Ulster's place-names
Introduction
Place-names are a cultural asset in Ireland, cherished by its citizens and a source of wonderment for visitors. Attachment to place is embedded genetically. It resonates in the poetry of William Butler Yeats, WF Marshall and Seamus Heaney.
As one placename expert[i] (whose name translated means son of a bishop's servant) says
“the medieval Irish created a separate literary genre, the Dindshenchas, the lore of notable places (composed in the 10th and 11th centuries), devoted to the origins of names of renowned geographical features .....The vast majority are of Irish language in origin; others derive from English, while a small but significant number derive from Old Norse....Anglicisation and the Ordnance Survey’s 19th century name standardisation rendered names unintelligible. As a result scholarly work is required to correct forms.”
With four Provinces, 32 counties, 2428 civil parishes, 60462 townlands, hundreds of towns and villages, never mind the names of rivers lakes mountains ancient monuments and sacred sites, we possess a cornucopia of place-names. Governments in Belfast[ii] and Dublin[iii] employ specialists to research, decipher, and translate the island’s toponyms.
Lost in Translation: Interpreting Ulster’s Place-names
With the welcome return of night classes at Queens University in Belfast 10 months after suspension, I jumped at the opportunity offered by this 10-week course. Arising from my surname, I wanted to know more about the influence of the Vikings on our place-names.
In the first week we learned that
“Old Norse came to Ireland with the Vikings when they first attacked in 795AD... Norwegians firstly, later Danes...referred to in Irish as Fionnghall meaning fair foreigner and DubhGall meaning dark foreigner....”
Ulster’s largest county contains that same suffix. Donegal, Dún na nGall, means the foreigner’s fort or castle. Aware of the Lost in Translation theme, the fact that Gall also translates to standing stone[iv] highlights the researchers’ interpretive role.
And just to complicate the issue a little further, Donegal retains an alternative if lesser-used Gaelic name, Tír Chonaill, Tyrconnell (Conall’s land). One source[v] says that Tyrconnell is applied to the county’s Irish-speaking Gaeltacht which (relevant to the Vikings) is primarily coastal.
Unlike Donegal, the name Tyrconnell has no explicit connection to Vikings. The Old Norse word for Tír (meaning land or country) is land.[vi] Similarly, the Gaelic noun Gall bears no etymological resemblance to its Old Norse[vii] equivalent út-lænninge, utlending in modern Norwegian.
Surnames
Expanding on the class’s introductory example of DubhGall (anglicised as Doyle), other Norse-related surnames include MacLachlann (anglicised as McLaughlin) which means son of a Dane, and MacDubhghall (McDowell) meaning son of a dark stranger/foreigner. Ballyloughlin County Down[viii] is the sole Ulster surname-to-place-name example of potential, if arguable, with Viking interest that I could find.
My family name is the best example that derives from Old Norse vocabulary – sumarliði or sumar lida. This means summer warrior or sailor, a synonym for Viking.[ix] The name survives in both Gaelicised (MacSomhairle McSorley) and in Anglicised forms (Somerled[x]). It also exists in modern Iceland where, for example, Sulrún Sumarlidadottir is a string player on Sigur Ros albums.
The surname appears as a toponym on the Hebridean Isle of Skye. Somerled Square (the anglicised version) and Ceàrnan Shomhairle (Scots Gaelic) are the bilingual names signposted in Portree (Port an Righ, King’s Port) town centre.
And the Domesday Book mentions the Old Norse Sumerlida from which four settlements in three English counties[xi] derive their place-names. They are Somerby in Leicestershire, Somerleytown and Somerton both in Suffolk, and Somersby in Lincolnshire. I have no evidence of Somerled or Somhairle in Ulster place-names.
There is, however, another place-name connection. Historian Robert Bell explains that McSorley’s travelled to Ulster from Scotland.[xii] He adds that most originate from Clan Donald MacSorleys who came as galloglasses between the 13th and late 16th centuries. They were one of the earliest such families to settle in Ulster. Galloglasses were heavily-armed mercenary soldiers, originally Hebridean (Gaelic-Norse).
