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Conference and other Announcements

Norman Dixon: The Placenames of Midlothian
&
May Williamson: The Non-Celtic Place-Names of the Scottish Border Counties
now online!

The Historical Thesaurus of English
The Viking Society: weblinks (from Jake King)
Placename Notes Autumn 2009
New publications

Conference and other Announcements

Book launch: Tuesday, 24 November 2009, at 5.30pm, The Centre for Scottish and Celtic Studies, together with the Department of
Celtic and Gaelic, would like to invite you to a Booklaunch to celebrate the publication of THE PLACE-NAMES OF FIFE vols 2 & 3 by Simon Taylor with Gilbert Markus, in 3 University Gardens, room 202. Dr Taylor will give a brief talk on aspects of the place-names of Fife at 5.30 pm, followed by a book-launch and wine reception.

Trends in Toponymy, The School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, The University of Edinburgh, 28 June-1 July 2010.

Scottish Place-Name Society, Spring Conference, Spring Conference and AGM, May 8th 2010, Birnam Institute, Birnam, by Dunkeld.

NEW PUBLICATION ANNOUNCEMENT

The Historical Thesaurus of English project at the University of Glasgow presents the vocabulary of English from Old English to the present arranged in semantic categories. It will be published in two volumes as the Historical Thesaurus of the OED by Oxford University Press on October 22, 2009. Further details (including a special introductory price) are available at http://www.oup.com/online/ht/

The Viking Society have just put up a number of interesting titles I thought I'd make known.

The site http://www.vsnrweb-publications.org.uk/ has many links, the most interesting to toponymists are:

Caithness and Sutherland Records:

http://www.vsnrweb-publications.org.uk/Caithness%20&%20Sutherland%20records.pdf

Orkney and Shetland Records:

http://vsnrweb-publications.org.uk/Orkney%20and%20Shetland%20records/Orkney%20and%20Shetland%20Records%20Vol%20I.pdf

http://vsnrweb-publications.org.uk/Orkney%20and%20Shetland%20records/Orkney%20and%20Shetland%20Records%20Vol%20II.pdf

http://vsnrweb-publications.org.uk/Orkney%20and%20Shetland%20records/Orkney%20and%20Shetland%20Records%20Vol%20III.pdf

The first title alone has editions of many rare manuscripts containing many valuable old forms for place-names.

Jake King.

Placename Notes, Autumn 2009

Wigtownshire and Carrick Place-Names
Sliabh in Irish Place-Names
Òran Bagraidh
Scotland's -ham and -ingham names

WIGTOWNSHIRE AND CARRICK PLACE-NAMES: A COMPARISON
Michael Ansell, organiser of the Spring 2009 Conference, summarises Professor John MacQueen‘s talk at New Galloway.

Professor MacQueen began his talk by quoting William Watson¹ 'Everything goes to show that the introduction of Gaelic and the decline of British followed much the same course in both districts' (referring to Carrick and Galloway). However the talk was confined to a comparison between South Ayrshire and Wigtownshire, these being areas for which Prof. MacQueen had more place-name data available. The lecture was then based on an analysis of one or two difficulties with the position as outlined by Watson. In describing these, Prof. MacQueen examined the distribution of certain place-name elements in South Ayrshire and Wigtownshire. These were the Gaelic land measure terms peighinn, leith-pheighinn, fairdean, dabhach, ceathramh, together with the landscape features sliabh and carraig. He compared this with the Brittonic tref and other Brittonic elements.

For the purpose of this summary, the gist of the argument may be put by recounting the position put forward relating to each of the above place-name elements. Prof. MacQueen firstly demonstrated divergence from Watson‘s position by examining the Brittonic element tref which he explained as being derived from Welsh law relating to a communal farm of 256 acres and therefore indicative of farmed settlement. He pointed out that the simple term 'Threave' may represent local centres of some weight and gave the example of Threave in Kirkcudbrightshire which, located in a strongly defensible central position, remained for long a place of importance. The difference in distribution of this term was shown to be dramatic across the area in question with a very considerable number surviving in the Carrick and South Ayrshire river valleys, particularly those of the Girvan Water and Ayr. However only three are to be found in Wigtownshire and one, Ochiltree is close to the Carrick border. Prof. MacQueen suggested that this indicated that Brittonic may have survived much longer in Carrick and South Ayrshire than in Wigtownshire.

A significant contrast in distribution was next demonstrated by an analysis of the Gaelic element ceathramh, a quarterland. Prof MacQueen emphasised the Irish origin of this land division and showed how its distribution provided a mirror image of the distribution of the Brittonic tref element mentioned above. Only one ceathramh name was shown to be over the watershed in Carrick (Colmonell parish) whereas there are many examples in Wigtownshire.

