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appears to be, the island of the falcon, but Oiledn-a'-pocdin (pr. 

 ilaun-a-fuchaun), the island or river-holm of the buck goat ; and Lis- 

 namulligan, in parish of Clonduff, Down, is not Mulligan's lis, but Liop- 

 na-b-paoileagdn (pr. lisnaveelagauri), the lis or rath of the sea gulls. 



So also braighid (a gorge) has been changed to broad, chonaidh (an 

 inflection of conadh, firewood) to honey, Gabhailin to Golden, Bothar- 

 liath to Birdlee, 'n Iubhrach to Newrath, Greagraidhe to The Gregories, 

 Both-iseall to Bush-hill, &c, &c. 



Nearer home, however, we have a good example of this process in 

 the name of the Phoenix Park. This word Phoenix (as applied to our 

 park), is a corruption of pionn-mpg' (pr. feenisk), which means clear 

 or limpid water. It was originally the name of the spring well near 

 the Phoenix pillar, situated just outside the wall of the Viceregal 

 grounds, behind the gate lodge, and which is, I believe, the head of the 

 stream that supplies the ponds near the Zoological Gardens. No name 

 could be more characteristic for this well than " Pionn-uisg," for the 

 water is perfectly transparent. The name has given origin to the 

 figure of the phoenix on the top of the pillar. It is proper to remark 

 that this name pionn-uips' is common through the country, in the 

 anglicised form Finish, and was originally applied to small, clear, spark- 

 ling streams. There is a river Pinisk, for example, joining the Black- 

 water about three miles below Cappoquin. 



But I shall not dwell further on this portion of the subject; it 

 would be an endless task, and totally incompatible with the limits of a 

 single paper, to pursue it through all its ramifications ; I trust, how- 

 ever, that enough has been said, and a sufficient number of examples 

 given, to show how extensively Irish names are corrupted by this 

 tendency to make Irish words simulate English forms. 



I have now examined eleven different sources of corruption and 

 change, in Irish names, and I have selected these, because, so far as I 

 am aware, they are the most striking and important, as well as the 

 most extensive in their influence. There are other letter changes 

 of a less violent character, such as those caused by metathesis, gram- 

 matical inflection, &c, which I have not thought sufficiently important 

 to notice. The interchange of hard and soft mutes (or tenues and medice) 

 is extremely common, but this too, as not causing considerable ob- 

 scuration of the names, I shall dismiss with a single remark. In the 

 formation of modern English names from ancient Irish, the change 

 from hard to soft is comparatively rare, while the reverse change, from 

 soft to hard, occurs very frequently. Dulane, near Kells, is an ex- 

 ample of the former, its ancient name, as spelled by the Pour Masters, 

 being Cuilen or Culdn, i. e. the little tulach or hill ; as examples of 

 the latter, it will be sufficient to mention the frequent change of t>u"5 

 (black) to duff, gapb (rough) to gariff, cappais (a rock) to carriole, &c, 

 in the two former of which the sound of v is converted to that of 

 /, and in the last the sound of g (in got) is changed to that of k There 

 are also corruptions of an exceptional and unexpected character, which 



R. I. A. PEC C. — VOL. IX. 2 L 



