Editing Swords, Dublin (section)

===Origins and etymology===
The town's origins date back to 560 AD when it was reputedly founded by [[Saint Colmcille]] (521–567).<ref name=Sidwell_70>{{Citation |last= Sidwell|first=Keith|title= Reading Medieval Latin|page=70|year= 1995|location=Cambridge|publisher= Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-44747-X}}</ref> Legend has it that the saint blessed a local well, giving the settlement its name, ''Sord'', meaning "clear" or "pure".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dil.ie/50473|title=? sord|website=eDIL - Irish Language Dictionary|access-date=27 July 2022|archive-date=27 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220727155957/https://dil.ie/50473|url-status=live}}</ref> However, ''An Sord'' also means "the water source" and could indicate a large communal drinking well that existed in antiquity.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://swordsdublin.net/_dublin_history.html|title=History Of Swords Dublin|website=swordsdublin.net|access-date=28 May 2012|archive-date=24 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120424144303/http://www.swordsdublin.net/_dublin_history.html|url-status=live}}</ref> St. Colmcille's Well is located on Well Road off Main Street. ''Sord'' may also refer to a "[[wikt:sward|sward]]", an "expanse of grass".<ref>{{cite book|last=Hickey |first=Raymond |date=2005 |title=Dublin English: evolution and change}}</ref> The most common landscape indicators of early Christian settlement are the ecclesiastical enclosures, and in the case of Swords, the street pattern has been influenced by the circular alignment of the settlement.