87 



April 26. 

 Rev. H. LLOYD, D.D., V.P., in the Chair. 



Mr. George Downes read a paper " On the Norse Geo- 

 graphy of Ancient Ireland." The earlier part consisted 

 of remarks on an " Essay on the earhest Expeditions from 

 the North to Ireland," and on a small Map of Ireland accom- 

 panying it, as pubUshed in the Annals and Memoirs of the 

 Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries. 



The author began by advei-ting to the two provincial 

 names on the maip —Ulaztir (Uhter), and Kmmdkfir (Con- 

 naught), — and to two names of districts in Leinster — Dyflinar- 

 skiri, or Dublinshire, and Kimnjdttaborg (a. part of Meath). 

 He argued that the local name in Johnstone's edition of 

 Lodbroc's Death-Song, translated " Leinster's," more pro- 

 bably belongs to Larabay, the Aifxviog of Ptolemy, support- 

 ing his argument also by a geographical consideration.— He 

 next proceeded to the estuaries — J ollduhlmip, supY>osed to 

 be Lough Swilly ; and Ulfrekufjor'Sr, or Ulfkelsfj6r%-, sup- 

 posed to be either Lough Foyle or Carhngford Bay, but 

 perhaps an English locahty, and, if so, that arm of More- 

 cambe Bay which runs up to Ulverstone. — The town 

 Dyflin he stated to be evidently a Norse adaptation of the 

 Irish name of Dublin; Ve^rafjbr^r, or Waterford, to be 

 undoubtedly Norse, adducing its various derivations, and 

 giving the preference to ve%r "weather," awdfjor^r "bay;" 

 and Hlimrek, or Limerick, to be probably a Norse adaptation 

 of the Irish name Luimneach, — notwithstanding its consisting 

 of two Norse words, meaning " branch" and "district," and 

 the resemblance between the Lower Shannon and the Lim- 

 Jiord, or " branching bay," in Denmark. Kunnjdttahorg, or 

 Kantaraborg, given in the Antiquitates Celto-Scandicx as 

 Kunnaktirborg, and (in the genitive form) Kantaraborgar — 

 the place of Brian Boru's nuptials with Kormloda, or Gorm- 



