science

Roma Ryan

Roma Ryan is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Roma Ryan rather than just read about it. In short: Roma Shane Ryan (born 20 January 1950) is an Irish writer, poet, and lyricist who lives in Killiney, Ireland. She is the primary lyricist for the singer Enya, who has stated that the importance of her and her late husband Nicky Ryan's contributions is such that without them, Enya would not exist.

Key takeaways

Roma Ryan belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Roma Ryan to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Roma Ryan from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Roma Shane Ryan (born 20 January 1950) is an Irish writer, poet, and lyricist who lives in Killiney, Ireland. She is the primary lyricist for the singer Enya, who has stated that the importance of her and her late husband Nicky Ryan's contributions is such that without them, Enya would not exist.

Early life Roma Shane Forbes was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and grew up in the area of Castlereagh. She is the eldest of four siblings born to the late Eleanor "Ellie", and Ernest "Ernie" Forbes. Her mother was a hairdresser, who died of cancer in the late 1960s, when Ryan was young, and her father was a fireman. The couple had met at a musical theatre group in Dublin, where they were both amateur singers.

Work with Enya Roma and Nicky Ryan met Enya in 1978; Nicky Ryan was managing Enya's family's band Clannad. Enya had just finished secondary school when Nicky Ryan rang her, asking if she would become a member of the group. The Ryans and Enya left Clannad several years later to focus on their own musical careers. Enya originally wrote instrumental melodies. Nicky said he found these melodies "very visual" and suited to film work, and began to write lyrics to them.

Loxian language In 2005, Ryan revealed her creation of a new language, known as Loxian, in Enya's album Amarantine. It was inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien's Elvish language. This language can be heard on three tracks from "Amarantine": "Less Than a Pearl", "The River Sings" and "Water Shows the Hidden Heart". Enya has mentioned in interviews that Ryan developed Loxian while writing lyrics for the track "Water Shows the Hidden Heart"; she and Enya had attempted to write lyrics for the track in Latin, Gaelic and English, but in the end found that they didn't really work for the song. The first Loxian phrase created by Ryan—"Syoombraaya"—is the title of that track ("Water Shows the Hidden Heart"). Loxian was used again in Enya's eighth studio album, Dark Sky Island, released on 20 November 2015, on the songs "The Forge of the Angels" and "The Loxian Gates". These songs focus on the otherworldly and futuristic tales Ryan uses Loxian for.

Solo work Ryan has undertaken several projects in addition to her contributions to Enya, including a book describing the Loxian language called Water Shows the Hidden Heart. The book also contains poetry and stories written by Ryan. "Water Shows the Hidden Heart" was released in two editions: the first edition as a standalone item, shortly after the release of Amarantine in 2005. The first edition features a short introduction by Enya. The second edition was included on the Deluxe Collector's Edition of Amarantine boxed set in early 2006. It omitted Enya's introduction and added colour images, as well as containing a different selection of Ryan's poetry. Neither version is in print. On 1 September 2017 Ryan published two books of poetry, Islands No 2&3: Dark Sky Islands and Little Histories and The Messenger's Origin.

The Loxian Games and the Unity forum Ryan has been the coordinator of two on-line competitions at Enya's official website, enya.com—the First and Second Loxian Games, which have both been completed. Ryan announced the games on the official website in August 2008; the first games began on 1 September 2008 and the second games in September of the following year. The winners for both games had been announced on the official forum, unity.enya.com. Enya announced the last winners of the games in a video message from 2017.

Personal life Ryan was married to Dublin-born producer Nicky Ryan until his death in September 2025. The couple had two daughters, who contributed artwork to Amarantine. Ryan remains close to Enya, having worked on her lyrics, and resided together at their previous home in Artane for the first six years of Enya's solo career in the 1980s. One of Ryan's sisters is the author and actress Michèle Forbes. Ryan's sister Michèle (also spelled Michelle) has occasionally been involved with the Enya project, conducting the sole interview that took place inside Enya's castle.

Discography 1985 – The Frog Prince – The Original Soundtrack Recording — Enya and other artists – (title track only) 1987 – Enya — Enya 1988 – Watermark — Enya 1991 – Shepherd Moons — Enya 1995 – The Memory of Trees — Enya 1997 – Paint the Sky with Stars — Enya 1997 – A Box of Dreams — Enya 2000 – A Day Without Rain — Enya 2001 – Calmi Cuori Appassionati – Themes from Calmi Cuori Appassionati – (soundtrack) — Enya 2001 – The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack — Howard Shore – (two tracks only: "Aníron" and "May It Be") 2002 – Only Time: The Collection — Enya 2005 – Amarantine — Enya 2006 – Sounds of the Season: The Enya Collection — Enya 2008 – And Winter Came... — Enya 2009 – The Very Best of Enya — Enya 2015 – Dark Sky Island — Enya

References

External links Roma Ryan – The Official Website Roma Ryan at IMDb Valley-dwellers Publishing Enya Lyrics site Roma Ryan discography at MusicBrainz

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Roma Ryan

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Roma Ryan claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Roma Ryan before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Roma Ryan ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Roma Ryan

In research: Roma Ryan appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Roma Ryan in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Roma Ryan is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1950 births, 21st-century women writers from Northern Ireland, 21st-century writers from Northern Ireland, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Roma Ryan outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Roma Ryan in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Roma Ryan means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Roma Ryan out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Roma Ryan in simple terms?

Why does Roma Ryan matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Roma Ryan?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Roma Ryan.