ldowling wrote:
Hello all, I live in Reavilleen townland, Co Cork, and would like to paint the Irish name on my kitchen wall. I wanted to see if I could get consensus on the correct place name before I committed to the paint. I appreciate your time in advance!
The two suggestions I see on Irish websites are
Ré Mhaoilín
or
Réidh mhillin
I tend to like the second one because we are on a hilltop and as I understand it the second one refers to that, but the "accepted" version is the first. Any opinions?
THANKS!
https://www.logainm.ie/en/9040 says
Ré Mhaoilín is "validated".
Unfortunately, such decisions are not explained.
réidh is an old spelling, modern spelling is
ré, there is no other difference
millín is a small eminence, knoll (from
meall = globe, ball)
https://www.teanglann.ie/en/fgb/mill%C3%ADnmaoilín is a (little) knoll, hillock, too. (from
maoil = bald top,
maol = bald)
https://www.teanglann.ie/en/fgb/maoilSo, both names mean the same.
BTW: In any case, there should be an uppercase M and an accent on second i in
Ré(idh) MhillínPersonally, I would prefer
Ré Mhillín, too.
(b/c I would expect an English version of
Ré Mhaolín as Reaveeleen with two long ee sounds)
There are other versions with an "a" inbetween (Réidh a Mhillín), e.g.
https://durrushistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/placenames-from-irish.pdf.
This should better be written with an apostrophe
Réidh a’ Mhillín or
Réidh an Mhillín (a’ < an = the). But I doubt the existence of the article an/a’ here.