342 Mr. PETHIE'S Inquiry into the Origin and 



Again, in the Annals of Ulster at the year 808 : 



" A. D. 808. Ignis celestis percussit virum in oratorio Nodan." 

 Thus given in Irish in the Annals of the Four Masters : 



" A. D. 804. Uene DO comiuo DO nirh, lap po mapbuo oaoine i n-oepthoij Qeoain." 



" A. D. 804. Fire came from heaven, by which people were killed in the derthach of Aedan." 



And again : 



" A. D. 815. Oratorium Fobair combustum est." Ann. Ult. 



Thus- in Irish in the Annals of the Four Masters : 

 " A. D. 812. t)epcech fobaip DO lopcao." 

 " A. D. 812. The derthech of Fore was burned." 



This fact being, as I conceive, satisfactorily proved, it remains now to inquire 

 what were the peculiar characteristics which distinguished the duirtheach from 

 other ecclesiastical structures, whether in material, size, or use, or all these circum- 

 stances combined. First, then, of their material. On this point we might expect 

 to find a satisfactory elucidation in the derivation given of the word by the old 

 glossographers ; but unfortunately it appears that its etymology was as doubtful 

 to them as I have shown it to be to modern lexicographers. In the oldest 

 authority of the former class, that of the vellum MSS., H. 2, 16, preserved in 

 the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, we are offered our choice of the follow- 

 ing conjectural explanations : 



" t)upchech, .1. ocnpcech, .1. cech oapach ; no oeipchech, .1. rech I celgcep oepa ; no ouaip- 

 rech .1. cech a cel^cep ouaip, pocail .1. ouap, pocal." 



" Durthech, i. e. dair-thech, i. e. a house of oak ; or deir-thech, L e. a house in 'which tears are 

 shed ; or duair-thech, i. e. a house in which words are poured out ; L e. duar, a word." 



It is scarcely necessary to observe, that of these three etymological con- 

 jectures, the first is the most likely to be the true one; for, as we know that 

 the word daimhliag, which literally signifies a house of stone, became the Irish 

 name for the larger churches, which were usually of this material, it is in the 

 highest degree probable that in the same manner the name duirtheach, literally 

 a house of oak, would be applied by the Irish to designate the smaller chapels, 

 or oratories of oak, if any were built of such material, which there is every 

 reason to believe were originally, for the most part, of oak wood. 



Nor is it to be wondered at, that in the erection of structures for the use of 

 religious persons, possessed of little or no wealth, a material always at hand, and 



