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Date: 02/06/2025

The hurling Championship has returned again! As we already discussed placenames relating to hurling this time last year, however, in this note we will draw attention to an interesting, albeit coincidental, link between the name of one of Co. Wexford’s premier clubs and the most famous reference to hurling in Irish literature. One of the prologues to the epic story Táin Bó Chuaille (OIr. Táin Bó Cúalnge) (‘the cattle-raid of Cuaille / Cooley’) tells of the arrival of the boy named Séadanta to Eamhain Mhacha, the residence of the king Conchúr mac Neasa, whereupon he engaged the youths of Ulster in a hurling match. (See Eamhain Mhacha / Navan (logainm.ie #56153; placenamesni.org Eamhain Mhacha. Note the standardized Modern Irish orthography of Séadanta. The Old and Middle Irish spelling Sétanta tends to be brutally mispronounced as /səˈtanˌta/, as in the name of the sports channel.) The version in the Book of Leinster tells us that Séadanta encountered these youths for faidche na Emna, ‘on the faiche of Eamhain Mhacha’. Here faiche is clearly used in the sense ‘open space in front of a fort, (significant) residence’ (for other examples see eDIL s.v. faithche, faidche). (OIr. Faidche na hEmna is mentioned in other early Irish sagas, e.g. Aided Chonchubair.) Needless to say, Séadanta was victorious, and later in the story the same faiche is again the scene for a display of his skill with the camán ‘hurley/hurl’ which earned him the new name Cú Chulainn. (No spoilers given here!)

However, faiche was not restricted at any stage of the language to the narrow meaning in which it was used in this tale. Further meanings in early Irish include ‘public square, courtyard; green meadow; playingfield’ (eDIL) and in the modern language, ‘(playing-)field, (play)ground’ (FGB s.v. faiche), or even simply ‘field’, ‘lawn’ or ‘plain’ (Dinneen s.v. faithche). Given its versatility it is little surprise that faiche is quite common in placenames. Thus we find townlands bearing the simplex name An Fhaiche in all four corners of the country (see Glossary, logainm.ie s.v. faiche), anglicized by the Ordnance Survey as Faha in Cos. Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford; Fahy in Cos. Clare, Galway, Kilkenny, Leitrim, Meath and Offaly; Foygh in Co. Longford; and Foy in Co. Kildare.

In combination with qualifying adjectives faiche also features in the forerunner to Fahy Beg in Cos. Mayo (logainm.ie #37225) and Clare (logainm.ie #7430), Fahybeg (logainm.ie #36397) also in Co. Mayo, along with Foy Beg (logainm.ie #56616) in Co. Armagh, which all represent An Fhaiche Bheag, variously meaning ‘the small green’ or ‘the green, small (subdivision of)’; and their counterparts Fahamore (logainm.ie #22522) in Co. Kerry, Fahymore (logainm.ie #29294) in Co. Leitrim, and Fahy More (logainm.ie #37226) in Co. Mayo, as well as Foy More (logainm.ie #56617; see also placenamesni.org An Fhaiche Mhór) in Co. Armagh, which all represent An Fhaiche Mhór. Faiche is also qualified by adjectives of colour in Irish townland names: see Fahalea / An Fhaiche Liath ‘the grey green’ (logainm.ie #10936) in Co. Cork, and Fahavane / An Fhaiche Bhán ‘the white green’ (logainm.ie #10936) and Fahaduff / An Fhaiche Dhubh ‘the black green’ (logainm.ie #24681) in Co. Kerry. (Note that of course the original Irish forms have none of the unavoidable double-meaning of green in these English translations.)

Faiche ‘green, etc.’ also occurs as a qualifying element. It is possible that Lisnafaha / Lios na Faiche ‘the ringfort of the green’ (logainm.ie #6930) in Co. Clare originally referred to the ground directly outside of the ringfort, similar to the faiche in front of Eamhain Mhacha mentioned above. A different meaning is evident in Callan / Callain, Co. Kilkenny, however, where the townland Cannafahy / Ceann na Faiche ‘the head of the green’ (logainm.ie #26146) received its name because it was located just beyond the town’s Fair Green (Faiche an Aonaigh). (The place is mentioned frequently in the early 19th-century diary of Amhlaoibh Ó Súilleabháin.) Various other meanings, some more obscure than others, must have been intended in the following placenames: Baile na Faiche ‘the townland of the green’ (anglicized Ballynafeigh (logainm.ie #62052) and Ballynafie (logainm.ie #62921) in Co. Antrim; Ballynafagh in Co. Kildare (#26086)); Lugnafaha / Log na Faiche ‘the hollow of the green’ (logainm.ie #37232) in Co. Mayo and Cornafaghy / Corr na Faiche ‘the round hill of the green’ (logainm.ie #40600) in Co. Monaghan.

As to derivatives, the word faichín – i.e., faiche with the diminutive suffix -ín – does not occur in townland names, although it is found in microtoponymy in Munster: in Co. Tipperary we find the two unconnected placenames Faugheen / Faichín (#67199) and Faheen Cross Roads / Crois Fhaichín (#67198), and in Co. Waterford we find Faugheen Church / Teampall an Fhaichín (#1436460) and another probable example in the Gaeltacht field name An Fhaichín(?) (#1420588). On the other hand, we do find examples of townland names containing another diminutive faicheog, i.e., faiche with the suffix -óg either in a collective sense (‘the place abounding in greens’) or, more likely, a diminutive sense (‘the small green’). In its plural form Na Faicheoga, this is the precursor to Fihoges in Co. Longford (logainm.ie #33157) and Foyoges (logainm.ie #44485) in Co. Sligo.

Note that so far, the English-language versions of the townland names featuring faiche, faichín and faicheog we have mentioned are all standardized spellings of fairly straightforward phonetic adaptations of the Irish placenames, as opposed to translations or replacements. There are a couple of exceptions. At some stage during the 17th or 18th century, the townland name Gort na Faiche ‘the field of/at the green’ (logainm.ie #26167) in Co. Kilkenny (‘Gortnefahe’ 1538) appears to have become associated with an unconnected English placename Haggard (‘the haggard’ 1555), producing the modern official English name Haggartsgreen (-t- sic). It is interesting to note that the Irish translation Faiche an Agaird ‘the green of the haggard’ subsequently emerged as a local variant. (Although this is clearly derived from the English name Haggardsgreen, its etymology appears to have been forgotten by local Irish-speakers in the 19th century: the Ordnance Survey recorded the form ‘fatha na ccárd’ (1838), and even the literate Amhlaoibh Ó Súilleabháin misunderstood it as ‘Fatha-na-gárda’ (1833), both forms showing an unanticipated shift of stress to the final syllable.)

