Featured themes 02/06/2025

Placenames, playing fields and the arrival of a warrior
Faythe / An Fhaiche ‘the open space in front of (ancient) fort or city’; ‘the green’; ‘the plain’
(see logainm.ie #2620

Date: 02/06/2025

The hurling Championship has returned again! As we already discussed placenames relating to hurling this time last year, however, in this note we will draw attention to an interesting, albeit coincidental, link between the name of one of Co. Wexford’s premier clubs and the most famous reference to hurling in Irish literature. One of the prologues to the epic story Táin Bó Chuaille (OIr. Táin Bó Cúalnge) (‘the cattle-raid of Cuaille / Cooley’) tells of the arrival of the boy named Séadanta to Eamhain Mhacha, the residence of the king Conchúr mac Neasa, whereupon he engaged the youths of Ulster in a hurling match. (See Eamhain Mhacha / Navan (logainm.ie #56153; placenamesni.org Eamhain Mhacha. Note the standardized Modern Irish orthography of Séadanta. The Old and Middle Irish spelling Sétanta tends to be brutally mispronounced as /səˈtanˌta/, as in the name of the sports channel.) The version in the Book of Leinster tells us that Séadanta encountered these youths for faidche na Emna, ‘on the faiche of Eamhain Mhacha’. Here faiche is clearly used in the sense ‘open space in front of a fort, (significant) residence’ (for other examples see eDIL s.v. faithche, faidche). (OIr. Faidche na hEmna is mentioned in other early Irish sagas, e.g. Aided Chonchubair.) Needless to say, Séadanta was victorious, and later in the story the same faiche is again the scene for a display of his skill with the camán ‘hurley/hurl’ which earned him the new name Cú Chulainn. (No spoilers given here!)

However, faiche was not restricted at any stage of the language to the narrow meaning in which it was used in this tale. Further meanings in early Irish include ‘public square, courtyard; green meadow; playingfield’ (eDIL) and in the modern language, ‘(playing-)field, (play)ground’ (FGB s.v. faiche), or even simply ‘field’, ‘lawn’ or ‘plain’ (Dinneen s.v. faithche). Given its versatility it is little surprise that faiche is quite common in placenames. Thus we find townlands bearing the simplex name An Fhaiche in all four corners of the country (see Glossary, logainm.ie s.v. faiche), anglicized by the Ordnance Survey as Faha in Cos. Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford; Fahy in Cos. Clare, Galway, Kilkenny, Leitrim, Meath and Offaly; Foygh in Co. Longford; and Foy in Co. Kildare.

In combination with qualifying adjectives faiche also features in the forerunner to Fahy Beg in Cos. Mayo (logainm.ie #37225) and Clare (logainm.ie #7430), Fahybeg (logainm.ie #36397) also in Co. Mayo, along with Foy Beg (logainm.ie #56616) in Co. Armagh, which all represent An Fhaiche Bheag, variously meaning ‘the small green’ or ‘the green, small (subdivision of)’; and their counterparts Fahamore (logainm.ie #22522) in Co. Kerry, Fahymore (logainm.ie #29294) in Co. Leitrim, and Fahy More (logainm.ie #37226) in Co. Mayo, as well as Foy More (logainm.ie #56617; see also placenamesni.org An Fhaiche Mhór) in Co. Armagh, which all represent An Fhaiche Mhór. Faiche is also qualified by adjectives of colour in Irish townland names: see Fahalea / An Fhaiche Liath ‘the grey green’ (logainm.ie #10936) in Co. Cork, and Fahavane / An Fhaiche Bhán ‘the white green’ (logainm.ie #10936) and Fahaduff / An Fhaiche Dhubh ‘the black green’ (logainm.ie #24681) in Co. Kerry. (Note that of course the original Irish forms have none of the unavoidable double-meaning of green in these English translations.)

Faiche ‘green, etc.’ also occurs as a qualifying element. It is possible that Lisnafaha / Lios na Faiche ‘the ringfort of the green’ (logainm.ie #6930) in Co. Clare originally referred to the ground directly outside of the ringfort, similar to the faiche in front of Eamhain Mhacha mentioned above. A different meaning is evident in Callan / Callain, Co. Kilkenny, however, where the townland Cannafahy / Ceann na Faiche ‘the head of the green’ (logainm.ie #26146) received its name because it was located just beyond the town’s Fair Green (Faiche an Aonaigh). (The place is mentioned frequently in the early 19th-century diary of Amhlaoibh Ó Súilleabháin.) Various other meanings, some more obscure than others, must have been intended in the following placenames: Baile na Faiche ‘the townland of the green’ (anglicized Ballynafeigh (logainm.ie #62052) and Ballynafie (logainm.ie #62921) in Co. Antrim; Ballynafagh in Co. Kildare (#26086)); Lugnafaha / Log na Faiche ‘the hollow of the green’ (logainm.ie #37232) in Co. Mayo and Cornafaghy / Corr na Faiche ‘the round hill of the green’ (logainm.ie #40600) in Co. Monaghan.

