Last month’s Monthly Morsel focused on placename elements and their possible use, along with other tools, in assisting planners to predict sites that may be, or have historically been, liable to flood. As an adjunct to this it is also particularly noteworthy that placenames, when the underlying Irish form has been correctly determined, might sometimes be of enormous value to those engaged in rewetting as a method of nature restoration and/or as flood alleviation.
For example, the townland names Lagore Big (logainm.ie #37986) and Lagore Little (logainm.ie #37987) next to Dunshaughlin in County Meath appear innocuous at first sight, particularly since they appear in Irish as the essentially near meaningless ‘Lagór mór’ and ‘Lagór beag’ in the Ordnance Survey Name Book, which indicates that the last local Irish speakers of the area understood no connection with the word loch “lake” in that placename. However, loch is exactly what is reflected in early anglicised historical forms of the name such as ‘Laghgower’ (1415) and ‘loghgowre’ (1481), a fact confirmed by the many early Irish attestations of this name such as ‘Loch Gabhor’ ‘lake of (the white) horses’ (e.g. Annals of Ulster s.a. 785) or ‘Loch Gabhair’ ‘lake of (the white) horse’ (Annals of the Four Masters, compiled 17th century), or similar — whence today’s standardized Irish form Loch Gabhar, which has been in official use since the 1980s Notably, the earlier presence of a lake situated both in Lagore Big and Lagore Little is confirmed by soil maps which show a significant area of lacustrine soil (lake-bed) to the east of Dunshaughlin. In addition, a second reasonably large area of lacustrine soil, which must represent the site of a second lake, is found in the southeastern corner of Lagore Big (see soil maps below).

(Subsoil map at Lagore Big and Lagore Little, County Meath. Area of lacustrine soil marked with + https://gis.epa.ie/EPAMaps/)

(Subsoil map at Lagore Big and Lagore Little, County Meath. Second area of lacustrine soil marked with +: https://gis.epa.ie/EPAMaps/)

Both of these zones of lake-bed soil drain into the Broadmeadow River which is particularly notable given the acknowledged danger of flooding from this river downstream in nearby Ratoath (see Meath County Development Plan 2021-2026. (Interestingly, the original Irish name of the Broadmeadow River, may be Abhainn Ghabhra ‘river of (the white) horse’, which, if correct, would be clearly linked to that of Loch Gabhar ‘lake of (the white) horses’, in turn suggesting a symbiotic relationship between both features.) Therefore, given that both of these large areas of lacustrine soil drain into the Broadmeadow River, it seems probable, even to the lay person with no expertise in hydraulic geography or engineering, that flooding caused by the river at Ratoath could be alleviated, should the area of Loch Gabhar, from which the Broadmeadow River flows, be rewetted and used as a retention lake during periods of excessive rainfall. Certainly, both the original Irish name and soil maps of the area suggest the cost-effective appropriateness of such an approach. The only hindrance to this suggestion, should landowners be prepared to sell their holdings or part thereof, is that a small part of the area in question has been encroached on by a recent housing development in Dunshaughlin. In this instance, the planners may not have recognised the red flags raised by both the placename and soil maps, or if so, perhaps they felt that building on lake-bed soil did not pose an insurmountable problem of flooding.

The example of Lagore / Loch Gabhar ‘lake of (the white) horses’ is just one of many that suggest the potential of Irish names of places to be used to earmark areas that might be suitable for rewetting with the least amount of expense to the country’s citizens, i.e. the placename itself combined with information from soil maps could be used to determine earlier wetlands with a potential to be restored without the need for expensive engineering works, given that they were originally wetlands in their natural state. With this in mind, it may be of interest to know that even Irish placenames only found in literary creations may also sometimes highlight areas liable to flooding or suitable for rewetting. For example, in a recent article on the placenames Screggan / An Screagán ‘the rough, rocky, stony ground’ and Lynally / Lainn Eala ‘church of (the) swan’ near Tullamore in County Offaly (see logainm.ie Featured Theme 124), it was noted that the final element of Lainn Eala is from the name of the founding saint of the parish church, namely Colmán Eala. The Life of Colmán Eala tells us that the saint reputedly derived his epithet, Eala, from Loch Eala ‘lake of (the) swan’, supposedly an enchanted lake then situated next to the site of his new foundation at Lynally. It was written that neither man nor animal would dare approach Loch Eala because it was guarded by a wicked beast (pēist urc[h]ōidech), but after Colmán summoned the aid of various famous saints and clerics the beast was decapitated and its remains buried in the newly consecrated graveyard. (For further references to this place in Irish sources see E-Onomasticon s.n. lann elo.) As often happens with early Irish literature, we are left wondering whether Loch Eala was a real place or whether it was merely a literary creation of the type which placename researchers often refer to as a ghost name. (We also use this term to refer to errors and other false names which appear on maps or in other historical sources, much to the confusion of researchers.) With this in mind, a sceptic might surely look at the present-day townland of Lynally Glebe / Lainn Eala (#42263) – where there is no lake – and with some justification consider Loch Eala to indeed be a literary fabrication.

