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SOCIETY NEWS |
ULSTER PLACE-NAME SOCIETY NEWSLETTERUlster Place-Name
Society Newsletter 5th Nov 2012 UPNS Autumn lecture (Seán
Mac Airt Memorial)
and AGM, 29th Nov.
2012 The Society’s Autumn lecture is entitled ‘Maine
or Muine? Hugh O’Neill and Knockdomny, Co Westmeath’ and
will be given by Dr Aengus Finnegan of the National University of
Ireland, Galway, at 8.00 p.m. on Thursday 29th November 2012,
in the Peter Froggatt Centre, room 2/026 (behind the main university
building). Dr Finnegan has recently completed his doctoral thesis on the
townland names of two baronies in his own area of Co. Westmeath. He has
a special interest in modern Irish dialects with a focus on the Irish
formerly spoken in the north Leinster area. This will be the first lecture, in our 60th year,
to commemorate the Society’s founder, John Arthurs or Seán Mac Airt.
(May lectures will commemorate Deirdre Flanagan). Northern Ireland Place-Name Project database and website The
Northern Ireland Place-Name Project has been awarded a grant of £10,000
from Foras na Gaeilge to enable Dr Paul Tempan to continue editing its
database which was commenced in 1987. The official launch of the
Project’s website, esp. Co. Down (www.placenamesni.org)
will take place at Stormont on 21 January 2013. Gift Aid Forms: Any
member who has not yet returned a gift aid form is asked to do so as
soon as possible. Completed forms should be sent to the Treasurer at 406
Coast Road, Drumnagreagh, Glemarm, Co. Antrim BT44 0BB. Conferences and lectures An
international Place-Names Workshop was held in Dublin City University on
the 24th/25th August 2012. The workshop, the theme
of which was ‘Management and dissemination of toponymic data
online’, was officially opened by Dinny McGinley TD, Minister of State
for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, and the Minister confirmed funding
for the next phase of www.logainm.ie,
the website of the Placenames Database of Ireland. The
22nd annual conference of the Society for Name Studies in
Britain and Ireland will be held in the Glasgow Pond Hotel, Glasgow from
5th-8th April 2013. Proposal to restore townlands to postal addresses Fermanagh
MLA Phil Flanagan has issued a consultation paper on the numbering of
individual properties within townlands. It proposes that each postal
address will consist of a house number followed by the name of the
townland, followed by the road name, the name of the nearest town and
the post code. The current
system has house number, road name, nearest town and post code and while
the use of the townland name is permitted (and indeed encouraged) the
new system would have the great advantage of restoring the townland as
an essential part of the address. The closing date for replies to the
consultation paper was 31 Oct. but members are still encouraged to contact phil.flanagan1@gmail.com
if they wish to show support for the scheme or to find out more
information. UPNS Spring Lecture 2012 (Deirdre Flanagan Memorial) On
Thursday 31 May 2012 Dr Paul Tempan of Queen’s University, a committee
member of the Society, gave a talk entitled ‘Goats which are rocks and
hills which are spears: the importance of observation in the field for
the study of Irish topographical names’. Dr Tempan began by pointing
out that topographical place-names have tended to be neglected in favour
of administrative names such as townlands, parishes and baronies.
However, the work of Margaret Gelling on English topographical names has
underlined the importance of detailed examination of the landscape. Dr
Tempan discussed four less-known landscape elements, lágh,
carbad, trosc and mionnán
as well as two place-names, Binn
Chuilceach in Fermanagh and Cnoc
Daod in Kerry. The element lágh
(often anglicised as law)
which Joyce interpreted as ‘a hill, cognate with Anglo-Saxon law,
same meaning’ in fact means ‘spear’ and is used for hills in a
figurative sense. Carbad which
is often interpreted as ‘chariot’
is seen in many cases to mean ‘boulder’. Trosc
which is interpreted by Joyce as ‘cod’ in fact represents tor
+ the termination –esc and
means ‘hill’. Mionnán which
is not found in the north of Ireland means ‘a pinnacle, sea stack,
rocky island’ in the Dingle Peninsula. Binn
Chuilceach or Quilcagh Mountain is likely to mean ‘cloaked
peak’. Sliabh Daod in the Caha Mountains is a development from Sliabh
Déad, the final element representing ‘jaw, set of teeth’.
The Ultach Trust have published a booklet on
The Gaelic Place-Names of Belfast. Binevenagh Area of
Outstanding Natural Beauty: place-name project Co. Derry The Causeway Coast and Glens Heritage Trust, supported by
Coleraine and Limavady Councils, has engaged a company Quarto,
experienced in history and geography, to run a place-name survey,
leading to a local exhibition, on some of the townland and field names
of Binevenagh AONB. The project is a short pilot study, more holistic
(built and cultural heritage) than the usual natural heritage remit of
AONBs. Local expressions of support have given them several key people,
farmers and others, to talk to. Kay Muhr has become a member of their
advisory panel. Field Names Project Carntogher UPNS
member Seán McCartan has taken photos of a set of panels explaining
local English field names ‘in what is known locally as the Watery
Lane, near Banagher church. From
Dungiven turn left at sign for Banager and Magheramore chalets.’ The ENVISION project is seeking volunteers to help collect
further field names from members of the community in mid Co. Derry; to
record sound files of the field names; investigate their meanings; and
digitise the information on a GIS (equipment can be provided). They are
also interested in local names in Irish, and themes include: 1. Connecting place-names with nature – ancient woodland at
The Darragh. 2. Analysis of townland names derivations around Drumnaph
ancient woodland. 3. Surviving field names around Carntogher – recording and
analysis. 4. Gaelic-family naming system in east Sperrins – recording
and analysis. Contact: Pól
Mac Cana at An Carn: Tel. 028-7954-9978 / Email: pol.maccana@ancarn.org Ainm:
Ainm 11 was
sent to the publishers in October and will be ready soon. Unfortunately
several items could not be edited in time, notably Colum Barton’s
transcription of names within townlands in Co. Down, which is too long
for printing in full and may be more appropriate for display on the
website ulsterplacenames.org (Paul Tempan is editing Co. Down minor names to add to
www.placenamesni.orgg UPNS has lost several members and supporters since the
publication of Ainm 9 and 10.
Obituaries of place-name scholars Margaret Gelling and Diarmuid Ó
Murchadha will appear in Ainm
11, other members Frs Joseph Maguire and Liam Mac an tSagairt and Dr
Anne Ross may be included; and Mary Hamilton, Harold O’Sullivan,
Annesley Malley and Fr Ciarán Ó Doibhlin are also remembered.
Prof. Breandán Ó Buachalla was another member of UPNS whose
passing deserves a fuller record. Kay Muhr, Pat McKay, Paul Tempan UPNS c/o Irish and Celtic
Studies, School of Modern Languages, QUB BT7 1NN (or c/o 436 Ravenhill
Rd, Ballynafeigh BT6 0BU) townlands.upns@gmail.com
tel 028 90491113 (chair)
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