The Irish is fionnuisce, which Ó Dónaill & Ua Maoileoin’s dictionary defines as “uisce locha nó abhann”, water of a lake or river. Uisce is water, and fionn (white, fair) in this context means clear. Fíoruisce is spring water (fíor means true, in this context pure).
Uisce beatha, of course is whiskey, which is more commonly called fuisce, which is a gaelicisation of the English, which itself is from the Gaelic uisge. Macbain’s 1911 etymological dictionary of Gaelic notes that “Stokes suggests the possibility of uisge being for *uskio-, and allied to Eng. wash.” Rounds.
“Tiers, tiers and tiers. Rounds.” (Finnegans Wake page 590) Tears when they are copious are uisce cinn, head water.
Tears in general are deora. An exile is deoraí. Exile is deoraíocht. Nice connection, although Macbain, citing Stokes again, says the latter may come from “un-countried”, something like dí-bhrughacht, whereas deor (the singular form) is related to Greek dákru (i.e., δάκρυ) and Latin lacrima (dacrima in early form) and thus cognate with the English.
