Baile Mhistéala the town of Mistéil Mistéil — from the Anglo-Norman surname Mitchell/Michel (in this case < de Saint Michel)

The substantivized adjective was an extremely common way of dealing with the surnames of the Anglo-Normans in gaelicized placenames during the medieval period (see logainm.ie Featured Themes, October 2024). Take for instance Ballyvisteale/Baile an Mhistéalaigh (#9276) near Cork City, which uses the substantivized adjectival form An Mistéalach (gen. sg. an Mhistéalaigh) ‘the person surnamed Mistéil’, where Mistéil is a phonetic adaptation of the surname Mitchell, itself a Middle English pronunciation of Michel/Michael (see Oxford Dictionary of Family Names). We call this type of gaelicization half-translation because the generic element town is directly translated with Irish baile ‘town(land)’, whereas the specific name/surname is phonetically adapted. The well-known town of Mitchelstown (#12869; #1414051), in the civil parish of Brigown in north Co. Cork, appears to have had a slightly different eponym. In 1340 we find that “Edmund [son of] David de St. Michael sued John B(ishop) of Cloyne for the advowson of the church of Brigowe” (Kenneth Nicholls, ‘The development of lordship in county Cork, 1300–1600’ in Cork, history & society (1993) 156–211)). Whatever its ultimate origin, however, the gaelicized form of the surname used in the local Irish form of this placename was also An Mistéalach ‘the person surnamed Mistéil’, as is clear from the Irish spelling ‘Baile an Bhisdéaluidh’ (c.1580). Another common method of gaelicization simply used the phonetically adapted form of the surname. (See Mitchelstown/Baile Mhistéil (#1898) in Co. Meath (‘baile Mhisteal’ pl:AL (1836)) ‘the town(land) of Mistéil’.) Interestingly, our Mitchelstown in north Co. Cork is also attested as Baile Mhistéil in one 19th-century source: see ‘idir Bhaile Mhisdéadhail’ (1830). However, in Irish manuscripts from that later period the form that most frequently occurs is Baile Mhistéala, e.g. ‘a mBaile Mhistéala’ (1808). This form – apparently a reduction of the substantivized adjectival form Baile an Mhistéalaigh, or possibly a variant of Baile Mhistéil – was also recorded from native Irish speakers in Co. Cork in the 1960s and 1970s. (Other forms heard included Baile an Mhistéalaigh, Baile an Mhistéala, etc.). This was the form recommended for official use by the Placenames Commission in 1969, and subsequently given legal recognition in a statutory instrument of 1975. Notably, the later evidence for Mitcheltownsdown/Baile Mhistéala na dTamhan (#30946) in Co. Limerick also reflects underlying gaelicized Baile Mhistéala (‘baile Misteala…’ pl:AL (1840)) whereas the earlier evidence shows Baile an Mhistéalaigh (‘Ballenvistalle…’ (1588)); see also the townland name Mitchelstown/Baile an Mhistéalaigh (#32113) in the same county: ‘baile an Mhisteala’ pl:AL (1840) (Logainmneacha na hÉireann, Imleabhar 1: Contae Luimnigh p.37, p.23). A similar development is also found in other surnames, such as An Buitléarach < Buitléir < AN Butler (le Botiller), which occurs in the townland name Butlerstown/Baile an Bhuitléaraigh (#50393) in Co. Waterford, attested locally as ‘baile bhuilteara’ [ lt sic] [Baile Bhuitléara] in 1841. (Note that the metathesis of tl to lt was universal in this surname in the south of Ireland.) Note that in many later Irish dialects these forms Baile Mhistéala, Baile Bhuitléara, etc., would be almost indistinguishable from Baile an Mhistéalaigh, Baile an Bhuitléaraigh. The extensive evidence for Mitchelstown, Co. Cork, is therefore quite informative as it provides us with examples of three different ways that Anglo-Norman placenames could be gaelicized by half-translation, namely Baile an Mhistéalaigh, Baile Mhistéil and the latter-day Baile Mhistéala, the last of which could be considered a variant of the first two. (An entirely different method of gaelicizing Anglo-Norman placenames of the structure name + town was also used in east of the country, whereby the entire placename was phonetically adapted into Irish, e.g. Gaulstown/Gallastún (#38399). There is no Irish evidence for Mistéalastún in this case!) The surnames de Saint Michael and Michel/Mitchell are quite well-attested among the Anglo-Normans in this part of Munster. Further to the reference to Edward son of David de Saint Michael mentioned above (anno 1340), we have an earlier reference to a Geoffrey Michel who held “2 carucates in the vill of Michel” – apparently the Mitchelstown in Co. Limerick – mentioned alongside a Reymund de St. Michael in the “Manor of Any”, i.e., the area around Knockainy/Cnoc Áine (#1623) in southeast Co. Limerick (see Calendar of documents relating to Ireland: 1285–1292; see also Nicholls, K. W., ‘The development of lordship in county Cork, 1300–1600’, in: Patrick OʼFlanagan, and Cornelius G. Buttimer (eds), Cork, history & society: interdisciplinary essays on the history of an Irish county, 6, Cork: Geography Publications, 1993. 156–211.) In any case, the structure of the placename Mitchelstown is consistent with the stereotypical pattern of townland names of Anglo-Norman origin in Ireland (surname + ’s + town (< tūn)). Similarly, the various gaelicized forms attested here are all found in other parts of the country.

24ú Deireadh Fómhair 2024 (CÓC & AMGC)