241 



such as Castlecomer in Kilkenny- — the castle on the comar or con- 

 fluence. 



AU these changes were, I believe, made in English, but in the Irish 

 language there was once a strong tendency in the same direction. In what 

 is called middle Irish (from about the 10th, to about the 15th, century), 

 the custom was very general of using nd for nn. For instance the 

 word cenn (a head) is old Irish, for it is cited in this form by Zeuss 

 from MSS. not later than the beginning of the ninth century ; but in 

 middle Irish MSS. it is usually written cend. In all such words, how- 

 ever, the proper termination is restored in modern Irish ; and so strong- 

 was this counter-current, that the d was swept away not only from 

 words into which it was incorrectly introduced, but also from those to 

 which it properly and radically belonged. The middle Irish words 

 Chpppent) (the Mass), and muileomt) (a mill), are spelled correctly 

 with a d, for they are derived from Lat. offerenda, and molendinum ; 

 but in modern Irish, they are always spelled and pronounced, Gippionn, 

 and muilearm. 



Some of the words and names cited under this section, afford a cu- 

 rious example of the fickleness of phonetic change, and at the same 

 time, of the regularity of its action. We find words spelled in Old 

 Irish with nn ; in Middle Irish, a d is introduced, and the nn becomes 

 nd ; in Modern Irish, the d is rejected, and there is a return to the Old 

 Irish nn ; and in modern anglicised names, the d is reinstated, and nd 

 seems to remain in final possession of the field. 



There is a corruption peculiar to the Northern and North-Western 

 counties, which is very similar to the one now under consideration, 

 namely, the sound of aspirated m (m = Eng. v) is often represented in 

 the present names by mph. This mode of spelling is probably an at- 

 tempt to represent the half nasal half labial- aspirate sound of rh , which 

 an ear unaccustomed to Irish finds it very difficult to catch. Under the 

 influence of this custom, damh, an ox, is converted into damph, as in 

 Derrydamph in parish of Knockbride, Cavan (Ooipe-t>am, the oak 

 grove of the oxen) ; creamh, wild garlic, is made era mph, as in Anna- 

 cramph, in parish of Grange, Armagh (Ganac-cpearha wild garlic 

 marsh) ; sceamh, the polypodium or wall fern, becomes scamph, as in 

 Drumnascamph in parish of Clonduff, Down (Qpuim-na-pceam, the 

 ridge or hill of the wall fern). 



YII. The letter s prefixed to ceac or «w$leacc. — The Irish word 

 ceac, which is also written means primarily a house, but it was 

 also often applied to a church. In both senses it enters extensively 

 into topographical names all over Ireland, in the anglicised forms of 

 Ta, Tagh, Tee, Ti, Ty, &c. In some of the Eastern counties, this word 

 is liable to a singular corruption, noticed by Dr. Beeves and Dr. O'Do- 

 novan, viz. the Irish Ta or Ti is converted into Sta or Sti, in a consi- 

 derable number of names, of which the following are examples. Still- 

 organ is in Irish Cig-Lopcam, Lorcan's or Laurence's house ; Staban- 

 non in Louth ought to be Tabannon, from Ceac-bcmdin, Bannan's 



R. I. A. PROC. VOL. IX. 2K . 



