Index of Names in Irish Annals: Descriptive Bynames: Puirt Láirce
by Mari Elspeth nic Bryan (Kathleen M. O'Brien)
© 2000-2006 by Kathleen M. O'Brien. All rights reserved.
Version 2.0, updated 17 September 2006
Descriptive Bynames: Puirt Láirce
Meaning:
"[of] Waterford"
NOTE: So far, the only person found with this byname in the annals is Ímar, a Norse
king of Waterford. In this case, this byname is used to indicate the location where he is king.
Spellings:
What we know as a set of Irish Annals are manuscripts that were each compiled during a
particular time period, usually using older material as sources. For example, when
the Annals of the Four Masters were written from 1632 to 1636, they covered events
that occurred centuries and millenia before (including legendary history). So, when
an entry in this set of annals refers to a person who lived in the year 738, the
spelling used for that person's name is very likely not using the spelling that
would have been used in 738.
Standard forms of this name (based on spelling systems of different periods) would be:
| Middle Irish Gaelic (c900-c1200) genitive form: | Puirt Láirce, Puirt Láirge(?) |
Frequency & Dates:
| Number of men found in the annals with this name: | 1 |
| Found in Years: | 981, 982, 983, 999, 1000 |
Research Notes:
[Answering a question about a standardized form of this byname:]
[T]he second element is found in the
DIL s.v. lárac with the statement that the word is also
found as láarg, loarc, lorac, larac, and ládairg!
There's a reference to a paper that discusses the word.
Hogan's Onomasticon Goedelicum uses Port Láircc as the
normalized form (well, actually p. láircc) and lists forms
P. Largi, P. Large, P. Láirge, and P. Loairge, P. Láirge
being by far the most common.
If the final consonant is in OIr, which (pace Hogan)
seems likely, given that the modern language has g, then
the normalized MIr should be Port Láirce (nom.) and Puirt
Láirce (gen.).
Normally I'd explain the consistent g of the annals
spellings as the result of modernization, and that's
certainly a possibility. But this is clearly a very odd
word, with a very strange (and apparently not
well-understood) history, so perhaps it was Láirge in MIr.
The obvious problem with that is that MIr g in that
context is lenited, so that MIr Láirge ought to become
EMIr Láirghe, and it doesn't: the modern name is Port
Láirge.
On the whole I think that I'd give the MIr as Port Láirce,
gen. Puirt Láirce, but I might add a brief note explaining
the uncertainty.
[email from Talan Gwynek - 09 Jul 2006]
Sources:
Further information about the byname Puirt Láirce, may be found in:
The Sources page lists the Annals referenced below.
Information about secondary sources is included on that page as well.
Raw Data
In the table below, I have separated individuals with a blank line. That is, when there are multiple
entries in the annals that refer to a single person, those entries are grouped together.
Within the list of entries refering to a single person, I have sorted the entries
primarily by orthography when it is obvious that what I am seeing is the same entry
showing up in multiple annals. The entries that tend to use older spellings are listed first.
NOTE: The Annals referenced below under the code letters A, B, C, E, & F tend to use
later spellings than the other Annals. In some cases, the spellings listed in these Annals
may not be appropriate for the year referenced in the Annal entry.
In some Gaelic scripts, there is a character that looks approximately like a lowercase f,
but without the crossbar. This character (represented by an underscored , e, in
the entries below) sometimes represents e and sometimes ea depending upon the
context of the text.
| [Standardized form of this man's name] |
| Annals | Entry | Context | Citation (formatting preserved) |
| |
| [Ímar Puirt Láirce] (d. 999-1000) |
| U | U982.4 | N | Imhur Phuirt Lairce |
| T | T982.2 | N | Imur Puirt Lairge |
| B | M981.9 | N | h-Iomhar Puirt Láirge |
| U | U983.2 | N | Imhar Puirt Lairge |
| T | T983.1 | N | Ímur Phuirt Lairge |
| B | M982.5 | N | Iomhar Phuirt Láirge |
| U | U1000.3 | N | Imhar, ri Puirt Lairgi |
| T | T1000.2 | N | h-Ímur Puirt Lairge |
| B | M999.7 | N | Iomhar Puirt Láirge |
| T | T1022.2 | N | Sitriuc mac Ímuir, rí Puirt Lairge |
| T | T1031.4 | N | Ragnall mac Raghnaill meic Ímuir, rí Puirt Lairge |
Medieval Scotland | Medieval Names Archive | Index of Names in Irish Annals
Feminine Given Names | Feminine Descriptive Bynames | Masculine Given Names | Masculine Descriptive Bynames
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(Jan 2006)
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