The interesting differences in distribution of some other place-name elements were next examined. Prof. MacQueen demonstrated that the Gaelic land unit names peighinn, leith-pheighinn, fairdean, were also largely confined to South Ayrshire with some remarkable concentrations in the same Carrick river valleys where he had earlier demonstrated tref survival clusters. The Germanic origin of these terms, though borrowed into Gaelic and forming a part of a land holding system stretching up the west coast of Scotland into Argyll and the Hebrides was mentioned in the context that this suggests a later arrival of this land unit naming system. Prof. MacQueen stressed that the contrast in place-name distribution of these elements suggested something fundamentally different had taken place in settlement north and south of the watershed that forms the historic boundary between Carrick and Galloway. The picture he glimpsed from this and other evidence was that of an earlier and densely settled Gaelic province of Wigtownshire which was aligned strongly with Ireland and Irish patterns of land-holding, in contrast to the late surviving Brittonic areas in Carrick. This suggested a different political reality in the zone north of the watershed which was more open to later influence by settlers bringing in a new land holding system, this time derived from Argyll and the Hebrides. He considered that the new influence could have arrived in Carrick and South Ayrshire with the Gall Gaidheal which would fit with late Brittonic survival prior to a rapid and thorough Hebridean Gaelicisation. His point however was that this Gall Gaidheal tide seems to have slowed at the watershed between Galloway and Carrick. South of this, in Wigtownshire, existed a Gaelic- speaking province but of a somewhat different, more Irish orientation.

Further support for this differentiation was cited by Prof. MacQueen with respect to the place-name element dail. He agreed with Watson that this prefix may be a Brittonic survival or a borrowing into Gaelic and the fact that there are 46 dail names (albeit coined in Gaelic) in Carrick and South Ayrshire compared to just 4 in Wigtownshire suggests a stronger Brittonic legacy in the north.

While the distribution of dabhach was looked into by Prof. MacQueen the relative scarcity of this element (3 in Carrick and 1 in Wigtownshire) precluded any specific conclusions. Indeed it might be that this element in South West Scotland does not relate to a land-holding unit but simply to a topographical feature or even fish-traps as noted by Maxwell.²

Prof. MacQueen concluded his paper by noting that the distribution of the Gaelic elements sliabh and carraig are massively concentrated in South-West Scotland, in Wigtownshire and especially the Rhinns. He has elsewhere proposed that the distribution of these elements indicates early Gaelic settlement, possibly contemporaneous with the Dalriadic settlement of the inner Hebrides and Argyll. While he acknowledges the occurrence of sliabh more widely in Scotland he considers that the sheer weight of the presence of these elements where sliabh forms the generic has to be taken as something of significance for early Gaelic settlement.

¹Watson W. History of the Celtic Place-Names of Scotland, 1926, p.191
²Maxwell, H. Studies in the Topography of Galloway, 1887, p. 144

SLIABH IN IRISH PLACE-NAMES: ITS MEANING, DISTRIBUTION AND CHRONOLOGY, AND SOME IMPLICATIONS FOR SCOTLAND AND MAN

This is a summary of a paper delivered to the Society‘s Spring Conference on Saturday 9th May, 2009, with some minor amendments. I am grateful to Mícheál Ó Mainnín, Nollaig Ó Muraíle, Kay Muhr and Pat McKay for their valuable suggestions. It builds on a paper delivered to the Society for Name Studies in Britain and Ireland at its Autumn Conference, held at the University of Chichester on 25th October 2008. As the material about sliabh in Ireland is covered in detail in an article to be published in Nomina 2009, only the key points are given here. The concluding remarks about implications for the study of Scottish and Manx place-names, not included in the Nomina article, are given in greater detail.

The word sliabh is one of the most common generic elements in Irish hill and mountain names. Along with binn, cnoc, cruach and mullach, I made it the object of study for a Masters dissertation in 2004 ('Five common generic elements in Irish hill and mountain names', M.A. dissertation, Queen‘s University Belfast, 2004). An article summarizing the key findings is forthcoming in Ainm, the journal of the Ulster Place-Name Society). These are the five most common elements in the names of major Irish peaks over 400m in altitude. Like the other four elements, sliabh is found widely throughout Ireland and can be applied to hills and mountains of greatly varying heights. It is also one of the most complex elements in terms of its semantic range and the grammatical structures into which it enters. This in itself is sufficient reason to examine the element sliabh in Irish place-names in some detail.

Furthermore, sliabh has engendered more than a little debate in Scottish toponymy, primarily because of a theory concerning early Gaelic settlement in South-West Scotland proposed by John MacQueen (1954, 2002) and developed by W.F.H. Nicolaisen (1976, 2001, 2007). Since this theory relies heavily on an analysis of Irish names in sliabh which has, in my view, rightly been challenged by Simon Taylor (2002, 2007), it is no harm, also for the benefit of Scottish place-name studies, to review the available Irish evidence for this element. I see this controversy as having been exacerbated to some extent by a shortage of published work on the Irish evidence, and, in particular, the lack of a thorough analysis of the meaning and distribution of sliabh in place-names, at least until the 1970s. This allowed Sir Herbert Maxwell to make the rather contentious statement in 1930 that "in Ireland sliabh always signifies a mountain, but in Galloway it is applied to moorland" (Maxwell: 1930, 76). I should emphasise that it is the first half of this statement with which I take issue. Of course, sliabh is often translated into English as mountain, but it must be borne in mind that in Hiberno-English mountain has precisely the sense of 'rough pasture' or 'moor' ('In Ireland, wild pasture', Chambers English Dictionary, 1990). The first major contribution to an analysis of the names in sliabh (along with binn and cruach) was an article written in Irish by Éamonn de hÓir, Chief Officer of the Place-names Branch of Ordnance Survey Ireland, published in the journal Dinnseanchas in 1971.

The etymology of sliabh has already been covered in some detail by Simon Taylor in his article in JSNS 1. The focus in this paper is on the semantic range of sliabh in Irish place-names, the geographical distribution and chronology of its various senses, and I shall conclude with some remarks about the implications arising from the Irish evidence for the study of this element in Scotland, particularly Galloway, and in the Isle of Man.

