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Preasráiteas 23 Aibreán 2008

Ordú á dhéanamh ag an Aire Éamon Ó Cuív T.D. chun An Dún (Doon), Co. Luimnigh a athrú go Dún Bleisce

Déanfaidh an tAire Gnóthaí Pobail, Tuaithe agus Gaeltachta, an t-Uasal Éamon Ó Cuív T.D., Ordú Logainmneacha (Contae Luimnigh) (Leasú) 2008 amárach, 24ú Aibreáin 2008 a dhéanfaidh an leagan Gaeilge den logainm An Dún (Doon) i gContae Luimnigh a athrú go Dún Bleisce. Tá an t-Ordú á dhéanamh tar éis gur chur Comhairle Chontae Luimnigh iarratas faoi bhráid an Aire ag éileamh go ndéanfaí an t-athrú seo.

I 2003, tar éis dó breithniú a dhéanamh ar chomhairle a fuair sé ón gCoimisiún Logainmneacha, rinne an tAire an t-Ordú Logainmneacha (Contae Luimnigh) 2003 de réir fhorálacha alt 32(1) Acht na dTeangacha Oifigiúla 2003. Faoin Ordú seo, dearbhaíodh gurb é An Dún an leagan Gaeilge den logainm Doon. Ina dhiaidh sin, d’éiligh páirtithe éagsúla ón gceantar gur Dún Bleisce a cheart a bheith mar leagan Gaeilge ar Doon seachas An Dún.

Tar éis moltaí a fháil ó pháirtithe leasmhara sa phobal áitiúil agus tar éis gur ghlac Comhairle Chontae Luimnigh le tairiscint ina leith i mí na Samhna 2006, d’iarr an tAire ar an gCoimisiún Logainmneacha ath-mhachnamh a dhéanamh arís ar an gcomhairle a chuir siad air maidir leis an leagan údarach Gaeilge den logainm Doon, mar a dearbhaíodh é in Ordú na bliana 2003. Tá dearbhaithe anois ag an gCoimisiún Logainmneacha gurb é An Dún an leagan Gaeilge cuí den logainm, ach tá dearbhaithe freisin acu don Aire go bhfuil bunús fianaithe stairiúil ag an leagan Dún Bleisce.

Ar an 16ú Aibreáin anuraidh, le go mbeadh deis amháin eile ag an bpobal tuairimí a nochtadh i leith an ábhair, d’fhoilsigh an tAire dréacht de Ordú Logainmneacha a thabharfadh feidhm do iarratas Chomhairle Chontae Luimnigh. Dhearbhaigh sé ag an am seo go raibh i gceist aige an t-Ordú a dhéanamh mura ndéanfaí aon agóid láidir ina choinne.

"Tar éis do Chomhairle Chontae Luimnigh, mar ionadaithe tofa thar ceann mhuintir Chontae Luimnigh, moladh láidir a dhéanamh ina leith seo, bhreathnaigh mé go cúramach ar an gceist arís," a dúirt an tAire. "Ós rud é go bhfuil fianaise stairiúil ann a thacaíonn leis an dá leagan Gaeilge den logainm, táim sásta géilleadh dá n-iarratas agus is féidir liom é sin a dhéanamh go dlíthiúil faoi mar a sheasann an reachtaíocht ina leith seo i láthair na huaire. Measaim go bhfuil sé feiliúnach go ndéanfainn an t-Ordú sa mbaile féin."

 

Nóta don eagarthóir

Faoi Chuid 5 d’Acht na dTeangacha Oifigiúla 2003, tá cumhacht ag an Aire an leagan Gaeilge de logainm a dhearbhú agus tá an chumhacht aige freisin Ordú ina leith sin a leasú. Níl an chumhacht aige an leagan Béarla de logainm a dhearbhú ná a leasú ar aon bhealach. Tá achoimre ar an bhfianaise stairiúil a bhaineann leis an leagan Gaeilge den logainm, a réitigh an Coimisiún Logainmneacha, leis seo. Bhí an fianaise seo ar fáil don Chomhairle Chontae sular ghlac siad leis an tairiscint ag iarraidh ar an Aire an leasú a bhí molta a dhéanamh.

