THE SECOND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE EARLY MEDIEVAL TOPONYMY OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND

THE EARLIEST STRATA
THE SECOND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE EARLY MEDIEVAL TOPONYMY OF
IRELAND AND SCOTLAND
An Dara Comhdháil Idirnáisiúnta ar Logainmníocht Luathmheánaoiseach
na hÉireann agus na hAlban
An Dàrna Co-labhairt Eadar-nàiseanta mu Ainmean-Àite na h-Èirinn is
na h-Alba aig toiseach nam Meadhan Aoisean
12th / 13th / 14th November 2009
School of Languages, Literatures and Performing Arts,
Drama and Film Centre, Auditorium 2,
20 University Square, Belfast
Organised by Paul Tempan (QUB), Kelly Kilpatrick (Oxford),
Liam Ó hAisibéil (NUIG), Peter McNiven (Glasgow) & Judyta Szacillo (QUB)
and the School of Languages, Literatures and Performing Arts,
Queen’s University, Belfast
CONFERENCE PROGRAMME
THURSDAY 12th NOVEMBER
09.00 REGISTRATION AND WELCOME
09.30-10.10 Nollaig Ó Muraíle: Keynote paper, ‘The Earliest Irish
Place-names — Status Quaestionis’
10.15-10.55 Catherine Swift: ‘Church names and their significance
for the cult of Patrick’
11.00-11.20 BREAK: Tea and coffee
11.20-12.00 Short Reports on Current Onomastic Research: Ireland
12.05-12.45 Kelly Kilpatrick: ‘Place-names in a Hagiographic
Tradition of St Brigit of Kildare: Analysis of Vita Prima and Bethu
Brigte’
12.45-14.00 LUNCH
14.00-14.40 Thomas Owen Clancy: Keynote paper, ‘The Place-Names
of the Earliest Scottish Records’
14.45-15.25 Jacob King: ‘A Lost Aber- Name in Speyside’
15.30-15.50 BREAK: Tea and coffee
15.50-16.30 Peter McNiven: ‘P-Celtic place-names in Menteith:
British or Pictish?’
16.35-17.15 Guto Rhys: ‘Towards a phonology of “Pictish”’
20:00 Public Lecture
Venue: PFC G06 Nollaig Ó Muraíle: ‘John O Donovan — “most able
and judicious Irish scholar and topographer”’
FRIDAY 13th NOVEMBER
09.30-10.10 Richard Coates: ‘Men from the East, names in the
West: an approach to some problematic island-names of Ireland and
Britain’
10.15-10.55 Short Reports on Current Onomastic Research: Scotland
11.00-11.20 BREAK: Tea and coffee
11.20-12.00 Aengus Finnegan: ‘The Placenames of Bruidhean Da
Choga, some possible identifications’
12.05-12.45 Paul Tempan: ‘Carbad in Irish place-names: chariot or
boulder?’
12.50-13.30 Stephen Digney: ‘Iudeu and Stirling: a possible example

of place name change’
13.30-14.30 LUNCH
14.30-15.10 Richard Warner: ‘Ptolemy's Ireland - observations
from an archaeologist’
15.15-15.55 Grigory Bondarenko: ‘Goidelic hydronyms in Ptolemy’s
Geography: Myth behind the name’
16.00-16.20 BREAK: Tea and coffee
16.20-17.00 Emma Nic Cárthaigh: ‘Difficulties determining early
medieval Irish tribal boundaries: Dál, Dealbhna, Déise’
17.05-17.45 Liam Ó hAisibéil: ‘The Boldly Odd Hills of Northern Roscommon’
17.50-18.20 CLOSURE
Time TBC Conference Dinner
SATURDAY 14th NOVEMBER
9.30 Meet at DFC for excursion to Emain Macha / Navan Fort and
Armagh City (with optional extension to visit royal site of Clogher
after lunch). Guided by Kay Muhr and Richard Warner. Returning to
Belfast at 15:30, or 18:00 for those continuing to Clogher.

For further information, contact Paul Tempan, (028) 90973890,
p.tempan@qub.ac.uk or Clare Marks, Secretary, Irish and Celtic
Studies, (028) 90975366, celtic@qub.ac.uk