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lough – lake, or long narrow bay or arm of the sea

Loyalist – person, usually a Northern Irish Protestant, insisting on the continuation of Northern Ireland’s links with Britain

Luas – light-rail transit system in Dublin; Irish for ‘speed’

LVF – Loyalist Volunteer Force; an extreme Loyalist paramilitary group opposed to the current peace process. It has been on ceasefire since 1998

marching season – Orange Order parades, which take place from Easter and throughout summer to celebrate the victory by Protestant King William III of Orange over Catholic James II in the Battle of the Boyne on 12 July 1690, and the union with Britain

Mesolithic – also known as the Middle Stone Age; time of the first human settlers in Ireland, about 8000 BC to 4000 BC; see also Neolithic

midden – refuse heap left by a prehistoric settlement

mná – women; sign on women’s toilets; see also fir and leithreas

motte – early Norman fortification consisting of a raised, flattened mound with a keep on top; when attached to a bailey it is known as a motte-and-bailey fort, many of which were built in Ireland until the early 13th century

Munster – one of the four ancient provinces of Ireland, made up of Counties Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford; see also Connaught, Leinster and Ulster

naomh – holy or saint

Nationalism – belief in a reunited Ireland

Nationalist – proponent of a united Ireland

Neolithic – also known as the New Stone Age; a period characterised by settled agriculture lasting from around 4000 BC to 2500 BC in Ireland; followed by the Bronze Age; see also Mesolithic

NIR – Northern Ireland Railways

NITB – Northern Ireland Tourist Board

NNR – National Nature Reserves

North, the – political entity of Northern Ireland, not the northernmost geographic part of Ireland

NUI – National University of Ireland; made up of branches in Dublin, Cork, Galway and Limerick

Ogham stone – a stone etched with Ogham characters, the earliest form of writing in Ireland, with a variety of notched strokes placed above, below or across a keyline

Oireachtas – Parliament of the Republic of Ireland, consisting of the Dáil, the lower house, and the Seanad, the upper house

Orangemen – members of the Orange Order; must be male

Orange Order – the largest Protestant organisation in Northern Ireland, founded in 1795, with a membership of up to 100,000; name commemorates the victory of King William of Orange in the Battle of the Boyne

óstán – hotel

Palladian – style of architecture developed by Andrea Palladio (1508–80), based on ancient Roman architecture

paramilitaries – armed illegal organisations, either Loyalist or Republican, usually associated with the use of violence and crime for political and economic gain

Partition – division of Ireland in 1921

passage grave – Celtic tomb with a chamber reached by a narrow passage, typically buried in a mound

penal laws – laws passed in the 18th century forbidding Catholics from buying land and holding public office

Plantation – settlement of Protestant immigrants (sometimes known as Planters) in Ireland in the 17th century

poitín – illegally brewed whiskey, also spelled ‘poteen’

Prod – slang for Northern Irish Protestant

provisionals – Provisional IRA, formed after a break with the official IRA (who are now largely inconsequential); named after the provisional government declared in 1916, they have been the main force combating the British army in the North; also known as ‘provos’

PSNI – Police Service of Northern Ireland

PUP – Progressive Unionist Party; a small Unionist party seen as a political front for the UVF, who support the Good Friday Agreement

rashers – Irish bacon

ráth – ring fort with earthen banks around a timber wall; see also cashel

Real IRA – splinter movement of the IRA and opposed to Sinn Féin’s support of the Good Friday Agreement; the Real IRA was responsible for the Omagh bombing in 1998 in which 29 people died; subsequently called a ceasefire but has been responsible for bombs in Britain and