Brewer's: Dublin

(the Irish dubh-linn, the “black pool”). The chief part of the city stands on land reclaimed from the river Liffey or the sea.

True as the Deil is in Dublin city. (Burns: Death and Dr. Hornbook.)
Probably Burns refers to the Scandinavian name Divelin, which suggested first Divel and then Devil or Deil.
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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