Reading The Landscape

Two Irish notes of interest this month, the first is in the Irish Newsletter, there is an interesting Gaelic location etymology in "Reading the Landscape" by Andrea Santillo, and the above photograph on "Tom and Pam's 2003 Euro Journey."

As an American with no Irish ancestry you might wonder what I am doing here in Sligo. I have the best of landscape with Knocknear in the back yard and Ben Bulben up the road but surely, the historyof Ireland is 'write' in the names of the towns and counties.

The prefix 'drum' in a name indicates a 'fort' and there were plenty of forts in Ireland. For example, near Cookstown are Drummond, Drumard, Drumgarrell, Drumearn, Drumcarn, Drumraw and Drumballyhugh. In Dublin we have Drumcondra and Dundrum. Leitrim which is also known for its ridges has its Drumshanbo and Drumahair which is where I went to visit the famous abbey.

But see how much more the name can tell us about a place:

• Donegal is the fort of the foreigner ('gall' in Irish means foreigner)
• Kildare is the church of oak ('cill' in Irish means 'church', 'dara' means 'oak')
• Kilkenny is the church of St. Candice.
• Sligo is named after the Shelly River.
• Dublin has its black pool in the Phoenix Park(Dubh-Linn, from Gaelic, 'the black mire')
• Derry is Doire, the oak again.
• Ardboe in the North means 'hill of the cow'(from the Irish word 'bo' meaning cow).
• Lissan means 'Anne's Lis' who was a Fairy Queen and guardian spirit of the O'Connor family.
• The Irish word for Ulster is 'ulidia' meaning 'the land east of the river Bann'.
• Tyrone is from 'tir Eoin' - the land of Owen.(in Irish 'tir' means 'land')
• Lough Swilly is the lake of shadows.
• Tulluhogue is the hill of youth(in Irish og, ogue, means 'young')
• Howth in Dublin is derived from the Danish hoved or head (The Vikings landed here!)
• Glendalough in Wicklow is the valley of the two lakes
• Naas in Kildare is really 'Nas Na Ri', Naas of the kings
• Meath, a central county is 'Midhe'- the middle,
• Dowth is from the Irish for 'darkness', found at Newgrange
• Cork is from 'Coraigh', a marshy place.
• Killarney is from 'Cill Airne', the church of the sloe
• Omagh is the seat of the chiefs
• Belmullet in Mayo is 'Beal a Mhuirthead', the mouth of the Mullet.

Andrea Santillo goes on to say "Reading the landscape can give one an insight into what has gone before. I urge all people coming to Ireland to get off the beaten path and look into the least traveled sections of this, my adopted home - somewhere where you can have your own personal link with the past."