Iarradh ar An Tionscadal Logainmneacha níos luaithe i mbliana Gaeilge a chur ar liosta stadanna bus. Tá comóradh déanta ar naoimh ar fud na tíre sna hainmneacha ar pharóistí, scoileanna, clubanna spóirt agus eile, agus in iarthar Bhéal Feirste tá mairtíreach, soiscéalaí agus ardaingeal ina measc siúd a mbeidh a n-ainm in airde ag stadanna Metro agus Glider. 

De réir pholasaí an Bhrainse Logainmneacha, atá mar chuid de Roinn na Gaeltachta, tugtar ‘Naomh’ ar naoimh a bhaineann le dúchas na hÉireann, mar shampla Naomh Pádraig, agus ‘San’ ar naoimh as áiteanna eile, mar shampla San Séamus. Tá neart sráidainmneacha le fáil i mBaile Átha Cliath ina bhfuil an teideal ar lár, áfach, mar shampla Bóthar Bhríde, Bealach Cholm Cille, Céide Rónáin. Tá an nós seo i bhfeidhm ní hamháin i gcás na nÉireannach ach nuair atá an naomh aitheanta ar fud an Domhain Chríostaí fosta. Mar sin, ‘Eaglais Mhíchíl’, ‘Eaglais Lúcáis’ agus ‘Eaglais Oilibhéar Pluincéid’ a bheidh ar na stadanna bus cuí. Maidir le Treasa Ávila, áfach, dealraíonn sé nach bhfuil sí chomh haitheanta céanna sna bólaí seo mar níl ach dornán scoileanna ar fud na tíre ainmnithe aisti, mar sin ‘Eaglais San Treasa’ a roghnaíodh do na stadanna bus cuí ar Bhóthar an Ghleanna.

Bhí sé níos dúshlánaí leagan Gaeilge a shocrú i gcás St Anne’s Road ar dhá chúis. Naomh eachtrannach is ea Anne, máthair Mhuire, agus tá ‘San’ agus ‘Naomh’ araon sa chúrsaíocht cheana féin i mBéal Feirste, mar shampla i gcás St Anne’s Lane, áit a gcuirtear ‘Naomh’ uirthi. I dtaca leis an ainm féin, tá dhá leagan sa chúrsaíocht, Anna agus Áine, agus ní léir sa chéad dul síos cé acu is fóirsteanaí. Bandia Ceilteach ab ea Áine; tá an t-ainm Anna measartha coitianta sa Ghaeltacht. Níl máthair na Maighdine Beannaithe luaite ina hainm sa Bhíobla. 

Foinse údarásach is ea ‘An Sloinnteoir Gaeilge agus an tAinmneoir’ le Muiris Ó Droighneáin, Corcaíoch a bhí ina mhúinteoir i gColáiste Mhaolmhaodhóg i dtuaisceart Bhéal Feirste agus a raibh beirt ollúna le Gaeilge, Gearóid Stockman agus Proinsias Mac Cana, i measc a chuid daltaí, mar aon le hiarcheannasaí RTÉ agus TG4, Cathal Goan, agus Diarmuid Ó Tuama, príomhoide Bhunscoil Phobal Feirste tráth. Tá leac gorm in airde ag an Ulster History Circle ar an teach inar chónaigh sé, 49 Bóthar an Ghleanna. Áine atá aigesean mar leagan Gaeilge údarásach ar an ainm Anne. 

Cé nach bhféadfaí locht a fháil ar ‘Bóthar San Anna’, tá ‘Lána Naomh Áine’ in úsáid cheana féin agus ‘Bóthar Naomh Áine’ a roghnaíodh i ndeireadh an lae le cur ar na comharthaí ag na stadanna bus. 

Anois a léitheoir dhil, cuir Gaeilge ar St Peter’s, St Paul’s, St Dominic’s, St Mary’s, St Clare’s, St John’s, St Kevin’s, St Louise’s, St Gerard’s, St Genevieve’s, St John the Baptist’s… 

 
Exalted saint names

A MARTYR, an evangelist and an archangel, no less, are among those whose names appeared on a list of bus stop signs sent to The Northern Ireland Place-Name Project for translation into Irish earlier this year. The names of saints adorn schools, churches and sports clubs all over Ireland, and West Belfast has its fair share of bus stops commemorating holy women and men, for example St Theresa, St Anne, St Oliver Plunkett, St Luke and St Michael. 

According to policy in The Placenames Branch, part of the Department of the Gaeltacht, ‘Naomh’ is the honorific reserved for native saints and those strongly associated with Ireland, St Patrick, for example, while ‘San’ is for those from other countries, such as ‘San Séamus’ in the St James’s area. There are many examples of streetnames in Dublin, however, where no honorific appears, supposedly because the status of sainthood is understood. This is the case for Irish saints such as Brigid, Colm Cille and Rónán, as well as others very well-known throughout Christendom. Keep an eye out for ‘Eaglais Mhíchíl’, ‘Eaglais Lúcáis’ and ‘Eaglais Oilibhéar Pluincéid’ on bus stop signs outside churches (eaglaisí), but ‘Eaglais San Treasa’ on the Glen Road. St Teresa of Ávila, the patron of the local parish established in 1959, is apparently not so well-known in Ireland, with only a handful of schools named after her, and so she retains the honorific.

The translation of St Anne’s Road into Irish presented a dual challenge: determining the appropriate title and selecting the most suitable form of the personal name, Áine or Anna. St Anne, the mother of Mary the Blessed Virgin is treated as a foreign saint of Christian tradition not associated with early Irish sainthood. However, when we examine forms of ‘St Anne’ that are already in use in Belfast, we find both ‘San’ and ‘Naomh’, the latter in St Anne’s Lane (Lána Naomh Áine).

It is not immediately clear what form of the personal name should be used in the Irish language translation. Exploration of previous provision on the websites placenamesni.org and logainm.ie reveals both are in circulation. For a solution to this particular dilemma, we turn to the 20th century scholar Muiris Ó Droighneáin, a Corkman whom the Ulster History Circle has honoured with a blue plaque at his former home at 49 Glen Road. Ó Droighneáin taught in St Malachy’s College (Coláiste Mhaolmhaodhóg), where he counted future professors of Irish, Gearóid Stockman and Proinsias Mac Cana, among his pupils as well as the eventual head of TG4 and RTÉ, Cathal Goan, and Diarmuid Ó Tuama, former principal of Bunscoil Phobal Feirste. Ó Droighneáin’s popular book ‘An Sloinnteoir Gaeilge agus an tAinmneoir’ lists Áine as the accurate equivalent of Anne.

Even though ‘Bóthar San Anna’ would be a perfectly acceptable translation of St Anne’s Road, precedence nudges us in the direction of ‘Bóthar Naomh Áine’.

Over to you now, readers, for translations of St Peter’s, St Paul’s, St Dominic’s, St Mary’s, St Clare’s, St John’s, St Kevin’s, St Louise’s, St Gerard’s, St Genevieve’s, St John the Baptist’s…