in this video i'm going to explain to you the meaning
behind the names of the 32 counties in ireland
as i'm doing so you'll see how closely connected they are
to the irish language, if you would like to learn more about irish place names
irish words phrases verbs and lots more then hit that subscribe button and don't
forget to click on the bell notification where you can be notified whenever i
upload a new video, anyway back to this video and let's
start with my own county of wexford so the irish for wexford is
loch garman, and this means
Carman's lake and this was said to be named after
a thief who was drowned in one of the waterways
around wexford and the place was named after him
subsequently loch garman - the viking name for wexford
because it it does have a rich viking past is weisfjord
and this literally means
the fjord of the mudflats so mud flats are sediment deposits that
sometimes accumulate on coastal wetlands so loch garman in
irish carman's lake and the viking name is
weisfjord and wexford today is pretty much
an anglicization of weisfjord so moving on to wicklow then
wicklow in irish wicklow is cill mhantáin
this means mantan's church or the church of mantan so
mantan was said to be a close friend and a disciple of saint patrick
and he was hurt in a fight or a battle defending saint patrick's honor and it
was said that he had his front teeth knocked out and that's where the name a
kind of a nickname for wicklow comes from
the church of the toothless one church of the man with no teeth but
it is the church of mantan who had his teeth knocked out defending saint
patrick, cill mhaintáin is wicklow, like wexford it has
a rich viking past and its name wicklow actually comes from
be it danish or norse i'm not really sure but
it comes from the the vikings
wkyynglo so it literally means the meadow of the vikings or the viking
meadow but cill mhantáin in irish the church of mantan
moving up then to the capital city of dublin
so we kind of have two names for this let's start with dubh linn
so this literally means the black pool dubh linn
the black pool and this is said to originate when the river poodle
meets the liffey it formed a deep dark pool and around this deep dark pool
the the city of dublin grew and that's where the name dubh linn comes
from the other name for dublin probably slightly better
known in irish is baile átha cliath so this means the
town of the hurdled ford so a ford is like a
river crossing and hurdle is like is protected and this
river crossing was at a key strategic point where
important routeways met and the town was said to have grown
out of this so baile átha cliath means the town of the hurdled ford
so moving back down to the south east then
and waterford so in irish it's port láirge
and this means lárag's port so lárag was said to be
an ancient mythical celtic figure possibly a member of the déise clan
waterford is sometimes known as the déise county and the déise were an ancient
celtic clan that roamed this southeastern
county so lárag's port is what it means in irish
and the port of lárag but the viking name is valdrefjord
and that's where the name that we use every day comes from
waterford so valdrefjord is said to mean the
fjord, as in like a sea inlet, the fjord of
the rams because rams and sheep used to be
exported from here but it could also be in reference to the
weather and the fact that waterford was a sheltered
place that the ships could be protected from the
the harsh windy weather so it could be either one, so moving on then
to cork so cork comes from the irish word corcach
which means a marsh or a swamp corcach the city was founded by saint finbar on
the edge of a marsh and that's pretty much how the name came
came about corcach which is quite fitting because
cork regularly suffers from flooding especially at high tides and
so the name kind of stuck with it that way, moving on to kerry then
which is next door to cork the irish fur kerry is
ciarraí and this is said to mean the descendants of the tribe of ciar
ciar in irish also means a dark skinned person or can mean black
or something of very sallow skin so it could be that a long time ago the
descendants had slightly darker skin than the rest
of the tribes and clans around southern ireland
this could have been possibly to do with the interaction between
iberian fishermen and people from southern ireland but the
name comes about anyway because of because it's named after ciar
the descendants of the tribe of ciar this was said to be a place west
of abbeyfeale where they more or less roamed for the most part and this
territory was called ciarraigh and that's where the
modern day name comes from ciaraí and it's anglicized to kerry
next then is limerick in irish luimneach and this comes from the irish
word lomnocht which means bare so the name
limerick basically means a vast bare spot with not a whole lot of plants
or trees or anything like that so that's limerick, moving up then we
have the county of clare and in irish
this is an clár this means a level or a level area or
a vast plain and this is easy to remember
because in irish biachlár is a menu and that's always going
to be flat for the most part anyway a clár can be a piece of wood which is
flat and when i was in school clár dubh was a blackboard which
of course is flat so clare in irish is an clár and that
basically means the level or the vast plain
moving up the west coast then to galway in irish this is gaillimh
said to be named after the river gaillimh which is now called the corrib river
and this river was said to be very very stony
and that's where the name originates from gaillimh basically means
stony or area of lots of stones but there is some controversy as to the
place name here because some people say that the name gaillimh
comes from a local king's daughter who was drowned
in the river a long time ago and it was named after her but most
people say it means stony river or stony place after the river gaillimh
so up next then we have mayo
so in irish it sounds very similar maigh eo and this literally means the plain
of the yew trees and yew trees will come up a lot
in irish place names particularly in towns and villages around the country
so maigh just means a plain or area of vast land and eo at the end
there is like in reference to the yew trees next then
we have sligo and in irish this is sligeach
and this means shelley place or place that's abundant in shells possibly
due to the close proximity of shellfish and how
you can catch a lot of shellfish up in sligo so that's where the name
for sligo comes from shelley place moving on then to donegal so in irish
this is dún na ngall and this means
the fort of the foreigners named possibly after the danes
aka the vikings who set up shop here and had a fort that they were defending
for a certain period of time and that's where the name comes from the
fort of the foreigners another name for donegal as well is
