Number of RETURN of the Number of Houses and Inhabitants in the several Counties of Ireland, as collected from the Enumerators' Periodical Returns of progress, and from the Reports of the Magistrates in the year 1821; together with a Comparative View of the Number of Houses and Inhabitants, as taken in 1813. COUNTIES, &c. Note. In the foregoing Tables the letter (p) annexed to the amount of the Population of 1821, denotes that the totals of Houses and Inhabitants have been collected from the returns of progress made every fortnight, by the Enumerators, during their progress; and therefore, though generally accurate, they are in some instances defective, but not to such a degree as materially to affect the results.-The letter (m) denotes, that in these cases the totals are taken from the reports of the Magistrates, on the final examination of the Enumerators' returns after they had completed the Census of their respective districts. When the deficiencies in this Table shall have been supplied by the final returns of the Enumerators, as certified by the Magistrates, THE TOTAL NUMBER OF THE INHABITANTS WILL, IT IS THOUGHT, AMOUNT TO UPWARDS OF SEVEN MILLIONS. Or Explanation of many Irish words which assist in forming the names of places, noticed in the present Work. ABHAN, a river. ACHADH, a field. ACRA, an acre of ground. AILL, a rock or cliff; a precipice. ALAIN, fair, clear, bright, white. ANADH, danger. AOSDA, aged. AR, slaughter. ARD, rising, or high ground. ART, a house, tent, tabernacle. ATTIN, furze, gorse. BALLA, or BALLADH, a wall, or bulwark. BAILE, a town, or village. BAN, white, or fair; also waste, desolate. BAR, or BARR, the top of anything. BEAG, Small, little, diminutive. BENN, a summit, a mountain. Воснт, роог. BON, or BUN, the root, or base. BORR, or BURR, great, noble, extra ordinary; also victory, conquest. BREITH, judgment. BRUACH, border or margin. BUIDHE, yellow. CAE, a hedge. CAM, crooked. CAR, (abbreviation of CATHAir) a city. CARN, a funeral monument, composed of many rude stones heaped together. CARRICK, or CARRIG, a rock, or stony place. CAS, wreathed, twisted. CEANN, the head; also end, or limit. CLUAIN, a plain, a lawn ; a remote or retired situation. CNOC, a hill. COILL, a wood. COIR, solitary, lonely. CORCACH, a moor, a marsh. CRANN, a tree. CREAG, a rock. CROIS, a cross, a market-place. CUINNE, a nook, an angle, a quoin. corner. CURRAGH, a moor, also a level plain. DAIR, an oak. DAIRE, a wood. DEAGH, good, fair. DEARG, red. DEAS, Southern; also handsome. DERRY. This word, as used in the composition of names of places, is explained by Dr. Beaufort as meaning " a clear dry spot in the midst of a woody swamp." The word Durmhach, pronounced Durrow, means a deserted, or retired place, and on that account a fit place for devotion. DROICHIOD, a bridge. DROM, OF DRUIM, the ridge of a hill, also the back. DUBH, DUV, Doov; black, bleak, gloomy. DUN, a fortified house or hill; a EADAN, front, face. ENNIS, or INIS, an island. FAD, long. FAL, an enclosure. FASACH, a desert, a wilderness, a road. FEARN, an alder-tree; also a shield. FEART, a grave, a tomb. FEIGH, superior, pre-eminent; also bloody. FEIGHE, a warrior; also the top of a hill, or mountain. FEUR, grass. FIONN, OF FINN, white, fine, plea sant; also small. FONN, land, earth. GAL, kindred. GALL, a foreigner. GEARR, short. GARADH, a garden; a hedge, or dyke; also a den, or cave. GARBH, rough, rugged. GEAL, White. GEALL, a pledge. GORM, blue. GLAN, clean. GLAS. In the composition of Irish names this word usually appears to signify a fastness, an enclosure. It also signifies green. GLEANN, a valley, a glen. GORT, a cornfield, a garden. GUAL, Coal. GURNA, a cave, a den, a hole. IAR, west. INBHEAR(Sometimes written INVER) the mouth of a river. IоGHA, the yew-tree. LAG, a hollow, a cavity; also weak, feeble. LAN, full. LANN, a church, a fold, an enclosure. LAR, or LAWR, the centre. LINN, a lake, a pool, a streight. LOCH, a lake, lough, arm of the sea. LONN, strong, powerful. MAGH, a plain, a field, a level country. MAIN, riches, patrimony. MOINSE, a bog, a turbary. MOL, loud, clamorous. MONADH, a mountain. MOR, great, large. MUR, a wall, a bulwark, a house. RAC, a king, a prince. RAIGH, an arm. RATH, a fortress. REIDH, a plain, a level field, a green for play. REIGH, plain, open. REIM, a way. REILEAG, a church, a cemetery. RUADH, a reddish brown; a tint resembling that assumed by the leaves of many trees in autumn. SEAN, old. SIOL, race, tribe, or clan. SLIABH, a mountain. SLUAGH, an army, or concourse of people. SUIR, water, a river. TAIN, water. TALL, over, beyond. TAN, a country, territory. TEAGH, or TEACH, a house. Том, a bush, a thicket, a grove. TOR, a sovereign, a noble; a castle, or tower; a spire, or steeple ; a bush, shrub; fruit. TRAIGH, the sea shore; a strand. TUATH, a lordship, a country; the north. TUILE, a flood. TULACH, a chief; a hill, a hillock. TULLA, a green, or common. UR, border, limit; a valley; a heath; a grave; slaughter. This word also signifies green, and new. The authorities chiefly consulted, in forming the above brief Glossary, are the Irish-English Dictionaries of O'Brien and O'Reilly, aided by some obliging communications from the author of the latter work. It may not be undesirable to cite, in this place, but without insisting on its accuracy, a remark of Mr. Chalmers (Caledonia, vol. i. p 30): "The Index to Beaufort's map contains 3842 names of cities, towns, baronies, villages, parishes, churches, mountains, lakes, rivers, bays, promontories, and islands of these, 3028 are Gaelic names; 171 are mixed names of Gaelic and English; 623 appellations are English; and, of the whole, only 20 names are Scythic, Scandinavian, or Gothic." It is observed by the same writer, that "the Scandian names are confined to the coast, as we know, from Ware, the Eastmen were in their residence; and these appellations are chiefly conspicuous, from their giving names to some of the maritime towns. The mixed names are composed by grafting English words on Irish roots; as Lif-ford, Achil-head, Ban-foot, Baile-borough, Gil-ford, Abbey-feal. The English appellations are such as Abing-ton, Ac-ton, Hills-borough, Lanes-borough, Mary-borough; New-town, New-castle, Long-ford, Strat-ford. The termination of ford, in those names, and in others, as it merely signifies the passage of several waters, must not be confounded, as Ware and Harris have mistakenly done, with the affix ford, in Wex-ford, Water-ford, Carling-ford, Strang-ford. The fact evinces that, in these names, the ford is affixed to some bay, frith, or haven; and, consequently, must be the Scandinavian fiord, which denotes such collections of water." The following remark of Sir J. Ware (Antiqs. of Ireland vol. ii. p. 46) will be found useful in topographical researches. "The words Dal, Hy, or Ibh, Sioll, Clan, Kinell, Mac, Maicne, Muinter, Teallach, and many others, are common adjectives in the Irish language, which, in their primary signification, denote the heads or founders of families, or the parts or branches descending from such heads; but in a more lax sense they are taken for the territories, or tracts of country, possessed by them." In addition to the information conveyed in previous pages, it |
