Islands of Ireland: Lefanta has lured the Irish for millennia

The sizeable island is about 4km downstream from Cappoquin, near the confluence with the Finisk River

Lefanta Island on the River Blackwater, Co Waterford. Picture: Dan MacCarthy 

The name of this Co Waterford river island suggests a locale from an Edgar Allen Poe mystery or from a Joseph Conrad sea epic. 

However, rather than such an exotic origin, the answer is much closer to home. As Manchán Magan demonstrated in his recent book, 32 Words for Field, many are the reasons a field acquires a name and the word ‘field’ is simply too generic to be considered useful. Manchán lists ‘banóg’, ‘inghealtas’, ‘domasach’, ‘tamhnach’, and many others.