Probably the most unusual anglicized form of the element faiche itself is found in the south Wexford townland name Faythe / An Fhaiche (logainm.ie #54433) in the civil parish of Tacumshin: ‘the Faigh’ (1579), ‘Faith’ (1716). Exactly the same form (with the addition of the definite article) is used for another example of Irish An Fhaiche in the same county, in the name of civil parish of Saint Michael’s of Feagh (logainm.ie #2620) in Wexford Town. The local spelling of this name is The Faythe; the earliest surviving written attestation is ‘le ffaghe’ (1461x1483), but it is spelled ‘Faythe’ in the Tithe Applotment Books (c. 1830). However, the traditional pronunciation is the bizarre /ˈfaiɣth/, /faəɣth/ or /faigth/ (as if spelled Faaghth, Fayghth), never the anticipated ‘spelling-pronunciation’ as if Eng. faith (/feːθ/, /feːt̪/). This local form appears to derive from Middle Irish variant pronunciation faichthe /faxʹθʹə/, with a reflex of the cluster /xʹθʹ/ as /ɣtʰ/, indicating that the anglicized form of the placename was fossilized from the very earliest period of the Anglo-Norman colony in Ireland, when these sounds were still heard in the Irish name.

But what is the connection with Cú Chulainn’s hurling exploits on the faiche of Eamhain Mhacha? Well, The Faythe (Saint Michael’s of Feagh) / An Fhaiche is located just outside the old town wall of Wexford, suggesting that in this case faiche might have had its early sense ‘an open space in or before a significant settlement’, reminiscent of the faiche outside Conchúr mac Neasa’s royal residence. It is a pleasure to note, then, that An Fhaiche / The Faythe in Wexford happens to be steeped in the sport of hurling! It gives its name to Wexford Town’s most eminent hurling club, The Faythe Harriers (Ruagairí na Faiche), the home of many legends of hurling down through the ages, including Larry O’Gorman, Ireland’s Hurler of the Year in 1996. The current star is of course Lee Chin, who not only carries the hopes of the club on his shoulders every year, but also usually the hopes of the entire county. A song about Nicky Rackard (another Wexford hurling legend, this time from Rathnure), has already used the title Cú Chulainn’s Son. But what better claim to that nickname now than Lee Chin, the most legendary modern-day hurler on the Faiche!

Conchubhar Ó Crualaoich & Aindí Mac Giolla Chomhghaill

Date: 26/05/2025

Last week’s neanta ‘nettles’ naturally leads us to this week’s copóg ‘dock(-leaf)’. One of the first Irish-language nursery jingles children learn is Neantóg a dhóigh mé, copóg a leigheas mé (‘It was a nettle that stung me, it was a dock-leaf that cured me!’). Even in the predominantly Anglophone Ireland of today this folk remedy is still well known, and of course it is not restricted to this county. While the scientific basis for the “cure” is questionable to say the least, there is a good chance that the next time you receive a sting from a nettle you will notice – when you’re finished cursing – that the copóg ‘dock-leaf’ is growing at the same spot. Like the nettles it intermixes with, the copóg ‘dock’ is very well represented in townland names, as we will see below.

One noticeable feature is the frequency with which copóg occurs in townland names containing the generic element cúil ‘nook, recess’. The English name Springhill in Co. Tipperary (logainm.ie #47726) is a 19th-century replacement of Cúil na gCopóg ‘the recess, nook of the docks’. This same Irish placename – in the anglicized form Coolnacoppoge – occurs three times in Co. Kerry (logainm.ie #22482; #22828; #22974), with further examples in Cos. Carlow (logainm.ie #3245), Kilkenny (logainm.ie #26563) and Waterford (logainm.ie #50347).

Note that we only have one probable example of Cúil na gCopóg outside Munster and Leinster, in Co. Antrim. Townland names in which copóg occurs with other generic elements show less of a geographical bias. Thus, in the northern half of Ireland we find Lecarrownagappoge / Leithcheathrú na gCopóg ‘the half-quarter (land measure) of the docks’ (logainm.ie #20057) in Co. Galway; Cloonnagoppoge / Cluain na gCopóg (logainm.ie #34810) in Co. Mayo; and two townlands in the Co. Donegal Gaeltacht, namely Mín na gCopóg ‘the level ground of the docks’ (logainm.ie #14432) and Srath na gCopóg ‘the river valley of the docks’ (logainm.ie #14712). (There are two probable examples in Cos. Down and Tyrone.) Further examples are found in the south: Knocknaguppoge / Cnoc na gCopóg ‘the hill of the docks’ (logainm.ie #27031) in Co. Kilkenny; Tooreennaguppoge / Tuairín na gCopóg (logainm.ie #10621) in Co. Cork and Toornagoppoge / Tuar na gCopóg (logainm.ie #49960) and Co. Waterford, which both refer to a ‘bleaching-green’ or ‘lea-field’ (FGB s.v. tuar); and finally – a name which would make any respectable modern farmer shudder – Gorteenaguppoge / Goirtín na gCopóg ‘the (little) field of the docks’ (logainm.ie #8030) in Co. Clare.

Note that the foregoing list is not intended to be exhaustive. Note also that the Placenames Branch bears no responsibility for the medicinal effectiveness of the dock-leaves in any of the places mentioned.

Conchubhar Ó Crualaoich & Aindí Mac Giolla Chomhghaill

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

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

Date: 05/05/2025

We suggested recently that some of the townland names containing the words mada(dh)/madra ‘dog’ and cú ‘hound’ may refer indirectly to wolves. But of course, even the existence of an early modern English form such as the 16th-/17th-century ‘Wolf-ys-hole’, ‘Wolfeshoal’, ‘Wolfesden’ in the case of Coolamaddra / Cúil an Mhadra (logainm.ie #54665), Co. Wicklow, does not amount to stone-cold proof that madra was intended to refer to the wolf when the Irish placename was coined or even that it had come to be understood as such by local Irish-speakers. Happily for this week’s theme, there are many townland names and other old placenames that do have very clear-cut references to the wolf.

The Irish form of the townland name Wolfhill (logainm.ie #28215) in Co. Laois was undoubtedly Cnocán na Mac Tíre ‘the hillock of the wolves’ (‘Knockan mac Tyry’ 1549, ‘Knockanavateiry’ 1654), and the full Irish form of the townland name Toom (logainm.ie #52721), just east of Enniscorthy in Co. Wexford, was clearly Tuaim na Mac Tíre ‘the mound of the wolves’ (‘Tomnemctire’ 1618). These placenames contain the word mac tíre, a figurative name for the wolf literally meaning ‘son of (the) land, country’ (eDIL s.v. 1 mac, macc III (c)). Unsurprisingly, Mac Tíre is also attested as a personal name in Irish. This can cause complications for placename research. For instance, the townland name Glentire / Cluain Mhic Thíre (logainm.ie #52262) in Co. Wexford may be translated as either ‘meadow or pasture of (the) wolf’ or ‘the meadow or pasture of Mac Tíre’. The same is true for Knockane / Cnocán Mhic Thíre ‘(the) hillock of (the) wolf, or of Mac Tíre’ (logainm.ie #12381) in Co. Cork and Lismakeery / Lios Mhic Thíre ‘(the) ring-fort of (the) wolf, or of Mac Tíre’ (logainm.ie #1576) in Co. Limerick. But note that only 6km from Lismakeery lies the townland of Ballymakeery (logainm.ie #32091), Co. Limerick. The evidence for that placename points to an underlying Baile Uí Mhic Thíre ‘the town(land) of Ó Mic Thíre’, containing the rare surname Ó Mic Thíre ‘the descendant of Mac Tíre’ (see Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall s.n. Ó Mactíre). (See Logainmneacha na hÉireann I: Contae Luimnigh (1992) p.64 and discussion in Dinnseanchas VI (1974) pp.158-159.)

