In our last blog post we looked at some words that are used in place names of towns in Ireland. As a reminder during the Gaelic period Ireland was made up of "Little Kingdoms" with boundaries, and they were named after features of the landscape. So the place-names of these kingdoms have words for cows, hills, rocks, river mouths (big and small), etc. Later, after the Normans arrived, they used these existing naming systems for towns and castles. As English began to be used more, the place-names were sometimes anglicized phonetically instead of being translated. Place-name signs today have both Irish and English on them.
Ireland is a beautiful country and full of history. Everyone should visit.
More Common Place-name Terms
This week we will show you a few more words used in place names.
- Churches - We all know there are a lot of saints in Ireland. There were also many monasteries. The Irish word "Cill" means church. It is pronounced "Kill." Most people have heard of Killarney, Kildare, and Kilkenny. Their names are associated with saints and the church of the area.
- Woods - To make things harder, the word for woods is "Coill" which sounds very close to Cill but can sound more like "Kwill." So some start with Cil and some Kil and you may not know if they mean town or woods.
- Towns - "Baile" is Irish for town. It is pronounced "Balya." But most people will know the anglicized version as Bally. One town with the name is Ballymore. Which leads into the words for big and small.
- Big and small - The Irish word “Mor,” sounds like "Moor," is used as "More" in English. While the word small in Irish is "Beag." It sounds like "Be-yug" and is spelled in English like "Beg." So Ballymore from above means Big Town.
There are so many other words you can look up before a trip or doing research. But these are a few to help you get started. Ireland is a beautiful country and full of history. Everyone should visit.
