This is a question, not about the band, but about the apparently Irish word that they named themselves after. They say they named themselves after Altan Lough, "a deep and mysterious lake behind Errigal Mountain in Donegal" (http://altan.ie/history/). I was surprised to later learn that Altan is also a word in the Turkic and Mongolic languages, with the exact same (English phonetic) spelling. I had not been aware that there were any words shared by these languages.

Is Altan a truly Irish/gaeilge word and are any of these meanings that I have seen attributed to the Irish word correct, or is there another more accurate or older meaning?

altan: ravine, hillock, gorge, red rising sun, red dawn

Go raibh maith agat!

Normally Altan is spelt Alltán in Irish, Loch Alltáin. Must come from "al(l)t", cliff, side of a glen...
I think "al(l)t" is related to Latin "altus" (I don't know if the Irish word comes from Latin or if it's a cognate), which means "high".

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Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne

It's said that if you pick almost any two languages, you can find one or more apparent cognates which they share, but it's usually just coincidence (unless they really are related languages, which Irish and Turkish are not, except perhaps 10,000 years back). People who are into theories of Celtic or Scandinavian settlement in pre-Columbian North America are always coming up with them. For example, there's the coincidence of daoine in Irish meaning "people", while dine in Navajo means the same thing (with a reasonably similar pronunciation), as does tine in Apache (which is related to Navajo).

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I'm not a native (or entirely fluent) speaker, so be sure to wait for confirmations/corrections, especially for tattoos.

Aye, I also remember those:
"god" is theos in Greek, teotl in Nahuatl
"mountain" is tepe in Turkish, tepetl in Nahuatl...

but these are coincidence too, as you say

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Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne

Thanks folks, I appreciate the help. I should have explained that I'm looking more for hard information and deep Irish-language knowledge than opinions. I've already done some preliminary research and there appears to be more than just coincidence at work. I'll defer sharing my findings for now, as I don't want to bias people's input or get into a debate while I'm trying to obtain as much solid info as I can.

Lughaidh's initial post is the sort of thing I'm after.

From BRILL's etymological dictionary:

"alto- [Noun] ‘height, cliff’

Languages
Goidelic MIr. alt [o m]
Welsh MW allt [f] 'hill, slope, cliff, shore, wooded slope'; elltydd, aillt [p]
Breton MBret. pen-an-aout 'top of the hill', MoBret. aod [f] 'coast'
Cornish OCo. als gl. litus

Etymology:
These words are probably related to Lat. altus 'high', OHG alt 'old' (if developed from an earlier meaning 'grown up'). Some derive them from the root *h₂el- 'feed, raise' (IEW 26); the semantic development would have been 'raised' > 'high', but I do not find this very convincing.

"Ranko Matasović. "alto-" in: Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic. Indo-European Etymological Dictionaries Online. Edited by Alexander Lubotsky. Brill, 2013. Brill Online. August 14, 2013.
< http://0-iedo.brillonline.nl.library.uc ... l?id=16057 >"

From eDIL online, Old Irish dictionary:

allt
Letter: A
COLUMN: 290
Line: 027

allt: see 2 alt.

2 alt
allt
Keywords: height; cliff; depths; dark-maned
Letter: A
COLUMN: 293
Line: 030

2 alt: o, m. Also Allt. height, cliff: all ┐ a.¤ ab altitudine, O'Mulc. 36 . Ériu xiii 61 § 2 . a.¤ ar a.¤ is cnoc ar cnoc, Duan. Finn i 41.25 . teid . . . Ænias for bend aillt `went to the top of a cliff ', Aen. 271 . tuitiss sīoss re beinn an ailt, Fl. Earls 86.z . a imluadh taran Allt n-adhuathmar, Lism. L. 4834 . ba cuma nobhíttís isin Allt sin ois allta ┐ miola muighe, Buile S. 72 . eter cnoccaib ┐ alltaib ┐ ardaib, PH 502 . go ndroigheanuibh gheineas as áltuibh ┐ as cnocuibh, Deut. viii 7 . ? tuc brosnaigi ar almaib a.¤, LL 16772 . ? doníther linne . . . droichitt na n-a.¤, RC xxix 118 § 15 `leap ' (cf. a.¤ .i. leim, O'Cl.).
Extended meanings: fochairt i n-a.¤ in maro depths (?), LU 1725 (perh. for 1 all, cf. all moro, RC xi 452.2 ). eadram is Allt na cróine `the pitch-black abyss ' (of hell), Aithd. D. 49.37 .

