Belfast Lough, County Antrim/Down

Background

 

This may be among the earliest documented place-names names of Ireland.  It was recorded as Logia meaning 'female calf, heifer' in the Geographia of the Greek geographer Claudius Ptolemaeus (Ptolemy).  This work was compiled c. AD150, although the earliest surviving manuscript copies date from the 13th century.  Logia (fem.) is a very early form of a word meaning 'calf' which became lóeg in Old Irish and lao in Modern Irish (both masc.).  The Irish name, Loch Lao, has been very stable throughout history. It is recorded as Loch Laigh in the Annals of Tigernach under the year AD 272, and appears in contemporary Irish sources from the 7th century.  Ir. loch which commonly means ‘lake’ can also mean ‘sea inlet/estuary’. The river Lagan which flows into Belfast Lough was at an early period known as Lao ‘calf’, from the bovine goddess which was believed to inhabit it.  When the lough began to appear in English on late-16th century maps, it was associated with Carrickfergus which was then the principal town of the area, e.g. Knock Fergas Baye (SE Ulster map, 1580) or The Baye of Karegfergus (Mercator's Ulster, 1595).  This was superseded in the second half of the 18th century by Belfast Lough, the current English name, as Belfast developed with the linen industry and overtook Carrickfergus in size and importance.

References

McKay, P. (1999): A Dictionary of Ulster Place-Names, p. 21; with additions PT, 2012.

Additional Information

Historical name form

Old Form	Ref. Date	Reference
Λογια ποταμου εκβολαι (= Logia river-mouth) [O’Rahilly 1946: 3]	0150c	Geographia
Loch Laigh	0161	EA 272 [citing Annals of Tigernach]
Lough-Laoigh	0650c	Mon. Hib. 3
in stagno dimersis vituli, monacis.. Comg. [L.Laíg]	0690c	Adomnán 490n 114a
Loch-Laig	0830c	Mon. Hib. 15
[bru] locha laig	0830c	EA 272
Locha Laigh i n-Ultoibh, for brú	1170c	Mart. Gorm. Oct 16n p196
Locha Laigh in Ultoibh, for brú	1170c	Mart. Gorm. Oct 25n p202
Breasail Laig qui subintravit Loch Laig	1200c	Descendants Ir ii 68
The bay of Cragfergus	1567	Goghe's Map
lough magherghie [referring to Islandmagee, marked in wrong situation acc. to Benn]	1570c	Early Chart B'fast Lough (Benn) i 275
Knock Fergas Baye	1580c	SE Ulster Map
Cnokfergus bay	1591	Hondius Map
The Baye of Karegfergus	1595	Mercator's Ulst.
Baiy of Knockfergus	1602-3	Bartlett Maps (Esch. Co. Maps) i (Ulster)
Locha Laoigh i nUltoiph, for bru	1630c	Mart. Don. Oct 15 276
for bru Locha Laoigh, i nUltoibh	1630c	Mart. Don. Oct 25 p282
Loch Laodh	1647	EA 273
Loch Loedh	1647	EA 273
Loch-Laodh	1650c	Mon. Hib. 15
Carreckfergus Lough	1693	Collins B'fast Lough
Carickfergus Bay	1708	Pratt's Tabula
Carickfergus Bay	1744	Harris Hist. frontispiece map
The Lough and Harbour of Belfast [title of a painting by Paul Sandby, R.A.]	1750	Owen, D.J. 1917 facing page 9
Carrickferges Bay	1759	Jefferys' Ireland
Belfast Lough	1777	Taylor & Skinner 5, 13
Belfast Lough	1780	Lendrick Map
Belfast Lough	1791	Williamson's Belfast
Belfast Lough	1793	Taylor's Ireland
Lough Bannchor	1873	Mon. Hib. 3
Loch Lao	1989	GÉ 129
Loch Lao	1989	GÉ 189
Loch Lao ""estuary of the Lao or Lagan""	1999	Dict. Ulst. PN 21
Loch Laogh	3506AM [≈1694BC]	AFM i 32
the bay or haven of Carrickfergus	1604	CPR Jas I 38b
Kncokfergus bay	1605	CPR Jas I 73b
the bay of Knockfergus	1605	CPR Jas I 73a
the bay of Knockfergus	1605	Inq. Ant. (DK) 43,47,48
the bay of Carrickfergus	1606	CPR Jas I 89a
Carrickfergus bay	1608	CPR Jas I 120b
the bay of Carrickfergus	1608	CPR Jas I 125b
the bay of Knockfergus	1608	CPR Jas I 120b
Knockfergus Bay	1610	Speed's Ulster
Knockfergus bay	1611	CPR Jas I 216b
the bay of Knockfergus	1621	CPR Jas I 523b
the bay of Carrickfergus	1654-6	Civ. Surv. 62a

Barony

None

Parish

None

Parish in 1851

None

Townland

None

Place name ID

6524

Place name type

M:W:X