Treatments in dictionaries and place-name works

Sliabh (genitive sléibhe, plural sléibhte) is defined in Dinneen‘s Irish-English Dictionary as 'a mountain or mount, a range of mountains; a mountainous district, a heathy upland or plain, a piece of moorland, oft. low-lying; in Anglo-Irish, a piece of a "mountain", cf. S. an tSiorraidh, Sheriffsmuir (Sc.)‘ (Dinneen: 1927). These definitions highlight the variety of meanings of sliabh in Irish. In what follows it is important to bear in mind that Hiberno-English mountain also has a broad semantic range. As well as referring to a peak, it can denote 'moorland' or 'rough pasture'.

An account of place-names containing the element sliabh is given by Joyce in volume 1 of The Origin and History of Irish Names of Places. Most of his examples relate to what he calls 'principal mountains' and ranges, but he acknowledges its occurrence in names of low-lying areas. He also highlights the variety of anglicisations which can disguise this word (Joyce: 1869, 379-81). 280 names in slíab attested in early Irish texts are listed in Hogan‘s Onomasticon Goedelicum. Not all of these are places in Ireland, and there are quite a few duplicate entries due to variant forms of names (Hogan: 1910, 604-12).

Semantic range of sliabh in Irish place-names

From my own examination of the place-names evidence, I have found that the three principal definitions of sliabh offered by dictionaries can all be found in Irish place-names as well, namely:

(1) a mountain or hill
(2) a range of mountains or hills
(3) a moor or area of upland; an area of rough (mountain) pasture.

Within these categories further nuances can be recognized. For instance, the first group can be further sub-divided into:

(1a) a mountain or hill standing alone
(1b) a peak forming part of a range.

Naturally, whether a mountain is considered to stand on its own or form part of a larger group is a question of degree of isolation, so assigning peaks to group 1a or to 1b can occasionally be a subjective choice. Nevertheless, the majority of names can be assigned to a group without too much difficulty.

Within the scope of my MA dissertation I collected a total of 143 names in sliabh. Since this study focused on names of peaks and ranges, the vast majority of these names belong to categories 1 and 2. More recently I have collected instances of sliabh in townland names, many of which illustrate sense 3. Out of a total of 165 townlands, 6 of these contain sliabh as a simplex, 83 show it as a generic followed by a qualifier, 6 have it as a generic in a close compound, 13 have sliabh plus a suffix, and 57 have the element as a specific. Between the 143 names of peaks and ranges and the 163 townland names, there is an overlap of 16 names which refer to both a peak and a townland named after it, such as Slievemore on Achill, Slieve Gullion and Brackagh Slieve Gallion. However, the remaining 147 townland names mostly exemplify sliabh in sense 3, a moor, area of upland, or an area of rough pasture.

The distribution of the various senses can be summarised as follows: about half of the names collected in category 1a are from Ulster. Sense 1b is typical of Ulster, occurring most frequently in the Mourne Mountains of Co. Down, where the majority of high peaks have anglicized names in Slieve–. It is hardly to be found in Co. Galway or South Mayo. It is also uncommon in Cos. Cork and Kerry. Sense 2 of sliabh, a range, is chiefly found in Munster, areas bordering on Munster, and North Connacht. A number of these names apply to areas with few distinctive peaks and might be better described as extensive upland areas rather than ranges, e.g. Sliabh Mairge and Sliabh Luachra. Sense 3, like 1b, 'a moor or area of upland' is very well attested in Ulster, especially in County Down. However, there are many examples from other areas, such as the townlands of Sliabh Búrca in Connemara and Sliabh na bhFeadóg in Kerry. Whilst examples of sliabh sense 3, 'moor, area of upland‘, tend to be less remarkable and poorly attested compared to the major mountains and ranges, they are just as numerous, a point which has sometimes been missed by Scottish toponymists when drawing on Irish evidence. [The article in Nomina will include maps giving a fuller picture of the distribution of sliabh in its various meanings.]

Chronology

Sliabh is undoubtedly a word of considerable antiquity since place-names containing it are amongst some of the earliest documented in Ireland: Sliabh Mis (Slemish, Co. Antrim) is mentioned in A.D. 771. In this year a battle on the mountain between elements of the Dál nAraide is recorded in The Annals of the Four Masters [i Slébh Mis]. Sliabh gCuilinn (Slieve Gullion, Co. Armagh) is mentioned in A.D. 830 [moninni Sleibi Culinn], as is Sliabh Liag (Slieve League, Co. Donegal) [i Sleibh Liacc].

The antiquity of sliabh seems to be confirmed by its occurrence as a generic element in close compound names with the structure NOUN + NOUN, such as Croitshliabh (Crotlieve Mountain and Cratlieve, both Co. Down) (Tempan: 2009, 67). Dónall Mac Giolla Easpaig, who has analysed this group in detail, has argued that this structure was unproductive by the Early Christian era and may have ceased to yield new names as early as 400 A.D. (Mac Giolla Easpaig: 1981, 152). However, in the case of sliabh none of the attestations for names with this structure are as early as those cited above.