Tá cóipeanna den Ordú agus de na doiciméid seo ar fáil ar shuíomh idirlín na Roinne ag www.pobail.ie.

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Press Release 23 April 2008

 

Order to be made by Minister Éamon Ó Cuív T.D. to change An Dún (Doon), Co. Limerick to Dún Bleisce

The Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Mr. Éamon Ó Cuív, T.D., will tomorrow (24th April 2008) make the Placenames (County Limerick) (Amendment) Order 2007 to give effect to a request made to him by Limerick County Council to change the Irish name of An Dún (Doon), Co. Limerick to Dún Bleisce.

In 2003, having considered advice received by him from the Placenames Commission, the Minister made the Placenames (County Limerick) Order 2003 in accordance with the provisions of section 32(1) of the Official Languages Act 2003. Under this Order, it was declared that the Irish version of the placename Doon was An Dún. Subsequently, a number of local community interests argued that the Irish version of An Doon should be Dún Bleisce rather than Doon.

Following representations from local interests and a motion adopted by Limerick County Council in November 2006, the Minister asked the Placenames Commission to consider afresh its advice to him that the authentic Irish version of the name is An Dún as declared in the 2003 Order. The Placenames Commission has confirmed its view that An Dún is the appropriate Irish version of the name, but has also confirmed to the Minister that the alternative Dún Bleisce has an attested historical basis.

On 16 April last year, in order to give the public a final opportunity to express views on the matter, the Minister published a draft Placeneames Order that would give effect to the request from Limerick County Council. He made clear at this time that he intended to make the Order provided no strong objections were made.

"Following a strong recommendation to me by Limerick County Council as the elected local representatives of the people of County Limerick, I have considered the matter carefully. As there is historical evidence to support both versions of the Irish name, I am open to accede to their request and it is legally permissible within the existing legislation for me to do so," said the Minister. "I consider it appropriate that the Order be made in the time itself," the Minister continued.

 

Note for editors

Under Part 5 of the Official Languages Act 2003, the Minister has power to declare the Irish version of a placename and also has power to amend an Order made in that regard. He does not have power to declare or amend in any way the English language of a placename. A summary of the historical evidence for the Irish name of the area prepared by the Placenames Branch is attached. This evidence was available to the County Council before they passed the motion calling on the Minister to make the amendment proposed.

Copies of the Order and this documentation are available on the Department’s website at www.pobail.ie.

Issued by the Press & Information Office, Dept. of Community, Rural & Gaeltacht Affairs

Tel: 01 647 3130 Fax: 01 667 0826 Layla de Cogan Chin 087 6842755

Email: eolas@pobail.ie Web: www.pobail.ie

 

Fianaise Stairiúil Dún

 

774 Dúin Bleisce (g.) AIF
800c Duin Bleisce,

Dunbleisci,

Duinlesce (g.)

 

FOeng. xxvi

1160c Duin Blesci (g.)

Duin Blesce (g.)

LL VI 49036

LL VI 51044

1390c Duin Bleisce (g.) BB 226 f 39
1400c Duin Bloisce (g.) Lec. 47vd 13
1410c Dún Flesci LB 99 (=FOeng. clxvii)
1474 Dranlesch CPL XIII 421
1511 Duin Ann. Cas. 29
1530 Dunleysse Ann Im. 27
1550c i ndún Sen. Síl Bhr. 185
1559 Dunleisg F 84
1607-8 Douleskie, Donlesk RVis. (CE) 302, 309
1615 Doolesky alias

Doonogonogh

RVis. (CE) 292
1650c i nDún LM 362
1655c Doone CS IV 28, DS, Cen.287, BSD 41
  ‘part of the parish of Dune and the other part lyeth in the Barony of Cuanagh in the County of Limberick’ CS II 117
1752 Duan Vis. Bk. I 31
1840 Doon

Dun, Dún

AL:BS

AL:OD

1969 Dún Bailte poist

Noda:

AIF The Annals of Innisfallen (MS Rawlinson B 503), ed. S. Mac Airt (1951). Baile Átha Cliath

AL Ainmleabhar na Suirbhéireachta Ordanáis de réir paróiste / Ordnance Survey Parish Namebooks (Lámhscríbhinn sa Chartlann Náisiúnta, Baile Átha Cliath).

