Date: 23/09/2024

In last week’s note dealing with aspects of the meaning of solas in placenames, we saw that the translation Lightford in Mayo is most likely due to a later interpretation of the Irish name Áthán Solais as ‘(little) ford of (the) light’, when in fact solas in its earlier sense probably referred to the clarity of the water running through the ford. Translation of placenames, especially between two unrelated languages, can sometimes be quite a delicate matter, and might not always end up “right” or “wrong”, but somewhere in between.
It is common knowledge that placenames of Irish-language origin were often translated into English. But what is less widely known is that there are also many examples of English placenames which were translated to Irish during the 13th and 14th century before being retranslated back to English. Not every translation was accurate, of course, and the spectres of mistranslation, partial translation, pseudotranslation, euphemistic translation, etc., loom large at every step of the process. Sometimes the translations and retranslations are both quite accurate; sometimes the later retranslations are based on earlier mistranslations; sometimes the initial translations are quite accurate only to be inaccurately retranslated later! Placename research in Ireland is full of complicated little stories such as these, and we will be discussing more examples over the next few weeks.
Possibly one of the most widely used placenames in this category is Blessington in County Wicklow. That wonderfully productive researcher of Leinster placenames, Liam Price, outlined the early history of Blessington and noted that the name was first attested as ‘Villa Comyn’, commemorating nephews or relatives of the first English Bishop of Dublin, John Comyn (Placenames of Co. Wicklow, IV, p. 261). Indeed, even 150 years after Bishop Comyn’s era, members of that family such as Robert Comen were still to be found in the same context as ‘Comenston’ in the sources (anno 1323). However, later anglicized examples of this placename such as ‘Ballecomine’ clearly reflect derivation from Baile Coimín ‘the town(land) of Coimín (a gaelicized form of the English surname Comyn)’, thereby demonstrating that Irish had returned as the vernacular of the area during the course of the 14th and 15th centuries — for both the native Gaels and the gaelicized Anglo-Normans or “Old English” — despite earlier English colonization. However, Gaelic culture suffered a catastrophic decline during the 17th century. Confiscations and plantations led to the appropriation of almost all property by the new, unassimilated English-speaking elite. This resulted in a second undermining of the Irish language and, in turn, saw the creation of “New English” placenames in ever-increasing numbers.
The modern retranslated form of this placename first appears in 1669, when the Lord Chancellor Michael Boyle, who was also the Protestant Archbishop of Dublin, was granted 9,121 acres in the area to be formed into ‘ye manor of Blessington’ (Acts of Settlement and Explanation, p. 129). The original meaning of Baile Coimín ‘the town(land) of Comyn’ appears not to have been known by that time, at least by the speech community who “retranslated” it as Blessington. This is based on a false etymology of Baile Coimín as Baile Comaoin(e) ‘the town of the blessing’, whence Blessington.
In a final twist, with the decline of Gaelic culture continuing into the 18th century, we find the mistranslated English name gaelicized as Baile na mBeannacht ‘the town of the blessings’ in manuscripts written by Tadhg Ó Neachtain, although he was aware of the original Irish form (e.g. ‘Blessingtown .i. cros bhaile comaoin’ KIL 20: 141, ‘baile na mbeannacht .i. crois bhaile cuimin’ [Blessington/Baile na mBeannacht, i.e., the Cross[roads] of Baile Comaoin/Cuimín] ibid. 147).

(Conchubhar Ó Crualaoich & Aindí Mac Giolla Chomhghaill)

• Baile Coimín/Blessington

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