A clearer indication of antiquity is given by the qualifying elements with which sliabh is found. In several names sliabh is combined with names of pagan deities, e.g. Sliabh Eibhlinne, Cos. Limerick/Tipperary, from the name of the goddess Ébliu (Ó Maolfabhail: 1990, 248), with figures from mythology, e.g. Sliabh Bladhma, Cos. Laois/Offaly (from the name of a Milesian invader), with early Irish historical figures, e.g. Sliabh Dónairt, Co. Down (named after a saint contemporary with St. Patrick), and early population groups, e.g. Sliabh Ara, Co. Tipperary (in the territory of the Araidh Tíre). (Note: see Tempan, 'Towards a Chronology of Topographical Elements in Irish Place-Names: Some Strategies for Establishing Relative Chronology', forthcoming in Proceedings of the 23rd International Congress for Onomastic Sciences, York University, Toronto, 2008, for more on the structures associated with sliabh and the element‘s dating.)

An analysis of names whose first element is sliabh ('Logainmneacha dár Céad Eilimint Sliabh') was carried out by Alan Mac an Bhaird in 1978 while working for the Place-Names Branch of the Ordnance Survey in Dublin. To date this remains unpublished. In his study of this element, for which historical forms were gathered from a wide variety of sources in Irish and English, Mac an Bhaird found that, of the 330 names which he collected, 57 were recorded before 1200 A.D. Given the large percentage of Irish mountain names which are not recorded before the first Ordnance Survey of the early 19th century, this figure of 57 names is remarkably high. Although no equivalent statistics are available for the other 4 common hill-name elements to enable an accurate comparison, it is beyond doubt that none of them would approach this figure.

However, it is also clear that some of the names are more modern. Those containing a definite article, such as Sliabh na mBánóg (Slievenabawnoge, Co. Dublin) and Slieve-namona (Co. Antrim), represent a structure which only begins to emerge in the ninth and tenth centuries, and may be a good deal more recent (Flanagan: 1980, 41; see also Toner: 1999). Sliabh an Nóglaigh (Nagles Mountains, Co. Cork) cannot be older than the twelfth century, when the Anglo-Norman family of this name arrived in Ireland (De Bhulbh: 2002, 382).
The relative dating of the various meanings of sliabh is less clear-cut. All of the early names in sliabh cited above belong either to sense 1a, 'a mountain or hill standing alone', or to sense 2, 'a range of hills or mountains or an upland area'. However, there is one important name which also offers evidence for the early presence of sliabh in sense 3, namely Sléibhte (Sleaty, Co. Laois) which exemplifies the plural form of the word. In the Additions appended to Tírechán‘s compendium of Patrician churches in the Book of Armagh there is a document which records how the church of Slébte placed itself under the jurisdiction of Armagh (Ó Cróinín: 1995, 156). The events recorded in this document took place in the late seventh century and the Book of Armagh itself is dated to the early 9th century. As Sleaty is located in the bottom of a major river-valley, that of the River Barrow, I suggest that Sléibhte may have referred originally to a number of divisions of rough pasture.

In summary, we have seen that some names in sliabh are of considerable antiquity and that the element remained productive over many centuries. Sliabh has at least three meanings in Irish place-names, with further connotations being possible. This clearly gives the lie to Maxwell's contention that "in Ireland sliabh always signifies a mountain" (Maxwell: 1930, 76, s.v. Coransluie) There is some evidence for all three principal senses from the earliest times. The element is widespread throughout Ireland, though some of the senses are restricted to particular regions. One very important implication for Scotland is that it is not very productive to look for names in sliabh with a particular sense in order to demonstrate especially close links between particular Scottish regions and Ireland, since there is no single sense specific to Ireland.

Turning to Scotland, I would like to make a few comments about the usage of sliabh in Galloway. Nicolaisen (2001, 52) has argued that "that there is scarcely any doubt that Slew- means hill rather than moor in the Rinns of Galloway." Yesterday I cycled out from Stranraer and I had a look at some examples in the Rhinns. Firstly, I think it is rather telling that not one of the 35 names listed by Maxwell with sliabh as a generic is marked on the Landranger (1:50,000) map of the area. One name, Craigslave, which probably has it as a specific, is marked on this series. 25 names are recorded by Simon Taylor as being marked on the Pathfinder (1:25,000) series, while 10 others can only be located by using even larger scale maps. This in itself suggests that we are dealing mainly with names that can be considered part of the micro-toponymy, rather than significant hills.

Secondly, I believe that Maxwell was right to interpret sliabh in Galloway as 'moorland', even if some of these places are now being cultivated, as this may be due to later drainage and reclamation of wet ground. However, Maxwell seems to have been keen to give interpretations which would accentuate the early date of some of these names, such as Slewmag and Slickconerie (which is not on the Rhinns but north of New Luce). I do not have a solution for Slewmag, but Maxwell‘s interpretation is far from economical. He took it to contain eclipsis, i.e. Sliabh m-Beag, 'small moor'. Eclipsis after a neuter noun is an early feature, which can be seen in Irish examples such as Sliabh gCuilinn and Sliabh gCua, but I am not aware of any Irish examples which show eclipsis affecting an adjective. It is more likely that such a name would have produced an anglicized form *Slewbeg. This can be compared with three instances of Drumbeg in Galloway cited by Maxwell, and it should be noted that droim is also an old neuter noun – it causes eclipsis in Irish names such as Dromara from Ir. Droim mBearach, 'ridge of heifers' – but Droim Beag is consistently anglicized Drumbeg in Ireland, like the Galloway examples, or Drombeg, showing no trace of eclipsis. As for Slickconerie, in which Maxwell (1930, 247) interprets the second element as Conaire, "one of the oldest personal names in Irish history," I believe that MacQueen (2002, 35) is right in preferring conair, 'a way or path', in which case the name need not be particularly early.