Wolves are prominent in minor and historical toponyms, too: in the Civil Survey of Co. Wexford (1654), we find now-defunct placenames ‘Bunaskinemicktiry’ < Bun Easca an Mhic Thíre [or …na Mac Tíre] ‘the bottom of the steep stream of the wolf [or wolves]’ near Kilmuckridge, and ‘Coulnemicktiry’ < Cúil na Mac Tíre ‘the recess of the wolves’ near Monamolin, both in the north of the county. The same source records modern Wolfsford Bridge, near Mulrankin in the south of the county, as ‘Woolfsfoord’ (p.155). It would appear that there was no shortage of wolves in Co. Wexford once upon a time!

Mac tíre was not the only Irish word for the wolf. Another very old word – also the source of an Irish personal name – is faol (eDIL s.v. 2 fáel). This word is found in the townland name Feltrim / Faoldroim ‘wolf-ridge’ (#16955) in north Co. Dublin, and is the origin of the personal name Faolán ‘little wolf’ and its associated surname Ó Faoláin ‘descendant of Faolán’. (It is probably only a coincidence that Feltrim adjoins a place called Ráth Ulc / Rahulk (#16959) ‘(the) ring-fort of —?’. See McCone in Ériu 36 (1985) pp.171-176 (‘Varia II’) for a discussion of the possible connections between Indo-European *wlkʷo- ‘wolf’, Old Irish olc ‘evil, bad’ and the personal name OIr. Olcán [Ogham gen. Ulccagni]; cf. Clondalkin / Cluain Dolcáin (#17367).)

Going by its name, the townland of Kyle / An Choill ‘the wood’ (logainm.ie #52248) in Co. Wexford – next to the village of Oulart / An tAbhallort (#1416691) – would appear reassuringly wolf-free. But historical references such as ‘Kilbreaghwy’ (1618) reveal the earlier Irish form Coill Bhréachmhaí ‘the wood of/at Bréachmhaigh’ (see C. Ó Crualaoich and K. Whelan, forthcoming, Gaelic County Wexford 1550-1650: a story never told). The second element here is Bréachmhaigh, a very old noun+noun compound, consisting of bréach ‘wolf’ (OIr. bréch) + maigh ‘plain’ (OIr. mag) (cf. Mac Giolla Easpaig, ‘Noun+noun compounds in Irish placenames’, Études Celtiques 18 (1981)). As the word bréach appears to have fallen out of productive use by the end of the Middle Irish period – roughly the 13th century – occurrences of the toponym Bréachmhaigh are likely in most cases to be over a thousand years old. It is very interesting to note, therefore, that this compound is by far the most frequently occurring explicit reference to wolves surviving in Irish placenames. It is found in over 20 townland names located over a wide geographic area, from Co. Cork to Co. Donegal and from Co. Mayo to Co. Wicklow. The Middle Irish form Bréchmag /ˈbʹrʹeːxβaɣ/ (acc./dat. Bréchmaig /ˈbʹrʹeːxβaɣʹ/), in which the voiced bilabial fricative of lenited m /β/ was immediately preceded by the velar fricative of lenited ch /x/ and the final consonant was (originally broad) lenited g /ɣ/, was realized in a variety of ways in later Modern Irish dialects and produced a wide array of anglicizations. In the 19th century the Ordnance Survey used the following standardized spellings to represent Mod.Ir. Bréachmhaigh in different parts of the country (moving roughly ar deiseal ‘clockwise, with the sun’ from Connaught):

Breaghwy in Cos. Sligo (logainm.ie #45428) and Mayo (logainm.ie #35625; #34143; #34435; #34436);
Breaghy in Co. Longford (logainm.ie #32894) and Co. Donegal (logainm.ie #14308; #16006) (with current research pointing to a third probable example in Co. Donegal: logainm.ie #16129);
Breagho (logainm.ie #61081; cf. placenamesni.org, Breagho) in Co. Fermanagh;
Breaghey (logainm.ie #56974; placenamesni.org, Breaghey) in Co. Armagh;
Breaghmore (logainm.ie #41542) in Co. Offaly (‘Breaghmoye’ 1552, ‘Breaghmoe’ 1619);
Breahig (logainm.ie #22339; #24768) in Co. Kerry;
Breaghva (logainm.ie #6888; #7221; #7050; #7250) in Co. Clare.

Note that these standardized anglicizations, while making some allowances for differences across the major dialects, are not necessarily very accurate representations of the nuances of the local pronunciation of native Irish speakers. (See for example Breaghva (#7250), in southwest Co. Clare, locally pronounced /ˈbʹrʹeːfə/ in Irish (1965).)

Of the more unexpected official English spelling we have Britway / Bréachmhaigh (logainm.ie #526), Co. Cork, which happened to have established itself by the mid-17th century as the name of parish (‘Briaghy’ 1619, ‘Brittway’ 1655). And there is some indication that the townland name Bray (Lower, Upper) (#24855), Co. Kildare (‘Brey’ 1540), may be a reflex of an earlier Bréachmhaigh (‘Bremoy’ 1297, ‘Brethmor’ [sic] 1302x1306), and if so, that it is identical with ‘[Mag Mugna ocus] Brechmag’ in the Rennes Dinnshenchas (*c.*1100). (Note that the analysis of the research on Co. Kildare is as yet incomplete.)

As we have seen above with the historical version of Kyle / An Choill (logainm.ie #52248) in Co. Wexford, the compound placename Bréachmhaigh could also occur in conjunction with other generics. We have three examples in Co. Meath: Ballybreaghy / Baile Bhréachmhaí ‘the town(land) of/at Bréachmhaigh’ (logainm.ie #1412902) and Bawnbreaky / Bábhún Bhréachmhaí ‘the bawn, fortified enclose of/at Bréachmhaigh’ (logainm.ie #38230) – both near Kells – and Ballynabracky / Buaile na Bréachmhaí ‘the boley of An Bhréachmhaigh’ (logainm.ie #133201) near Castlejordan. The last placename is quite unusual in containing an unambiguous reflex of the article, i.e., An Bhréachmhaigh, gen. na Bréachmhaí.

Our final example is Kilbreffy / Cill Bhréachmhaí ‘the church of/at Bréachmhaigh’ (logainm.ie #54852) near Donard in Co. Wicklow. It will be remarked that this church is only one townland’s remove from Coolamaddra / Cúil an Mhadra (logainm.ie #54665), the very same ‘Wolf-ys-hole’ that sparked our discussion of this topic a few weeks ago!

