Is as Cill Dara mé. Darach is the ginideach uathu so why is it not 'Cill Darach'?
http://www.focal.ie/Search.aspx?term=oak

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Good question! FGB lists dara as a variant genitive singular of dair.

I've been reading up a lot about the etymology of Dair since it has come up in a few threads recently and I may have your answer Saoirse!

In Old Irish, Daire was Oak Wood and Daur was the Oak Tree. Daro, which became Dara, was the genitive of Daur and that is what is in Kildare = Cill Dara.

However eventually Daire (which became Dair) became the word for Oak Wood and Oak Tree and Daur died out, the only trace of it being its genitive in Cill Dara.

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The dialect I use is Cork Irish.
Ar sgáth a chéile a mhairid na daoine, lag agus láidir, uasal is íseal

Does this mean Doire (as in the Northern city) is etymologically related to Dair?

AFIK

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__̴ı̴̴̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡*̡̡ ̴̡ı̴̴̡ ̡̡͡|̲̲̲͡͡͡ ̲▫̲͡ ̲̲̲͡͡π̲̲͡͡ ̲̲͡▫̲̲͡͡ ̲|̡̡̡ ̡ ̴̡ı̴̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡̡.___

Just goes to show, if you hang around here long enough, someone will eventually answer your questions!!! Grma, a chara!

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Derry comes from the word Daire that as I understood it meant oak glade or plural of oak tree. It was origionally a small monastery founded by Colm Chill in the sixth century. The towns eary beginnings sprug up around the activity around the monastery and trafic to and from on the Foyle.

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Caithimíd dul siar chun teacht aniar.

Yes, but I asked because an Lon Dubh spelt it daire, not doire.

I think -ai- is ambiguous in Irish as to whether it is pronounced a or i, and doire is clearer, although in some circumstances -oi- can be pronounced o (and An Foclóir Beag recommends pronouncing -oi- as o always, as in anois, gloine, and presumably Doire). Maybe Duire would be clearer, although further from the origin.

In fact the pronunciation of oi and ai is a constant problem for me in Irish. But I saw after An Lon Dubh's post that regardless of the fact that doire has an o in, it is related to dair.

I won't worry too much -after all the scribes and bards of yesteryear acknowledged the variant nature of the unstressed short vowel in Irish and its liability to wander, giving forms such as Séamus, Séamas, Séamos pretty much the same pronounciation

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__̴ı̴̴̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡*̡̡ ̴̡ı̴̴̡ ̡̡͡|̲̲̲͡͡͡ ̲▫̲͡ ̲̲̲͡͡π̲̲͡͡ ̲̲͡▫̲̲͡͡ ̲|̡̡̡ ̡ ̴̡ı̴̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡̡.___

oi is a stressed vowel in Doire - it has nothing to do with unstressed vowels.