In the Isle of Man, slieau is used both of areas of moorland and of mountains. Some of these rise as high as 488m in the case of Slieau Freoghane. Many of them appear on the Landranger (1:50,000) map of the Isle of Man, and I would argue that this is precisely because they are names of major peaks in many cases. In this respect, the usage is similar to that found in the Mourne Mountains.

George Broderick has argued, in vol. 7 of Placenames of the Isle of Man (2005, 344-45) and more recently in the Margaret Gelling festschrift (2008, 172-73), that slieau is a pre-Scandinavian element in Manx nomenclature. This seems to depend on little more than a similarity of pronunciation between Ulster, Galloway and Man (which does bear scrutiny) and a much vaguer similarity between the specific elements used to qualify certain Manx names in slieau and some of the names cited by Nicolaisen for Galloway and Ireland. I share the reservations about this expressed by Jacob King in his review of PNIM (2007, 164-65). I suggest that a chronological and structural analysis would be much more meaningful. Again, as with Galloway, it is noticeable that there are no instances of eclipsis and no specifics of an overtly pagan or even early Christian character. In fact, the majority of the names cited include common adjectives of size, shape and colour, which could date from any period. Broderick contends that these specific elements form part of a group "shared by Ulster Irish, Scottish (Rinns of Galloway), and Manx place-names." A total of thirteen Irish names are presented, each with one or two historical forms from 17th century sources, but in fact only two of these thirteen names in the column headed 'Ireland (Ulster)', are actually from Ulster, namely Slewgole (Co. Cavan) and Slewgullen (Co. Armagh). Two are from Leinster, five are from Connacht and four from Munster. All of this does not preclude the possibility that some Manx names in slieau may be early, but a convincing case has yet to be made.

As a post-script, I would like to add that I am currently working with Dr. Alan Mac an Bhaird, now living in Andorra, to get his study of 330 names in sliabh published with the permission of the Place-Names Branch in Dublin. As well as searching a large number of sources for historical forms, he also carried out structural and chronological analyses of this corpus of data.

References

Broderick, George. 2005. Place-Names of the Isle of Man VII, 343–52. Tübingen.
–––. 2008. 'Pre-Scandinavian Place-Names in the Isle of Man', in O. J. Padel and David N. Parsons (eds), A Commodity of Good Names – Essays in Honour of Margaret Gelling, 165–84. Donington.
de Bhulbh, Seán. 2002. Sloinnte Uile Éireann / All Ireland Surnames (2nd edn.). Faing (Foynes).
de hÓir, Éamonn. 1970-71. 'Roinnt nótaí ar sliabh, binn, cruach in ainmneacha cnoc.' Dinnseanchas iv, 1–6.
Dinneen, Patrick S. 1927. Foclóir Gaedhilge agus Béarla — An Irish-English Dictionary. Dublin.
Flanagan, Deirdre. 1980. 'Place-names in early Irish documentation: structure and composition', Nomina, 4, 41–45.
Goblet, Y.M. 1932. A topographical index of the parishes and townlands of Ireland in Sir William Petty's MSS Barony maps (c.1655–9) and Hiberniae Delineatio (c. 1672). Dublin.
Hogan, Edmund. 1910. Onomasticon Goedelicum, an index, with identifications, to the Gaelic names of places and tribes. Dublin.
Joyce, P.W. 1869. The Origin and History of Irish Names of Places, vol. 1. Dublin.
King, Jacob. 2007. 'Review Article: George Broderick — Placenames of the Isle of Man' in Journal of Scottish Name Studies 1, 157–68.
Mac an Bhaird, Alan. 'Logainmneacha dár Céad Eilimint Sliabh.' Unpublished notes made in 1978.
Mac Giolla Easpaig, Dónall. 1981. "Noun + Noun Compounds in Irish Placenames," Etudes Celtiques xviii, 151–63.
MacQueen, John. 1954. 'Welsh and Gaelic in Galloway', Transactions of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society 32, 77–92.
–––. 2002. Place-names in the Rhinns of Galloway and Luce Valley. Stranraer.
Maxwell, H. 1930. The Place Names of Galloway — Their Origin and Meaning Considered. Glasgow.
Nicolaisen, W. F. H. 2001 (2nd edn., 1st edn. 1976). Scottish Place-Names. Edinburgh.
–––. 2007. 'Gaelic sliabh revisited' in eds Kaarina Hollo & Sharon Arbuthnot, Fil súil nglais / A Grey Eye Looks Back: A Festschrift for Colm Ó Baoill, 175-86. Ceann Drochaid.
Ó Cróinín, Dáibhí. 1995. Early Medieval Ireland, 400–1200. Harlow.
Ó Mainnín, Mícheál. 1994. "The Mountain Names of County Down", Nomina 17, 31–53.
Ó Maolfabhail, Art (ed.). 1990. Logainmneacha na hÉireann, imleabhar I, Contae Luimnigh. Baile Átha Cliath.
Taylor, Simon. 2002. 'The Element sliabh and the Rhinns of Galloway: or Place-Names and History: a Case Study', History Scotland 2, no. 6, 49–52.
–––. 2007. "Sliabh in Scottish Place-Names: its Meaning and Chronology", Journal of Scottish Name Studies 1, 99–136.
Tempan, Paul. 2004. 'Five common generic elements in Irish hill and mountain names: binn, cnoc, cruach, mullach, sliabh.‘ M.A. dissertation presented to Queen‘s University, Belfast. Article summarising findings forthcoming in Ainm.
–––. 2009. 'Close compound place-names in Ireland and Scotland' in eds J. Derrick McClure, John M. Kirk and Margaret Storrie, A Land That Lies Westward: Language and Culture in Islay and Argyll, selected papers from the 8th Conference on the Languages of Scotland and Ulster (Islay, 2006), 48-78. Edinburgh.
–––. Forthcoming. "Towards a Chronology of Topo-graphical Elements in Irish Place-Names: Some Strategies for Establishing Relative Chronology." To be published in Proceedings of ICOS XXIII, York University, Toronto, 2008.
Toner, Gregory. 1999. 'The definite article in Irish place-names', Nomina 22, 5–24.
http://www.logainm.ie/ Bunachar Logainmneacha na hÉireann – Placenames Database of Ireland
http://www.ucc.ie:8080/cocoon/doi/locus -
Online version of Hogan‘s Onomasticon Goedelicum
http://www.pointer-ni.gov.uk Pointer database hosted by OSNI, with place-name data supplied by Northern Ireland Place-Name Project. Currently off-line, but to be restored on a new site.