Galloglass derives from two Scots Gaelic words - gall (foreigner) and óglach (young warrior-servant).[xiii] Ballyalloly or Baile an Gallóglaigh lies between Carryduff and Comber, County Down less than six miles from my house. Although the word galloglass “implies Norse origin, they (foreign soldiers) are more likely to have come from the Norse-influenced areas in the Hebrides and Gaelic Scotland.[xiv]”
Ulster place-names of Norse origin
Three examples were presented in class. I have added details including Gaelic equivalents:-
· Strangford Lough derives from the Old Norse Strangr Fjörðr meaning strong sea-inlet. The Irish Gaelic name is Loch Cuan, literally meaning Harbour Lough, arguably a synonym for strong sea-inlet;
· Rathlin Island derives from the Old Norse Rechru. My inconclusive efforts to uncover its meaning are appended.[xv] The Annals of Ulster uses the Norse name when describing the first recorded site of a Viking raid in Ireland in 795 AD as the “burning by the heathens.[xvi]” The Gaelic derivative from Rechru is Reachlainn, meaning “indented/rugged island[xvii]”; and
· Carlingford is derived from the Old Norse Kerlingfjorðr[xviii] meaning narrow sea-inlet of the hag. It translates into Irish as Loch Cairlinn. The Irish word for hag, Cailleach, is similar but different. My research finds no English meaning for the lake’s name (Cair), although its Gaelic suffix linn translates as lake/pool. Coincidentally, Dublin’s original Gaelic name is DubhLinn, literally deep pool. The Annals of Ulster recorded that in 841AD the Vikings had a stronghold (longphort) there and built the first town[xix] (WoodQuay).[xx]
Old Norse place-names – more examples
The Provincial name, Ulster, is an Old Norse derivative. Historian Jonathon Bardon explains that Ulster’s rulers were called the Ulaidh. This was a tribal name, he says, recorded as Voluntii about 150AD by Ptolemy of Alexandria (Egypt) in his geography of Ireland. I’m intrigued by the apparent morphing of the Latin Voluntii to Ulaidh (never mind the concept of Ulster Volunteers).
The Vikings named the land of the Ulaidh Uladzstir, mixing their pronunciation with the Irish word tír, meaning land or country. When the Normans and English invaded in the twelfth century, they adopted the Viking version. As Bardon explains,[xxi] Uladztir became anglicised to Ulster. This is endorsed by Patrick McKay who concludes that the form Uladztir originates in Norse.[xxii]
Whereas the Norse-derived surname MacSomhairle transliterates to form place-names, Uladh reverses that process. Surnames like McCullagh and McAnulty borrow Uladzstir to produce Mac Con Uladh. Ulster’s Norse place-names survive in some surnames and vice versa.
Between Hilltown and Kilkeel County Down sits the townland of Stang (An Stang in Irish). Stang derives from the Old Norse word stöng meaning[xxiii] a measure of land such as a rood or an acre. My Old Norse dictionary defines stöng as a pole/staff.[xxiv]
A Tyrone place-name uses the same prefix Stang as a noun with a Gaelic adjective suffixed. Stangmore (An Stang mór, a big piece of land), lies outside Dungannon, County Tyrone. No Stangbeg exists in Ulster.
The word stadium is one English translation listed for Stang. This makes Stangmore Park, the home ground of Dungannon Swifts Football Club more interesting, serendipitous perhaps. The modern Irish word for stadium is staid[xxv] which, because it sounds like an English derivative, makes its appeal less noir than the Nordic Stang.
One wonders about connections of inland Stang and Stangmore to the Vikings. A topic for further investigation – maybe using archaeology.
