The Bishopric of the island was now no longer called the Bishopric of
Man, but Sodor and Man. The title has given rise to much speculation.
One authority derives it from _Soterenssis_, a name given by Danish
writers to the western islands, and afterwards corrupted to _Soderensk_.
Another authority derives it from _Sudreyjas_, signifying in the
Norwegian the Southern Isles. A third derives it from the Greek _Soter_,
Saviour, to whose name the cathedral of Iona was dedicated. And yet a
fourth authority derives it from the supposed third name of the little
islet rock called variously Holm Isle, Sodor, Peel, and St. Patrick's
Isle, whereon St. Patrick or St. Germain built his church, I can claim
no right to an opinion where these good doctors differ, and shall
content myself with saying that the balance of belief is in favour of
the Norwegian derivation, which offers this explanation of the title of
Bishop of Sodor and Man, that the Isle of Man was not included by the
Norsemen in the southern cluster of islands called the Sudereys, and
that the Bishop was sometimes called the Bishop of Man and the Isles,
and sometimes Bishop of the Sudereys and the Isle of Man. Only one
warning note shall I dare, as an ignorant layman, to strike on that
definition, and it is this: that the title of Bishop of Sodor dates back
to the seventh century certainly, and that the Norseman did not come
south until three centuries later.