When the sunne's in his hight with ye bright Barnaby,
Then should we sing thy praises, gentle Farnaby."
BOLTON CORNEY.
THE MILESIANS.
In reply to W. R. M., who asks for information respecting the round towers of Ireland, I beg to refer him to Dr. Petrie's essay on the Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland, in which he will find a full discussion of the origin, uses, and history of the round towers.
In reference to the Milesians and other early colonists of Ireland, he will find the most authentic ancient traditions in the Irish version of the Historia Britonum of Nennius, lately published by the Irish Archæological Society of Dublin, with a translation and notes, by the Rev. J. H. Todd, D.D. The same volume contains also some very curious and valuable notes by the Hon. A. Herbert.
What W. R. M. says about the pronunciation of certain names of towns in Ireland, as confirming the tradition of a Milesian colony from Spain, is a complete mistake. The pronunciation of gh to which he alludes, exists only amongst the English (or Anglicised natives) who are unable to pronounce the guttural ch or gh of the Celtic Irish, and have substituted for it the sound of h, or the sound of the Spanish j, to which W. R. M. refers. Besides this, every philologist knows that the present language of Spain had no existence at the period to which the Milesian invasion of Ireland must be referred. It is true that on the west coast of Ireland some families among the peasantry retain many of the characteristic features of modern Spaniards; but this circumstance is due to an intercourse with Spain of a much more recent date than the Milesian invasion, and is therefore no evidence of that event. It is well known that considerable trade with Spain was carried on at Galway and other ports of western Connaught, two centuries ago, and that many Spanish families settled in Ireland, or intermarried with the natives during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
To remove W. R. M.'s mistaken impression that Drogheda, Aghada, &c., are names of Spanish origin, it may be well to inform him, first, that the gh in such names is not sounded like the Spanish j, except, as I have said, by—(I was on the point of writing foreigners), but I mean by those who are unable to pronounce our Celtic guttural aspirates. Secondly, that Drogheda, Aghada, &c., are names significant in the Irish language and perfectly well understood, and that as now written they are not seen in their correct orthography, but in an Anglicised spelling intended to represent to English ears the native pronunciation. In the last century Drogheda was usually written Tredagh in English; but the word in its proper spelling is Droichet-atha, the bridge of the ford, trajectum vadi. There are many places in Ireland named from this word Droichet, which is no doubt the Latin trajectum, the same which forms a part of the name of Utrecht (Ultrajectum), and other towns on the continent.
The word Agha, properly Achadh, signifies a field, and enters into the composition of hundreds of topographical names in Ireland. But in every case the gh (or ch, as it properly is) is pronounced gutturally by the peasantry; the h or Spanish j sound is a modern Anglicised corruption.