Most Irish (and Welsh, which I'm more familar with) placenames describe the physical characteristics of the place, or personal names, rather than its history or abstract concepts like "chance". Some links that give ideas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Place_names_in_Ireland Gives "Ballynoe" as "new place" (bally = place, town, noe = new)
I can't help with the specifics, but what I would say is that it would be very unusual to rename a town after a part of its history like that; it seems like a very New World thing to do, and not something I've ever encountered in Ireland. In fact, almost all the Irish placenames I can think of refer to geographical or religious features; hills, lakes, and churches, that sort of thing. The notable exceptions were imposed by the English (Dun Laoghaire being renamed Kingstown, for example), but they don't use Gaelic.
Yup - although village renaming did happen in England (and by extension could have happened in Ireland) under some very specific circumstances over the last thousand years, none of them would fit this scenario.
What might make more sense is if the villagers abandoned site A and relocated to site B just down the road, naming the new settlement "Yay we're safe now"... (ok, maybe not that).
Digging out my trusty Irish-English phrasebook... And bearing in mind these are only approximate translations... And not commenting on the "changing names is unusual" thing...
athnuaigh (transitive verb: verbal noun is athnuachan): renew
slánaigh (transitive / intransitive verb): save / heal / indemnify, also redeem (Religious and figurative), also reach (as in age)
If you want me to check some more, feel free to ask, although I can't guarantee the speed of my response.
Thank you :D I'm thinking now that maybe the concept name will be the village's nickname, but that it's actual name with be something more geographical, I haven't decided yet (as I've said to others, I like the idea of giving the town an unusual name for various reasons).
What the other posters said. Placenames in Irish are based on features of the landscape (hills, valleys, trees), the presence of man-made structures like churches or bridges, and occasionally an historical figure - think Glencolmcille. They're named after things you can point at, so to speak, rather than concepts. You just don't get abstract nouns like "redemption" as place names.
The only way I can begin to imagine the OP's scenario happening is if the townspeople indulged in clever word play on the existing name of their town, e.g. turned a broad consonant into a slender one and suddenly "hill of the rowan trees" became "redemption" or something like that. But that would require an excellent knowledge of Irish.
My other idea for a name would include something to do with the sea, or coast, since that's where the town is located. As I've said to others, I do like the idea of giving the village an unusual name, but I also like the idea of giving it a more geographical name then using the concept name as a kind of nickname.
I really can't imagine such a place name in Ireland.
Sure, I could give you "Baile Slánaithe" (Town[nominitive case] Redemption[genitive case]), or the same thing for your other alternatives, but not a one of them would be believable as an Irish placename. I almost didn't even write that, because I've seen too many writers grab onto literal translations that make no sense and my immediate response to such a thing in a book is to stop reading.
The only situation in which I'd find a name like that, or, say, Baile na Deise Daire (Second Chance Town), anything other than completely absurd would be if somebody were writing a story in Irish about the American Old West and thought it would be amusing to translate all of the town names instead of using the actual English ones as most writers would do. (Substantial part of an Irish-language novel I was reading this summer takes place in Battle Creek, Michigan. It's called "Battle Creek" in the text, not "Sruthán Catha.")
...sites that claim to teach you old Gaelic but mostly just teach you
( ... )
My other thought for a place name involves the sea, since the village is very near the coast and their main source of employment is a place where they process fish... or some other form of seafood, or sea-related thing; that part's still pending research.
But as I mentioned in another comment above I really like the idea of giving the village a name that isn't the norm, since the village is rather unusual, and the protagonist being rather bothered about it because his own life is strange enough, now he's living in a village with a weird name. I'm also thinking that maybe the village could have one name as seen on maps and signs but the villagers tend to call it something else as a sort of nick-name to remember their past and not repeat it.
I was being generic about the alphabet thing - I saw letters, thought alphabet, but I think the sites were actually about teaching pronunciation, whereas what I wanted was a site that gave me actual words.
Comments 31
Some links that give ideas:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Place_names_in_Ireland
Gives "Ballynoe" as "new place" (bally = place, town, noe = new)
Huge list of names:
http://members.shaw.ca/cullen/Miscellany/Irish-Placenames-Meanings.htm
Reply
Reply
Reply
That was my thought exactly and what I came here to say - you got there first!
Reply
What might make more sense is if the villagers abandoned site A and relocated to site B just down the road, naming the new settlement "Yay we're safe now"... (ok, maybe not that).
Reply
Reply
athnuaigh (transitive verb: verbal noun is athnuachan): renew
slánaigh (transitive / intransitive verb): save / heal / indemnify, also redeem (Religious and figurative), also reach (as in age)
If you want me to check some more, feel free to ask, although I can't guarantee the speed of my response.
Reply
Reply
The only way I can begin to imagine the OP's scenario happening is if the townspeople indulged in clever word play on the existing name of their town, e.g. turned a broad consonant into a slender one and suddenly "hill of the rowan trees" became "redemption" or something like that. But that would require an excellent knowledge of Irish.
Reply
Reply
Sure, I could give you "Baile Slánaithe" (Town[nominitive case] Redemption[genitive case]), or the same thing for your other alternatives, but not a one of them would be believable as an Irish placename. I almost didn't even write that, because I've seen too many writers grab onto literal translations that make no sense and my immediate response to such a thing in a book is to stop reading.
The only situation in which I'd find a name like that, or, say, Baile na Deise Daire (Second Chance Town), anything other than completely absurd would be if somebody were writing a story in Irish about the American Old West and thought it would be amusing to translate all of the town names instead of using the actual English ones as most writers would do. (Substantial part of an Irish-language novel I was reading this summer takes place in Battle Creek, Michigan. It's called "Battle Creek" in the text, not "Sruthán Catha.")
...sites that claim to teach you old Gaelic but mostly just teach you ( ... )
Reply
But as I mentioned in another comment above I really like the idea of giving the village a name that isn't the norm, since the village is rather unusual, and the protagonist being rather bothered about it because his own life is strange enough, now he's living in a village with a weird name. I'm also thinking that maybe the village could have one name as seen on maps and signs but the villagers tend to call it something else as a sort of nick-name to remember their past and not repeat it.
I was being generic about the alphabet thing - I saw letters, thought alphabet, but I think the sites were actually about teaching pronunciation, whereas what I wanted was a site that gave me actual words.
Reply
Leave a comment