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Re: origins of Plenderleith
in reply to a message by Debra
My Irish surname book has it as a Scottish toponymic name ...I'll look for more ...
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Sean.....a favour of your Irish surname book :o)Thanks for the help on Plenderleith Sean.
Could I ask for a look up in your Irish surname book for GARGIN ( possibly a mis-spelling of GARGAN).
I am wondering if this is a Galway surname?
many thanks
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My book has the following:

Gargan: fairly numerous: Midlands, etc. Ir. Ó Geargáin, gearg = fierce. Originally of Breifne and also occurring as Mac Geargáin.

Breifné seems to encompass present day Leitrim ... but that's close enough to Galway ...

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On looking at it again ...it might have some cognates with other "Gar" names which in Germanic languages means 'spear' ...just a thought ...'spear' would seem to be on the same wavelength as 'fierce' ...
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I found that 'leith' means 'wide river' in Scotch Gaelic. There is a section of Edinburgh down near the water that was known as Leith.

No luck on Plender...an Indo-European root book I have seems to indicate that it may have to do something with "to fill" or "to be full", but that's a long shot ...if it is related, then it would have a cognate in a word like 'plenty' ...
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