Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Alphabetic analysis of placenames in Ireland & UK

  • 18-12-2011 9:15am
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 610 ✭✭✭


    Some interesting patterns of the distribution of placenames based on their alphabetic order. Not as wild an idea as you may initially think!
    Maps here
    Original article here
    sample: "B"
    UK2-B.gif


Comments

  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 5,218 Mod ✭✭✭✭slowburner


    muckish wrote: »
    Some interesting patterns of the distribution of placenames based on their alphabetic order. Not as wild an idea as you may initially think!
    Maps here
    Original article here
    sample: "B"
    You would think that such an analysis would yield some previously unknown clusters.
    The only two that I think I could see was a clustering of 'D' in Ulster: presumably a product of Dún.
    And 'K' from Kerry to Leitrim but curiously absentish in Connemara and Mayo: presumably the 'K' is the prefix 'Kil'.

    What might these clusters tell us?

    (4 places beginning with 'Q' in Ireland? - for the life of me, I can't think what these might be)

    And here's a link, if someone felt inclined to apply another form of distribution analysis to Irish placenames.


  • Registered Users Posts: 135 ✭✭bodun


    slowburner wrote: »
    You would think that such an analysis would yield some previously unknown clusters.
    The only two that I think I could see was a clustering of 'D' in Ulster: presumably a product of Dún.
    And 'K' from Kerry to Leitrim but curiously absentish in Connemara and Mayo: presumably the 'K' is the prefix 'Kil'.

    What might these clusters tell us?

    (4 places beginning with 'Q' in Ireland? - for the life of me, I can't think what these might be)

    And here's a link, if someone felt inclined to apply another form of distribution analysis to Irish placenames.


    Quilty might be one, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quilty,_County_Clare


  • Moderators, Education Moderators Posts: 2,281 Mod ✭✭✭✭angeldaisy


    bodun wrote: »

    Quin is another, also in co.Clare http://www.tourclare.com/quin.html


  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 5,218 Mod ✭✭✭✭slowburner


    Two down, two to go.
    Are there any in counties Quork or Querry?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 23,316 ✭✭✭✭amacachi


    Surprised there's not more K's around Liverpool.


  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users Posts: 5,733 ✭✭✭Duckworth_Luas


    slowburner wrote: »
    Two down, two to go.
    Are there any in counties Quork or Querry?
    Querrin, Co Clare

    Quinsborough, Co Kildare


  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 5,218 Mod ✭✭✭✭slowburner


    amacachi wrote: »
    Surprised there's not more K's around Liverpool.
    Why so?


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,803 ✭✭✭El Siglo



    I grew up near Quinsborough, in Kiltaghan South. Quite ashamed I didn't pick up on that earlier! :pac:


  • Registered Users Posts: 610 ✭✭✭muckish


    Quigley's Point, Donegal


  • Registered Users Posts: 225 ✭✭ManAboutCouch


    Interesting, thanks for that. It looks like the source data for this set of maps is GeoNames That's a pretty nice, and fairly comprehensive dataset. Others have done visualisations based on the content of GeoNames that you might find interesting, like this one:

    place_names_europe.jpg

    From DataPointed earlier this year


  • Advertisement
  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 82 ✭✭CajunOnTour


    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_towns_and_villages_in_the_Republic_of_Ireland#Q

    Wiki has articles about three Q places in Ireland - Quigley's Point, Quilty and Quin


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 23,316 ✭✭✭✭amacachi


    slowburner wrote: »
    Why so?

    Derp, thought it was people's names rather than placenames.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 572 ✭✭✭golden virginia


    Dunquin in Co Kerry


  • Registered Users Posts: 225 ✭✭ManAboutCouch


    Looks like that DataPointed image from above is borked, here it is again:

    WqDrV.jpg


  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 5,218 Mod ✭✭✭✭slowburner


    Fascinating images and an interesting website. I love the 'Click to embiggen'.:D
    What is the variable that he used to create the image - is it the first letter of a placename?


