Date: 12/05/2025

Having spent so much time with dogs, hounds and wolves over the last few weeks, it’s only fair that we look at some examples of the Irish word cat ‘cat’ (eDIL s.v. catt) in townland names. The European wild cat (Felis sylvestris) once roamed throughout Ireland, but it disappears from the archaeological record at the end of the Bronze Age (see Ní Cheallacháin, Excavation report for Sheephill, Co. Dublin (2014); Woodman, ‘Ireland’s native mammals: a survey of the archaeological record’ in The Irish Naturalist’s Journal 33 (2014) pp.28-43). Its modern counterpart is the domestic cat (Felis catus), which has thrived here since its introduction from Roman Britain. Fergus Kelly (Early Irish Farming [EIF] p.121) notes that cats were clearly of considerable importance in Irish society at the time of the compilation of the major legal texts in the 7th and 8th centuries. The early sagas tell of cats with supernatural powers, but the principal role of the animal in day-to-day life was to protect the grain store from vermin. Although cats were not quite as valuable as the ferocious guard dog (OIr. árchú) or hunting hound (OIr. mílchú), penalties to be levied for their unlawful killing, injury or theft were laid out in law tracts known as Catṡlechtae ‘cat-sections’, the equivalent of the Conṡlechtae ‘dog-sections’ we have mentioned before (EIF pp.114-124).

Unlike the generic terms for dog, which feature in the Irish names for other animals – from mammals (cú allta, faolchú, madra allta ‘wolf’; madra rua ‘fox’; dobharchú, madra uisce ‘otter’) to fish (madra scadán ‘dogfish’) and even insects (cú cnámha ‘louse’, cú fionna ‘moth’, etc.) – the Irish word cat was more closely restricted to the single domestic species. (It is unclear how long the word cat crainn ‘tree-cat’, referring to the pine marten – and the squirrel, according to Dinneen – has been in use. Neither Ó Neachtain (c. 1739) nor Ó Briain (1768) give any secondary meanings under cat in their dictionaries, in contrast to their entries for cú and mada(dh). One thing we can be sure of is that cat in Irish placenames does not refer to the cat mara ‘angel fish’ as described in An Béal Bocht.) Cats feature in about thirty townland names around the country, which although quite a high number is not in the same league as dogs, hounds and wolves.

Cat is often found with generic elements referring to high ground. As the European wild cat died out before the arrival of the Insular Celtic precursor to the Irish language it is very unlikely that any placename coined in Irish contains a memory of that species. Nevertheless, notwithstanding the daredevil nature of many modern domesticated cats, the majority of these features – particularly the more remote examples – must surely have referred to “wild” cats at least in the sense of “feral”. The townland name Carrignagat / Carraig na gCat ‘the rock of the cats’ occurs once in Co. Cork (logainm.ie #8401) and twice in Co. Sligo (logainm.ie #45062; #45078). Carraig an Chait ‘the rock of the cat’ is anglicized as Carrickacat (logainm.ie #36230) in Co. Mayo and Carrigacat (logainm.ie #13463) in Co. Cork, and translated as Catsrock (logainm.ie #27542) in Co. Kilkenny. Cnocán na gCat ‘the hillock of the cats’ is the forerunner to Knockannagad (logainm.ie #28361) in Co. Laois, Knockaunnagat (logainm.ie #21621) in Co. Galway and Knockaunacat (logainm.ie #36097) in Co. Mayo. With the qualifier in the singular, Cnocán an Chait ‘the hillock of the cat’ is anglicized Knockaunacuit (logainm.ie #50020) in Co. Waterford. The name of the townland Corrakit / Corr an Chait ‘the round hill of the cat’ (logainm.ie #33777) in Co. Louth – whose residents were satirized by Séamas Dall Mac Cuarta in the late 17th century – also refers to higher ground. It is pleasing to observe that Timacat / Tuaim an Chait ‘the mound of the cat’ (logainm.ie #19013), Co. Galway, is right beside Glenamaddy / Gleann na Madadh ‘the glen of the dogs (wolves?)’!

Further examples featuring carraig and cnoc(án) are found in minor names, e.g. Carraig an Chait on the hills above Saggart, Co. Dublin, as recorded by the Ordnance Survey: ‘Carraig an chait’ (1837); Carraig na gCat, a minor name in the parish of Shercock, Co. Cavan: ‘Corrignagath’ (1921); and Cnocán an Chait (logainm.ie #1398193) in the Galway Gaeltacht: /ˌkɾokɑːɴəˈxutʹ/ (c. 1970).

Cat also occurs relatively frequently with the generics ráth and lios, understood as ‘ring-fort (in ruins)’ in the later language. (See eDIL s.vv. 2 ráth, 2 les for earlier meanings.) Examples include Lissakit / Lios an Chait ‘the ring-fort of the cat’ (logainm.ie #32637) in Co. Longford and Raheenakit / Ráithín an Chait ‘the (little) ring-fort of the cat’ (logainm.ie #55915) in Co. Wicklow. Lisnagat / Lios na gCat ‘the ring-fort of the cats’ is the name of townlands in Cos. Cork (logainm.ie #8302) and Leitrim (logainm.ie #29172), while in Co. Galway we have Lisheennagat / Lisín na gCat ‘the (little) ring-fort of the cats’ (logainm.ie #21282).

It is likely that more examples will turn up as research on the remaining counties progresses. (In Co. Donegal, for instance, Rosscat (logainm.ie #13823) and Meentycat (logainm.ie #16466) seem likely candidates.) However, even where the word cat can be identified with near certainty, not all of these placenames make immediate sense. The association of cats with ring-forts is just about imaginable, even though it comes less readily than the likes of Lios na gCaorach ‘the ring-fort of the sheep (pl.)’ and Ráth na mBó ‘the ring-fort of the cattle’, which point to the deliberate repurposing of old ring-forts as livestock enclosures. Our last example is more difficult to understand. There is a townland in Co. Kerry known in English as Churchtown (logainm.ie #23247). This name derives from the site of a medieval church and graveyard, which was the burial place of the famous McGillycuddy / Mac Giolla Mochuda family (“Macgillycuddy[s] of the Reeks, a branch of the O’Sullivan Mores who were associated with nearby Dromaloughane castle” (archaeology.ie KE065-012001)). The church itself was called Teampall an Chnocáin ‘the church of the hillock’ in Irish – but what are we to make of the fact that the Irish name of the townland is Fearann na gCat ‘the land(holding) of the cats’?!
(Conchubhar Ó Crualaoich & Aindí Mac Giolla Chomhghaill)

(Conchubhar Ó Crualaoich & Aindí Mac Giolla Chomhghaill

• Lios na gCat/Lisnagat
• Carraig na gCat/Carrignagat
• Carraig an Chait agus An Millín/Carrigacat and Milleen
• /Rosscat
• /Meentycat
• Tuaim an Chait/Timacat
• Lisín na gCat/Lisheennagat
• Cnocán na gCat/Knockaunnagat
• Fearann na gCat/Churchtown
• Carraig an Chait/Catsrock
• Cnocán na gCat/Knockannagad
• Lios na gCat/Lisnagat
• Lios an Chait/Lissakit
• Corr an Chait/Corrakit
• Cnocán na gCat/Knockaunacat
• Carraig an Chait/Carrickacat
• Carraig na gCat/Carricknagat
• Carraig na gCat/Carricknagat
• Cnocán an Chait/Knockaunacuit
• Ráithín an Chait/Raheenakit
• Cnocán an Chait Thiar/Knockaunakit West

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