Archaeological evidence
No pun intended, but I harbour hopes of discovering an Ulster place-name referencing that quintessential object, a Viking longship, perhaps buried somewhere. I’m sure I have read or heard about such a discovery aided by place-name evidence. Whereas long fhada (literally ship long) is the Gaelic term, the sole toponymic reference I could find is Annalong (Áth na long[xxvi] – ford of the ships), on the County Down coast.
Another, which raises my hopes, incorporates the same maritime noun - Baile an Longfoirt, anglicised as Ballylumford. It occupies a strategic site on Islandmagee peninsula in County Antrim. Translated from Irish, its English meaning is[xxvii] town or townland of the fortress, stronghold, or camp. Fortuitously this fits with the location’s characteristics. The prefix Long (ship), mysteriously, isn’t specified definitionally.
Placenameni’s descriptive of Ballylumford makes conjectural observations about temporary camps of 9th century Viking raiders, the position of the peninsula exposed to attacks by Danes and Scots – alas with nothing evidential to confirm possibilities, like mummified ships.[xxviii]
When Covid-19 invaded DudhGall-like last March, the course I was attending on Ulster Archaeology terminated after 8 enthralling classes. We had learned about a Viking burial site at Larne and that the summer sailors undertook more extensive settlement in Ireland’s south-east.
Ó’Mainnín[xxix] says that the Vikings coined roughly 60 place-names in Ireland, including Ueða-Fjörðr (Waterford), Ueigs-Fjörðr (Wexford), and Uikingrló (Wicklow).[xxx] Smyth[xxxi] adds the Old Norse Hlýmrek (Limerick) on the west coast arguing that Nordic influence on Ireland’s place-names was more widespread than is currently held.
Another academic[xxxii] observes that “only two place-names in Northern Ireland are derived from Old Norse: Larne or Ulfreks Fjörðr – fjord of Ulfrek - and Strangford.” Apparently
“in the 10th and 11th centuries Ulfreksfjordr was the centre of Viking activity. This is seen from Viking burial sites and artefacts found in this area..... Snorri Sturluson[xxxiii] (1178-1241 Norwegian poet, historian and politician in the Althing) mentions Ulfreksfjordr in his Heimskringla as the place where Connor the King of Ireland defeated the Orkney Vikings under the leadership of Einar in battle in 1018.”
A Norwegian relation[xxxiv] advises that Ulfrek is not a name (Ulrik is), adding that frekk means cheeky. Larne comes from the Irish word Latharna, meaning descendants of Lathar who[xxxv] was one of 25 children of the pre-Christian king Úgaine Mór. Neither Latharna nor Larne nor Ugaine bear any apparent etymological similarity to the Old Norse Ulfreksfjordr.
Drawing from Smyth’s case that “Scandinavian rural settlement in Ireland was more extensive than is currently assumed,[xxxvi]” this essay has searched Ulster for additional candidates. Norse-derived Ulster place-names, nevertheless, still seem to share a rarity value similar to that of our Norse surnames. Larne stretches that characteristic to the extreme by concealing Ulfreksfjordr for no known reason. Lost?
Larne, however,[xxxvii] is “a relatively recent name.” How recent is, tantalisingly, left undefined. In the words of the bishop's servant's son, it is “shrouded in an impenetrable fog of unintelligibility[xxxviii]” - perhaps lost in translation.
I’m tempted to offer Sumarlidafjorðr as an alternative.
©Michael McSorley 2021
Bibliography
[i] Dónall MacGiolla Easpaig “Ireland’s Heritage of Geographical Names” Vienna 2009
[ii] The Northern Ireland Place-names Project based at Queens University Belfast www.placenamesni.org
[iii] The Placenames Branch Dept of Culture Heritage and the Gaeltacht www.logainm.ie
[iv] Donegal https://www.logainm.ie/en/100013
[v] Tyr Connell https://www.logainm.ie/en/1166821?s=T%c3%adr+Chonaill
[vi] Country/tír https://www.vikingsofbjornstad.com/Old_Norse_Dictionary_E2N.shtm#f
[vii] Foreigner https://www.vikingsofbjornstad.com/Old_Norse_Dictionary_E2N.shtm#f
[viii] Ballyloughlin, Maghera Co Down. Neither http://www.placenamesni.org/resultdetails.php?entry=17399 nor https://www.logainm.ie/en/66586 endorse a Danish Viking link.
