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2025-04-26

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Running with the hounds!
Coolnaconarty / Cúil na Conairte
‘the recess of the hound-pack’
(see logainm.ie #9695)

Date: 23/04/2025

The standard reference work on all aspects of animals and animal husbandry in early Irish society is Fergus Kelly’s indispensable Early Irish Farming (EIF), to which we have often made reference in these notes. On our current theme of canines in placenames, we can note the details provided by Kelly on the role of guard dogs, hunting dogs, herd dogs and pet dogs as described in the old law tracts (EIF pp.114-121; see also Kelly, Early Irish Law [EIL] p.275 §48 Conṡlechta ‘dog-sections’). In Old Irish terminology, the guard dog of the fiercest type was the árchú (literally ‘slaughter-hound’). The penalty for illegally killing the most highly prized of this type of hound – the cú chethardoruis [Mod.Ir. cú ceathardhorais] ‘(guard) dog of the four doors’ – was very severe: “ten cows and … a dog of the same breed that will perform the dead one’s services” (Latin text quoted and translated in EIL pp.354-355 §4; cf. EIF pp.115-116).

We may note in passing that the Old Irish word matad [Mod.Ir. madadh] ‘dog’, the subject of our last note, is found only in the name of the lowest status of hounds in these texts, the aithechmatad [Mod.Ir. aitheachmhadadh] or ‘peasant cur’ (EIF p.117). As we have seen, the word Mod.Ir. mada(dh)/madra occurs quite frequently in townland names – but we have yet to identify any townland name referring to the highly-valued árchú.

The second highest category of hound was the hunting dog or mílchú [Mod.Ir míolchú] (literally ‘animal-hound’) (eDIL s.v. mílchú). Although this hunting dog was not nearly as valuable as the high-status árchú (EIF p.117), we have evidence that the word míolchú was adopted as a personal name (see Ó Muraíle (ed.), Leabhar Mór na nGenealach). This means that we cannot be certain whether placenames such as Clogheenmilcon / Cloichín Míolchon (logainm.ie #[9264] (https://www.logainm.ie/en/9264)) and Cloonmalonga / Cluain Míolchon (logainm.ie #[48892] (https://www.logainm.ie/en/48892)) in Co. Tipperary mean ‘little stone of (the) hunting dog(s)’ and ‘meadow, pasture of (the) hunting dog(s)’, respectively, or ‘the little stone of Míolchú (personal name)’ and ‘the meadow, pasture of Míolchú’. (Cf. also eDIL s.v. 1 Miliuc.) However, Clonamicklon / Cluain Ó Míolchon ‘the meadow, pasture of the Uí Mhíolchon’ (logainm.ie #[48448] (https://www.logainm.ie/en/48448)), Co. Tipperary, and Kilmeelchon / Cill Ó Míolchon ‘the church of the Uí Mhíolchon’ (logainm.ie #[41496] (https://www.logainm.ie/en/41496)) in Co. Offaly seem very likely to refer to a population group called Uí Mhíolchon (gen. Ó Míolchon) ‘descendants of Míolchú’.

