in this video we're going to take a look at the background to a few Irish place names
if you've watched any of my previous videos on place names you'll know that very often
they are filled with connections to Irish history Heritage and folklore
so let's get started so our first place name here is Castlemartyr
its proper name is Caisleán na martra this is a village in East cork and it is a place I
know well because it's on the main road between Waterford and cork I've often driven through it
it's meaning is the following castle of the relics so caisleán means castle and then na martra then
is of the relics as in people who have died rumor has it that this Village contained
a castle that was set alight as it was taken over by an English Garrison in the late 1500s
it's said that many people died trying to flee the Burning Castle at that time
next we have Ros Muc
which is a village in County Galway Ros Muc it literally means Headland of the pigs
now it's probably more in relation to wild pigs or wild boar that would have roamed here in years
gone past Ros Muc, Ros can mean a headland but it could also mean a wooded height as well so that's
what Ros Muc means the Headland of the pigs next we have a place in Donegal called Gweedore
in Irish it's Gaoth Bobhair and it's become anglicized then over time into Gweedore it literally means the
inlet of the water because it's very close to a lake called Lough Nacung so gaoth usually you'd
associate that with wind it's the Irish word for wind but in this case it means Inlet and dobhair is
in relation to water or the river or it could be in reference to rain as well indeed dobhair is an
old Irish name for a river the more modern name for river is abhainn this reminded me of the Irish
word for hippopotamus which is dobhareach so again if we divide that in 2 you'll see dobhar the first
part of it is to do with wet or water in general and then each at the end is an old Irish word for a
horse this word has been particularly used when telling stories about Irish folklore for example
the horses that Fionn Mac Cumhaill and his legendary band of Warriors known as the fianna would have
ridden and if you've watched any nature programs you'll know that hippos they love the wet they
love the river and they're also very territorial so they can be very aggressive so this word dobhareach
is quite suitable for a hippopotamus because it literally means the war horse of the water
next we have the town of Tullow in County Carlow this comes from the Irish word tulach which means a hill or
a mound and as someone who has been in tullow a few times it is certainly a town on a hill I can
remember a big hill there in the center of town not when I was there not so long ago so tulach
that's the Irish word for a hill or a hillock or a mound and that's where tullow gets its name from
similarly Tullamore in County Offaly comes from the Irish words tulach and mór so tulach as we've just
said is a hill or a mound and then mór is Big so tullamore basically means the big hill next we have
the Sligo Village of easky, this comes from the Irish word iascaigh which means an abundance of fish
this is in reference to the river Esky which runs through the village of esky and in Times Gone by
and maybe to this day I'm not really sure it had or still has hopefully an abundance of fish easky
don't forget to let me know in the comment section some of your favorite Irish place
names and who knows I might get around to doing a video on them at some point in the future
I just want to say quickly a big thank you to all my patreon supporters um Go raibh míle maith agat your
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incredibly grateful thank you if you enjoyed this don't forget the thumbs up and I'll see you soon
slán tamall.