Dublin (pronounced [ˈdʌblɨn] or [ˈdʊblɨn] or [ˈdʊbəlɪn]) is both the largest city and capital of Ireland. It is officially known in Irish as Baile Átha Cliath ([bˠalʲə aːha klʲiəh]) or Áth Cliath ([aːh cliə(ɸ)]); the English name comes from the Irish Dubh Linn meaning “black pool”. It is located near the midpoint of Ireland’s east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey and at the centre of the Dublin Region. Originally founded as a Viking settlement, it evolved into the Kingdom of Dublin and became the island’s primary city following the Norman invasion. Today, it is ranked 10th (up from 13th in 2008) in the Global Financial Centres Index, has one of the fastest growing populations of any European capital city, and is nominated by the GaWC as a global city, with a ranking of Alpha – which places Dublin amongst the top 25 cities in the world. Dublin is a historical and contemporary cultural centre for the island of Ireland as well as a modern centre of education, the arts, administrative function, economy and industry.
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The name Dublin is derived from the Irish name Dubh Linn (meaning “black pool”). In Irish, Dubh is correctly pronounced as Dhuv or Dhuf. The city’s original pronunciation is preserved in Old Norse as Dyflin, Old English as Difelin, and modern Manx as Divlyn. Historically, in the traditional Gaelic script used for the Irish language, bh was written with a dot over the b, rendering ‘Duḃ Linn’ or ‘Duḃlinn’. Those without a knowledge of Irish omitted the dot and spelled the name as Dublin.
The common name for the city in Modern Irish is Baile Átha Cliath (meaning “town of the hurdled ford”). It was first written as such in 1368 in the Annals of Ulster. Áth Cliath is a place-name referring to a fording point of the Liffey in the vicinity of Heuston Station. Baile Átha Cliath was later applied to an early Christian monastery which is believed to have been situated in the area of Aungier Street currently occupied by Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church.
The subsequent Viking settlement was on the River Poddle, a tributary of the Liffey, to the East of Christchurch, in the area known as Wood Quay. The Dubh Linn was a lake used by the Vikings to moor their ships and was connected to the Liffey by the Poddle. The Dubh Linn and Poddle were covered during the early 1700s, and as the city expanded they were largely forgotten about. The Dubh Linn was situated where the Castle Garden is now located, opposite the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin Castle.