Madam, - Denis Healy of Galway (September 30th) requests that Kerry County Council should remove "the awful and meaningless cod-Irish translation 'An tSín' (meaning China?) from the Sheen Bridge" near Kenmare.
Éamon Ó Cuív, TD (October 6th) refers to his new "power to declare the official Irish version of placenames" and to "oblige public bodies to agree" - together with his information from the Placenames Branch of his Department "that 'An tSimhin' is the correct name for the Sheen river". May I therefore make the following points:
1. "An tSín" and "An tSimhin" are pronounced similarly in local (Kerry/Munster) Irish.
The latter is a more archaic spelling and hence more conducive to mispronunciation - as tSivin/Chivin - by those not familiar with all the dialects of Irish.
2. "An tSín" was the form used by Seán Ó Súilleabháin (1903-96) - former archivist and, at one time, chairman of the Placenames Commission - who collected folklore from the last native speakers in the Sheen valley (see Béaloideas, 1936).
When I visited him some 60 years later, speaking of cattle raiding, he recited for me a verse, one line of which ended with the words "ar bhruach na Sín" for the rhyme.
To help me to remember it, he then wrote four lines, ending with "ar bhruach na Síne".
3. Many words have multiple meanings: Mr Healy's word "China" has two - a country and porcelain - but one doubts that anybody is ever confused by this. - Yours, etc.,
EOGHAN Ó SÚILLEABHÁIN, Ascal Achadh Feá, Átha Cliath 15.