tirconnell in irish tír chonaill and this is said
to be named after connell who was the son of niall and
he was a brave warrior and a member of a local clan but most
most people would use the name dún na ngall for the
irish version in the present day next to donegal then we have derry
so the irish for derry is doire which means an oak grove so
basically that was said to be a place where a group of oak trees
were growing so derry is often known as the oak leaf county
next door down to derry we have antrim this comes from two irish words
aon which means single or lonely and droim
which means a ridge so antrim is pretty much known as the lonely ridge
aontroim the lonely ridge down along the east coast then we have
county down so in irish this is dún
and this just means the fort or the fortress dún
moving down along the east coast then we have lú
which is irish for county louth the smallest county in ireland
and you should never forget the name of this county because in irish
níos lú and is lú means smaller and smallest so it's kind of neatly
corresponds with the name of the county lú but the name is nothing to do with
the size of it it's named after an ancient celtic god
called lugh and he was a master craftsman
apparently an incredibly intelligent warrior
and highly skilled with his spear so the name for county louth comes from
lugh who was an ancient celtic god and that's how
that's how it got the name meath is next an mhí is the irish for meath
an mhí this literally means the middle or the central and it comes from the old
irish word midhe which means middle or center now
this is said to be in reference to the key position that
meath held many many years ago when it was an
incredibly important part of ireland so
it means the middle and then the county next door to it westmeath then
is an iarmhí and that means the west middle so westmeath meath
and parts of cavan would have been part of the ancient kingdom of meath
that would have made up the fifth province of ireland a long time ago
but now currently ireland only has four provinces
kildare is next then cill dara this means the oak church
cill dara so cill is church and dara is in reference to oak and is said to be
named after a beautiful church made out of oakwood a
long long time ago longford is next in irish an longfort
this pretty much means the fortress possibly the riverside fortress
because long in irish is ship and then fort
means like a fort or a port so it could have been
a fortress protected by ships or a fortress in order to protect
ships and boats said to be built by the clan of the o'farrells a long long time ago
next then we have offaly uíbh fhailí
so this comes from offaly is basically named after a clan
whose members were the descendants of the failghe
family failghe family, these were ancient kings of ireland
between the years 120 and 123 a.d and that's where that name comes
from the descendants of the failighe clan laois is next this comes from the uí laíoghis
people of lugaid laigne a tribe in ancient ireland
and that's where the county gets its name from the descendants of this tribe
and in honor of the people of lugaid laigne
carlow is next ceatharlach so this means a place of many herds
and a rich grazing area for animals like cows and sheep
it was taught that this possibly means four lakes
because ceathair is four and loch in irish is lakes
some people think that this is named
as in the four lakes that anciently formed around the river
barrow but most modern observers think that it means
herds or place of a rich grazing area next door to carlow then we have kilkenny
cill chainnigh = the church of canice
so canice was a monastic founder he was a priest and a missionary
around the early medieval period and he played a key role in converting
people from kilkenny from paganism into christianity and that's where the name
comes from in honor of the patron saint of kilkenny canice
cill chainnigh the church of canice
tipperary is next
tiobraid árann so there's two words here
tiobraid comes from the irish word tobar which means well
and árann is in reference to the ancient territory
of árann that was around a long long time ago
and it pretty much means the well of ara so the ara is a river that currently
runs through tipperary and it's named after that so the well of
ara in honor of the ancient territory of
árann and also the river ara as well
moving up to leitrim then so this comes from two irish words
liath which is grey and dhruim which means a ridge
so it literally means the grey ridge possibly named
after the landscape because leitrim is quite a stony area with lots
of grey and dark stones so that's possibly where
it got to name the grey ridge roscommon is next ros comáin, this
was named after a saint & abbot called coman he founded a
monastery there around 550 a.d and he was crucial in terms of spreading
christianity around this area so ros comáin means coman's wood
coman's wood because ros is another way of saying wood or woodland
and then comáin is the irish for coman
tyrone is next so tír eoghain the country of eoghan or the land of eoghan
this is said to be in honor of the descendants of eoghan
whose father neill was an incredibly brave warrior
and legend has it that neil and his followers were said to have
captured st patrick and brought him over to ireland
and eoghan developed a strong friendship with saint
patrick as well so the name tyrone comes from tír eoghain
the land of eoghan, eoghan being the son of the legendary warrior neill
armagh is next in irish is ard mhacha
macha's height said to be in honor of queen macha
of the golden hair and she founded the palace of emania
around 300 bc and in honor of this ancient queen a pagan sanctuary was
built around the third century and this sanctuary was built at a height
and that's where the name comes from macha's height ard mhacha macha's height
next we have cavan cabhán is the irish for cavan
cabhán and this literally means the hollow
or the sunken area or the area with plenty of valleys
said to be named after the local landscape
cabhán can also mean a hard round hill as well
possibly in reference to the many hilly areas around this part of ireland
fermanagh is next fear manach, the tribe
of fir monach the men of monach who was an ancient king and this is
where the name comes from after the ancient celtic king the men of monach
monaghan is next and in irish it's
muineachán so there's kind of two words here, muine
means thicket or an area of bush like an overgrown bush let's say
and achadh is an old irish word for field so it's
said to mean the field of the overgrown bushes or
the fields of thickets let's say in reference
to the bushy and hilly areas around this part of ireland
um muineachán, it could also mean little hills as well
but that's monahan muineachán.
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thank you for watching and i'll be back very soon slán go fóill.
you