Bodyparts, the belly and Saint Eolang
- Aghabulloge/Achadh Bolg
(see logainm.ie #492)
Date: 04/03/2024
A recurring feature of Irish placenames is the use of terms for parts of the human body in reference to features of a similar shape in in the landscape. Thus we have many examples of Claggan/An Cloigeann “the head, skull” as the names of headlands; Eden/An tÉadan “the forehead” in reference to cliffs or other precipices; Stroove/An tSrúibh (variant of srubh) “the snout” in reference to protruding features; and Aught/An tUcht “chest; breast; bosom” in reference to features similar in shape to a breast or bosom. Indeed, one particularly striking example of the last-mentioned is found at Ballyhought/Baile Uchta “town(land) of, at (the) breast(-like hill)” between Ballycanew and Wexford Town, where the name most likely refers to the distinct shape of the two small hills just over the townland boundary in the neighbouring Mahanagh (#52301). These hills are visible to the east just after the Unyoke Inn when travelling southwards on the R741 (see Logainmneacha na hÉireann IV; Townland Names of Co. Wexford, p. 343), and the perceived similarity to a female bosom really couldn’t be much more obvious when viewed from the road in question.
In truth there are too many examples among the townland names of Ireland of the use of terms referring to parts of the human body to outline here. (Art Ó Maolfabhail, former Chief Placenames Officer, discussed this topic in two articles in the journal Ainm 1 (1986), 2 (1987).) One of the more common and familiar examples would be the figurative use of béal “mouth” to describe an opening or approach, as seen in so many names in combination with áth “ford”, as in Ballina/Béal an Átha “the mouth of (i.e., approach to) the ford” (#9935). Another particularly common example would be lorga “shin” in reference to a “long low ridge; strip of land” as in Baile na Lorgan “the town(land) of the long low ridge or strip of land”, the original Irish name of Castleblayney (#1167095). (The English name is from the plantation undertaker Edward Blayney who received appropriated lands here in the early seventeenth century.) Indeed, lorga is particularly common in drumlin country around Counties Monaghan and Cavan where there is an abundance of long, low ridges. It frequently occurs in its dative form An Lorgain, as for example in the name of the town in County Armagh anglicized as Lurgan (#1166423; see also placenamesni.org s.n. Lurgan).
The topographical meaning of placename elements originally referring to body parts is usually quite clear — e.g. droim “ridge, long hill (lit. back [of human or animal])”, ceann “head(land)” — but there are some instances where this is not the case. For instance, the word bolg “belly, stomach, abdomen”, quite common in placenames, has a large semantic range including “bag”, “bellows”, “bulge”, “broad part”, “middle” (FGB s.v. bolg). One might imagine that it usually refers to land with a notable rounded protuberance, but this is not always so, given that it has also been explained as meaning a “chasm; gap, cleft” (eDIL s.v. 1 bolg) — although some regard this as an invention on the part of later glossators of medieval manuscripts. To add to the problems, there has been much academic debate about the possibility that bolg as found in placenames may sometimes also refer to an earlier population group (eDIL s.v. Bolg) and not to any feature of the landscape at all! Therefore, for instance, although Clonbulloge/Cluain Bolg in County Offaly is probably best explained as meaning “pasture of, at (the) bumps” (#41652), given that it is located between three round hills all above 70 metres in height one cannot rule out the possibility of “pasture of the gaps” or even “the pasture of the Boilg (population group)”.
Similarly, Aghabulloge/Achadh Bolg (#492) in County Cork (also called Aghabullogue in English) might be translated as “field of (the) bumps” or “the field of the Boilg (population group)”. The former explanation is probably more likely given the presence of a number of hilltops directly surrounding the site of the village. Interestingly, the connection between Aghabulloge/Achadh Bolg and the patron saint of the ecclesiastical site located there, Eolang, was of such significance that it features in the early calendars of Irish saints such as the 9th century Féilire Óengusso:
Eolang, cáid, cáin áge, Achidh Bó [recte Bolg], búaid lére
“Eolang, a beauteous pillar, of Aghabulloge, triumph of piety”
(The Martryology of Oengus the Culdee, p. 192; see also Historical Dictionary of Gaelic Placenames, Fascicle I (Names in A-)).
Saint Eolang’s association with Aghabulloge was so important in the politics of the early Irish church that a large amount of native literature was produced in order to emphasize not only that link, but also his association with Saint Fionnbharr (see Pádraig Ó Riain, ‘To be Named is to Exist: The instructive case of Achadh Bolg’ in P. O’Flanagan & C. Buttimer (eds.), Cork – History and Society (Dublin, 1993), pp. 45‒61; see also Pádraig Ó Riain, A Dictionary of Irish Saints (Dublin, 2012), p. 297). Apparently, Eolang’s activities were not confined to Aghabulloge and County Cork: he may also be the eponym of Timolin/Tuaim Eolaing “hillock of Eolang” (see logainm.ie #41176) in County Offaly and Camolin/Cam Eolaing “(river-)bend of Eolang” (see logainm.ie #53095) in County Wexford (see also Logainmneacha na hÉireann IV: Townland Names of Co. Wexford, p. 604). Indeed, it seems that Eolang of Aghabulloge was a well-travelled man, as in Irish hagiographic literature he is also mentioned in the company of Fionnbharr of Cork and Maodhóg of Ferns on a pilgrimage to trip to Rome:
Dochuaidh Bairri iarsin do Roimh, do ghabail gradh nespuicc ar áen ocus Eolang, ocus Maedhócc Ferna
“Bairre went after that to Rome, to take the grade of bishop together with Eolang, and Maodhóg of Ferns”
(Bethada Náem nÉrenn, I p. 17)