Bibliography

Ó Mainnín, Mícheál B., “‘Saig in Machai fothúaid’: on the application and extent of ‘the Macha’ in north-west Armagh”, Ériu 60 (2010): 111–130.

  • journal article
Citation details
Article
“‘Saig in Machai fothúaid’: on the application and extent of ‘the Macha’ in north-west Armagh”
Periodical
Ériu 60 (2010)
Breatnach, Liam, and Damian McManus (eds), Ériu 60 (2010), Royal Irish Academy.
Volume
60
Pages
111–130
Description
Description
The seventh-century Patrician documents in the Book of Armagh, and other early sources such as Bethu Phátraic, contain references to the toponym Macha, which has been identified by the Dictionary of the Irish Language with either the ecclesiastical centre of Ard Macha or the ‘royal seat’ of Emain Macha. This article examines the evidence for the name in the sources and illustrates that Macha applies primarily to the plain in which both Ard Macha and Emain Macha are located. It is to be identified with Mag Macha ‘the plain of Macha’, familiar to us from the Dindshenchus, and further evidence of the organic potential of a given toponym is witnessed in later sources where the plain is referred to as Mag/Machaire na hE(a)mna ‘the plain of Emain’ and Machaire Aird/Arda Macha ‘the plain of Armagh’. The extent of Macha is difficult to establish with certainty, but it seems very likely that it stretched north to the River Blackwater as well as south towards Slíab Fúait.
Subjects and topics
Sources
Texts
Keywords
The Macha Ard Macha
Contributors
Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
February 2012, last updated: May 2019