(Conchubhar Ó Crualaoich & Aindí Mac Giolla Chomhghaill)

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)

Date: 14/04/2025

In last week’s note on cnámh ‘bone’, we mentioned that the placename Meennagrauv / Mín na gCnámh ‘the level ground of the bones’ (logainm.ie #16118) in Co. Donegal was locally associated with the discovery of “the bones of the slain … gnawed by the wolves and bleaching to the sun and the northern blasts”. This provides a convenient, if gruesome, segue to this week’s theme of canines in placenames.

References to dogs, hounds and wolves are found in well over 100 Irish townland names, only a small selection of which can be mentioned here. The common Old Irish word for a dog was matad (eDIL s.v.). This word survives as madadh or mada in the modern dialects of Ulster and Connaught. Most of us learned madra in school, which is the word used in the modern Gaeltacht of Munster. (Madra was originally a collective noun meaning ‘dogs’.) Thus, in Munster placenames we have Knocknamadderee / Cnoc na Madraí ‘the hill of the dogs’ as the name of two townlands in Co. Cork (logainm.ie #10297; #12266) and Glenavaddra / Gleann an Mhadra ‘the valley of the dog’ (logainm.ie #49328) in Co. Waterford. We also find madra in south Leinster placenames, e.g. Seskinnamadra / Seisceann na Madraí ‘the marsh of the dogs’ (logainm.ie #3454) in Co. Carlow and Coolamaddra / Cúil an Mhadra (logainm.ie #54665) in southwest Co. Wicklow, the latter of which we will mention again below.

The picture changes once we get north of a line roughly from Dublin to Galway, however, and move from Leath Mhogha into Leath Choinn, to use the traditional names for the two halves of the island. Dogstown (logainm.ie #38776) in Co. Meath is a translation of the Irish townland name Baile na Madadh ‘the town(land) of the dogs’ and Rosehill (logainm.ie #3797) in Co. Cavan replaced Achadh na Madadh ‘the field of the dogs’. Moving further north, Coill na Madadh / Kilnamaddy ‘the wood of the dogs’ occurs as the name of four townlands – three in Co. Monaghan (logainm.ie #40166; #40859; #41124) and one in Co. Fermanagh (logainm.ie #61022; placenamesni.org Kilnamaddy) – and in Co. Donegal we have a Corravaddy / Corr an Mhadaidh ‘the round hill of the dog’ (logainm.ie #15505). Moving west, we find Crockawaddy / Cnoc an Mhadaidh ‘the hill of the dog’ (logainm.ie #28991) in Co. Leitrim and three townlands called Carrownamaddoo / Ceathrú na Madadh ‘the quarter of the dogs’ (logainm.ie #44918; #45006; #45491) in Co. Sligo.

In Modern Irish, the word for dog (mada(dh), madra) also occurs in the names of other animals. For example, madra uisce or mada uisce – literally ‘water-dog’ – is the word for ‘otter’. (Another word for the otter is dobarchú. This close compound – attested from the Old Irish period – also literally means ‘water-hound’.) It is no surprise, then, to find Oileán an Mhada Uisce (logainm.ie #30252) in Co. Leitrim translated as Otter Island.

Similarly, a very well-known synonym for the sionnach ‘fox’ is madra rua, meaning literally ‘red dog’. There is a Kilnamaddyroe / Coill na Madadh Rua ‘the wood of the foxes’ (logainm.ie #29085) in Co. Leitrim; the original Irish name of Browningstown (logainm.ie #13738) in Co. Cork was Cnocán an Mhadra Rua ‘the hillock of the fox’ (‘Knockanemaderaroo’ 1761); and the Irish form of Monavadaroe (logainm.ie #27046) in Co. Kilkenny is Móin an Mhadra Rua. (Note in respect of the last-mentioned anglicized form that in modern dialects, even where the word for ‘dog’ is madra there is a tendency to pronounce madra rua ‘fox’ as mada rua because of assimilation of the first of the two -r-. See for example the singular / plural pair mada rua / madraí rua in the Irish of West Kerry; Ó Sé, Gaeilge Chorca Dhuibhne §303.)

However, although the distribution of the forms mada(dh) vs. madra in townland names broadly corresponds to modern usage in the surviving dialects (see also Wagner, Linguistic Atlas and Survey of Irish Dialects I p.56 for further evidence from the 1940s), this is not to suggest that mada(dh) was unknown or unused in Munster/south Leinster. We find the townland Porchavodda / Páirc an Mhada ‘the field of the dog’ (#3044) situated about halfway between the two aforementioned townlands Seisceann an Mhadra / Seskinnamadra in Co. Carlow and Cúil an Mhadra / Coolamaddra in south Co. Wicklow. (We should perhaps mention a well-known piece of folklore recorded by the Ordnance Survey in Powerscourt in north Co. Wicklow. They were shown a spot where Fiacha mac Aodha Ó Broin – who had routed the English at the Battle of Glenmalure in 1580 – “used to hang every person that could not say Cú and Maddú (i.e. Hound and Dog) in the Irish language” (Ordnance Survey Letters 15/12/1838, p.17). Interesting though it is, this story – told by a local man described by Eugene O’Curry as “an old and poor Protestant” – is of little value as evidence of the pronunciation of the Irish word for ‘dog’ in Fiacha Ó Broin’s native dialect!) As noted above, madra was originally a collective noun: whether singular or plural, it is found in the northern half of Ireland in minor placenames such as Loch an Mhadra Uisce / Lough Madderiska (#1371657) in Co. Galway and Loch an Mhadra Alla (#1396353) in the Donegal Gaeltacht. An unusual genitive plural form is found in Carrownamaddra / Ceathrú na Madradh ‘the quarter of the dogs’ (logainm.ie #19513) in south Co. Galway, with the local pronunciation recorded as /-ˈmɑːdro/ in 1955. (Note also the variety in the early historical spellings, e.g. ‘-maddragh’ 1613, ‘-madree’ 1617.)

Another common enough word in Modern Irish is mada(dh) allta or madra allta – literally ‘wild dog’ – meaning ‘wolf’ (FGB s.v. madra). There is no direct evidence of any townland name containing this Irish word. Therefore it is very interesting to note the 16th- and 17th-century translations of the aforementioned Coolamaddera / Cúil an Mhadra (logainm.ie #54665) in Co. Wicklow as ‘Wolf-ys-hole’ (1560), ‘Wolfeshoal’ (1619) and ‘Wolfesden’ (1627) [i.e., Wolf’s Hole, Wolf’s Den]. It would seem that in this placename, at least, mada(dh)/madra might not have required the adjective allta ‘wild’ to be understood as ‘wolf’. (Compare the numerous examples of placenames in uninhabited areas referring to muc “pig”, cat “cat”, etc., where wild pigs and wild cats are surely to be understood.) While it would be rash to extrapolate this single example of a 16th-/17th-century English interpretations, there may be many more references to wolves in townland names than appear at first sight, in the form of the unqualified generic mada/madra.

