Date: 21/05/2025

We saw in last week’s note how highly the domestic cat was valued in Gaelic Ireland, in the sense that a significant financial penalty was levied for unlawful killing or injury of the animal. Modern cat-lovers will be pleased to know, however, that cats had more than a monetary value in early Irish society, and that some Old and Middle Irish sources even record the names of individual pet cats. The most famous of these is undoubtedly Pangur Bán ‘white Pangur’, who features in a well-known Old Irish poem. (The poem is preserved in the 9th-century Codex Sancti Pauli, now held in Austria and apparently written by an Irish cleric in the abbey of Reichenau near Konstanz on what is now the border of Germany and Switzerland. Cf. Oskamp, Éigse 17 (1978); Toner, Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 57 (2009).) The first quatrain goes as follows:

Messe ocus Pangur bán,                           Myself and white Pangur
cechtar nathar fria ṡaindán;                      each of us at his special craft:
bíth a menma-sam fri seilgg,                     his mind is wont to be on hunting
mu menma céin im ṡaincheirdd.               my own mind on my special craft.

The 16th-century text known as O’Davoren’s Glossary contains explanations of some of the terminology in the early Irish law tracts. Here we find an entry beginning ‘Glasnenta .i. ainm do chat…’ [Glasnenta, i.e., the name of a cat…], which sets out the honour-price of a certain type of cat so called (Stokes 1862: 95). (Fergus Kelly (EIF p.123) takes this to be an extract from the legal tract Catṡlechtae ‘cat-sections’ which we mentioned last week.) The first element of the name is OIr. glas, which referred to a range of colours in the earlier language before becoming the standard Modern Irish word for the colour ‘green’. The editors of the Dictionary of the Irish language suggest that this cat-name should be understood as meaning ‘Nettle-Green’ (eDIL s.v. 2 glas), but Kelly (EIF p.123) suggests ‘nettle-grey’. The text itself explains the name .i. bís fon nglasnenaigh, nó gebar do nenaigh glais .i. don nenntóig “i.e. which is under the green nettle, or which is brought from a green nettle, i.e. from the nettle” (Murray, Celtica 25). In any case, it is the second element of this name, OIr. nenta = Mod. Ir. neanta, a collective noun meaning ‘nettles’, which concerns us this week.

The word neanta – diminutive neantóg, neantán (see FGB s.vv. neanta, neantóg; see also Dinneen s.v. neannta) – occurs in many placenames around the country. It usually found as a qualifying element, as in the townland name Tornant [Upper, Lower] / Tor Neanta ‘tall rock(?) of nettles’ (logainm.ie #54717) in Co. Wicklow. (The precise meaning of the generic element tor is unclear in this name; its various senses in Modern Irish include ‘bush, clump, tuft; tall rock, steep rocky height; tower’ (FGB s.v. 1, 2 tor). Note that the hilltop in Tornant Upper features a standing stone, a megalithic tomb and a stone circle: cf. archaeology.ie WI0-15-039; WI0-15-036; WI0-15-037.) Another Co. Wicklow example is Ballinanty / Baile an Neanta ‘the town(land) of the nettles’ (logainm.ie #55267). There is a Creggananta / Creig an Neanta ‘the rock, crag of the nettles’ (logainm.ie #19383) in Co. Galway. Our colleagues from the Northern Ireland Placenames Project have researched the townland Ballynant (logainm.ie #60183; placenamesni.org) in Co. Fermanagh, and their conclusion is that it derives from Baile an Neanta ‘the town(land) of the nettles’ or Baile Neanta without the article.

Note that the examples just mentioned treat neanta as a masculine noun, gen. an neanta ‘of the nettles (coll.)’. However, neanta is more usually found as a feminine noun in placenames: thus, in Co. Limerick we have Ballynanty / Baile na Neanta ‘the town(land) of the nettles’ (logainm #30825), Cappananty / Ceapach na Neanta ‘the plot of the nettles’ (logainm.ie #30529) and Knockananty / Cnocán na Neanta ‘the hillock of the nettles’ (logainm.ie # 31222). In Co. Galway there is Srahaunananta / Srathán na Neanta ‘the (little) river valley of the nettles’ (logainm.ie #20068) and Cornananta / Corr na Neanta ‘the round hill of the nettles’ (logainm.ie #20361). Further north we have Carrownananta / Ceathrú na Neanta ‘the quarter of the nettles’ (logainm.ie #45027) in Co. Sligo and Derrynananta / Doire na Neanta ‘the (oak-)wood, grove of the nettles’ (logainm.ie #1371793) in Co. Cavan.

There are few examples of the derivatives neantóg and neantán, however. One fairly certain exception is Kilnantoge / Coill Neantóige ‘wood of (the) nettle’ (logainm.ie #41640) in Co. Offaly. And the townland name Nantinan / Neantanán ‘place of nettles’ (logainm.ie #23369) in Co. Kerry gets a mention in Dinneen’s Dictionary (s.v. neanntanán), where he explains it as “a nettle shrubbery”. The same name Nantinan / Neantanán is borne by a civil parish and townland in Co. Limerick (logainm.ie #1584; #32235).

Research has not been completed on Glasnant (logainm.ie #15942) in Co. Donegal, but preliminary work also reflects the presence of neanta ‘nettles’ or a derivative thereof in the Irish precursor. (The similarity to the Old Irish cat-name Glas Nenta mentioned above can safely be presumed to be coincidental!)

It is likely that neanta ‘nettles’ flourished in many locations prior to the introduction of more modern agricultural practices and the 17th-century mania for ‘improvement’ of land (a word that occurs almost 200 times in The Civil Survey, A.D. 1654-1656 ... County Wexford alone!). Apart from referring to its simple prevalence and visibility in the countryside, however, these placenames may also reflect the utility of the nettle in Gaelic society. Early Irish texts refer to the nettle’s use as a seasonal food (EIF p.311), and in the modern era it is also known for medicinal properties. The Schools’ Folklore Collection of the 1930s recorded a Co. Roscommon tradition that drinking three portions of brután neantóg (a type of nettle soup) during the month of March would ward off illness for the rest of the year (BNS 0015.144). A recipe for nettle broth and dumplings was collected in Phibsborough, on the doorstep of Dublin City (BNS 0799.209). But the schoolchildren of Co. Meath went one better, providing a detailed recipe for nettle beer (BNS 0684.238). Many people in Ireland still make nettle soup today. For a twist that is both traditional and modern, you can infuse the neantóg ‘nettle’ with the creamh ‘wild garlic’ – discussed in a previous note – to make a very good pesto.

Conchubhar Ó Crualaoich & Aindí Mac Giolla Chomhghaill

• Neantanán/Nantinan
• /Glasnant
• Creig an Neanta/Creggananta
• Srathán na Neanta/Srahaunananta
• Corr na Neanta Mhór/Cornananta More
• Neantanán/Nantinan
• Ceapach na Neanta/Cappananty
• Baile na Neanta/Ballynanty
• Cnocán na Neanta/Knockananty
• Neantanán/Nantinan
• Coill Neantóige Íochtarach/Kilnantoge Lower
• Ceathrú na Neanta/Carrownanty
• Tor Neanta Íochtarach/Tornant Lower
• Baile an Neanta/Ballinanty
• /Ballynant
• Doire na Neanta/Derrynananta

More themes