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Featured themes 05/05/2025

Wolves, to be sure!
Ballinabracky / Buaile na Bréachmhaí
‘the boley, cattle-enclosure of/at An Bhréachmhaigh (‘the wolf-plain’)’
(see logainm.ie #133201)

Date: 05/05/2025

We suggested recently that some of the townland names containing the words mada(dh)/madra ‘dog’ and cú ‘hound’ may refer indirectly to wolves. But of course, even the existence of an early modern English form such as the 16th-/17th-century ‘Wolf-ys-hole’, ‘Wolfeshoal’, ‘Wolfesden’ in the case of Coolamaddra / Cúil an Mhadra (logainm.ie #54665), Co. Wicklow, does not amount to stone-cold proof that madra was intended to refer to the wolf when the Irish placename was coined or even that it had come to be understood as such by local Irish-speakers. Happily for this week’s theme, there are many townland names and other old placenames that do have very clear-cut references to the wolf.

The Irish form of the townland name Wolfhill (logainm.ie #28215) in Co. Laois was undoubtedly Cnocán na Mac Tíre ‘the hillock of the wolves’ (‘Knockan mac Tyry’ 1549, ‘Knockanavateiry’ 1654), and the full Irish form of the townland name Toom (logainm.ie #52721), just east of Enniscorthy in Co. Wexford, was clearly Tuaim na Mac Tíre ‘the mound of the wolves’ (‘Tomnemctire’ 1618). These placenames contain the word mac tíre, a figurative name for the wolf literally meaning ‘son of (the) land, country’ (eDIL s.v. 1 mac, macc III (c)). Unsurprisingly, Mac Tíre is also attested as a personal name in Irish. This can cause complications for placename research. For instance, the townland name Glentire / Cluain Mhic Thíre (logainm.ie #52262) in Co. Wexford may be translated as either ‘meadow or pasture of (the) wolf’ or ‘the meadow or pasture of Mac Tíre’. The same is true for Knockane / Cnocán Mhic Thíre ‘(the) hillock of (the) wolf, or of Mac Tíre’ (logainm.ie #12381) in Co. Cork and Lismakeery / Lios Mhic Thíre ‘(the) ring-fort of (the) wolf, or of Mac Tíre’ (logainm.ie #1576) in Co. Limerick. But note that only 6km from Lismakeery lies the townland of Ballymakeery (logainm.ie #32091), Co. Limerick. The evidence for that placename points to an underlying Baile Uí Mhic Thíre ‘the town(land) of Ó Mic Thíre’, containing the rare surname Ó Mic Thíre ‘the descendant of Mac Tíre’ (see Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall s.n. Ó Mactíre). (See Logainmneacha na hÉireann I: Contae Luimnigh (1992) p.64 and discussion in Dinnseanchas VI (1974) pp.158-159.)

Wolves are prominent in minor and historical toponyms, too: in the Civil Survey of Co. Wexford (1654), we find now-defunct placenames ‘Bunaskinemicktiry’ < Bun Easca an Mhic Thíre [or …na Mac Tíre] ‘the bottom of the steep stream of the wolf [or wolves]’ near Kilmuckridge, and ‘Coulnemicktiry’ < Cúil na Mac Tíre ‘the recess of the wolves’ near Monamolin, both in the north of the county. The same source records modern Wolfsford Bridge, near Mulrankin in the south of the county, as ‘Woolfsfoord’ (p.155). It would appear that there was no shortage of wolves in Co. Wexford once upon a time!

Mac tíre was not the only Irish word for the wolf. Another very old word – also the source of an Irish personal name – is faol (eDIL s.v. 2 fáel). This word is found in the townland name Feltrim / Faoldroim ‘wolf-ridge’ (#16955) in north Co. Dublin, and is the origin of the personal name Faolán ‘little wolf’ and its associated surname Ó Faoláin ‘descendant of Faolán’. (It is probably only a coincidence that Feltrim adjoins a place called Ráth Ulc / Rahulk (#16959) ‘(the) ring-fort of —?’. See McCone in Ériu 36 (1985) pp.171-176 (‘Varia II’) for a discussion of the possible connections between Indo-European *wlkʷo- ‘wolf’, Old Irish olc ‘evil, bad’ and the personal name OIr. Olcán [Ogham gen. Ulccagni]; cf. Clondalkin / Cluain Dolcáin (#17367).)

