m:
Windy or stormy bay, or river, from "Abhan" a river, and
"Sidheath or Sighe," a blast of wind. ---
O'Brien. --- Although there can be doubt, but that the bay of
Galway was the Ausoba of Ptolemy, there are many reasons against supposing
it to have been the Abhansidhe of the Irish, and particularly if
the ancient meaning of this compound word be correctly understood: for, so
far from the bay being more exposed than others to wind or storms, as the
name would sem to imply, it is, perhaps, the best sheltered and most secure
of any other on the extensive coast of the west of Ireland.