Eigse Paged 2004 - National University of Ireland

SETTLEMENT IN MEDIEVAL IRELAND 39
is rejected out of hand by Flanagan, who points to the meaning ‘townland’
in Donegal Irish. 83 Of greatest force in her argument is the observation
that townlands called Ballybeg (An Baile Beag) are often
small, and that a number of Ballykeels (An Baile Caol) are narrow. 84
This surely points to the use of baile in the sense ‘townland’, although
it is not clear from this how early this sense develops. Nevertheless,
we should not be dazzled by the predominance of baile in townland
names. The vast majority of townlands and similar land units are selfevidently
named from features lying within their borders, whether
they be man-made (ráth, lios, dún, caiseal, caisleán, achadh, gort
etc.) or naturally occurring (cnoc, corr, tulach, cabhán, móin, loch).
Where the generic in a townland name is a habitation feature, we logically
assume that the name has been transferred from the name of a
settlement within its boundaries. Where the generic is an agricultural
term or a word describing a natural feature, we must assume that the
name of that feature has generally been transferred first to a settlement
within the townland and ultimately to the townland itself. Gort
an Choirce (Gortahork, Co. Donegal) must originally have been the
name of a field which was then transferred to a farm or settlement
associated with it, from which it was transferred to the townland of
the name and ultimately to the village. Given that baile appears to
have arisen in the eleventh and twelfth centuries as a common, if not
the most common, settlement term, it would hardly be surprising to
find it emerging as the most common element in townland names. In
short, the predominance of baile in townland names does not necessitate
the assumption so often made that it means townland. While it
is hardly to be doubted that baile was also applied to units of land
which we now know as townlands, we must conclude that the connection
between baile-names and townlands may have been considerably
overemphasised.
Townlands, of course, have emerged from a variety of native and
non-native divisions, and as such there can be no direct correlation
with baile. Indeed, it is noteworthy that while English sources use a
large range of native and non-native terms to refer to land units that
later emerge as townlands, baile never does so with the sole exception
of the derivative ballyboe in parts of Ulster (< baile bó). 85 It may
be significant that Keating, when discussing land divisions, uses it
only with respect to ballybetaghs and uses the term seisreach for the
83
Flanagan, ‘Common elements: baile’11.
84
ibid. 10-11.
85
McErlean, ‘The Irish townland system’ 317-18.