Ann. Cas. ‘Obligationes pro annatis diocesis Cassellensis’, ed. L. Ryan & W. Skehan (1966), Archiv. Hib. 28, 1-32.

Ann. Im ‘Obligationes pro annatis diocesis Imelacensis’, ed. L. Ryan & W. Skehan (1966), Archiv. Hib. 28, 33-44.

Bailte Poist Ainmneacha Gaeilge na mBailte Poist (1969)

BB The Book of Ballymote [facs], ed. R. Atkinson (1887). Baile Átha Cliath.

BS Suirbhéireacht Teorann (Leagan Béarla den logainm luaite leis an bhfoinse seo in AL.)

BSD Book of Survey and Distribution, Co. Limerick (Lámhscríbhinn sa Chartlann Náisiúnta, Baile Átha Cliath).

Cen. A Census of Ireland, circa 1659, with supplementary material from the poll ordinances (1600-1661), ed. S. Pender (1939). Baile Átha Cliath.

CPL Calendar of...Papal Registers relating to Great Britain and Ireland, Papal Letters, 1471-1484 XIII, ed. J. A. Twemlow (1955). Londain.

CS The Civil Survey A.D. 1654-6: County of Tipperary II (western & northern baronies) with the return of crown and church lands for the whole county, County Limerick IV, ed. R.C. Simington (1934, 1938). Baile Átha Cliath.

DS Down Survey (Barony Maps – Hibernia Regnum, Sir William Petty 1655-59. Facsanna táirgthe agus foilsithe ag The Ordnance Survey, Southampton, as na bunchóipeanna sa Bibliothèque Nationale, Páras, 1908).

F ‘Calendar to fiants of reign of Henry VIII, 1510-47...of Queen Elizabeth, 1588-1603’, app. to 7th – 18th RDK (1875-86). Baile Átha Cliath.

FOeng. [Félire Oengusso], On the Calendar of Oengus, ed. W. Stokes (1880). Baile Átha Cliath.

LB Leabhar Breac, the Speckled Book, otherwise styled Leabhar Mór Dúna Doighre; ...now for the first time published from the original manuscript in the Royal Irish Academy (1876). Baile Átha Cliath.

Lec. Facsimilies in collotype of Irish manuscripts II: The Book of Lecan, Leabhar Mór Mhic Fhir Bhisigh Leacáin, ed. K. Mulchrone (1937). Baile Átha Cliath.

LL The Book of Leinster formerly Lebar na Nuachonghbála I-VI, ed. O. Bergin, R.I. Best, M.A. O’Brien agus A. O’Sullivan (1954-83). Baile Átha Cliath.

LM An Leabhar Muimhneach maraon le suim aguisiní, ed. T. Ó Donnchadha [1940]. Baile Átha Cliath.

OD O’Donovan (Irish form of placename written by John O’Donovan in AL.)

RVis. (CE) ‘Royal Visitation of Cashel and Emly, 1615’, ed. M.A. Murphy (1912), Archiv. Hib. 1, 277-311.

Sen. Síl Bhr. ‘Senchas Síl Bhriain’, ed. S.H. O’Grady (1929), Caithréim Thoirdhealbhaigh, 171-192.

Vis. Bk I ‘Archbishop Butler’s Visitation Book’, ed. C. O’Dwyer (1975) Archiv. Hib. 33, 1-90 (=I).