This brings us, eventually, to Glennamaddy / Gleann na Madadh (logainm.ie #1411949) in Co. Galway. This place was the subject of the song Four Country Roads, one of the smash hits of 1981. “Four roads to Glenamaddy,” sang country and western legend Big Tom, “are the four dusty byways to my heart.” Big Tom probably never considered the possibility that those four roads may in fact have been leading into the Valley of the Wolves.

(Conchubhar Ó Crualaoich & Aindí Mac Giolla Chomhghaill)

Date: 07/04/2025

Last week’s discussion of creamh ‘wild garlic’ in townland names omitted any mention of other words that can refer to the same plant, such as cainneann ‘garlic, leek, onion (?)’ (eDIL s.v. cainnenn); borrlus ‘lit. bulbous plant or vegetable; garlic, leek (?)’ (eDIL s.v. borrlus); and even lus itself: this general term for a plant or herb could also specifically denote garlic (eDIL s.v. lus). There was good reason for the omission: these words rarely occur in townland names of Irish origin. (Lus is unlikely to have its narrow sense of ‘garlic’ in combination with the generic maigh ‘plain’ in the parish name Lusmhaigh / Lusmagh (#2036) in Co. Offaly.) One possible further example might be found in the townland name Cluain Iongan / Clooningan (logainm.ie #45551) in Co. Sligo, which could be interpreted ‘meadow, pasture of (the) garlic cloves’. (The word ionga, gen. sg. iongan can refer not only to a nail of a finger, toe, or claw but also to a clove of garlic: see FGB s.v. ionga; eDIL s.v. ingen.)

If there are not many placenames containing elements that mean the same as Irish creamh, there are certainly examples of another Irish word that can sound very similar to creamh, namely cnámh ‘bone’. We are all familiar with the development of the cluster cn- /kn-/ to cr- /kr-/ in some Modern Irish dialects. As is often the case with these types of sound changes, this occasionally led to hypercorrection in the other direction, with words originally beginning cr- /kr-/ being pronounced cn- /kn-. (For example, An Chraobhach ‘the place of bushes, trees’ (#55689) – the Irish name of Avondale in Co. Wicklow – occurs in one late bilingual manuscript as ‘Cneaugh’ and ‘An Chneamhach’ (1726).) We can see immediately the problems that this can cause in the analysis of placenames containing creamh and cnámh.

Take the townland name Crawhill / Creamhchoill ‘wild-garlic wood’ (logainm.ie #44483) in Co. Sligo. In 1836, the Irish scholars of the Ordnance Survey recorded not only ‘Creamh choill’ but also ‘Cneamh Choill’ from local native speakers. As the editors of the Historical Dictionary of Gaelic Placenames (Fascicle 5) suggest, it is very possible that today’s Crawhill might be identical with the historical placename Cnámhchoill ‘bone-wood’ attested in Irish sources as the site of an ancient battle in Connaught. Even so, the evidence points to Creamhchoill being the form most recently used by the local community when Irish was the vernacular language here.

Similarly, while the weight of the evidence for Naghill (logainm.ie #40647) in Co. Monaghan favours derivation from Cnámhchoill ‘bone-wood’ with anglicized N- attested at an early date (‘Gnaghill’ 1591, ‘Naghill’ 1607, etc.), the historical form ‘Crakill’ (1664) – no doubt reflecting cn- /kr-/ of the local Irish pronunciation – could, in isolation, easily be mistaken for Creamhchoill. Clearly, these subtleties necessitate a measured approach and particularly careful research in the case of each placename, as very little can be taken at face value.

Some examples are even more opaque. The placename Cleghile / Cleachoill (logainm.ie #48842) in Co. Tipperary would perhaps be unrecognizable as a development from Cnámhchoill ‘bone-wood’ except for the fact that this is a very famous place, well attested by the original form of its name in Irish literature (‘Cnamchaill’ [g.] c. 1150, etc.). We have already seen examples of cn- /kn-/ changing to cr- /kr-/, but in this case the change was from cn- /kn-/ to cl- /kl-/.

(These changes are not unique to Irish, and simply have to do with the sounds /l/, /n/, /r/ all being articulated in the same part of the mouth. Growing up in Wexford town, one of the present writers would have used chimley in place of standard chimney, which is a well-known example of this type of sound change in the English language. In the case of Cnámhchoill > Cleachoill, unusually for a close compound, the stress came to fall on the second syllable (‘cle choill’ 1840, /ˌklɛˈhɛil/ 1973). This seems to have provided further motivation for the development of /kn-/ to /kl-/.)

Note that whereas the Irish sources retain the original spelling even as late as the 17th century – ‘do chnámhcoill’ (1600), ‘Cnamchoill’ (1662) – the development in the local pronunciation is reflected in all the anglicized historical forms, including relatively early examples such as ‘Clyquyll’ (1588) in the Calendar of Ormond Deeds VI, p. 30) and ‘Clequill’ (1591) in Fiants (Eliz.) §5565. (This is a good example of the common scenario where anglicized historical forms have captured a sound change ignored by Irish sources.) Significantly, however, the local Irish form of the name recorded during the Ordnance Survey was ‘cle Choill’ (1840), confirming that the development to Cl- /kl-/ had occurred in the Irish version of the placename, and that the earlier anglicized spellings are not simply ‘corruptions’ as might initially be thought. Note that despite the development from Cnámhchoill to Cleachoill, the identity of the orginal name was still known: ‘The name of this Townland of Cleghile is pronounced in Irish nowadays Clé-Choill, but corruptly for Cnamh-Choill … celebrated as being on the western boundary of Ormond’ (Ordnance Survey Letters p.319).

As to meaning, in at least some instances the placename Cnámhchoill ‘bone-wood’ may have commemorated the scene of a battle. The first famous Cnámhchoill already mentioned – possibly the place now called Crawhill / Creamhchoill in Co. Sligo – was without doubt the scene of a major encounter; and it may not be a coincidence that Cnámhchoill in Co. Tipperary – now Cleghile / Cleachoill – was situated on an important historical boundary. Another now-defunct placename in Co. Sligo, Cúil Chnámh ‘recess of bones’, was located near the boundary between the baronies of Tireragh, Leyny and Carbury at Beltra / Béal Trá ‘approach to (the) strand’. This was the landing-point of Fearsaid na Fionntrá ‘the sea-ford of the white strand’ at Trá Eothaile, once famous as the location of many battles and skirmishes, historical and mythological. (See C. Ó Crualaoich, ‘Causeways, battles, real and imaginary …’ in Sligo Field Club Journal, 2023. See also the Featured Theme for Week 4, July 2024.) Naghchoill / Cnámhchoill ‘bone-wood’ (logainm.ie #40647) in Co. Monaghan is also located on the boundary between the baronies of Monaghan and Dartree. Another defunct placename recorded in the mid-17th century as ‘Cnakill’ was also located on a boundary, this time on the border of the barony of Bantry and Scarawalsh in Co. Wexford (Civil Survey of County Wexford, p. 200).

