lough

Look up lough in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

A view across Lough Derg, in Munster.

The Upper Lake in Glendalough, Leinster, which translates as the Glen of Two Lakes.

A lough is a body of water and is either:

• A lake
• A sea lough, which may be a fjord, estuary, bay, or sea inlet.

It can also be used as a surname, with various pronunciations: law, loch, low, lowe, loth, loff.

Lough is a Hiberno-English form of the Old Irish word loch, which means lake, or bay. The form loch is also used in Irish English, Lough is also used for some small bodies of water in the far north of England.

Except when individually named, loughs are often referred to as lakes, fjords, estuaries, and sea inlets. Thus lake district and estuary bed may be used in preference to lough district and lough bed. (This practice is not followed to anything like the same degree in English use of loch.)

Irish loughs

Almost all lakes in Ireland are named loughs in their anglicised form. Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland is the largest lake in the British Isles. The three on the River Shannon are Lough Allen, Lough Ree, and Lough Derg. Upper and Lower Lough Erne are two consecutive lakes in Fermanagh, an area often referred to as Ireland's lake district.

Sea loughs include Lough Swilly and Lough Foyle.

English loughs

Crag Lough near Hadrian's Wall, Northumberland

In the north of England, lough survives in the names of some bodies of water and other place names. Many of these formed in the low ground to the north of the Whin Sill escarpment upon which part of Hadrian's Wall runs.

See also

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lakes

Look up loch in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• UKLakes Online Database