 

Ba é Dún Bleisce an bunleagan den logainm Doon. Bhain an leagan gearr den ainm i nGaeilge, Dún, stádas dlíthiúil amach i 1975 nuair a rinneadh an chéad Ordú Logainmneacha. Bhí aitheantas oifigiúil bainte amach ag an leagan Gaeilge roimhe sin san fhoilseachán Ainmneacha Gaeilge na mBailte Poist (1969), a thug an Coimisiún Logainmneacha amach. Tugtar meirdreach mar mhíniú ar an bhfocal Gaeilge blesc (ginideach blesce) i seanghluais Ghaeilge.

Is é Dún Flesci an sampla is déanaí atá ar an taifead den leagan fada den logainm i nGaeilge. Tá sé seo sna nótaí agus sna gluaiseanna atá curtha le Féilire Óengusso sa lámhscríbhinn Leabhar Breac. Creidtear gur san 11ú haois a cuireadh na nótaí seo le chéile. Mar sin, d’fhéadfadh an dáta, 1410 circa, atá ag tagairt do scríobh na lámhscríbhinne, dallamullóg a chur ar dhuine.

Tá an leagan fada ar taifead freisin i gcuairteanna ríoga 1607-8 agus 1615, Douleskie, Donlesk, Doolesky (buntéacs Laidine). D’fhéadfadh sé gur ó liostaí a scríobhadh níos luaithe a tháinig na logainmneacha atá taifeadta sna cuairteanna ríoga seo.

Tagann an dara leagan den ainm in ‘Visitation’ na bliana 1615, Doonogonogh, leis an leagan Gaeilge Dún Ó gCuanach. Is é Ó gCuanach an ginideach de Uí Chuanach, an ceantar ina raibh Dún lonnaithe.

Rinneadh taifead ar an leagan gearr den logainm, gan aon eilimint sonrach, mar Duin in annáidí Laidine Dheoise Chaisil in 1511. Tabhair do d’aire freisin an sampla Gaeilge ó circa 1550, ‘i ndún’. Tógadh é seo as cáipéis a leagan amach i mionsonraí tailte dúchasacha roinnt de ghéaga mhuintir Uí Bhriain agus clúdaíonn sé go mion talamh Uí Chuanach, a luadh thuas, san áit ina raibh Dún lonnaithe. Caithfidh sé go raibh an cháipéis bunaithe ar eolas áitiúil. Tá taifead de Dún ina dhiaidh sin mar ainm neamhspleách in An Leabhar Muimhneach. Tá an sampla atá taifeadta i ‘Visitation Book’ Ard-Easpag Chaisil, Séamus de Buitléir, in 1752, Duan, suimiúil freisin mar go mbreathnaíonn sé go bhfuil na logainmneacha atá taifeadta sa chuntas seo comhaimseartha.

Tá an leagan Gaeilge ar an taifead mar Dún in Ainmleabhair na Suirbhéireachta Ordanáis do chontaetha Luimnigh agus Thiobraid Árann, 1840. Is é Seán Ó Donnabháin a scríobh Litir na Suirbhéireachta Ordanáis i gContae Luimnigh, a bhain le Paróiste Dhúin, an bhliain chéanna sin. Thosaigh O’Donovan a chuntas mar seo a leanas: ‘it is absolutely certain that this is the Dun Bleisce of the ancient Irish writers’. Ansin, tugann sé fianaise ina leith seo bunaithe ar fhéile éarlaimh an pharóiste, Naomh Fionntan. Tugann sé seo le fios nach raibh Bleisce mar chuid den ainm ag tús an naoú haois déag. Insíonn Irish Names of Places, imleabhar I (1869), le P.W. Joyce, dúinn: ‘the fort [Dún] from which the place received the name, still remains, and was anciently called Dunblesque’. Ós rud é gurbh as Oirthear Luimnigh do Joyce (1827-1914) ó dhúchas agus ó tharla gur fhás sé aníos i gceantar ina labhraítí Gaeilge, léiríonn a ráiteas ‘anciently called Dunblesque’ go raibh an eilimint ar leith a lean Dún imithe as an gcaint roimh a linn siúd.