The Old Irish texts refer to the herd dog as conbúachaill [Mod.Ir. conbhuachaill], literally ‘dog-herder’. The herding dog was also highly prized, the penalty for its illegal killing being half that of the hunting dog. However, like árchú – the term for hunting dog – the compound conbhuachaill has not yet been identified in any modern townland name. Of course, there are many placenames containing references to buachaill itself, usually meaning ‘(cow)herd [male or female]; boy’ (eDIL s.v. búachaill): e.g. Aghavoghil / Achadh Bhuachaill ‘field of (the) herder; boy’ (logainm.ie #[29442] (https://www.logainm.ie/en/29442)) in Co. Leitrim. Knocknamohill / Cnocán na mBuachaill (logainm.ie #[55242] (https://www.logainm.ie/en/55242)) in Co. Wicklow signifies ‘the hillock of the herders; boys’. The same meaning recurs elsewhere as Cnocán na mBuachaillí, anglicized Knockanenabohilly in Cos. Cork (logainm.ie #[10149] (https://www.logainm.ie/en/10149)) and Tipperary (logainm.ie #[46212] (https://www.logainm.ie/en/46212)); Knocknabohilly (logainm.ie #[11083] (https://www.logainm.ie/en/11083); #[13762] (https://www.logainm.ie/en/13762)) in Co. Cork, and Knockannamohilly (logainm.ie #[46728] (https://www.logainm.ie/en/46728)) in Co. Tipperary. (The most impressive and economical anglicization of Cnocán na mBuachaillí is surely Boyhill (logainm.ie #[19607] (https://www.logainm.ie/en/19607)) in Co. Galway, which manages to retain some of the sound and all of the meaning!) The word buachaill is often used figuratively for a natural or man-made feature on high ground, in the sense ‘guardian, protector’ (eDIL s.v. búachaill, sense (b)): see for instance Boughil / An Buachaill (logainm.ie #[20582] (https://www.logainm.ie/en/20582)), a hill on the border of Cos. Galway and Roscommon. We may return to this interesting term in future notes.

Not all dogs in early Irish society were kept as workers. The Old Irish term for a pet dog was messán [Mod.Ir. measán], literally ‘little pet’, sometimes also meschú [Mod.Ir. measchú] ‘pet-dog’ (eDIL s.v. 3 mes(s)). As in other early societies, these lap-dogs were often associated with high-ranking women, giving them quite a high legal value (EIF p.120). When the element measán does occur in placenames, however, it is far more likely to be a diminutive of meas in the sense ‘fruit of forest tree, mast’ (eDIL s.v. 2 mes(s); cf. FGB s.v. meas2): examples include Kilmissan / Coill Mheasáin ‘the wood of …’ (logainm.ie #[3564] (https://www.logainm.ie/en/3564)) in Co. Carlow, Magheramason / Machaire Measáin ‘the plain of …’ (logainm.ie #[1166432] (https://www.logainm.ie/en/1166432); placenamesni.org) in Co. Tyrone, Kilmessan / Cill Mheasáin ‘the church of …’ (logainm.ie #[1416711] (https://www.logainm.ie/en/1416711)) in Co. Meath.

While definite examples of these rather technical early Irish terms for various types of hounds seem to be rare or non-existent in townland names, the generic term cú ‘hound’ itself is just as common as mada(dh)/madra ‘dog’, to the extent that only a small sample can be given here. (Note in regard to the following examples that in the earlier language, the genitive form of cú was con in both the singular and plural, and it occurred as a masculine and feminine noun. With the definite article, this gives gen. sg. (an) c(h)on or (na) con ‘of (the) hound’ and gen. pl. (na g)con ‘of (the) hounds’.)

Examples with cú in the genitive singular include Carrownacon / Ceathrú na Con ‘the quarter(land) of the hound’ (logainm.ie #[34782] (https://www.logainm.ie/en/34782)) in Co. Mayo; Gortknockaneroe / Gort na Con Rua ‘the field of the red hound’ (logainm.ie #[10649] (https://www.logainm.ie/en/10649)) and Lisnacon / Lios na Con ‘the ring-fort of the hound’ (logainm.ie #[10588] (https://www.logainm.ie/en/10588)) in Co. Cork.