(Subsoil map of Lynally Glebe and surrounding townlands, County Offaly. Extensive area of alluvial soil (floodplain) marked with +: https://gis.epa.ie/EPAMaps/)

However, scientific analysis reflected in the EPA soil map seen above shows that this townland contains an enormous area of alluvial soil stretching far into the surrounding townlands, between the modern courses of the Tullamore River, the Clodiagh River, and beyond. Indeed, the land just north of the ruins in Lynally are described as Flooded Bottoms on the Ordnance Survey 6ʺ map (first edition), while the alluvial soil here also, markedly, extends into part of the townland of Killiskea / Coill Uisce ‘wood of water’ (logainm.ie #42305). This area of alluvial soil, then, quite plausibly corresponds to the site of Loch Eala, but if so, the lake appears to have been gradually drained over many years. Be that as it may, the soil maps certainly confirm that there is an enormous floodplain here, and the placename Loch Eala suggests that the area in question must have remained under water for periods long enough to generate the element loch “lake” in the placename. Therefore, it seems that we can indeed sometimes use placenames only found in literary creations (they are not all ghost-names) in combination with soil maps in the determination of areas liable to flooding and possibly very well-suited to rewetting at the minimum of financial cost.

Overall, examples such as those described above and in last month’s Monthly Morsel suggest that an interdisciplinary approach between toponymists, planners, geographers and engineers may prove particularly useful in any future attempts at using natural features to alleviate flooding possibly be means of rewetting. At least there is surely food for thought in considering such an approach.

(For further reading concerning the use of placenames in the determination of flood histories see: ‘Early Medieval Place-Names and Riverine Flood Histories: A New Approach and New Chronostratigraphic Records for Three English Rivers’, p. 381-405, Pears, B., Brown, A.G., Carroll, J., Toms, Phillip, Wood, J.C. and Jones, R (2020): European Journal of Archaeology.)

(Conchubhar Ó Crualaoich \& Justin Ó Gliasáin)

