Origin and History of Irish Names of Places. in Three Volumes. Volume II

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1875 edition. Excerpt: ...of the word tonn, for here the "Tuns" most truly means the waves or billows. This term gives names to places by rivers and lakes as well as by the sea: and in many cases the t is changed to d by eclipse. There is a lake in the parish of Moyrus in Connemara, called Loughannadown, i. e. Lochan-na-dtonn, the little lake of the waves; so called, I suppose, from being very much exposed to the wind, and subject therefore to high waves. Near Knocklona; in Limerick, there aro four adjoining townlands called Mitchelstowndown of which the proper Irish name is Baile-Mhistealaighna-dtonn Ballyvistela-na-down; the first part signifies the town of Mitchell, and this has been translated, while the last part has been left untouched. The whole name means "the town of Mitchell of the waves." The epithet na-dtonn, " of the waves," may belong to the place, as it is situated on the Morning Star river; and in this case the inference would be that it was so called to distinguish it from Mitchelstown in the county Cork, not very far off: but I think this unlikely. Or it may be that the person who left his name on the place was called " Mitchell of the waves," because he was a sailor or a voyager. On the western shore of Lough Swilly in the parish of Clondavaddog, Donegal, there is a little hamlet called Bunnaton, the bun or end of the wave--a name which probably was originally applied to the highest point reached by the surge in the little bay. A varied form of the genitive is seen in Derrintin, the name of a small lake and townland near the Erriff river, four miles above Leenane at the head of the Killeries; Doire-an-tuinn, the oak-wood of the wave. In the last name the word is used in the masculine. But it is more generally femini...