DERRY, Doire, meaning oakwood, begins some 1,300 of our townland names, indicating to some extent how wooded Ireland was in former times.

But surviving Derry placenames only hint at what area of Ireland was afforested. A survey of the townlands in the barony of Ballybritt (the area south of Birr and Kinnitty) Co. Offaly, revealed only three derry names out of a total of 123. We would have expected more in that region of good soil.

Contrary to popular belief, the medieval farmscape consisted of arable land, pasture, wood, heath and moor, and was essentially not unlike what we view today. Doire, comes from dair, oak tree, and gives us for example Adare, Ath Dara, the ford of the oak. Derry occurs both as a prefix at the beginning of names and as a suffix at the end, or simply on its own. Derreen signifies the diminutive, little oak wood. Derrynaflan, in mid-Tipperary, became a worldwide household name when the chalice was discovered there a few years ago. And Derry on the Foyle is famous for other reasons, not least its indomitable spirit. It offers two choices: you can take your pick between the old, Derry Columcilie, and the new, Londonderry. Seldom does the use of a placename tell so much!

Up the ladder in size, darrery, dairbhre, means oak forest. Valentla Island is in Irish, Oilean Dairbhre. Lough Derravaragh is Loch Dairbhreach, lake of the oaks, an allusion maybe to the manmade islands, the crannogs there. In north Cork, Kildorrery, the church of the oak forests is famous for the song: "Have You Ever Been To Kildorrery".

Derry starts an almost unbelievable array of evocative placenames, places that conjure up all the romance and mysticism of Ireland. How about Derrylooscaunagh, meaning the tops of the trees shaking in the oakwood? Or, one that is apt for the orchard of Ireland, Derrylisnahil, oakwood of the apple fort? Or one from Leitrim that is particularly apt at a time when so many of our young people have gone and are going abroad: Derrynahimmire, Doire na h-imirce, the oakwood of migration.

Source: Ireland's Own December 1988