Compd. ¤-dorcha: don tuinn a. from the towering dark wave , Measgra D. 50.27 (faltdorcha dark-maned, v.l. , Gloss.). See 3 ailt.

http://www.dil.ie/results-list.asp?mode ... =10&bhcp=1 (expand Allt and Alt)

eDIL under: 1 All (http://www.dil.ie/results-list.asp?Fuzz ... =10&bhcp=1)

1 all
a. aill haille halla
Keywords: Cliff; rocky; surface; rocky; hill; rocky; harbour; foundation; basis
Letter: A
COLUMN: 285
Line: 039

1 all: Form and inflexion variable. Perh. orig. o or u, n. a.¤ nglaine, Fél. Jan. 6 . tri a.¤, Triads 200 . adu. da na.¤, Laws v 190.10 Comm. Later m. and f. a.¤ m. (gs. and np. aill), IGT Decl. § 96 . Asf. ns. in aill, Laws i 188.34 Comm. (gs. na haille, ads. aill, see infra ) (Cf. 1 ail??). Note also gs. na halla, Arch. Hib. ii 84 § 25 , Ériu iv 100 § 38 v.l.

Cliff: alla ┐ dreiminda, Laws iii 500.24 Comm. im claide alla for rud, for umad, i 184.12 . dolotatar . . . for culaib ailli, TBC² 2737 . dar droibelaibh, dar allaibh ┐ dar ardaibh, TBC St. 4623 . is a.¤ do thimarcain cach anma phíantair (of hell), LU 2447 . a.¤ bruach-dhubh roi-ghéar riasgach (hell), Dán Dé xxv 21 = IGT Decl. ex. 933 . aill chlochi mór, LL 261 b 21 . isind a.¤ moro sea cliff , RC xi 452.2 (cf. alt in maro, LU 1725 ). atraacht a mmuir . . . co ndernai alle dímora impe (watery) cliffs (of a strange island), LU 1901 . sighi se[i]g di aild the swoop of a hawk from a cliff , RC xiii 222.3 . an seabhac uasal aille (: chugainne), PBocht 15.12 . ro lin mac-alla . . . allu ┐ inberai in tire, CCath. 5626 . da toighli iasg i n-allaib no a n-esaib among rocks (?), ZCP viii 550.19 . cách a huamh- aibh's a hallaibh, DDána 29.16 . ata aill ard . . . a n-urtimcill ind alein, St. Ercuil 232 . a mbennaib sliab ┐ a n-ochtaibh ald. Marco P. 36 . feib tiastais ré haill (ri ha.¤, v.l. ) as if they had fallen over a cliff (cf. mod. tuitim le h-aill), TTebe 4509 . ? Of a rocky surface: cach a.¤ ba amréid dó no fácbaitis a scaim . . . im ailib etc. , TBC 1924 . ? is caill tón bo can buaraig / for aill srón cherr Mael Ruanaid, LL 5098 = Auraic. 5243 . In proverbial phrases: bu beim cind fur aill (of a hopeless endeavour), ZCP x 302.4 , RC xi 28.29 . fri hald, xii 96 § 127 . is essarcain cind fri hallib ám alt neich mar sain, CRR 42 . ar labhair Cormac Ó Cuinn / ní samhail d'orchar re haill i.e. it is not ineffectual, DDána 93.6 . nach budh urchar fá a.¤, ML 98.11 . Cf. don aill, go dīan, tapuigh, do láthair, Eg. Gl. 26 .

Extended applications: sruth di aill, name of the third class of poet in sáer-bard group, IT iii 5.9 . Laws iv 356.11 , 354. 23 . dér aille see dér. macc alla see mac(c). Fig. of persons: aue Muiredaich . . . a.¤ togu fri orddain úallann `descendant of M . . . . rock of choice for noble dignity ', Thes. ii 295.10 . hūāe Énnai, ald fri ūath, Hail Brigit 22 . ba ha.¤ glaine I., Ält. Ir. Dicht. 42 § 45 . is ald ar nirt, TBC 5383 = is a.¤ ar mēt, is oll ar nert, TBC² 3281 . a.¤ Bodhba, TBC 5558 . Cearball . . . a.¤ nard nAlmhaine, FM ii 572.12 .

Compds. ¤-brúach see separate article. ¤-chnoc rocky hill: in all-cnocoip . . . slebhi O., CCath. 5634 . ¤-phort rocky harbour: rolinsat . . . ar allbruichi ┐ allporta in tragha, CCath. 2671 .