With the diminishing hope that the rain might stay away we move grudgingly from the trá “strand, beach” and cladach “shore, rocky foreshore” from recent weeks to look at a couple of other toponymic elements that generally refer to places beside the sea. The Modern Irish word muirbheach means “level stretch of sandy land along sea-shore, links” (FGB s.v. muirbheach). Donnchadh Ó Corráin has suggested the etymology muir “sea” + -bach “breaking” (from Old Irish bongaid), meaning “sea-breach” (‘Old Norse place names II: Muirbech, Smjǫrvík’, Peritia 11 (1997)). Along with its variant murbhach (with non-palatal or broad -rbh-) this element occurs in a number of townland names around the country, with an interesting variety of local Irish pronunciations.
It is found as Murroogh/Muirbheach (logainm.ie #18664) near Galway City, as Murvey/Muirbhigh (logainm.ie #18355) in west County Galway and as Murrevagh/Muirbheach (logainm.ie #37483) in County Mayo. Although situated inland, Murragh (logainm.ie #42219) in County Offaly also appears to be from Muirbheach, (cf. ‘Murriogh’ (1828), with the remarkable modern anglicized pronunciation /muˈru:/ (1985) — as if Muroo with stress on the second syllable). Interestingly it was noted during the Ordnance Survey in 1837 that this townland ‘in the neighbourhood of the river [was] subject to floods’, a characteristic which may have been considered similar to a muirbheach “links”.
Muirbheach is also well-attested as murbhach (i.e. a version with a non-palatal (broad) -rbh-), the form that occurs in Murbhach, the origin of the townland names Murvagh Lower(logainm.ie #13908) and Murvagh Upper Glebe (logainm.ie #13909) on the coast south of Donegal Town. In that case, the broad cluster -rbh- was apparently locally pronounced as /-rv-/, but we seem to have examples of the same form in which -rbh- /-rv-/ developed to /-r-/ at an early stage. Take for instance the townland name Murragh (logainm.ie #16751) in north County Dublin, which also appears to derive from Murbhach. That example is situated far inland, however, and although a small stream runs through the townland, it seems to contain no feature which might suggest suggest a links or foreshore-type environment. The same might initially be thought of Ballinamorragh/Baile na Murbhach(logainm.ie #53687) in County Wexford, which lies some distance from the sea. However, Ballinamorragh was in fact situated on the coast until the reclamation of the adjoining slob in the nineteenth century (see Logainmneacha na hÉireann VI: Townland Names of Co. Wexford, p. 176). Therefore the name can readily be translated as “the town(land) of (at) the level stretches of sandy land along the seashore” (ibid.).
One common variant Irish form of muirbheach, namely muiríoch, arose due to the loss of the palatal (slendar) internal -bh-, in many southern dialects (as if via muiribheach with epenthetic vowel). Thus we have Murreagh/An Mhuiríoch “the level stretch of sandy land along sea-shore, links” (logainm.ie #8437) iin County Cork, along with two examples in County Kerry — one near Waterville (logainm.ie #22261 and the other a well-known destination in the Gaeltacht of Corca Dhuibhne #22687).The latter example from Kerry is situated on Cuan Ard na Caithne (from Ard na Caithne “the height of the arbutus, wild strawberry” (#22598)). In fact, it has been suggested that Smerwick Harbour — the name used in English to refer to Cuan Ard na Caithne — is not a Norse coinage containing vík “bay” as might first be presumed, but rather a Norse folk etymology based on the Middle Irish pronunciation of this Muiríoch < Mid. Ir. Muirbech (see Ó Corráin 1997). In Leinster, the area known in English as the Murragh (logainm.ie #1413200) on the coast immediately north of Wicklow Town also seems derives its name from a similar realization of muirbheach in the local dialect (‘the Murrioghe’ (1606), ‘the Morieight’ (1619) → ‘the Murrow’ (1726)).
Another local variant is muiriúch (as if via muireabhach with epenthetic vowel and broad -bh-). A pronunciation similar to this was recorded by Placenames Branch researchers in Murroogh/Muirbheach (logainm.ie #18664) near Galway City (mentioned above), in the 1970s — /(əɴ)ˈmɪrʹuːx/, with stress on the first syllable. The last native Irish speakers of the Burren, County Clare, had another distinctive pronunciation when interviewed in 1985: they pronounced the district name Murroogh/Muiriúch “level stretch of sandy land along sea-shore, links” (logainm.ie #1420406) in north County Clare as /(əɴ)mʹəˈrʹuːx/, with stress on the second syllable. This district gave name to the townlands of Murrooghkilly/Muiriúch Cille “level stretch of sandy land along sea-shore of (belonging to) the church” (logainm.ie #5776) and Murrooghtoohy/Muiriúch Tuaithe “level stretch of sandy land along sea-shore of (belonging to) the laity” (logainm.ie #5778).
It is interesting to see how these various pronunciations of muirbheach correlate to the distribution of the phonetically similar word inbhear “grazing” recorded in the Linguistic Atlas and Survey of Irish Dialects I p. 16. Just as we find with muirbheach, the word inbhear was pronounced in different dialects as if spelled invear, inivear, iníor, iniúr, etc. (The standard Modern Irish spelling is iníor; Pádraig Ó Cearbhaill discusses some finer points on the various pronunciations in ‘Fishery names on the River Shannon’, Éigse 39 (2016).) The broad correlation in distribution might prove useful in placename analysis: for example, because we know that ag inbhear “grazing” was pronounced /ɪgʹˈinʹuːr/ in the dialect of Kilbaha near Loop Head (LASID loc. cit. Point 22), we might give consideration to the possibility that the Irish name of the cliff Aylevaroo/Aill an Mharú (#104013), near Kilrush, originally contained the local dialect form of muirbheach (namely muiriúch, gen. sg. mhuiriúigh).
Finally, we come to the townland and village of Naran/An Fhearthainn(logainm.ie #14607; #1414079) in County Donegal, whose Irish name immediately appears very odd to any Irish speaker — in the modern language, an fhearthainn means simply “the rain” (FGB s.v. fearthainn)! However, given its location at the seashore (it is adjacent to Tramore Strand, another example of Irish An Trá Mhór “the big strand, beach”) it is most likely that the place takes its name from a variant form of feorainn “grassy place; grassy river or shore”, which we have already met as a possible forerunner of Beach/An Trá (logainm.ie #8347) in County Cork — compare the attested variant feorthainn (FGB s.v. feorainn). The word feorainn itself certainly occurs in the townland name Ballyforan/Béal Átha Feorainne “approach to (the) ford of (at) (the) grassy riverside” (logainm.ie #42580) in County Roscommon, which although it is on the brink of the River Suck, is close to the geographical centre of Ireland and very far indeed from the sea! The same element is also found in the names of some minor features on the coastline of County Mayo, e.g. Feorin/An Fheorainn (logainm.ie #1399403; #1399404) and Feorinyeeo Bay/Trá Fheorainn Uí Eo (logainm.ie #114210).

(Conchubhar Ó Crualaoich & Aindí Mac Giolla Chomhghaill)