THIRTEENTH ORDINARY MEETING. 183 
make an accurate examination of the topographical names of Man. 
It is in the highest degree surprising that, after all the changes which 
passed over the Isle of Man, and in spite of the numerous languages 
which were spoken by those who successively exercised authority over 
its inhabitants, 59 per cent. of the topographical names should still 
be Gaelic, commemorating thus the early and powerful presence of 
the Gaels in the Island long before, it may be, Cesar invaded 
Britain, or the Cymry forced their way as later Celts into the Albion 
of Aristotle. In his introduction to his Irish Grammar, Dr. O’Dono- 
van thus writes: “The Manx is much further removed from the 
Trish than the Gaelic of Scotland. Its words are principally obscured 
by being written as they are pronounced without preserving the radi- 
cal letters as in Irish.” he translation of the Holy Scriptures into 
Manx forms the most important part of Manx Literature. The 
translators went avowedly on the principle of spelling words phoneti- 
cally, of disregarding etymological considerations, and of making as 
near an approximation as might be possible to the manner in which 
the language was spoken, in order that every Manksman could easily 
read and understand the Scriptures in his native tongue. It naturally 
happens that no small ingenuity is at times necessary to discover the 
exact value of certain sounds and words in the Manx language as it 
is written. The judicious remarks of Dr. Joyce, (Vol. I, pp. 1, 2, 3,) 
apply with peculiar strikingness to the topographical names of Man : 
“<The interpretation of a name involves two processes, the discovery 
of the ancient orthography, and the determination of the meaning of 
this original form. . .... A vast number of our local names are per- 
fectly intelligible as they stand in their present Anglicized orthogra- 
phy, to any person who has studied the phonetic laws by which they 
have been reduced from ancient to modern forms . . . In numerous 
other cases, where the original forms are so far disguised by their 
English dress as to be in any degree doubtful, they may be discovered 
by causing the names to be pronounced in Irish by the natives of the 
respective localities. When pronounced in this manner they become 
in general perfectly intelligible to an Irish scholar ... The mean- 
ing of a name otherwise doubtful will often be explained by a know- 
ledge of the locality.” 
Words beginning with Saile are very common in Scotland, and 
especially in Ireland. Baile signifies a farm, a village, or town. In- 
deed, a casual comparison of the names in Man, and Scotland, and 
