Old Irish river name

slowburner · 01-09-2012 8:49am #1

I hope somebody here can make some sense of this obsolete river name, which I came across in an 1801 historical volume.
The name has long since passed from local memory.
The spelling is as printed.

Aghat enaought

The author translated this as meaning "The river that drowned the old man."
I can't see any relationship between this translation and the old name, apart possibly from 'Agh'/'Ath' (ford)?
Your help is much appreciated.

An gal gréine · 02-09-2012 11:46am

Logainm.ie are experts on placenames. They have a form where you can ask for translations. Give all the info you have and they may locate it.

Grudaire · 02-09-2012 8:42pm

It's a big jump from "Aghat enaought" to "The river that drowned the old man." but it's all possible. :pac:

Irish spelling has developed an awful lot. At that stage it was all local dialects, spelling, pronunciation, and even the actual vocabulary were very different from one half of the country to another!

Best of luck finding more information. Post up if you find out anymore on the name!

MathsManiac · 02-09-2012 8:58pm

Áit an abhaic?...place of the hunchback?...[place where he died???]

slowburner · 03-09-2012 8:54am

I should have said that the Irish name for this particular river has probably not been used since before 1796, or thereabouts.
Here's a screenshot of the original text where the author seems to give an alternative translation.
I'm uncertain if aghat enaought refers to the river, or the ford.

An gal gréine · 03-09-2012 1:21pm

The aghat could be from áit as MathsManiac pointed out or from achadh meaning a field. Achadh Bhó (the cow's field) in Co. Cork is now Aghaboe. Achadh Leathan ( the wide field) in Co. Fermanagh is now Aghalane.
Having said that, it looks like he's refering to the river where there is a ford (áth). Could "the river, that drowned the old man" be part of a story he had previously mentioned and not a translation of "aghat enaought"?

slowburner · 03-09-2012 7:21pm

I don't think so.
As far as I understand it, the author has translated the meaning, and there was no earlier mention of a story.
I wonder could it be a derivation of "áth an aonach"?

An gal gréine · 03-09-2012 9:13pm

slowburner wrote: »

I don't think so.
As far as I understand it, the author has translated the meaning, and there was no earlier mention of a story.
I wonder could it be a derivation of "áth an aonach"?

Sounds good...it would be "Áth an Aonaigh" which is still close.
Is there such a place?

slowburner · 04-09-2012 9:21am

No such place, or name exists today - as far as I know.

The river flows through gold bearing country (south Wicklow), and I wondered if there was any clue in the name which recognized that fact.
Irish has not been spoken in the area for quite a bit more than two hundred years.
Another author remarked on the absence of the Irish language here in the early C.19th, and how it was present in the surrounding counties.

An gal gréine · 04-09-2012 2:18pm

I was at a funeral once in a south-west county Wicklow town called Knockananna. This is Cnoc an Eanaigh meaning The Hill of the Marsh. I cant remember if there was a river running through the town. If there is/was and if there was a ford there then Áth an Eanaigh could have been in use. Maybe I'm clutching at straws.
Achadh Bheunnech (Field of the peaks) or Aghavannagh Hills as it is now, is also in that vicinity.

slowburner · 04-09-2012 7:45pm

I don't think you have been clutching at straws at all.
The ford of the marsh makes reasonably good sense, topographically, and the area is not a million miles from Knockananna, and quite close to Aughavannagh.
Perhaps Áth an Eanaigh was the original meaning and some peculiar myth grew up around it?
Might the prefix or root, 'Agh' or 'Augh' which is evident in Aughavannagh, and Aughrim have anything to do with it?
Both are close enough to the site, at the foot of Croghan mountain.

An gal gréine · 04-09-2012 11:20pm

Aughrim/Eachroim is not the same as it's made up of each, a horse and druim, a back, together meaning horse-ridge.
The achadh is always a field and always plentiful; the only Aghat I found, is Aghatubrid in Co Kerry which means 'field of the well' and from Achadh Tiobraid.

Old Irish river name

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