As to derivatives, the word faichín – i.e., faiche with the diminutive suffix -ín – does not occur in townland names, although it is found in microtoponymy in Munster: in Co. Tipperary we find the two unconnected placenames Faugheen / Faichín (#67199) and Faheen Cross Roads / Crois Fhaichín (#67198), and in Co. Waterford we find Faugheen Church / Teampall an Fhaichín (#1436460) and another probable example in the Gaeltacht field name An Fhaichín(?) (#1420588). On the other hand, we do find examples of townland names containing another diminutive faicheog, i.e., faiche with the suffix -óg either in a collective sense (‘the place abounding in greens’) or, more likely, a diminutive sense (‘the small green’). In its plural form Na Faicheoga, this is the precursor to Fihoges in Co. Longford (logainm.ie #33157) and Foyoges (logainm.ie #44485) in Co. Sligo.

Note that so far, the English-language versions of the townland names featuring faiche, faichín and faicheog we have mentioned are all standardized spellings of fairly straightforward phonetic adaptations of the Irish placenames, as opposed to translations or replacements. There are a couple of exceptions. At some stage during the 17th or 18th century, the townland name Gort na Faiche ‘the field of/at the green’ (logainm.ie #26167) in Co. Kilkenny (‘Gortnefahe’ 1538) appears to have become associated with an unconnected English placename Haggard (‘the haggard’ 1555), producing the modern official English name Haggartsgreen (-t- sic). It is interesting to note that the Irish translation Faiche an Agaird ‘the green of the haggard’ subsequently emerged as a local variant. (Although this is clearly derived from the English name Haggardsgreen, its etymology appears to have been forgotten by local Irish-speakers in the 19th century: the Ordnance Survey recorded the form ‘fatha na ccárd’ (1838), and even the literate Amhlaoibh Ó Súilleabháin misunderstood it as ‘Fatha-na-gárda’ (1833), both forms showing an unanticipated shift of stress to the final syllable.)

Probably the most unusual anglicized form of the element faiche itself is found in the south Wexford townland name Faythe / An Fhaiche (logainm.ie #54433) in the civil parish of Tacumshin: ‘the Faigh’ (1579), ‘Faith’ (1716). Exactly the same form (with the addition of the definite article) is used for another example of Irish An Fhaiche in the same county, in the name of civil parish of Saint Michael’s of Feagh (logainm.ie #2620) in Wexford Town. The local spelling of this name is The Faythe; the earliest surviving written attestation is ‘le ffaghe’ (1461x1483), but it is spelled ‘Faythe’ in the Tithe Applotment Books (c. 1830). However, the traditional pronunciation is the bizarre /ˈfaiɣth/, /faəɣth/ or /faigth/ (as if spelled Faaghth, Fayghth), never the anticipated ‘spelling-pronunciation’ as if Eng. faith (/feːθ/, /feːt̪/). This local form appears to derive from Middle Irish variant pronunciation faichthe /faxʹθʹə/, with a reflex of the cluster /xʹθʹ/ as /ɣtʰ/, indicating that the anglicized form of the placename was fossilized from the very earliest period of the Anglo-Norman colony in Ireland, when these sounds were still heard in the Irish name.

But what is the connection with Cú Chulainn’s hurling exploits on the faiche of Eamhain Mhacha? Well, The Faythe (Saint Michael’s of Feagh) / An Fhaiche is located just outside the old town wall of Wexford, suggesting that in this case faiche might have had its early sense ‘an open space in or before a significant settlement’, reminiscent of the faiche outside Conchúr mac Neasa’s royal residence. It is a pleasure to note, then, that An Fhaiche / The Faythe in Wexford happens to be steeped in the sport of hurling! It gives its name to Wexford Town’s most eminent hurling club, The Faythe Harriers (Ruagairí na Faiche), the home of many legends of hurling down through the ages, including Larry O’Gorman, Ireland’s Hurler of the Year in 1996. The current star is of course Lee Chin, who not only carries the hopes of the club on his shoulders every year, but also usually the hopes of the entire county. A song about Nicky Rackard (another Wexford hurling legend, this time from Rathnure), has already used the title Cú Chulainn’s Son. But what better claim to that nickname now than Lee Chin, the most legendary modern-day hurler on the Faiche!

Conchubhar Ó Crualaoich & Aindí Mac Giolla Chomhghaill

Placenames, playing fields and the arrival of a warrior Faythe / An Fhaiche ‘the open space in front of (ancient) fort or city’; ‘the green’; ‘the plain’ (see logainm.ie #2620

Placenames, playing fields and the arrival of a warrior
Faythe / An Fhaiche ‘the open space in front of (ancient) fort or city’; ‘the green’; ‘the plain’
(see logainm.ie #2620