It doesn’t take long to realize that place names in Ireland are a mixture of Gaelic and English. From my own experience of going to Ireland and Northern Ireland since 1990, I’ve come to realize that I’ll never pronounce the really long Gaelic names correctly. So I do my best, wait for the locals to correct me, and then we all smile politely.
There are a few common words you will see all the time in place names. From my years in the records, let me share with you the ones I come across the most. I’m drawing from the website www.dublin1850.com/general/placenames.html which is one of many. Keep in mind many of these are Anglicized Irish words.
ard: hill or height
bally: town or townland
bun: bottom, mouth of a river
carn: Cain, heap of stones
carraig: Also seen as Carrick, meaning a rock
clon: meadow
cool/col: corner or nook
cull: back
derry: oak wood or grove
drum/drom: ridge or hillock
dun: fort or palace
glas: small river or stream
gort: tilled field
kil: a wood
kill/killy: church
knock: hill
letter: hillside
lis: ring fort
lough: lake
magher: a plain
mullin: a mill
rath: circular fort, earth mound
shan: old
termon: church lands
tul/tulla/tully: hillock, mound
While knowing these words may not help you find your ancestors, they do place your ancestors in a historical context. After all, in rural Ireland the tenants were tied to their historic lands.
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