Paul Tempan, Queen‘s University, Belfast

PLACE AND FOLK-NAME ELEMENTS IN THE POEM ‘ÒRAN BAGRAIDH’

Òran Bagraidh is a Gaelic poem (the title means 'A Song of Defiance') which first appeared in print in a book of songs and poems supposedly collected in North Uist. The principal source of the material therein was one Angus John MacDonald who hailed from the island and emigrated to Australia when in his 50s. He was given the title 'Gaelic Editor' in the book which is called 'From the Farthest Hebrides'¹ and whose General Editor was the Canadian Professor Donald Fergusson. The book itself received highly critical reviews by D.S. Thomson² and V.S. Blankenhorn³ which elicited a response from Prof. Fergusson and a counter from Blankenhorn in 1980⁴. Space and time here prohibit going through the cases for the prosecution and defence, suffice to say that a guilty verdict to the charge of falsification and 'confectionisation' would probably be carried. However the prosecutors acknowledged that it was likely that some genuine material would be contained in the book but they were so incensed at what they took to be flagrant abuse that they could not see the merit in sifting through it. Blankenhorn in particular drew attention to what she regarded as the over sentimental and flowery literary style of AJM‘s 'concoctions' in the book and by implication proposed a basis for sifting wheat from chaff. This is where matters may have been expected to rest however the fact that the poem Òran Bagraidh contains place-names apparently from Galloway and nearby South Ayrshire provided the justification for further investigation. Added to this, the fact that it transpired that this particular poem was taken very seriously by the Rev. William Matheson who went so far as to make a new English translation of it as well as reconstructing the Gaelic version with copious notes signifies at the least that more work on it could be justified⁵.

The poem Òran Bagraidh and associated notes are on pages 90-92 of the book mentioned above. In the notes AJM provides details of its supposed provenance. Clearly the biggest obstacle to our taking this poem seriously is that this is its sole attestation. It is not recorded anywhere else, as far as I am aware and, as Blankenhorn pointed out, the retention of historic oral tradition within one family exclusively is implausible, oral transmission not working in that way. A further problem is that AJM‘s notes make clear that the song was sung by Donald MacRury whereas the version in the book is essentially garbled and unsingable, especially the last few verses. In fact as Ronnie Black has pointed out⁶ it seems clear that there is some kind of manuscript background to the poem, contradicting AJM‘s notes in this respect. On balance then I conclude that while there are significant doubts remaining about Òran Bagraidh its having been taken seriously by such as Willie Matheson and Ronnie Black, its very roughness and garbled nature (contrasting with the more transparent concoctions in the book) merit further investigation into the place-names and folk-names therein.

To the poem itself then, what does it seem to be about?. The first verse seems to set the scene mentally and geographically, harking back to halcyon days in locations near Loch Doon AYR. However something dreadful happened one morning that changed everything, potentially connected with Cassillis. The second verse lays into the Sliochd na Feannaig, vowing revenge in no uncertain terms while the third praises the (presumably murdered) leader‘s royal ancestry, peaceful and noble manner. Verse four connects the tribes Muinntir na Dubhchos and the Sliochd a‘ Mhaduidh, praises them as warriors and rejoices in traditional hunting, fishing and feasting in the Glenkens KBT. The final verse is a garbled lament and further cry for revenge. This is not a pleasant composition, it is dark, depressing and bitter. Rev. Matheson connected the heavy event with the murder by Craufurd of Kerse of Gilbert, 2nd Earl of Cassillis on the banks of the Pow burn in the sands just north of Ayr in August 1527. As Armstrong's 'New Map of Ayrshire‘ 1775 states, 'there is a dangerous quicksand on the road at the foot of the Pow Burn, to avoid it keep as near to the sea as the tide will allow'. This would have created a predictable ambush spot.