[ix] “The name Somhairle and its clan” H Palsson, from “So Many People, Longages & Tonges,” Edinburgh 1981.
[xi] The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names
[xii] Robert Bell “The Book of Ulster Surnames.” p 182. 1988
[xiii] Collins English Dictionary millennium edition p 627
[xiv] Ballyalloly http://www.placenamesni.org/resultdetails.php?entry=6868
[xv] ON dictionary search reveals options: e.g. Rejk=bay, reykr=smoke, rekkr=warrior
[xvi] The Annals of Ulster https://celt.ucc.ie/published/T100001A/text365.html
[xvii] Rathlin Island http://www.placenamesni.org/resultdetails.php?entry=15371
[xviii] Kerling ON= hag/old woman https://www.vikingsofbjornstad.com/Old_Norse_Dictionary_N2E.shtm#s
[xix] Dublin https://www.logainm.ie/Eolas/Data/Brainse/baile-atha-cliath-dublin.pdf
[xx] Wood Quay Dublin https://archaeology.co.uk/articles/features/wood-quay-revealing-the-heart-of-viking-dublin.htm
[xxi] Jonathon Bardon “Place names in the North of Ireland” p 2 NICLR.
[xxii] Patrick McKay “A Dictionary of Ulster Place-Names 1999 p 144 ISI QUB.
[xxiii] Stang http://www.placenamesni.org/resultdetails.php?entry=14666
[xxiv] Stang https://www.vikingsofbjornstad.com/Old_Norse_Dictionary_N2E.shtm#s
[xxv] Stadium https://www.focloir.ie/en/dictionary/ei/stadium
[xxvi]Annalong https://www.logainm.ie/en/130004?s=Annalong
[xxvii] Ballylumford http://www.placenamesni.org/resultdetails.php?entry=16796
[xxviii]Viking Ships http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/manufacturing/text/norse_ships.htm
[xxix]Mícheál Ó’Mainnín 2017 “Annexing Irish Names to the English Tongue: language contact and the Anglicisation of Irish place-names” Paul Walsh Memorial Lecture Maynooth University
[xxx] Ibid Ó’Mainnín 2017: p6 - meanings - Ueða-Fjörðr (ram or windy fjord), Ueigs-Fjörðr (fjord of the water-logged island or piece of land), Uikingrló (meadow of the Vikings).
[xxxi] Limerick William J Smyth History Ireland Mar/Apr 2020 “The Scandinavian Impact, A Geographical Exploration.” https://www.jstor.org/stable/26915175?seq=1
[xxxii] Sophie Vanherpen May 2016 ”Traces of Vikings in Northern Ireland” https://vanherpens.wordpress.com/2016/05/29/traces-of-vikings-in-northern-ireland/?fbclid=IwAR1a42ptQugDscY-2DgMZh8ST5_7JV0CDNW4_Zy9O2RzhT0RTaQo6tIIQm4
[xxxiii] Sturluson https://www.britannica.com/biography/Snorri-Sturluson
[xxxiv] Merete Olsen from Åsgårdsstrand on west coast of Oslofjord, wife of my nephew Greg Barnes
[xxxv] Larne http://www.placenamesni.org/resultdetails.php?entry=16730
[xxxvi] William J Smyth History Ireland ibid 2020 “The Scandinavian Impact, A Geographical Exploration.”
[xxxvii] Ibid. http://www.placenamesni.org/resultdetails.php?entry=16730
[xxxviii]Ibid Dónall MacGiolla Easpaig “Ireland’s Heritage of Geographical Names” 2009
