Light and clear water

Date: 16/09/2024

As we move into the second half of autumn, we have probably already begun to bemoan the shortening of the evenings and later sunrises. Some people at least live in townlands containing the word solas in their Irish names to keep their spirits up during winter! While in the modern language solas is almost exclusively used as a noun denoting ‘light’ in various senses (see FGB s.v. solas), that does not seem to be how it tends to be used in Irish placenames.

Solas “light” is not particularly common in townland names. We find two anglicized versions of Áth Solas in final unpalatalized (“broad”) -s, which in the modern era would usually be interpreted as a genitive plural noun and translated ‘ford of (the) lights’, namely Ardsollus in County Clare (logainm.ie #6185) and Assolas in County Cork (logainm.ie #10624). It may be noted in passing that the standardized English form Ardsollus in County Clare is a reminder of the danger of reliance on a single anglicized form of a placename, as it wrongly gives the impression that the underlying generic is Irish ard ‘height, hillock’. The original word is confirmed in the Irish references ‘áth solas’ (c.1350), ‘Áth s[.]l[.]is’ (1839). A defunct historical placename, ‘Aghsolish’ (Civil Survey IX, p. 262), referring to a ford on the Mine River at the townland of Aska More in County Wexford, reflecting Áth Solais with palatalized (slender) -s. The same name, but with a diminutive form of the generic element, occurs as Áthán Solais (#35733) in County Mayo, meaning ‘(little) ford of (the) light’. The official English version of the name is the translation Lightford.
The collocation of áth and solas in placenames (i.e., the frequent occurrence of those two elements together) is quite striking. Why so many references to a ‘ford of (the) light(s)’? One suggestion formerly proposed was that such names referred to a practice of keeping flames lit at these crossing-points — similar to those kept near dark alleys in urban areas — from which travellers could light their “links” to guide themselves. But it is more likely that these placenames preserve the Old Irish use of solas as an adjective meaning ‘bright, clear, light-giving’ (eDIL s.v. solus). In the earlier period, the placename Áth Solas would be understood as ‘clear ford’, probably referring to the water. Furthermore, as the substantive form of the Old Irish adjective solus also had the meaning ‘clarity’ as well as ‘light’, even the genitive noun in Áth Solais could refer to the quality of the water, as if ‘ford of (water-)clarity’. This interpretation of solas could then be carried over to other townland names such as Loughsollish/Loch Solais (#26260) in County Kilkenny, and Loughnasollis/Loch an tSolais (#50286) in County Waterford, which could both be translated as ‘(the) lake of (water-)clarity’.
There are two townland names containing solas in which reference to water is not immediately from their generics, however, namely Magherasollus/Machaire Solas (#16378) in County Donegal and Rossollus/Ros Solas (logainm.ie #39837) in County Monaghan. The first name, Machaire Solas, in which the generic is machaire ‘field, plain’, is difficult to interpret in the context of the discussion above: it could be a later coinage meaning ‘field, plain of (the) lights’ (of course we haven’t even mentioned Will o’ the Wisp yet!) or it could be an early coinage in which solas, as an adjective, is ascribing some unascertainable quality of clarity to this stretch of level land. However, it may be salient that the small townland adjoining Magherasollus to the south is called Magheraboy/An Machaire Buí (#16494) ‘the yellow field, plain’, possibly in contrast to Machaire Solas ‘the clear(?) field, plain’. In the case of Rossollus — apparently from Ros Solas ‘clear wood, (wooded) height’ or ‘wood, (wooded) height of (the) lights’ — some of the early evidence, e.g. ‘Shraghsollus’ (though not from impeccable sources) might imply original derivation from Srath Solas in which srath means ‘low-lying land along a river’. This would be valid topographically: Rossollus is bound by streams on three sides and a ford crosses into the adjoining townland in the northeast.

(Conchubhar Ó Crualaoich & Aindí Mac Giolla Chomhghaill)

• Áth Solas/Ardsollus
• Áth Solas/Assolas
• Áthán Solais/Lightford
• Ros Solas/Rossollus

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