With winter really and truly finally over, we're ready to crawl out from our cozy lair and address a listener's question about—you guessed it—hibernation. To backtrack a bit, our correspondent mentioned she was wintering at the Ancient Order of Hibernians Hall and couldn't help thinking of herself as hibernating at the Hibernians' and wondered if there is a connection between those terms. (来源：专业英语学习网站 http://www.EnglishCN.com)

We'll dig out the tale of hibernate first. That verb meaning "passing the winter in a torpid or resting state," or "to be or become inactive or dormant" first appeared in print at the turn of the 19th century. It was born in the Latin hibernus, meaning "of winter."

The term Hibernia is far older; it dates back to the ancient Romans. But did Ptolemy simply Latinize the name given the green isle by the ancient Greeks? Records show Pytheas, centuries earlier, had referred to the area as Ierne.

Perhaps; perhaps not. Hibernia could have come from Ierne; it also could have come from the same wintry word that gave us hibernate so many years later. Sorry to leave folks out in the cold, but we just can't be certain.