Apart from woods, however, a handful of other townland names also contain the element cnámh ‘bone’. The Gaeltacht placename Cnoc na gCnámh (logainm.ie #1399603) in Co. Mayo means ‘the hill of the bones’; the same name is anglicized Knocknagrave (logainm.ie #40810) in Co. Monaghan. We also have Cloghna / Cloch an Chnámha ‘the stone of the bone’ (logainm.ie #3118) in Co. Carlow. In Co. Cork, note the pronunciation of c(h)n- as c(h)l- in Coumaclavlig / Com an Chnámhlaigh ‘the recess of the place of bones?’ (possibly ‘the skinny person, skeleton’ or even ‘the bonfire’) (logainm.ie #8472). We have Scrahanagnave / Screathan na gCnámh ‘the scree-slope of the bones’ (logainm.ie #23151) in Co. Kerry and Meennagrauv / Mín na gCnámh ‘the level ground of the bones’ (logainm.ie #16556) in Co. Donegal.

Finally, there is a second townland called Meenagrauv / Mín na gCnámh in Co. Donegal (logainm.ie #16118; par. Kilteevoge), where John O’Donovan recorded the following local information – of particular interest to our discussion – during the Ordnance Survey in 1835:

After the defeat of Scarve Sollus (maidhm scairbhe solais) the Irish party betook themselves to the wilds of Glenfinn and passing through the townland of Srath na Bratóige they dropped their banner which gave it its name. They were afterwards pursued and overtaken at Meenagrauv where a most merciless slaughter was made of them so that their bodies were strewed on the ground like the trees of a felled wood. After the lapse of some years when peace was restored and some of the Irish allowed to settle in Glenfinn, the bones of the slain were found in this townland, gnawed by the wolves and bleaching to the sun and the northern blasts. These were collected and interred by their countrymen who in commemoration of the massacre … styled the place Mín na gCnámh.

‘Placenames of Inniskeel and Kilteevoge’, James O’Kane
Zeitschrift für Celtische Philologie, Band 31 (1970)

A similar account was recorded (in Irish) in the Schools’ Collection some one hundred years later:

Nuair a bhí an chath thart i Srath na mBratóig chuaidh na Gáill síos agus throid siad cath eile ins an áit seo. Marbhadh cuid mhór daoine agus cuireadh iad ins an áit in ár troideadh an chath. Ins an am fá lathair nuair a bhíonns na daoine ag treabhadh an talaimh bíonn siad ag tochailt aníos cuid de na cnámha. Sin an fáth a tugadh Mín na gCnámh ar an áit. (BNS 1094, 027.)

Translation:

When the battle was over in Srath na Bratóige [#16182] the foreigners went down and fought another battle here. Many people were killed and were buried at the site where the battle was contested. Nowadays where people ar ploughing the land they regularly dig up some of the bones. That why the place is called Mín na gCnámh [the level ground of the bones].

(Conchubhar Ó Crualaoich & Aindí Mac Giolla Chomhghaill)

Date: 01/04/2025

Nowadays, most of the garlic we use in everyday cooking is imported from the Far East. However, at this time of year the Irish countryside provides us with an abundant, if vastly underused, native alternative. Practically overnight, whole swathes of moist, shaded areas – such as the woodlands along the River Liffey in Lucan, Co. Dublin – become carpeted in wild garlic, with its characteristic leaves and unmistakable aroma. The striking effect readily explains the proliferation of the Irish word creamhchoill ‘wild-garlic wood’ in townland names across the country. (Creamhchoill is a close compound of creamh ‘wild garlic’ [etymologically related to the English word ramsons] + coill ‘wood’.)

As well as being easy to recognize, areas producing wild garlic were also highly prized in early Irish society. In his essential book Early Irish Farming (EIF), based mainly on an analysis of early legal texts, Fergus Kelly reveals many details of the traditional early Irish diet and other aspects of native culture all but erased from the national consciousness after the destruction of Gaelic society in the 17th century. One text explicitly states the esteem in which creamh (OIr. crem) ‘wild garlic’ was held in the early period. The plant was so highly valued that every year, just before Easter, a client was obliged to provide his lord with a creimhfheis (OIr. crimḟeis) ‘garlic feast’ – consisting of wild garlic, cheese and milk – on pain of a fine (EIF pp.308-309). (We may note in passing that the early texts also show that garlic-flavoured butter was on the menu in Gaelic Ireland (ibid., p.326), over a thousand years before the arrival of garlic bread with modern Italian cuisine.)

The importance of creamh ‘wild garlic’ to our Gaelic ancestors is also reflected in numerous townland names. The most direct reference is An Chreamhach, the forerunner to Knavagh (logainm.ie #21264) in Co. Galway, which means simply ‘the place abounding in wild garlic’. However, by far the most common placename referring to creamh is the abovementioned Creamhchoill ‘wild-garlic wood’. This Irish name produces a variety of anglicized versions such as Crophill (logainm.ie #25013) and Crewhill (logainm.ie #25421) in Co. Kildare; Crawhill (logainm.ie #44483) in Co. Sligo; Craffield (logainm.ie #55217) in Co. Wicklow; Cranfield (logainm.ie #63045) and Crankill (logainm.ie #62934) in Co. Antrim; and Cranfield in Cos. Down (logainm.ie #67021) and Tyrone (logainm.ie #64206). Note the tendency towards analogy with the unrelated English placename elements field and hill in these anglicized forms. The townland name Greamhchoill (logainm.ie #35416) in the Co. Mayo Gaeltacht (formerly Graghil in English) is a development from this same word Creamhchoill via the prepositional phrase i gCreamhchoill ‘in Creamhchoill’. (In the late 20th-century one local explanation of the name was based on analogy with grean ‘grit, gravel’ + poill ‘holes’!)

The same word also occurs in townland names in conjunction with other generic elements, e.g. Cluain Creamhchoille / Clooncraffield ‘(wet) pasture of (the) wild-garlic wood’ (logainm.ie #43547) in Co. Roscommon, and Deramfield / Doire Chreamhchoille ‘(oak-)wood, grove of (the) wild-garlic wood’ (logainm.ie #5238) in Co. Cavan.

Far less common than Creamhchoill are the following references to woods of wild garlic in the form of open compounds, likely to be of later origin: see for example Killycramph / Coill an Chreamha ‘the wood of the wild garlic’ (logainm.ie #4729) in Co. Cavan, and Derrycraff / Doire Chreamha ‘(oak-)wood, grove of wild garlic’ (logainm.ie #37526) in Co. Mayo. Killycramph, the name of two townlands in Co. Fermanagh (logainm.ie #59847; #60938), also appears to derive from Coill an Chreamha or Coillidh Chreamha ‘(the) wood of (the) wild garlic’ (see placenamesni.org).

Occurrences of creamh ‘wild garlic’ are not restricted to townland names denoting woodlands, although that collocation is significant. There are numerous instances of the placename Cluain Creamha ‘(wet) pasture, meadow of (the) wild garlic’: we find it anglicized as Cloncrew (logainm.ie #31745) in Co. Limerick; Clooncraff (logainm.ie #43986) in Co. Roscommon; and Coolcraff [sic] (logainm.ie #33013) in Co. Longford. As it happens, three separate examples of Cluain Creamha fell victim to big-house rebranding during the 18th century: in Co. Offaly it became [Cloncraff or] Bloomhill (logainm.ie #41358); in Co. Longford, Mountdavis (logainm.ie #103036); and in Co. Roscommon, Mountdillon (logainm.ie #44249).

