I found the etymology lacking and citations much earlier than 1732.
The River Nore was mentioned in the “Martyrology of Oengus the Culdee” (Félire Óengusso Céli Dé), published before 824. He spoke, in Old Irish, of “re taeb Eoire uarglaine” or “the cold-pure Nore.”
[1]
Another reference, from before 1420, refers to “The fair wide plain of the Feoir" (Fiond-chlár fairsing na Feoire).
[2]
In the archival records on the Irish topographical names website, Logainm.ie, it says that in 1636 (Modern Irish times) it was mentioned as “na hEoire + le taobh Eóire.”
[3]
Etymology:
Irish nouns are masculine or feminine. The Irish term for the River Nore, An Fheoir, is feminine. The word for grass, Féar, is masculine. It seems unlikely that Féar could be the source of the river’s name, except distantly. While the more likely source words are feminine, they do sometimes involve grass or rushes.
Dinneen's dictionary (first printed 1927, reprinted 1996), defined it on page 447:
“Feoir g. -e, and Feorach, f. border, brim, edge; a stream or rivulet; An Fheoir, the Nore (g. -e, al. An Eoir); al. Feor, cf. feora.”
[4]
[My note: the word Feoir, because it’s feminine, lenites to Fheoir when you put the article An in front of it. (An is the singular “the.”) I am not sure if lenition was relevant in Old Irish.]
“Feora, -rann, d. -ainn, pl. -anna, f., the green bank, edge or shore of sea, lake or river; a green sward; a verdant bank or patch on a mountain-side; a sandy level on the edge of the sea; a shore-village, a collection of cabins beside a stream…”
[5]
The Royal Irish Academy’s Dictionary of the Irish Language, or eDil [6] lists earlier versions of the related words:
feórann (fem.), A green bank or shoreland. [7]
feórna n [gender unclear] a rush (plant) [8]
Modern definitions at Ó Dónaill’s Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla (1977), are:
feorainn, f. (gs. -ann, pl. -anna). 1. Grassy place; grassy riverside or shore. 2. Creeping bent-grass, fiorin. (Var: pl. feorna; feora f, feorthainn)
[9]
feorán, m. (gs. & npl. -áin, gpl. ~).1 = feorainn. 2. ~ corraigh, water horehound, gipsywort.
[10]
Galliv (talk) 03:26, 8 February 2020 (UTC)
References
Archive.org, ”The topographical poems of John O'Dubhagain and Giolla na naomh O'Huidhrin,” modern translation by John O’Donovan published in 1862.
Foclóir Gaedhilge agus Béarla, Patrick S. Dinneen
Foclóir Gaedhilge agus Béarla, Patrick S. Dinneen