There seem to be genuine place-names in the poem and also simple descriptions of places which may or may not have had the status of a place-name. These are listed below alongside my suggested locations and some earlier forms where available:

Cumar an eas dom	Ness Glen, Loch Doon AYR
Bealach na Slogh	Glenmuck? AYR	Glenmuk 1632
Beinn Beithich	Benbeoch, Dalmellington AYR	Benbeuch 1594
Caisteal caiseal a‘ chro	Cassillis AYR	Castlys 1363, Cassillis 1450
Rath na righinn	Motte at Dalry? KBT
Draoinich	Auchindrain AYR
Ruigh raoin	Roan?, Kirkmichael, AYR
Loch a‘ Bharr	Lochinvar KBT	Lochinvar 1581
Carrsa Fearn	Carsphairn KBT	Carsfairne 1682
Gleann na Seamraig	Glenshimmeroch KBT	Glenschynneroche 1474
Dail Righ	Dalry, KBT	Dalry, 1511, Dalrie 1662

The parish church (St John the Evangelist) at Dalry,
on the slope overlooking the river meadows of the Water of Ken;
it is neighbour to a motte, out of picture to the left.

The potential folk-names contained in the poem are listed below:

Muinntir na dubhchos	Kindred of the black feet	Kennedies
Sliochd na feannaig	Tribe of the crow	Craufurds?
Cinneil sliochd a‘ mhaduidh	Tribe of the wolf or dog	MacLellans
Sluagh na gruaigi ciar	Tribe of the dusky hair	Douglases?

It seems quite clear that the muinntir na dubhchos was a Gaelic name for the Kennedy clan. John Mac Kennedy of Muntercasduff was mentioned in a charter of David II (1329-1371)⁷ while Gilbert Kennedy of Bargany had the lands of Sanct Michaelis Muntercasduff (Kirkmichael) in 1464⁸. Further evidence of this association can be seen from the early forms of the Kennedy holding of Auchencrosh near Ballantrae AYR.

Form	Date	Source	No.
Ballmoircastell	1429	RMS ii	128
Ballowymercastell	1429	RMS ii	128
Ballndrcasdow	1491/2	Wigtown Charters	163
Balmontircasty alias Auchincroshe	1541	RMS iii	2400
Balmowcasti alias Auchincros	1631	RMS vii	1886

As regards the sliochd na feannaig, Willie Matheson suggested in his notes that this might refer to the Crawfurd family who had a base at Kerse, across the River Doon from Cassillis. There is no direct evidence confirming this assertion however and it must remain an open question as to which family is meant here.

There is slightly more, though still circumstantial information as to the provenance of the sliochd a‘ mhaduidh. In Carsphairn parish KBT occurs a cluster of place-names which contain the specific element madadh, a word with various possible canine meanings (dog, wolf, fox). These include the Polmaddy Burn, Castlemaddy, Sheil of Castlemaddy, Holmhead of Castlemaddy and Northside of Castlemaddy. This area essentially is the glen of the Polmaddy Burn and is inside the former boundary of the Forest of Buchan, an ancient hunting district controlled by the Kennedy clan. The poem implies a connection between the 'folk of the wolf' and the 'tribe of the black feet'. The cluster of madadh names in this area seems to indicate a potential area for the sliochd a‘ mhaduidh based in the North West Glenkens. Further Glenkens canine links might be inferred by the place-name Balmaclellan, from Gaelic Baile mac ‘ille fhaolain, the village of the son of St Fillan‘s servant. St. Fillan or Faolán means 'little wolf'. To this day the surname MacLellan is common in the Glenkens. It may be that this family and the sliochd a‘ mhaduidh are one and the same.

Polmaddy Burn and surroundings from John Thomson‘s Atlas of Scotland, 1832. The present Polmaddy and A713 road through it are downstream of the locations in 1832. The older more direct road shown in fainter lines south of Carsphairn is part of the 'Pack Road' path marked on more recent maps. The hint of a sliabh name in (Upr.) Slongashill, now Stroangassel, is not supported by the 'Strancastle' on Roy‘s Military Survey, c1750. (Thanks to NLS for online maps.)

I have not been able to make any connection between the Douglases and the sluagh na gruagi ciar as suggested by Matheson.

This leaves us for now with the questions as to who composed the poem, if it is indeed genuine and how could it have moved from Galloway to North Uist? While accepting that the jury is still very much out as to the genuineness of the poem itself the most likely origin for it if it was really a SW Scotland composition would be in the Glenkens due to the location of the place-names and potentially some of the folk-names therein. It would also most likely have been composed by a bard attached to a wealthy sympathiser of the Kennedy family (if we accept Matheson‘s theory as to the murder of the 2nd Earl of Cassillis). In fact there have been two Kennedy family branches recorded as residing in the Glenkens itself, one of Knockgray near Carsphairn is too recent while the other at Knockreoch and Knocknalling has been on record since 1476. This would be the most likely location for the poem to have been written, possibly around 1550 or so (this date accords with comparisons of the style Ronnie Black has made with MacGregor elegiac poetry⁹).

As for its transmission to North Uist, the book 'From the Farthest Hebrides' claimed the North Uist men picked it up from visits to Arran. Arran is within sight of the potential murder location. Another possibility is a MacLellan family connection; the name is common in both the Glenkens and North Uist. Is it mere coincidence that the main settlement in North Uist is Loch nam madadh?