Other names of more or less low-lying places containing references to creamh include Eanach Creamha ‘marsh of (the) wild garlic’, which is the forerunner to both Annacroff (logainm.ie #39266) and Annacramph (logainm.ie #41059) in Co. Monaghan; Gleann Creamha ‘valley of (the) wild garlic’, anglicized Glengraff (logainm.ie #18148) in Co. Galway and Glencrue (logainm.ie #46351) in Co. Tipperary; Tamhnach an Chreamha / Tawnaghaknaff ‘the green field of the wild garlic’ (logainm.ie #36790) in Co. Mayo; and Currach an Chreamha / Curraghacnav ‘the wet land of the garlic’ (logainm.ie #49862) in Co. Waterford. (We will discuss the variation between -cr- and -cn-/-kn- in subsequent notes.)

Townlands on higher ground include Drumgramph / Droim gCreamha ‘ridge of (the) wild garlic’ (logainm.ie #40102; #40113) in Co. Monaghan and Lettercraff / Leitir Creamha ‘hillside of (the) wild garlic’ (logainm.ie #20876) (alongisde Lettercraffroe / Leitir Creamha Rua ‘(the) red Leitir Creamha’ (logainm.ie #20877)) in Co. Galway. We find Corr an Chreamha ‘the round hill of the wild garlic’ anglicized as Corcraff (logainm.ie #4910) in Co. Cavan and twice as Corracramph, in Cos. Donegal (logainm.ie #14240) and Leitrim (logainm.ie #30129). We also find creamh qualifying the generic element ros, whose semantic range includes ‘point, headland’, ‘(wooded) height’ and simply ‘wood’. The close compound Creamhros (logainm.ie #15878) – anglicized Croaghros – refers to high ground on the banks of Lough Swilly in Co. Donegal and the open compound Ros an Chreamha (logainm.ie #10627) – anglicized Bettyville! – refers to elevated ground near Kanturk in Co. Cork.

Even islands can be named after this popular little plant. Anyone in the vicinity of Westport in Co. Mayo at this time of the year might fancy a trip out to Clew Bay to see if Crovinish / Creimhinis ‘wild-garlic island’ (logainm.ie #37260) remains true to its name.

These Irish townland names provide more evidence for the popularity of wild garlic in Gaelic Ireland, further to the special mention it received in the early legal texts. So next time you are tucking into a nice garlicky meal, as well as daydreaming of Lombardy, Tuscany and Venice you might also consider the fact that your Gaelic forebears were just as fond of the very same flavour, in the form of the native creamh.

(Conchubhar Ó Crualaoich & Aindí Mac Giolla Chomhghaill)

Date: 22/03/2025

This week’s contribution will conclude our discussion of Welsh surnames and settlers for the time being. Rice is a relatively common surname in Ireland. Although it can occur as an equivalent of the native Irish surname Ó Maolchraoibhe (Mulcreevy, Mulgrew, etc.), it is usually derived from an anglicized form of the Welsh surname ap Rhys ‘son of Rhys’. (The spelling Rice was originally pronounced as Reece.) The surname is well documented among the early Anglo-Norman colonists, particularly in the southern half of the country (see K. Muhr & L. Ó hAisibéil, The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Ireland). As P.W. Woulfe notes, families of the surname were very prominent in Limerick City and in Dingle / Daingean Uí Chúis, Co. Kerry (Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall s.n. Rís). A castle (now in ruins) in Baile an Ghóilín, just outside of Dingle / Daingean Uí Chúis, was called Caisleán na Ríseach ‘the castle of Na Rísigh (the persons surnamed Rís [< Rice])’ (logainm.ie #1393844) (cf. archaeology.ie KE053-011) and of course Bess Rice – notorious evictor of tenants – features in the folklore of the Kerry Gaeltacht down to the present day. In Co. Limerick, the townland name Ballymacreese / Baile Mhic Rís ‘the town(land) of the son of Rhys’ (logainm.ie #31166) appears to contain another gaelicized version of the personal name Rhys or its derivative surname.

This Anglo-Norman surname was not confined to Cos. Kerry and Limerick: just outside of Carrigaline in Co. Cork is Ballinreeshig / Baile an Rísigh ‘the town(land) of An Ríseach’ (logainm.ie #9330) (‘Ballynrisig’ 1573). In Co. Meath, far away from the province of Munster, the townland name Ricetown (logainm.ie #37666) is almost certainly an English-language coinage: in 1340, we find Richard Rys in receipt of a grant of land at Ryston from his father Eustace. The name local Irish-speakers used for Ricetown in their own language was the somewhat unusual ‘Baile Ís’ (1836), a development from *Bail’ Rís by assimilation of /r/ to the preceding /l/. (Assimilation is the change of a sound in a word so that it becomes similar or identical to a nearby sound. This often occurs with the consonants /d/, /l/, /n/, /r/, which have very similar points of articulation in the mouth. Note that the word baile ‘town(land)’ was often reduced to bail’ in the placenames of this part of the country.) Another slightly irregular gaelicized form of Rice is found in the Co. Kilkenny placename Ricesland (logainm.ie #27295), locally called ‘talamh a risti’ [Talamh an Rístigh] (1839). In this case, although the qualifying element in the Irish form is formally identical to An Rísteach ‘the person surnamed Ríste’ – from the unrelated surname AN Riche – we can be quite confident that the original placename derives from AN Rice. In 1312, this townland was held by Philip Rys as part of the manor of Knocktopher (Red Book of Ormond, p.127), and some 100 years later we find lands in the same manor in the possession of a John Rys (Calendar of Ormond Deeds II, p.307). Therefore, the /t/ in ‘a risti’ (1839) was almost certainly intrusive and not part of the original Irish name: compare Modern Irish aríst (< arís) ‘again’, téimist (< téimis) ‘let’s go’, etc. (An Rísteach / AN Riche does occur, however, in the placename Reechestown / Baile an Rístigh (logainm.ie #48066) in nearby Co. Tipperary, recorded locally as ‘baile ríste’ (1840).)

Other placenames in the environs of Knocktopher, Co. Kilkenny, also reflect Welsh settlement during the early days of the Anglo-Norman colony. As well as Ricesland / Talamh an Rístigh, we have mentioned in previous notes Ballyhale / Baile Héil ‘the town(land) of Howell [< Hwyel]’, Rossenarra Demesne / Caisleán Héil ‘the castle of Howell [< Hwyel]’ and of course the Walsh Mountains / Sliabh Breatnach ‘mountain of (the) Walshes’ (logainm.ie #1418629). It is no surprise, therefore, to find Walsh listed among the ‘Principall Irish Names’ of the barony of Knocktopher in the 17th century (A Census of Ireland, Circa 1659, p.423).

