230 



burned, with all its furniture and books, and also, the yew tree which \_8t.~\ 

 Patrick himself had planted " This extract, and the Irish name of the 

 place, both show that there was originally only one yew ; the tradition of 

 the place, however, is that there were two ; and in old English documents 

 it is called "The Newries." Both acco ants may be reconciled, if we 

 suppose either that two yew trees were planted, or sprang up, in place 

 of the one burned in 1162. It is curious that the incorporation of the 

 n in this name, began even before the word reached the English lan- 

 guage, for in the Charter of Newry, a Latin document of about the 

 year 1160, it occurs twice, in one case with the n annexed, in the other 

 without it, viz : — Nyvorcyntracta, and Ybarcyntracta. The present 

 name Newry is merely a changed form of n'lubhar, the yew. There 

 are two other places called Newry, one in Wicklow, and the other in 

 Tyrone. There are seven towniands called Nure, which is the same 

 word, and ten called Ne wrath or Newragh — an lubpac, " the yew 

 land." 



Neddans, a parish in Tipperary, i. e. "Na peabdm, "the brooks or 

 streamlets ;'" the townland that gave name to the parish, is now called 

 in Irish peapann-na-b-peat>dn, the " land of the streamlets." Ninch, 

 in parish of Julianstown, Meath — an imp, the inch or island. Jour- 

 ney, a name of frequent occurrence — an imnai&e, the oratory. 

 Navan Fort, a large rath two miles west of Armagh, the remains of 

 the ancient palace of Emania, destroyed in A. D., 332 ; the Irish name 

 is 6arhum, the pronunciation of which, with the n prefixed, is almost 

 exactly preserved in the modern name Navan. Naan island, in Lough 

 Erne — an dm, the ring. Nuenna Eiver, in parish of Ereshford, 

 Kilkenny — an uaicne, the green river. The Eiver Nore is properly 

 written an pheoip, *. e. theEeoir ; Eoate calls it " TheNure or Oare," 

 showing that in his time (1645), the article had not been permanently 

 incorporated. Jobber, in Meath; an obaip, the work, a name 

 applied according to tradition, to the English fortress erected there. 

 Mageoghegan in his translation of the "Annals of Clonmacnoise," calls 

 it " the Obber." 



It is curious that in several of these places, a traditional remem- 

 brance of the use of the article still exists, for the people often employ 

 the English article with the names. Thus Newry is still called " The 

 Newry" by the country people, and this was its usual name in early 

 English writings. So Naul is still often called " The Naul." In these, 

 as well as in " The Navan Eort," both the Irish and English articles 

 are used together; but in "The Oil" (an dill, "the rock"), a townland 

 in parish of Edermine, "Wexford, and in " The Obber," the Irish article 

 is omitted, and the English used in its place. 



"While in so many names the article has been incorporated, the re- 

 verse process sometimes took place ; that is, in the case of certain words 

 which properly began with n, this letter was detached in consequence 

 of being mistaken for the article. The name Uachongbhail is an ex- 

 ample of this. The word Congbhail meant an ecclesiastical establish- 