(b) Perh. in sense (d) of 1 ail (d) foundation, basis: tri a.¤ frisa timargar béscna .i. mainister, flaith, fine, Triads 200 . ? do a.¤ a naill from rock to rock (of certain privileged kinds of testimony), O'D. 1630 (H. 5. 15, 16b). Note also: aill .i. uasal, ut est aill for breth, breth for enech, O'Dav. 65 . aill .i. uasal, Lec. Gl. 35 , 202 .

eDIL under: 2 faill/ 1 fall: (http://www.dil.ie/results-list.asp?mode ... &respage=3)

2 faill
Keywords: cliff
Letter: F
COLUMN: 24
Line: 022

2 faill: cliff: see all.

1 fall
Letter: F
COLUMN: 37
Line: 052

1 fall: see faill.

Alltán looks as though it combines the word Allt meaning cliff or side of a Glen (as Lughaidh pointed out) + án meaning small. Allt + án meaning a small cliff or hill side/ glen side.

Loch Alltáin lake (possibly a Corrie (http://www.google.ie/imgres?imgurl=http ... wAQ&dur=63), which would make sense) of the small cliff or hill side:

Here's a picture:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File: ... 459252.jpg

Google maps: https://maps.google.ie/maps?q=google&rl ... a=N&tab=wl

You can see Altan Lough (A), Mount Errigal (lower centre) and Gweedore (central to lower left, located on the N56)

It can also be found with pictures on Google Earth.

Irish Allt/ Alt having anything to do with Turkish is a long shot. As Lughaidh and Brill pointed out it probably comes form Latin. There is huge evidence to suggest Irish and Latin were in contact with each other, they are also Indo-European languages. It is very unlikely that Turkish and Irish influenced each other. I don't think Turkish is Indo-European, but Indo-European languages were to be found in what is today modern Turkey; that of Greek and Latin, in such places as Ephesus (Efes in Turkish). I do not know what influence, if any, Latin would have had on Turkish. I don't even know whether Turkish and Latin ever came in contact. But it is much more likely, if there is a direct cognate (not saying there is), that it came from Latin directly or indirectly through a different language that came to prominence after Latin and before the Turkish language arrived.

Cian

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Please wait for corrections/ more input from other forum members before acting on advice

Turkish is part of the Turkic family of languages, from Central/East Asia. It made its way to modern Turkey long after Roman times, where the Turkish speakers came up against (and eventually overwhelmed) the Byzantine Empire and supplanted the Greek language there (though not finally until the 1920's, when most of the last Greek speakers were driven out by the Turks). "Turkish" is used to refer to the language of Turkey itself, and "Turkic" for the language family of which it is a part. Most of the Turkic languages are still fairly close to one another, even though they are spoken from Turkey all the way to China. They separated from one another much more recently than many of the Indo-European languages did.

There were Celtic-speaking tribes who made their way east about 3 centuries BC, through Greek-speaking territory (which is when the Greeks gave them the name "Keltoi", based on what the Greeks heard them call themselves). Some of them eventually made their way to what is the central part of modern Turkey, where they founded a kingdom eventually called Galatia, with its capital at Ancyra (the modern day Turkish capital, Ankara, is its successor).

These were the people to whom the Apostle Paul wrote his Epistle to the Galatians, found in the New Testament, and they were apparently still speaking a Celtic language at that time (the epistle was written in Greek, of course, and most of them would probably also have spoken Greek by then). There are records of their Celtic language surviving into the 4th or 5th century AD, but not after that. They would probably all have become Greek speaking before the Turks made it to the area, though some of them might have been absorbed into other language groups, such as the Armenians or the Kurds who lived further east in what is now Turkey (both Armenian and Kurdish are also Indo-European languages). There would have been little or no continuing contact between the Galatians and Celts much further west, mainly because the Slavs later came into the Balkans and cut them off from the west, so there would have been no conduit for transferring Turkish/Turkic westwards through Celtic channels.

There are theories which might tie the Indo-European languages to the Turkic languages, but they are disputed and the break would have happened way before 5,000 BC, presumably somewhere in Central Asia. One theory posits that it happened after the ice started to melt in the last ice age, and related peoples in Central Asia were separated by a huge lake which developed, with the people on either side of the lake having separate language development from then on, until coming back into contact in modern times. It's just a theory, though.

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I'm not a native (or entirely fluent) speaker, so be sure to wait for confirmations/corrections, especially for tattoos.

Yes indeed, though I think there are not a few native speakers who think "Altan" (never having seen "Alltá(i)n" ) to be the Irish version too. The well-known Gort an Choirce/Gortahork hotel spells itself "Óstán Loch Altan" but whether this hybrid is the fruit of ignorance or an attempt at being "user-friendly" like the bizarre "Aer Lingus", I couldn't say.

Aer Lingus is Old Irish, lingus comes from the verb lingid meaning to jump/ leap. Aer Lingus means "sky jumper"

Cian

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Please wait for corrections/ more input from other forum members before acting on advice