Language Notes

Sources

M. Dunragat        1654      Blaeu, Galloway
Litil Dunragat     1654      Blaeu, Galloway

we have Dunragit, Dunregate 1535 (RMS), meaning ‘Fort of Rheged’; the site of the old fort is on a rounded eminence called the Mote of Dunragit. : Watson 1926, 155

Oengus records in his Felire at 24th November Colman Duib Ghuilinn, who is stated in the notes to have been ‘ in the Rinns, i.e. from Dun Reichet and from Belach Conglais in Leinster, and from other places.’ 1 One is naturally inclined to place this Colman in the Rinns of Galloway, and to equate Dún Reichet with Dunragit—an equation which is unobjectionable phonetically. There was, however, a district in Roscommon called the Rinns, and there appears to have been a plain in Connacht called Mag Rechet. Thus Dun Reichet, Colman’s seat, may have been in the Rinns of Roscommon. He was a younger contemporary of Comgall of Bangor, who died in 602.

n1: ‘ Colman Duib Chuilinn isna Rennaib . i . O Dh ú n Reichet 7 6 Belach Conghlais il-Laighnibh et ab aliis locia,’ Fit. Oeng., p. 246.: Watson 1926, 168.

Alternative Forms