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,504 ✭✭✭tac foley


    The hard 'C', as in Cork, is often replaced by the lazy English landlords with the letter 'K'. Most every place in Ireland with the prefix 'cíl-' [Kilcoole, Kilpedder and so on] is simply spelled that way because the English preferred it that way - as we all know, the letter 'c' in English is actually pronounced like an 's' in the alphabet, but 50% of the time pronounced like 'k'. In both Celtic languages in the British Isles, the letter 'c' is hard.

    The letters 'x' and 'z' did not exist in the English language, but were transcripted from Latin and Greek.

    The rare use of the letter 'Z' in place-names - mainly in Cornwall - are due to the local dialect pronunciation of the letter 'S' as in Saint Sinar, after whom Zennor was named.

    tac


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 82 ✭✭CajunOnTour


    tac foley wrote: »
    In both Celtic languages in the British Isles, the letter 'c' is hard.

    That would be Scots Gaelic and Welsh then?

    Outside the British Isles, here in Ireland, the "c" is also generally hard :cool:


  • Registered Users Posts: 35 thephantom1


    fairly cool stuff. GIS is really on the cusp of becoming huge, if not already. its unbelievable how powerful it can be in showing things that no other method of analysis can


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 12,078 ✭✭✭✭LordSutch


    That would be Scots Gaelic and Welsh then?

    Outside the British Isles, here in Ireland, the "c" is also generally hard :cool:

    Actually, the British isles would be a much better title for this thread (instead of Ireland & the UK) Why? well firstly there is no border marked on the map of Ireland, so you can't actually see the demarkation between the UK & Ireland. So either Britain & Ireland (http://bigthink.com/ideas/41499) should have been used (the two main islands), or 'British isles' which covers the whole group of islands including the Orkneys, Isle of Man, outer hebridies, etc etc etc.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 12,078 ✭✭✭✭LordSutch


    That would be Scots Gaelic and Welsh then?

    Outside the British Isles, here in Ireland, the "c" is also generally hard :cool:

    Actually, the British isles would be a much better title for this thread (instead of Ireland & the UK) Why? well firstly there is no border marked on the map of Ireland, so you can't actually see the demarkation between the UK & Ireland. So either Great Britain & Ireland (http://bigthink.com/ideas/41499) should have been used, or 'British isles' which covers the whole group of islands including the Orkneys, Isle of Man, outer hebridies, etc.


  • Advertisement
  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 82 ✭✭CajunOnTour


    LordSutch wrote: »
    Actually, the British isles would be a much better title for this thread (instead of Ireland & the UK)

    Actually it wouldn't - unless you want the mother of all rows :cool:


  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 5,218 Mod ✭✭✭✭slowburner


    Actually it wouldn't - unless you want the mother of all rows :cool:
    Very true.
    I've never understood the problem with using the description 'British Isles' - it's simply a convenient physical geographical term.
    'British & Irish Isles' while PC, is an almightily cumbersome mouthful.
    If someone wants to read political overtones into the term - good luck to them.
    Each to their own ;)


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 82 ✭✭CajunOnTour


    slowburner wrote: »
    Very true.
    I've never understood the problem with using the description 'British Isles' - it's simply a convenient physical geographical term.
    'British & Irish Isles' while PC, is an almightily cumbersome mouthful.
    If someone wants to read political overtones into the term - good luck to them.
    Each to their own ;)

    Nothing to do with PC. Ireland isn't "British". Period.


  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 5,218 Mod ✭✭✭✭slowburner


    Actually it wouldn't - unless you want the mother of all rows :cool:
    Nothing to do with PC. Ireland isn't "British". Period.

    :confused:


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 82 ✭✭CajunOnTour


    slowburner wrote: »
    :confused:

    :confused::confused:


  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 5,218 Mod ✭✭✭✭slowburner


    :confused::confused:
    :confused::confused::confused::D


Advertisement