Sir, - My father, James Mulligan, a native of Co Armagh, was a schoolmaster in Bessbrook from 1888 to 1928. During his summer holidays he taught in the Irish College at Omeath in the Cooley Peninsula and was a lifelong friend of Annie O'Hanlon, the last native-speaker in the Omeath Gaeltacht.
I particularly recall his "earthy" derivation of the name Tandragee as "Backside to the Wind". He presumed it was so named on account of its sheltered topography, though this contradicts P.E. O hAnluain's suggestion of "windy bottomland" and from his letter I gather he has got good local knowledge.
I agree with him that, in this particular instance, gaoth as in wind seems a more appropriate translation than sea-inlet.
Incidentally, my father was born on November 2nd 1867. Is this a record? - Yours, etc.,
Deirdre Crofts, Rochestown Road, Cork.