View source for Loch Earn - Lough Erne

Two fresh-water lakes in the British Isles share [[homophone|homophonic]] names with an origin in [[Celtic]] languages. It is important to distinguish their spellings. (Both are pronounced '[[loch]] [with the characteristic Scots consonant of 'o<u>ch</u>'] earn', {{IPA|lɒχ ˈɜ<sup>r</sup>n)}}.
*'''Loch Earn''' is in Scotland, in Perthshire. It runs west to east, from Lochearnhead to St Fillans, and is the source of the River Earn, which is a tributary of the River Tay, which it joins near Abernethy. 

::'''''[[etymology|Etymological]] note''''': '''Loch Earn''' is the [[transliteration]] of the Scots [[Gaelic]] ''Loch Eire''/''Loch Éireann'', which appears to mean 'the [[loch]] of Ireland'.

*'''Lough Erne''' is in Fermanagh, in Northern Ireland. It is a system of broadened sections of the River Erne, which runs from near Cavan, in the Republic of Ireland, to the Atlantic at Ballyshannon (Republic), having passed through Northern Ireland near Enniskillen.

::'''''[[etymology|Etymological]] note''''': '''Lough Erne''' is a [[transliteration]] of the [[Erse]] (Irish Gaelic} ''Loch Éirn''. '''Erne''' appears to be derived from the name of a local goddess,m perhaps the one who gave her name to [[Eire]].

::::The everyday [[verb]] 'to '''earn'''<nowiki>'</nowiki> (~ 'to get money for working') has no connection to the Scottish place-name '''Earn'''.
::::The rather rarer (because obsolescent) [[noun]] 'an '''erne'''<nowiki>'</nowiki> is the [[Old English]] form of a common [[Germanic]] name for 'an eagle'.
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