[Bell Historians] Re: Clock = Klok = Bell

[Peter Whisker]

 From the 7th to the 11th century, Ireland remained one of the few 
centres of civilisation in Europe with the important university at 
Glendalough was one of the few major centres for study and writing in 
western Europe with Ireland becoming know as the "Land of Saints and 
Scholars". Christianity had all but died out in Britian and large parts 
of Western Europe, and the Irish monastic centres produced many 
evangelists who went out across Britain and Europe, to Italy, 
Switzerland, France, Germany. Columba, Aidan, Fiacre being well known 
(St. Fiacre gives his name to horse drawn cabs in Italy...).

Many of the Irish saints are depicted carrying a hand bell (rectangular 
in section), so it does seem sensible that the Irish gaelic word "clog" 
became first associated with bells and then clocks as early ones just 
consisted of a mechanism to chime a bell.

Unfortunately the independent Irish church with its stress on strict 
personal holiness did not do well against the political machinations of 
the Roman church and was gradually subsumed by the latter following the 
Synod of Whitby in the 7th century.

Peter

ticktocktwang wrote:
> A final word re the use of the word "clock" in England should be left to Mr. C.M. O'Keeffe, whose interpretation was printed in 1857 in the Ulster Journal of Archaeology.    I have transcribed it here as it must have required years of painstaking research to come to this succinct conclusion.
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> Ulster Journal of Archaeology, series 1, volume V, p165-166, 1857
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> Queries Section.
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> Is the English word "clock" derived from the Irish clog, a bell?  If not, from what is it derived? 
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>  I think the derivation is likely: because Dean Swift has said –
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> "England, confess this land of mine
> First taught thee wisdom, human and divine;"
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> that is to say, the Saxon pagans of England received the arts of civilisation from Irish missionaries; and these probably were the first to introduce bells.  The most noticeable part of a clock to a rude people would be its bell, which sounded the hours; and the name of that part would come in time to be applied to the whole machine.
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> 							C. M. O'Keefe
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> So there you have it  -  Mr O'Keeffe's interpretation of Dean Swift's ditty puts a final end to this question!!  No need for any further discussion!!  I browsed through more of Mr O' Keeffe's comments regarding other trivial matters .  A little further down the same page, a query regarding the origin of the names of the counties of Ireland  does not merit a straight answer but instead we are told on very good authority by Mr. O'Keeffe, that at the Council of Constance, 1477, it was decided that there ought to be Four Empires in Europe – Rome, Constantinople,  Ireland &  Spain.  
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> Yes, I thought it was hilarious too, it could never happen - imagine, including Spain????  
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