Mar achoimre, is féidir a rá go cinnte, go raibh Dún, in úsáid go coitianta ag Gaeilgeoirí ón séú haois déag go dtí gur imigh an Ghaeilge i léig mar theanga dhúchais na ndaoine. Rinneadh athbheochan saorga ar an eilimint sonrach Bleisce ag tús an fichiú haois.

 

 

 

Historical evidence for the placename Doon

 

774 Dúin Bleisce (g.) AIF
800c Duin Bleisce,

Dunbleisci,

Duinlesce (g.)

 

FOeng. xxvi

1160c Duin Blesci (g.)

Duin Blesce (g.)

LL VI 49036

LL VI 51044

1390c Duin Bleisce (g.) BB 226 f 39
1400c Duin Bloisce (g.) Lec. 47vd 13
1410c Dún Flesci LB 99 (=FOeng. clxvii)
1474 Dranlesch CPL XIII 421
1511 Duin Ann. Cas. 29
1530 Dunleysse Ann Im. 27
1550c i ndún Sen. Síl Bhr. 185
1559 Dunleisg F 84
1607-8 Douleskie, Donlesk RVis. (CE) 302, 309
1615 Doolesky alias

Doonogonogh

RVis. (CE) 292
1650c i nDún LM 362
1655c Doone CS IV 28, DS, Cen.287, BSD 41
  ‘part of the parish of Dune and the other part lyeth in the Barony of Cuanagh in the County of Limberick’ CS II 117
1752 Duan Vis. Bk. I 31
1840 Doon

Dun, Dún

AL:BS

AL:OD

1969 Dún Bailte poist

Noda / Abbreviations:

AIF The Annals of Innisfallen (MS Rawlinson B 503), ed. S. Mac Airt (1951). Dublin

AL Ainmleabhar na Suirbhéireachta Ordanáis de réir paróiste / Ordnance Survey Parish Namebooks (MSS in the National Archives, Dublin).

Ann. Cas. ‘Obligationes pro annatis diocesis Cassellensis’, ed. L. Ryan & W. Skehan (1966), Archiv. Hib. 28, 1-32.

Ann. Im ‘Obligationes pro annatis diocesis Imelacensis’, ed. L. Ryan & W. Skehan (1966), Archiv. Hib. 28, 33-44.

Bailte Poist Ainmneacha Gaeilge na mBailte Poist (1969)

BB The Book of Ballymote [facsimile], ed. R. Atkinson (1887). Dublin.

BS Boundary Survey (English form of placename attributed to this source in AL.)

BSD Book of Survey and Distribution, Co. Limerick (MS in National Archives, Dublin).

Cen. A Census of Ireland, circa 1659, with supplementary material from the poll ordinances (1600-1661), ed. S. Pender (1939). Dublin.

CPL Calendar of...Papal Registers relating to Great Britain and Ireland, Papal Letters, 1471-1484 XIII, ed. J. A. Twemlow (1955). London.

CS The Civil Survey A.D. 1654-6: County of Tipperary II (western & northern baronies) with the return of crown and church lands for the whole county, County Limerick IV, ed. R.C. Simington (1934, 1938). Dublin.

DS Down Survey (Barony Maps – Hibernia Regnum, Sir William Petty 1655-59. Facsimilies produced and published by The Ordnance Survey, Southampton, from the original copies in Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, 1908).

F ‘Calendar to fiants of reign of Henry VIII, 1510-47...of Queen Elizabeth, 1588-1603’, app. to 7th – 18th RDK (1875-86). Dublin.

FOeng. [Félire Oengusso], On the Calendar of Oengus, ed. W. Stokes (1880). Dublin.

LB Leabhar Breac, the Speckled Book, otherwise styled Leabhar Mór Dúna Doighre; ...now for the first time published from the original manuscript in the Royal Irish Academy (1876). Dublin.

