LIMERICK: A village in southwest Ireland has fought successfully to be renamed in the Irish language back to Fort of the Harlot.
The village, known as Doon in English, had been known in Irish as Dun Bleisce, or Fort of the Harlot for centuries, but the name was changed in 2003 when the Government ordered a simpler An Dun, or The Fort.
More than 1,000 locals signed a petition to have “harlot” added back to the name. Local politicians and Limerick County Council backed them.
A government minister made a ruling on Sunday that had something of a Solomon-like quality.
He said the Placenames Commission had confirmed its view that “An Dun” was the appropriate Irish version but that the alternative “Dun Bleisce” also had an “attested historical basis”.
With both options available, a draft order would be made to change the village’s name back, pending final public approval.
Local councillor Mary Jackman said the literal translation of the word may be “harlot” but the woman who the village was named after in ancient times may not have been a harlot in the sense of the term today.
“Nobody has any problem locally with the word. It is the old authentic name,” said the councilor.
