the bogland of the woods?

Ní léir bunús an cháilitheora anseo. Tá an fhianaise measctha ach is cosúil gur chríochnaigh an logainm le guta /ɑː/ (1670 ‘Monivah’, 1805 ‘Moenivaw’, Moanavaw SO) < Móin na bhFeá (?) “the bog(land) of the woods”. D’fhoghrófaí Móin an Mheatha (?) “the bog(land) of the decay” mar an gcéanna, mar gheall ar chailliúint -th- leathain idir ghutaí agus fadú cúitimh (cf. 1591 ‘Lios in Metha’ = bf Lios an Mheatha i dTiobraid Árann (#48079); cf. www.dil.ie agus Early Irish Farming (innéacs Gaeilge) s.v. meth).

Más ea, is cosúil gur forcheartú nó sciorradh pinn ba chúis leis an litriú 1608 ‘Moanevane’ CPR 113a in -n- (leg. Moanevahe?). Is cinnte nach mbeifí ag súil le -vah, -vaw na dtagairtí déanacha mar bhéarlú ar bhán. Ach is é bán a thuairimíonn Daniel O’Byrne (1856) sa bhlúire béaloidis seo a leanas: ‘The Dun [sc. Dún Másc] is not remarkable as being a favourite place of the “good people”, though in 1797, an army of these mysterious beings was evidently seen on the bog of Moin-bhan beneath the Dun north-west; they were visible to about one hundred spectators, who were employed on the bog and in the adjoining fields…’ History of the Queen’s County 16. Ní féidir mórán iontaoibh a thabhairt leis na foirmeacha Gaeilge a sholáthraítear sa leabhar úd, áfach (cf. bf Log an Churraigh (#28183)).