Lec. Facsimilies in collotype of Irish manuscripts II: The Book of Lecan, Leabhar Mór Mhic Fhir Bhisigh Leacáin, ed. K. Mulchrone (1937). Dublin.

LL The Book of Leinster formerly Lebar na Nuachonghbála I-VI, ed. O. Bergin, R.I. Best, M.A. O’Brien agus A. O’Sullivan (1954-83). Dublin.

LM An Leabhar Muimhneach maraon le suim aguisiní, ed. T. Ó Donnchadha [1940]. Dublin.

OD O’Donovan (Irish form of placename written by John O’Donovan in AL.)

RVis. (CE) ‘Royal Visitation of Cashel and Emly, 1615’, ed. M.A. Murphy (1912), Archiv. Hib. 1, 277-311.

Sen. Síl Bhr. ‘Senchas Síl Bhriain’, ed. S.H. O’Grady (1929), Caithréim Thoirdhealbhaigh, 171-192.

Vis. Bk I ‘Archbishop Butler’s Visitation Book’, ed. C. O’Dwyer (1975) Archiv. Hib. 33, 1-90 (=I).

 

Dún Bleisce was the original form of the placename Doon. The short form of the name in Irish, Dún, received legal status in 1975 when the first Placenames order was passed. The Irish form had received official recognition prior to that in publication Ainmneacha Gaeilge na mBailte Poist (1969), by An Coimisiún Logainmneacha. The Irish word blesc (genitive blesce) is explained as meirdreach, i.e. ‘harlot’, in an early Irish glossary.

Dún Flesci is the latest recorded example of the longer form of the placename in Irish. This is found in the notes and glossaries appended to Féilire Óengusso in the Leabhar Breac manuscript. These notes are believed to have been compiled in the eleventh century. The date 1410 circa, which refers to the writing of the manuscript, may therefore be misleading.

The longer form is also recorded in the Royal Visitations of 1607-8 and 1615, Douleskie, Donlesk, Doolesky (original Latin text). Placenames which are recorded in these visitations may be derived from earlier written lists. The ‘alias’ form of the name in Visitation of 1615, Doonogonogh, corresponds to Irish Dún Ó gCuanach. The specific Ó gCuanach is the genitive of Uí Chuanach, the territory in which Dún was situated.

The short form of the placename, without any specific element, was recorded as Duin in the Latin ‘Annates’ of Cashel in 1511. Note also the Irish example dated circa 1550, ‘i ndún’. This is taken from a document which sets out in detail the ancestral lands of various branches of the O’Briens and covers in great detail the aforementioned territory of Uí Chuanach in which Dún was located. The document must have been based on local knowledge. Dún was later recorded as an independent name in An Leabhar Muimhneach. The example recorded in the Visitation Book of Archbishop James Butler of Cashel in 1752, Duan, is also of interest, as the placenames recorded in this Visitation Book seem to be contemporary.

The Irish form is recorded as Dún in the Ordnance Survey Namebooks for counties Limerick and Tipperary, 1840. The relevant Ordnance Survey Letter from Co. Limerick, dealing with the Parish of Doon, was written by John O’Donovan in the same year. O’Donovan began his account of Doon as follows: ‘it is absolutely certain that this is the Dun Bleisce of the ancient Irish writers’. He goes on the adduce evidence to this effect based on the patron Saint of the Parish. This points to the fact that Bleisce was no longer an integral part of the name in the early nineteenth century. P.W. Joyce’s Irish Names of Places, vol I (1869) informs us that, ‘the fort [Dún] from which the place received the name, still remains, and was anciently called Dunblesque’. As Joyce (1827-1914) was a native of East Limerick and as he grew up in an Irish-speaking area, his statement, ‘anciently called Dunblesque’, demonstrates that the specific element following Dún had disappeared before his time.

In summary, one can safely state that Dún, without further qualification, had been in common usage by Irish speakers from the sixteenth century until Irish disappeared as a vernacular. The specific element Bleisce was artificially revived in the early twentieth century.

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