s died before her son Ainnim ...
from her _Ardmagh_ received its name, because she was buried in
that place."

_Circles of Gomer_ (London, 1771), contains as follows:--

"Ar, and Ararat.--The Earth, country, or upon and on the earth
... _Armagh_ on the surrounding water confines."

M. Bullet, _Memoires de la Langue Celtique_, writes thus:--

"Armagh, Une des plus anciennes villes d'Irland. _Ar_, article.
_Mag_, ville."--vol. i.

But the 2nd and 3rd vols. of these _Memoires_, which contain the Celtic
Dictionary, afford a more probable interpretation:--

"_Ar_ or _Ard_ signifies a height, mountain, hill, {219}
elevation, the highest, noble, chief, &c. &c., and _Ar_ in
Hebrew, Chaldean, and Armenian, has the same meaning. _Magh_ is
a field, a plain, ground, &c., as well as a town, dwelling, &c."

Now, the topographical description of the county of Armarh is that it is
_hilly_, and the hills (not very high) are of granite rock. The town of
Armagh again is described as situated on an _eminence_. I suggest,
therefore, _the high field_ or ground, or _the field of the Hill_, or
the dwelling or town of the Hill, as very natural derivations.

If your correspondent prefers it, _Ar_ bears also the signification of
_rock_, and M. Bullet says:--

"Ce terme nous a ete conserve dans la Vie de Saint Colomb."

Who knows, therefore, whether in building the monastery alluded to by
Camden, he may not have given it the name of

The dwelling of the Rock?

The Celtic language affords many other possibilities, but an accurate
knowledge of the locality is requisite in judging of their probablility.

HERMES.

The etymology of _Armagh_, in Ireland, is very simple. _Ard_, high,
great, noble, a purely Celtic root, found in many languages. Latin,
_Arduus_, high, &c. Welsh, _hardh_, fair, handsome, &c. _Magh_, a plain,
a level tract of land, a field. _Ardmugh_, the great plain. Others
derive it from _Eamhuin-magh_, from the regal residence of the kings of
Ulster, that stood in its vicinity; but the former is considered by
those best capable of judging as the most correct. The original name was
_Druim-sailech_, "the hill of sallows," which was changed to
_Ard-sailech_, "the height of sallows," and then again to _Ardmagh_.
Although now spelt _Armagh_, it was formerly more correctly written
_Ardmagh_, which is undoubtedly the proper way.

HIBERNICUS

Jan. 8. 1850.

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