In the genitive plural, we find Ballynagun / Baile na gCon ‘the town(land) of the hounds’ (logainm.ie #[7091] (https://www.logainm.ie/en/7091)), Coumnagun / Com na gCon ‘the recess of the hounds’ (logainm.ie #[7604] (https://www.logainm.ie/en/7604)) and Drimmeenagun / Dromainn na gCon ‘the ridge of the hounds’ (logainm.ie #[7896] (https://www.logainm.ie/en/7896)) in Co. Clare. Another probable example from the same county is Poulnagun (logainm.ie #[6636] (https://www.logainm.ie/en/6636)), which at the current stage of research seems to represent Poll na gCon ‘the hole, pool of the hounds’. In a similar semantic vein we have Lugnagun / Log na gCon ‘the hollow of the hounds’ (logainm.ie #[54635] (https://www.logainm.ie/en/54635)) in Co. Wicklow. Coolnacon (logainm.ie #[52385] (https://www.logainm.ie/en/52385)) in Co. Wexford derives from Cúil na gCon ‘the recess of the hounds’, as do the two examples of Coolnagun in Cos. Tipperary (logainm.ie #[47366] (https://www.logainm.ie/en/47366)) and Westmeath (logainm.ie #[51241] (https://www.logainm.ie/en/51241)). Cluain na gCon ‘the meadow of the hounds’ is the forerunner to Cloonagun (logainm.ie #[45028] (https://www.logainm.ie/en/45028)) in Co. Sligo and Clonagun in Co. Fermanagh (logainm.ie #[59366] (https://www.logainm.ie/en/59366); placenamesni.org). On higher ground, Cnocán na gCon ‘the hillock of the hounds’ is the precursor to Knocknagun (logainm.ie #[24264] (https://www.logainm.ie/en/24264)) in Co. Kerry and Knockaunnagun (logainm.ie # [31804] (https://www.logainm.ie/en/31804)) in Co. Limerick; compare Knocknagon / Cnoc na gCon ‘the hill of the hounds’ (logainm.ie #[34449] (https://www.logainm.ie/en/34449)) in Co. Mayo.

In some placenames, as with other animals, the number of hounds is specified as two, e.g. Cloondacon / Cluain Dá Chon ‘meadow, pasture of (the) two hounds’ (logainm.ie #[36871] (https://www.logainm.ie/en/36871)) in Co. Mayo. The local legend told about the twin peaks of Sliabh Dá Chon ‘mountain of (the) two hounds’ (logainm.ie #[60363] (https://www.logainm.ie/en/60363); placenamesni.org) in Co. Fermanagh can be presumed to be typical: tradition had it that a witch cast a spell on Fionn mac Cumhaill’s two hounds Bran and Sceolaing and turned them into hills. After the language shift to English, these hills were called Big Dog and Little Dog (McKay, Dictionary of Ulster Place-Names p.57).

We also have references to packs of hounds, as in Coolnaconarty / Cúil na Conairte ‘the recess of the hound-pack’ (logainm.ie #[9695] (https://www.logainm.ie/en/9695)) in Co. Cork. A similar meaning may have been conveyed by the townland names Connagh / Conach in Cos. Cork (logainm.ie #[9896] (https://www.logainm.ie/en/9896)) and Wexford (logainm.ie #[53407] (https://www.logainm.ie/en/53407)), where Conach may be a compound of con (< cú) + -ach, the adjectival suffix frequently used in a collective sense in placenames, giving conach ‘a place abounding in hounds’. (In the Co. Wexford example, at least, the early attestation ‘Chonnach’ (1247) probably rules out a close compound of con+achadh ‘dog-field’ along the lines of Ardagh / Ardach (logainm.ie #[33031] (https://www.logainm.ie/en/33031)), Co. Longford, which was originally ard+achadh ‘high field’; cf. Ó Cearbhaill, ‘An logainm Ardach’ in Ainm 14 (2018) pp.68-77).

There is much more that could be said about placenames with cú ‘hound’. We will restrict ourselves to pointing out that the word cú allta (literally ‘wild hound’) was also used to refer to the wolf. As we saw last week, the word madra ‘dog’ by itself was apparently understood as madra allta ‘wolf’ in the placename Coolamaddera / Cúil an Mhadra (logainm.ie #[54665] (https://www.logainm.ie/en/54665)) in Co. Wicklow (‘Collywhaddere’ 1547, ‘Wolf-ys-hole’ 1560, ‘Wolfesden’ 1627). It may well be that some of the toponyms containing the element cú had similar connotations of the cú allta ‘wolf’, either for their original namers or for subsequent generations.

(Conchubhar Ó Crualaoich & Aindí Mac Giolla Chomhghaill)

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