The examples discussed over the last few weeks do not represent an exhaustive list of Welsh surnames found in Irish townland names. Of the many more we could mention, some are familiar enough, such as Price, which occurs in the name of the townland Priesthaggard (logainm.ie #53472) in Co. Wexford. This is another surname usually derived from Welsh ap Rhys ‘son of Rhys’, and again, the spelling Price was originally intended to be pronounced *Preece. (Agard an Phrísigh is the official Irish version of the townland name. For other possible origins of the surname Price see Logainmneacha na hÉireann IV: Townland names of Co. Wexford, p.1428.) We find a more unusual Welsh name in Ballysize (logainm.ie #54758), the name of a townland in Co. Wicklow, which represents Irish Bealach Saghais ‘the way, pass of Saghas’. This contains a gaelicized form of the Welsh surname Sais ‘Englishman’ (see Sloinnte Gaedhal is Gall, p.666 s.n. Saghas). Many townland names contain Irish Madóg, a personal name and surname ultimately from Welsh Madog (angl. Maddock): e.g. Aghamaddock / Achadh Mhadóg ‘the field of Madóg (Maddock)’ (logainm.ie #28223), Garrymaddock / Garraí Mhadóg ‘the garden of Madóg’ (logainm.ie #28193) and the two townlands in Co. Laois called Ballymaddock / Baile Mhadóg ‘the town(land) of Madóg’ (logainm.ie #27731; #28222). We find other examples of Baile Mhadóg anglicized as Ballymadog (logainm.ie #13585) in Co. Cork; Ballyvaddock (logainm.ie #32104; #32111) in Co. Limerick; and Maddockstown (logainm.ie #26774) in Co. Kilkenny (with the unusual local Irish form ‘baile Mandog’ (!) 1839). In Co. Louth, we also have a Maddoxland / Fearann Mhadóg (logainm.ie #33929): ‘Madoxland’ (1655), ‘Ferrunmadocke’ (*c.*1661).

An Brainse Logainmneacha / Placenames Branch is actively researching the toponymic evidence for Welsh surnames or personal names brought to Ireland with the Anglo-Norman invasion and we hope to return to this topic in future notes. However, we must draw the discussion to a close for the moment and say hwyl! to Hwyel and Rhys and Madog. Hopefully the townland names we have discussed have given a good indication of the significance of the Welsh contingent among the early ‘Anglo-Norman’ settlers. And of course we must point out once again that many of the placenames mentioned provide further proof of the extensive gaelicization of the colonists – whether they came from English-, French- or Welsh-speaking backgrounds – even in such strongholds as Co. Meath and south Co. Wexford.

(Conchubhar Ó Crualaoich & Aindí Mac Giolla Chomhghaill)

Featured themes

Placenames, playing fields and the arrival of a warrior
Faythe / An Fhaiche ‘the open space in front of (ancient) fort or city’; ‘the green’; ‘the plain’
(see logainm.ie #2620

Docks
Coolnagoppoge / Cúil na gCopóg
‘the recess, nook of the docks’
(see logainm.ie #41640)

Townland names with a sting
Kilnantoge / Coill Neantóige
‘wood of (the) nettle’
(see logainm.ie #41640)

Briseann an dúchas…
Carricknagat / Carraig na gCat
‘the rock of the cats’
(see logainm.ie #8401)

Wolves, to be sure!
Ballinabracky / Buaile na Bréachmhaí
‘the boley, cattle-enclosure of/at An Bhréachmhaigh (‘the wolf-plain’)’
(see logainm.ie #133201)

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

Dogs or wolves? Something to chew on.
Glennamaddy / Gleann na Madadh
‘the valley of the dogs’ or ‘the valley of the wolves?’
(see logainm.ie # 1411949)

Bones galore
Naghill / Cnámhchoill ‘bone-wood’
(see logainm.ie #40647)

Carpets of wild garlic
Crewhill / Creamhchoill ‘wild-garlic wood’
(see logainm.ie #25421)

Farewell to Welsh names for now
Ballinreeshig / Baile an Rísigh
‘the town(land) of An Ríseach (person surnamed Rís [< Welsh Rhys])’
(see logainm.ie #53377)

Featured themes

Placenames, playing fields and the arrival of a warrior Faythe / An Fhaiche ‘the open space in front of (ancient) fort or city’; ‘the green’; ‘the plain’ (see logainm.ie #2620

Docks Coolnagoppoge / Cúil na gCopóg ‘the recess, nook of the docks’ (see logainm.ie #41640)

Townland names with a sting Kilnantoge / Coill Neantóige ‘wood of (the) nettle’ (see logainm.ie #41640)

Briseann an dúchas… Carricknagat / Carraig na gCat ‘the rock of the cats’ (see logainm.ie #8401)

Wolves, to be sure! Ballinabracky / Buaile na Bréachmhaí ‘the boley, cattle-enclosure of/at An Bhréachmhaigh (‘the wolf-plain’)’ (see logainm.ie #133201)

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

Dogs or wolves? Something to chew on. Glennamaddy / Gleann na Madadh ‘the valley of the dogs’ or ‘the valley of the wolves?’ (see logainm.ie # 1411949)

Bones galore Naghill / Cnámhchoill ‘bone-wood’ (see logainm.ie #40647)

Carpets of wild garlic Crewhill / Creamhchoill ‘wild-garlic wood’ (see logainm.ie #25421)

Farewell to Welsh names for now Ballinreeshig / Baile an Rísigh ‘the town(land) of An Ríseach (person surnamed Rís [< Welsh Rhys])’ (see logainm.ie #53377)

Placenames, playing fields and the arrival of a warrior
Faythe / An Fhaiche ‘the open space in front of (ancient) fort or city’; ‘the green’; ‘the plain’
(see logainm.ie #2620

Docks
Coolnagoppoge / Cúil na gCopóg
‘the recess, nook of the docks’
(see logainm.ie #41640)

Townland names with a sting
Kilnantoge / Coill Neantóige
‘wood of (the) nettle’
(see logainm.ie #41640)

Briseann an dúchas…
Carricknagat / Carraig na gCat
‘the rock of the cats’
(see logainm.ie #8401)

Wolves, to be sure!
Ballinabracky / Buaile na Bréachmhaí
‘the boley, cattle-enclosure of/at An Bhréachmhaigh (‘the wolf-plain’)’
(see logainm.ie #133201)

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

Dogs or wolves? Something to chew on.
Glennamaddy / Gleann na Madadh
‘the valley of the dogs’ or ‘the valley of the wolves?’
(see logainm.ie # 1411949)

Bones galore
Naghill / Cnámhchoill ‘bone-wood’
(see logainm.ie #40647)

Carpets of wild garlic
Crewhill / Creamhchoill ‘wild-garlic wood’
(see logainm.ie #25421)

Farewell to Welsh names for now
Ballinreeshig / Baile an Rísigh
‘the town(land) of An Ríseach (person surnamed Rís [< Welsh Rhys])’
(see logainm.ie #53377)