of Guinea-Bissau, located in the western part of Africa.

Boadicea (Boadicea)
Boadicea, or Boudicca, meaning Victorious, was Queen of the Iceni tribe of East Anglia. She led a rebellion in 60 A.D. against the Romans, destroying the cities of Colchester, St. Albans and capturing London. She was eventually defeated by the Romans, and rather than be humiliated by them, she poisoned herself.

Boreas (Caribbean Blue)
The Greek personification of the north wind.

C

Cali (Orinoco Flow)
A city in western Columbia on the Cali River.

Cebu (Orinoco Flow)
An island located in the central part of the Philippines.

Celts (The Celts, March of the Celts)
Early Indo-European people. The culture formed in the early Iron Age in Central Europe and by the later Iron Age, Celts had expanded over a wide range of lands: as far west as Ireland, as far east as Galatia, and as far north as Scotland.

Chanterelle (Flora’s Secret)
A widely distributed edible mushroom, yellow and trumpet-shaped.

China Rose (China Roses)
An Asiatic shrub, extensively cultivated in China as an ornamental plant. It has large red to deep-red flowers.

Coral Sea (Orinoco Flow)
A sea located southwest Pacific Ocean, between Australia, New Guinea, and Vanuatu.

Cú Chulainn (Triad)
Cú Chulainn means the ‘hound of Cullan’. As a child his name was ‘setanta’ meaning ‘the little’. He became Cú Chulainn when he killed the watchdog of the smith Cullan, and so undertook to guard the smiths house in place of the dog. Cú Chulainn is one of the great Irish heroes. The most famous deeds of this hero are found in the saga Táin Bó Cualgne (the cattle raid of Cooley).

E

Ebudæ (Ebudæ)
Latin name for the Hebrides, a group of islands off Scotland’s western coast.

Emmanuel (O Come, O Come Emmanuel)
Christian belief holds that Emmanuel is the Messiah foretold in the prophecies of Isaiah.

Epona (Epona)
The Horse Goddess and is portrayed with birds as well as horses, with a bag or cornucopia. She is closely identified with Rhiannon. Her birds are reputed to lull the living to sleep and to awaken the dead.

Eurus (After Ventus, Caribbean Blue)
The Greek personification of the east or southeast wind.

Evenstar (Aniron)
A character from The Lord of the Rings books by Tolkien, also reffered to as Arwen Evenstar or Arwen Undómiel. She is one of the Half-elven who lived during the Third Age.

F

Fiji (Orinoco Flow)
A country consisting of about 320 islands, located in the southwest Pacific Ocean.

Flora (Flora’s Secret)
In Roman mythology, Flora was a goddess of flowers and the season of spring.

I

Io (After Ventus)
One of Jupiter’s moons named after a Greek goddess, daughter of the river god of Argos.

Island of the moon & Isles of Ebony (Orinoco Flow)
Places that Roma made up. Ebony is also her daughter’s name.

indigo (China Roses)
A blue-violet color.

K

Khartoum (Orinoco Flow)
The capital of Sudan.

L

Longships (The Longships)
The Longships, the famed war ships of the Vikings. The Irish Annals tell us that the first Viking raid in Ireland was at a place called Rechru (Rathlin Island) in 795. By 841 Dublin (Duibh-Linn or black pool) was one of the first Viking settlements or Longphorts in Ireland.

Lothlórien (Lothlórien)
One of elvish kingdoms in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.

Loxian
A fictional language Loxian created by Enya’s lyricist Roma Ryan. The idea arose after Roma’d written lyrics in Elvish for ‘The Lord Of The Rings – The Fellowship of the Ring’. The main influence is from the sounds that Enya sings while the songs don’t have actual lyrics yet.The first piece recorded in Loxian was ‘Water Shows the Hidden Heart’ after it didn’t work in English, Gaelic and Latin. At the time, the language was called Errakan, what in Gaelic means more-less “the people that come from the Moon”, but Roma and Enya found the name Loxian more appealing.

M

Mare Nubium & Mare Imbrium (After Ventus)
“Sea of Clouds” & “Sea of Rains” are lunar mares in basins on Earth’s Moon.

Miss Clare & Miss Quinn (Miss Clare Remembers, No Holy for Miss Quinn)
Characters from the books “No Holly for Miss Quinn” (1976) and”Miss Clare Remembers” (1962) by Mrs. Dora Saint (better-known asMiss Read).

moonlight holly (China Roses)
A shrub with red berries and canary yellow leaves.

O

Oisin (Triad)
Oisin which means “little fawn” left his home to journey to Tir na n Og, the Land of Youth, with Niamh Cinn Oir, ”Niamh of the Head of Gold”. Timelessness – he stayed 300 years, though never aged. On his return to Ireland he found his contemporaries long dead, and Ireland now had St. Patrick and Christianity. Putting his foot upon the earth, he lost Tir na n Og, and so aged and died.

oriel window (Oriel Window)
Similar to a bay window, it projects out from the wall, but does not extend to the ground. Instead the bottom curves back into the wall.

Orinoco (Orinoco Flow)
Orinoco River – One of the largest rivers in South America
Orinoco Studios – studios where Watermark was recorded

Orion (Anywhere Is)
A constellation near Gemini and Taurus named after a handsome giant hunter in Greek mythology.

P

Palau (Orinoco Flow)
A group of about 200 islands located in the western part of the Pacific Ocean.

Peru (Orinoco Flow)
A country in the western part of South America.

Phoebus (Cursum Perficio)
A byname used in classical mythology for either the god Apollo or the sun.

Q

Quenya (May It Be)
A fictional elvish language in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.

R

Rob Dickins (Orinoco Flow)
A former chairman of Warner Music UK. He signed Enya for WEA and was also the executive producer of Watermark.

Ross (Orinoco Flow)
Ross Cullum was the engineer and co-producer of Watermark.

S

Saint Patrick (Triad)
The son of a Roman official, Patrick was captured by a raiding party of Celts when a boy, and spent six years in captivity. He escaped, became a priest and returned to Ireland. According to legend it is St. Patrick who is responsible for Ireland’s conversion to Christianity and the final loss of the old Celtic beliefs.

Sandman (The Song of the Sandman)
A folsandman is a character in fairy tales and folklore. He makes children go to sleep by sprinkling sand in their eyes.

Sappho Comet (China Roses)
Not a real comet but a hummingbird.

Shepherd Moons (Shepherd Moons)
Pandora and Prometheus – two moons numbered 1980S26 and 1980S27, orbiting the outer ring of Saturn. They are called ‘Shepherd Moons’ because they keep the particles of the planet’s ring together.

Sindarin (Aniron)
A fictional elvish language in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.

Summer Snowflake (Flora’s Secret)
A common Old World herb having grasslike leaves and clusters of star-shaped white flowers with green stripes.

T

Tears from Persia (Flora’s Secret)
The Persian Iris flower. Roma’s daughter is also named Persia.

Tiree (Orinoco Flow)
An island in the Scottish Inner Hebrides, south west of Coll and west of Mull.

Tripoli (Orinoco Flow)
The capital city and seaport of Libya, situated on the Mediterranean coast.

U

Umbriel (After Ventus)
One of the moons of Uranus.

V

Vela (Afer Ventus, Anywhere Is)
“The sail”, a Southern constellation near Pyxis (the compass) and Carina (the keel).

Volturnus (After Ventus)
In Roman mythology, Volturnus was a god of the waters.

Y

Yellow Sea (Orinoco Flow)
An sea along the Pacific Ocean between China and the Korean Peninsula.

Z

Zephryus (After Ventus, Caribbean Blue)
The Greek god of the west wind.