Gortgill, County Antrim

Background

This was one of the four Church townlands of the parish of Duneane, and, as such, documentation of the name is scarcer than usual.  O'Donovan's Irish form, i.e. Gort Geal ‘white field’ is broadly acceptable, except that it is unlikely that the radical form of the adjective geal ‘white/bright’ would be anglicized as ‘-gill’.  One could therefore argue in favour of Joyce's Irish form Gort Gile which literally means ‘field of whiteness’, the final element being the genitive form of the abstract noun gile ‘whiteness/brightness’.  However, a more plausible explanation appears to be that the name of the townland goes back to the Irish form Baile an Ghoirt Ghil ‘townland of the white field’, as suggested by forms Ballygortgill (1657c, 1661, 1672c) and Balligertgill (1657c) and that even though the element baile was later lost, the form of the adjective was left fossilized in the genitive.  Ó Dónaill lists the literary term gort geal, meaning ‘fallow field’, while DIL gives the phrase: gort geal nach bí fa barr ‘a field lying fallow(?)’ (DIL sv. gel), suggesting that when applied to the landscape the adjective geal may have connotations of ‘fallow, untilled’.

References

(info. from McKay, P. (1995): Place-Names of Northern Ireland vol. 4 p. 110-111)

Additional Information

Historical name form

Old Form	Ref. Date	Reference
Balligertgill	1657c	Hib. Reg. Toome
Ballygortgill	1657c	DS (Par. Map) Duneane
Ballygortgill	1661	BSD 134
Balligortgill	1672c	Hib. Del. Antrim
Gortgill	1780	Lendrick Map
Gortgeel	1827c	Bnd. Sur. (Reg.)
Gortgill	1828	OSNB A 40
~Gort Geal ""white field""	1828	J O'D (OSNB) A 40
Gort-gile ""white field""	1913	O'Laverty iii 378
~Gort-gile ""white field""	1913	Joyce iii 378

Barony

Toome Upper

Parish

Duneane

Parish in 1851

Duneane

Townland

None

Place name ID

5304

Place name type

T