(Vol. iv., p. 470.)
Your correspondent L. H. J. T. has noticed the corruption of Greek
topographical names, arising from the use of the definite article, which
the ear of a traveller not skilled in the language supposes to be a part
of the name, and so makes _Statines_ or _Satines_ from Athens, _Stives_
from Thebes, &c.
It may be interesting to some readers of "NOTES AND QUERIES" to know
that exactly the same thing has happened in Ireland, and that the
recognised Anglicised forms of several proper names, now stereotyped,
are a combination of the definite article _an_, of the Gaelic or Irish
language, with the name of the place.
For instance, _Nenagh_ in the co. Tipperary is properly _Aonach_ [pron.
_eenagh_], but generally spoken of by the people with the definite
article _an Aonach_, the Aonach, _i.e._ fair, place of a fair or
assembly; and hence by the English made _Nenagh_.
So also the river _Ainge_ [pron. nearly as _Anny_] is usually called an
Ainge, _the_ Ainge; and therefore is now _Nanny_, the Nanny, or Nanny
water, in the co. Meath.
In like manner, the island _Aondruim_ in Loch Cuan, on which stood once
a celebrated monastery, is in Irish always called _an Aondruim_, the
Aondruim, and is now Nandrum or Nantrim Island.
The town of _Newry_ is another instance. It has its name from an ancient
yew tree [in Irish _Iubhair_, pron. nearly as the word _your_] which
stood near it, and was said to have been planted by St. Patrick. Hence
the town is always called _an Iubhair_, the yew tree; which, by
incorporating the article, has been Anglicised _Newry_.
The river _Nore_ in Ossory, is properly _an Eoir_, the Eoir [pron.
_Ore_].
So also the _Navan_ fort near Armagh, is _an Eamhain_, the Eamhain
[pron. nearly as _Avan_].
I might fill a page with other instances, but I shall only mention
another similar corruption in proper names, where after dropping the
_Mac_ the _c_ is retained, in cases where the patronymic begins with a
vowel. Thus the descendants of the Danish family of _Ottar_ became _Mac
Ottar_, and are now Cotter. So _Mac Etigan_ became _Gettigan_; _Mac
Eeoghegan_, Geoghegan; the _c_ being further transmuted into _g_. And
hundreds of similar instances could be given.
It may also be observed that the English very generally caught the
genitive, or oblique case, of the Irish proper names, and from it formed
the name which is now in use amongst the English speaking population.
Thus they heard the Irish speak of the isles _Araun_, _i.e._ the isles
_of Ara_, for _Araun_ is the genitive; and hence they are now the _Aran
Isles_. So also the ford Trim or Druim, in Irish _Ath-Druim_ (the ford
of the long low hill, _vadum Dorsi_), where _Druim_ [pron. nearly
_Trim_] is the genitive of _Drom_ or _Drum_, a long low hill, a back.
The names given to Ireland by medieval writers, after the ancient name
of Scotia had been transferred to _Alban_ (which, by the way, is itself
a genitive, from _Alba_), afford instances of the same thing.
One of the native names of Ireland is _Eri_, or _Eire_, genitive
_Erinn_. From this the Greeks and Romans formed the name _Ierne_, from
the old word _I_, an island--_I-Erinn_, the island _of Eri_. And so we
now have also the genitive _Erin_, as a poetical name of the island. The
Danes, however, retained the absolute form, and called it _Eri-landt_,
Ireland.
So also from the old word _Ibh_, or _Hibh_, a tribe, or country, we have
_Hibh-Erinn_, the tribe, or people of Eri, and hence evidently
_Hibernia_ and _Ivernia_.