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 Ardchicken
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Pete Schermerhorn Moderator Posts: 171 |
posted 07 October 2004 05:35 PM
  
On RTÉ Radio One yesterday, I heard of some sort of news item (didn't catch the nature of it) which occurred in the townland of Ardchicken, just south of Donegal town. I'm certainly interested of the etymology of this place. Does the King of the Chickens live here? Sort of an Anglicized Brian Cock-a-doodle-doo ? ------------------ IP: Logged |
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ChristopherP Veteran Member Posts: 338 |
posted 24 April 2009 04:28 AM
Hi Pete, There was probably a hill in the area that looked like a chicken. The original name may have been Ardsicín. The English surveyors spelt Irish placenames as they heard them. Christopher [This message has been edited by ChristopherP (edited 24 April 2009).] IP: Logged |
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tonyl Member Posts: 22 |
posted 30 April 2009 12:15 AM
Here's another suggestion. There's a Coolsickin in Kildare and a Dromsicane in Cork. logainm.ie gives Dromsicane as Drum Seacán, which Dineen says is identical to siocán = frozen ground (from sioc frost). I wonder does Ardchicken get a lot of frost? IP: Logged |
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Pete Schermerhorn Moderator Posts: 171 |
posted 30 April 2009 11:21 PM
Tonyl asks: "I wonder does Ardchicken get a lot of frost?". I wouldn't think so. The western end of the townland is right on Donegal Bay. It's less than a half-mile south of Donegal Friary, where the O'Clery foursome wrote most of their Annals. The Magherabeg Friary is just a few hundred yards to the south of the Chicken, and also on the Bay. The ocean should temper the weather quite a bit there. ------------------ IP: Logged |
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tonyl Member Posts: 22 |
posted 01 May 2009 02:27 PM
Thanks for that Pete, I'd say you're dead right about the frost. It was probably a long shot anyway. Would it be correct to think that despite its name, Ardchicken is a fairly low-lying townland? Tony IP: Logged |
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Pete Schermerhorn Moderator Posts: 171 |
posted 03 May 2009 10:39 PM
Tony asks: === Would it be correct to think that despite its name, Ardchicken is a fairly low-lying townland? === The townland rises from sea-level to about 50 or 60 meters at its eastern edge, where the adjacent, also small, townland of Rarooey (another interesting name) continues the hill - now known as Rarooey Hill - up to about 85 meters at its summit. Other than the hill, Ardchicken is not very noteworthy, that I know of. ------------------ IP: Logged |
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tonyl Member Posts: 22 |
posted 18 May 2009 11:12 PM
I queried Ardchicken with the very helpful Placenames Commission people at Logainm.ie and was told that while John O'Donovan gives Ard Sicín 'Hill of the Chickens' in the name book, it is most unlikely that he heard the Irish form of the name locally as the area was completely anglicised at the time. They say that the second element 'sicín' probably does not here refer to 'chicken' because that sense of the word is a late borrowing from English. It is possible that it does refer to an otherwise unrecorded personal name, or alternatively it could be a derivative of the word 'sioc', frost, but these are tentative explanations. IP: Logged |
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enfield Moderator Posts: 504 |
posted 19 May 2009 07:46 AM
Sicín does not appear in any other placename. Regards. Tom. IP: Logged |
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tonyl Member Posts: 22 |
posted 16 October 2009 12:52 PM
I was in Donegal town yesterday and happened to meet a man who owns land at Ardchicken. He didn't know where the name came from but when I asked him if they get frost there he said there is a pocket of land low down at the base of a large drumlin which is frosty every winter, even though the sea is close by. The evidence is mounting up! IP: Logged |
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