Going by its name, the townland of Kyle / An Choill ‘the wood’ (logainm.ie #52248) in Co. Wexford – next to the village of Oulart / An tAbhallort (#1416691) – would appear reassuringly wolf-free. But historical references such as ‘Kilbreaghwy’ (1618) reveal the earlier Irish form Coill Bhréachmhaí ‘the wood of/at Bréachmhaigh’ (see C. Ó Crualaoich and K. Whelan, forthcoming, Gaelic County Wexford 1550-1650: a story never told). The second element here is Bréachmhaigh, a very old noun+noun compound, consisting of bréach ‘wolf’ (OIr. bréch) + maigh ‘plain’ (OIr. mag) (cf. Mac Giolla Easpaig, ‘Noun+noun compounds in Irish placenames’, Études Celtiques 18 (1981)). As the word bréach appears to have fallen out of productive use by the end of the Middle Irish period – roughly the 13th century – occurrences of the toponym Bréachmhaigh are likely in most cases to be over a thousand years old. It is very interesting to note, therefore, that this compound is by far the most frequently occurring explicit reference to wolves surviving in Irish placenames. It is found in over 20 townland names located over a wide geographic area, from Co. Cork to Co. Donegal and from Co. Mayo to Co. Wicklow. The Middle Irish form Bréchmag /ˈbʹrʹeːxβaɣ/ (acc./dat. Bréchmaig /ˈbʹrʹeːxβaɣʹ/), in which the voiced bilabial fricative of lenited m /β/ was immediately preceded by the velar fricative of lenited ch /x/ and the final consonant was (originally broad) lenited g /ɣ/, was realized in a variety of ways in later Modern Irish dialects and produced a wide array of anglicizations. In the 19th century the Ordnance Survey used the following standardized spellings to represent Mod.Ir. Bréachmhaigh in different parts of the country (moving roughly ar deiseal ‘clockwise, with the sun’ from Connaught):

  • Breaghwy in Cos. Sligo (logainm.ie #45428) and Mayo (logainm.ie #35625; #34143; #34435; #34436);
  • Breaghy in Co. Longford (logainm.ie #32894) and Co. Donegal (logainm.ie #14308; #16006) (with current research pointing to a third probable example in Co. Donegal: logainm.ie #16129);
  • Breagho (logainm.ie #61081; cf. placenamesni.org, Breagho) in Co. Fermanagh;
  • Breaghey (logainm.ie #56974; placenamesni.org, Breaghey) in Co. Armagh;
  • Breaghmore (logainm.ie #41542) in Co. Offaly (‘Breaghmoye’ 1552, ‘Breaghmoe’ 1619);
  • Breahig (logainm.ie #22339; #24768) in Co. Kerry;
  • Breaghva (logainm.ie #6888; #7221; #7050; #7250) in Co. Clare.

Note that these standardized anglicizations, while making some allowances for differences across the major dialects, are not necessarily very accurate representations of the nuances of the local pronunciation of native Irish speakers. (See for example Breaghva (#7250), in southwest Co. Clare, locally pronounced /ˈbʹrʹeːfə/ in Irish (1965).)

Of the more unexpected official English spelling we have Britway / Bréachmhaigh (logainm.ie #526), Co. Cork, which happened to have established itself by the mid-17th century as the name of parish (‘Briaghy’ 1619, ‘Brittway’ 1655). And there is some indication that the townland name Bray (Lower, Upper) (#24855), Co. Kildare (‘Brey’ 1540), may be a reflex of an earlier Bréachmhaigh (‘Bremoy’ 1297, ‘Brethmor’ [sic] 1302x1306), and if so, that it is identical with ‘[Mag Mugna ocus] Brechmag’ in the Rennes Dinnshenchas (*c.*1100). (Note that the analysis of the research on Co. Kildare is as yet incomplete.)

As we have seen above with the historical version of Kyle / An Choill (logainm.ie #52248) in Co. Wexford, the compound placename Bréachmhaigh could also occur in conjunction with other generics. We have three examples in Co. Meath: Ballybreaghy / Baile Bhréachmhaí ‘the town(land) of/at Bréachmhaigh’ (logainm.ie #1412902) and Bawnbreaky / Bábhún Bhréachmhaí ‘the bawn, fortified enclose of/at Bréachmhaigh’ (logainm.ie #38230) – both near Kells – and Ballynabracky / Buaile na Bréachmhaí ‘the boley of An Bhréachmhaigh’ (logainm.ie #133201) near Castlejordan. The last placename is quite unusual in containing an unambiguous reflex of the article, i.e., An Bhréachmhaigh, gen. na Bréachmhaí.

Our final example is Kilbreffy / Cill Bhréachmhaí ‘the church of/at Bréachmhaigh’ (logainm.ie #54852) near Donard in Co. Wicklow. It will be remarked that this church is only one townland’s remove from Coolamaddra / Cúil an Mhadra (logainm.ie #54665), the very same ‘Wolf-ys-hole’ that sparked our discussion of this topic a few weeks ago!

(Conchubhar Ó Crualaoich & Aindí Mac Giolla Chomhghaill)