Ringfort, earthen fort. Written Rath, Rah, Raw — the same Irish word, ráth, in the spellings English gave it.
Ráth is the other ringfort word, and the more prestigious: where lios named the enclosure, ráth tended to name the rampart of a chieftain's residence. Rathmines, Rathfarnham, Rathkeale, Rathmullan — hundreds of them, and the fort is often still there, a raised ring in a field or a curve in the street pattern of a suburb that grew around it.
Source: P. W. Joyce, The Origin and History of Irish Names of Places (1869–1913) · Logainm ↗
Ringfort, earthen fort: it is the Irish ráth. Ráth is the other ringfort word, and the more prestigious: where lios named the enclosure, ráth tended to name the rampart of a chieftain's residence. Rathmines, Rathfarnham, Rathkeale, Rathmullan — hundreds of them, and the fort is often still there, a raised ring in a field or a curve in the street pattern of a suburb that grew around it.
ráth. English spellings of the same word include Rath, Rah, Raw, because the names were written down by ear.