247 



of a boar ; its original name being the same as that of the town of Kan- 

 turk (Cecmn-cuipc, i. e. boar's head). In Cargygray, in parish of 

 Annahilt, Down, gray is a translation of piaca, and cargy is the Irish 

 caipge, rocks; the full name is cmp^e-piaca, grey rocks. The Irish 

 name of Curraghbridge, near Adarein Limerick, is t)poicec-na-coppa, 

 the bridge of the weir or dam, and it is anglicised by leaving coppa 

 nearly unchanged, and translating bpoicec to bridge. 



XI. Irish names simulating English forms. — The non-Irish names of 

 the third class, already alluded to, are in some respects more interesting 

 than those belonging to either of the other two. They are^apparently 

 English, but in reality Irish ; and they have settled down into their pre- 

 sent forms, under the action of a certain corrupting influence, which 

 often comes into operation when words are transferred (not translated) 

 from one language into another. It is the tendency to convert the 

 strange word, which is etymologically unintelligible to the mass of those 

 beginning to use it, into another that they can understand, formed by 

 a combination of their own words, more or less like the original in sound, 

 but almost always totally different in sense. This principle exists, and 

 acts extensively in the English language, and it has been noticed by several 

 writers — among others by Latham, Dr. Trench, and Max Miiller, the 

 last of whom devotes an entire lecture to it, under the name of " Popular 

 Etymology." These writers explain by it the formation of numerous 

 English words and phrases ; and in their writings may be found many 

 amusing examples, a few of which I shall quote. It is designated by 

 Latham " words of foreign, simulating a vernacular origin," and I have 

 borrowed from him the word "simulating" in the heading of this 

 section. 



The word "beefeater" is corrupted from luffetier, which was applied 

 to a certain class of persons, so called, not from eating beef, but because 

 their office was to wait at the buffet. Shotover Hill, near Oxford, a 

 name which the people sometimes explain by a story of Little John 

 shooting an arrow over it, is merely the Erench Chateau Yert. The 

 tavern sign of " The goat and compasses," is a corruption of the older 

 sign-board " God encompasseth us ;" " The cat and the wheel" is " St. 

 Catherine's wheel ;" Brazenose College, Oxford, was originally called 

 Brasen-huis, i. e. brew-house, because it was a brewery before the 

 foundation of the college ; and " La rose des quatre saisons" becomes 

 " The rose of the quarter sessions," &c, &c. 



This principle has been extensively at work in corrupting Irish 

 names — much more so indeed than I had believed before commencing 

 to write this paper. I have collected a long list of illustrative names, 

 which might be much extended by a further search, but only a very 

 small portion can be presented in this paper. 



The best anglicised form of coill, a wood, is hill or Icyle ; in many 

 names, however, chiefly in the North of Ireland, it is changed to the 

 English word field. Cranfield, the name of three townlands in Down, 



