"Armagh, Une des plus anciennes villes d'Irland. _Ar_, article.
_Mag_, ville."--vol. i.
But the 2nd and 3rd vols. of these _Mémoires_, which contain the Celtic
Dictionary, afford a more probable interpretation:--
"_Ar_ or _Ard_ signifies a height, mountain, hill, {219}
elevation, the highest, noble, chief, &c. &c., and _Ar_ in
Hebrew, Chaldean, and Armenian, has the same meaning. _Magh_ is
a field, a plain, ground, &c., as well as a town, dwelling, &c."
Now, the topographical description of the county of Armarh is that it is
_hilly_, and the hills (not very high) are of granite rock. The town of
Armagh again is described as situated on an _eminence_. I suggest,
therefore, _the high field_ or ground, or _the field of the Hill_, or
the dwelling or town of the Hill, as very natural derivations.
If your correspondent prefers it, _Ar_ bears also the signification of
_rock_, and M. Bullet says:--
"Ce terme nous a été conservé dans la Vie de Saint Colomb."
Who knows, therefore, whether in building the monastery alluded to by
Camden, he may not have given it the name of
The dwelling of the Rock?
The Celtic language affords many other possibilities, but an accurate
knowledge of the locality is requisite in judging of their probablility.