_Bealltainn_ is commonly derived from _Bel teine_, the fire of Baal or Belus, and is considered as sure evidence of the Phoenician origin of the sacred institutions of the Celts. It is a derivation, however, that wants all the elements of probability. There is a want of evidence that the Phoenician Baal, or any deity resembling him, was ever worshipped by the Celts, or that the fires kindled and observances practised on this day had any connection with the attributes ascribed to him; while the analogies of the Gaelic language prevent the supposition that “the fire of Baal” could be rendered “Beall-tein’.” Besides, the word is not _Beall-teine_, but _Bealltainn_, a difference in the final syllable sufficiently noticeable to a Gaelic ear. It is the difference between the single and double sound of _n_. Baal and Ashtoreth were the supreme male and female divinities of the Phoenician and Canaanitish nations, and are supposed to be personifications of the generative and receptive powers of nature, and to be identical with the sun and moon. In Hebrew and kindred languages, _Baal_ is a mere title of honour, signifying “Lord or Possessor of,” and in Gaelic the Sun and Moon are both feminine nouns, merely descriptive of the appearance of these planets. There is nothing that indicates their ever having been looked on as divinities, or ascribing to them any attribute such as belonged to Baal. In Gaelic the noun limited or possessed always precedes the qualifying noun, and it would require strong evidence to show that “Baal’s fire” could be “Beltane” _i.e._ Baal-fire, and not “Tane-Bel” (_Teine-Bhàil_), _i.e._ fire of Baal. The contrast between English and Gaelic in this respect is often very striking, and a safe rule in etymology! The final syllable is the same as in _Samhainn_, the end of summer, which is thought by Lhuyd, to be from _fuinn_ (connected with the Latin _finis_), an end. In this case _t_ is simply accresive. _L_ has an attraction for _t_ after it, as _m_ has for _b_, and _n_ for _d_. _Beall_ is likely connected with the other words that have _bl_ in their initial syllable, with a root idea of separating, parting, opening; and claims kindred with _blàth_, a blossom, _bial_, the mouth, _bealach_, a pass, more than with the title of a Semitic deity. It is the opening day of the year, when the rigours of winter are parted with, and the seasons, as it were, separate. Behind lay winter, cold, and unfruitfulness of the earth, but before was warmth and fertility and beauty. The final syllable has no more to do with fire than it has in _gamhainn_, a stirk, _calltainn_, a hazel tree. It was said, with truth, that whatever day New Year day fell upon, Beltane fell on the day following. “New Year’s day to-day, Beltane to-morrow” (_Nollaig an diugh, Bealltainn a màireach_).