ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2225 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2225 ************************************ 23 Feb 2001 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked our help choosing an Irish or Scottish Gaelic place name with a meaning as close as possible to "battle lake"; or barring that, you asked if we could suggest other Gaelic names appropriate for the Society branch in your community. Here is what we have found. You explained that the group is based in Emmetsburg, Iowa, a farming community which is the official sister city to Dublin. Topographic features of the town include wet grasslands and a lake, currently called <Five Islands Lake>, but previously known as <Middle Lake> and <Battle Lake>. Your first attempt was <Loch Batail>. That is a literal translation of "battle lake" into modern Irish, but we doubt a place in medieval Ireland would have been described that way. The modern Gaelic word <battail> means "battle", but that meaning does not appear to have existed in period Gaelic [1]. Even if it did, we would expect a Gaelic place name to have been based on the native Gaelic word <cath> "battle" rather than an English import. We did find some place names that appear to include the Gaelic word <cath> "battle" (and a _lot_ more which are falsely derived from that element! [2]). The clearest of them is the Irish <Cluain Catha> "battle meadow, battlefield". This generic description evolved into a place name in at least one case [3]. We've found it mentioned as early as the 13th century [4]. Other likely examples in Ireland are <Druim Catha> "Battle Ridge" and <Ros Catha> "Battle Wood" or "Battle Plain" [3]. The analogous name meaning "Battle Lake" would be <Loch Catha>, but since all the examples we found describe ground on which a battle could actually have taken place, we're not sure whether the pattern can be extended to naming a lake. Constructing a plausible medieval place name requires more than just translating a modern phrase into a medieval language. Our modern understanding of what constitutes a sensible place name isn't the same as a medieval Irishman's. The best approach to this re-creation of place names is to start with the underlying idea and ask how a medieval Gael would have identified the place we've described. For example, in naming your shire "Battle Lake", you're proposing to name a town or manor after a nearby lake which was itself named for the fact that a battle took place on its shores. To decide whether that name is appropriate, we have to ask whether a medieval Gael would have named a lake that way, and whether he'd have named a village after a nearby lake. Both of those steps are well within modern English place-naming customs, but we need to research whether Gaelic place naming worked the same way. We've found little evidence of bodies of water with Gaelic names that commemorated historical events. Gaelic lake names typical describe the lake's appearance or location: <Lochinvar> 1540 from a Gaelic phrase meaning "lake on the height", <Lochgelly> 1606 "shining lake", <Lochcarron> "lake on the river Carron", <Loch Ness> "lake on the river Ness" [5]. Unfortunately, none of these examples is analogous to "Battle Lake". The last two examples offer an interesting possibility: Name the lake after the river on which it sits. There seems to have been a river <Cadan> in Scotland, a tributary of the Tweed. Its name derives from a Brythonic word related to the Gaelic <cath> and might originally have signified a strong, turbulent river [6]. A lake on the Cadan could certainly have been called <Loch Chadain>. That name doesn't mean "Battle Lake" in any sense, but we thought it might appeal to you. It would have been pronounced \LOHKH KHAH-dahn~\. The symbol \OH\ represents the vowel sound in the word <more>. \KH\ represents the raspy <ch> sound in the German <Bach>, and \n~\ represents the sound of the <gn> in the Italian word <lasagna> or French <montagne>. If you want a name that corresponds more closely to one of the names of your local lake, you might consider a translation of <Middle Lake>. We found several Gaelic place names with similar meanings: <Ath Medha/in> "Middle Ford" [7], <Cill Meadho/in> "Middle Church" [8], <Inis Meadho/in> "Middle Island" [9], <Baile Meadhonach> "Middle Town" [10]. The slash in the names represents an acute accent mark on the preceding letter. The analogous <Loch Meadho/in> or <Loch Meadhonach> would be a fine choice. These spellings are appropriate for the last few centuries of our period, and would have been pronounced \LOHKH MAY-ghohn~\ and \LOHKH MAY-gh@-nahkh\, respectively. The symbol \gh\ represents the voiced version of the \kh\ sound we described earlier. \@\ represents a schwa, the sound of the <a> in <about> or <soda>. Your second assumption is that a place might be named after a lake. We found some evidence of that pattern of place-naming in Gaelic. There is a village called <Lochgilphead> 1650 "place at the head of the chisel-shaped lake" [5]. So the basic idea of naming a settlement after a nearby lake seems to be appropriate. In summary, we can't recommend any phrase meaning "Battle Lake" as a likely place name in period Gaelic, but we can offer two alternatives: <Loch Chadain> "Lake on the river Cadan" and <Loch Meadho/in> or <Loch Meadhonach> "Middle Lake". We hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Adelaide de Beaumont, Mari neyn Brian, Maridonna Benvenuti, Talan Gwynek, and Eslbeth Anne Roth. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 23 Feb 2001 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Royal Irish Academy, _Dictionary of the Irish Language: based mainly on Old and Middle Irish materials_ (Dublin : Royal Irish Academy, 1983), s.v. bata/ille. [2] Popular traditional falsely holds many Scottish and Irish place names to commemorate local battles. Some authors present these folk origins uncritically, e.g. James B. Johnston, _Place Names of England and Wales_ (London: Bracken Books, 1994 [1915]). For example, he derives <Cathcart> in Glasgow from "battle on the river Cart". More careful researchers have shown this derivation to be false; c.f. Watson, William J., _The History of the Celtic Place-Names of Scotland_ (London: William Blackwood & Sons Ltd., 1926), p.138. [3] Hogan, Edmund, _Onomasticon Goedelicum: Locorum et Tribuum Hiberniae et Scotiae (An Index, with Identifications, to the Gaelic Names of Places and Tribes)_ (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 1993 [1910]). [4] Donnchadh O/ Corra/in & Mavis Cournane, "Annals of the Four Masters", six volumes (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 1997-98), v.3 entry M1236.12. http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005C [5] Field, John, _Place-Names of Great Britain and Ireland_, (London: David & Charles, 1990), s.nn. Lochinvar, Lochgelly, Lochgilphead, Carron, Inverness. [6] Watson, William J., _The History of the Celtic Place-Names of Scotland_ (London: William Blackwood & Sons Ltd., 1926), p.431. There is a tributary of the Tweed in Scotland called <Caddon Water>. This name apparently preserves an earlier Gaelic <Cadan> that also appears in the place name <Inbhir Chadain> "mouth of the [river] Cadan". The Gaelic <Cadan> derives from an early Brythonic river name <Catona> "the warring one", perhaps so-called because it was a strong, turbulent river. The Brythonic root element <catu-> is cognate with Gaelic <cath> "battle". [7] Annals of the Four Masters, vol.4 entry M1565.2. http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005E [8] Annals of the Four Masters, v.3 entries M1179.9, M1265.8 and v.6 entry 1595.18. http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005C http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005F [9] Annals of the Four Masters, v.3 entry 1227.7. http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005C [10] Watson, p.349.