[1] Fergusson, D. (Gen. Ed.), 'From the Farthest Hebrides', 1978
[2] Glasgow Herald 14 Dec 1978
[3] Scottish Review No. 16 1979
[4] Scottish Review No. 18 1980
[5] NLS Acc. 9711, Box 14, No.1
[6] Personal Communication
[7] RMS I app. 2 No. 914
[8] Paterson, Ayr II p.347
[9] Ronnie Black, personal communication

Michael Ansell (summarising his talk at New Galloway)

SCOTLAND’S –HAM AND -INGHAM NAMES: A RECONSIDERATION

Note: county abbreviations are: BWK Berwickshire; ELO East Lothian; WIG Wigtownshire; SSX Sussex; BRK Berkshire; GLO Gloucestershire; DRH Durham; NTB Northumberland; CMB Cumberland; WML Westmorland; YER Yorkshire East Riding; YWR Yorkshire West Riding; LNC Lancashire; YNR Yorkshire North Riding.

Nicolaisen‘s chapter on 'Early English Names'¹ is the necessary starting-point for any study of the toponymy of what, in Anglian times, was the northern part of the great kingdom of Northumbria. At the heart of that chapter is a careful consideration of a range of names that
may be considered to be among the earliest Anglian names in Scotland. Out of this discussion, Nicolaisen drew three – Coldingham BWK, Tyninghame ELO and Whittingehame ELO – as being of a type that, in southern and eastern England, correlate closely with archaeological evidence for a relatively early phase of Anglo-Saxon colonisation, dating from the period before conversion to Christianity. In the second edition, he added a fourth, Peninghame WIG. Although this has been widely accepted by place-name scholars, and is frequently cited by archaeologists and historians, it has always seemed to me a surprising finding, and I take this opportunity to explain my doubts and to suggest some possible alternative approaches to the interpretation of these and related names in southern Scotland.

Firstly, we need to consider the generic, -hām 'home/ hame', a settlement and its associated landholding – which in early mediaeval times could be substantial area, comparable to a later parish. It was the main habitative term in use among the early Anglo-Saxons, until around the mid-8th century, when changes in landholding patterns and fiscal arrangements gave rise to a new range of place-naming terms, among which tūn is most salient.² We also need to note that -hām remained in use in Old English, after it had ceased to be a standard habitative term, with specific reference to religious houses and their landholdings.³

Turning to the connective –ing-: four uses of –ing have been identified in Old English name-formation.⁴ Among these, -ing³ is the patronymic usage – X-ing 'son of X'; the plural X–ing³ as meant more broadly 'descendants, kin, dependants of X', we might say 'clan MacX'.⁵ Nicolaisen found no names in Scotland formed simply with this suffix, like Hastings SSX or Reading BRK (from the dative plural, æt Rædingum).⁶ Nevertheless, we will again need to note a possible ecclesiastical association: the plural -ing³ as can also be used of religious communities: the Berclingas, for example, were the monks of Berkeley GLO: as with hām, this 'monastic' usage may be later than the true patronymic.⁷

Names like Hastings and Reading were once thought to be among the earliest, but there is no correlation between these and pagan Anglo-Saxon burials, and they are nowadays associated with the development of Anglo-Saxon landholding in the post-conversion period.⁸ However, names formed with the genitive plural –ing³a- plus –hām do correlate well with archaeological evidence for pre-Christian Anglo-Saxon settlement, especially along Roman roads or navigable waterways.⁹ It was this pre-Christian –ing³ahām formation that Nicolaisen saw in Whittingehame, Coldingham and Tyninghame and later in Peninghame.¹⁰

Now Coldingham BWK and Tyninghame ELO are each recorded from the 11th and 12th cts in forms with a vowel between g and h, and in at least one case for either name, the vowel is –a-.¹¹ There can be little doubt that these are -ing³ahām formations, but are they of the same, pre-Christian, origin? The early –ing³ahām place-names are concentrated in the east and south-east of England. There are probably no -ing³ahām names in DRH, NTB, CMB or WML.¹² The northernmost certain examples are in YER, YWR and LNC. Moreover, as we have seen, there are apparently no –ing³-as/-um names in Scotland: is it not odd if the earliest stratum of Anglo-Saxon settlement names from England is present in southern Scotland, but the later strata are absent?

Can there be any other explanation for Coldingham and Tyninghame? St Cedd‘s monastery at Lastingham YNR was known to Bede as *Laestinga-eu.¹³ It was evidently re-named, presumably after Bede's time, incorporating the early 'clan' name *Laest –ing³as, but using it to name the monastic community. So *Laest–ing³-ahām was the 'house and landholding of [the religious community known as] *Læstingas'.¹⁴ Something similar could have happened at Coldingham. This was known to Bede as Coludi Urbs, doubtless translating Coludesburh.¹⁵ Colud is a personal name, and burh (here possibly meaning 'monastery') indicated the site of the double house, probably at Kirk Hill on St Abbs Head, which was burnt soon after 686. Later, again apparently after Bede‘s day, a nunnery was established at Coldingham. Applying the analogy of Lastingham, could the new name have been given at that stage, *Colud-ing³a-hām meaning the 'house and landholding of [the religious community known as] *Coludingas'? At Tyninghame the monastery was founded some time after the death of St Baldred (recte probably Baldhere) in 756. Again, the name *Tīn-ing³a-hām may have been given at that point, 'the house and landholding of [the religious community known as] *Tīningas [dwellers on the R Tyne ELO]'?

View at St Abb‘s Head, supposed location of the 7th century double monastery of Coludesburh. North Berwick Law, the Ochil Hills, the Paps of Fife, the Bass Rock and Largo Law would have been familiar landmarks then, though not the nuclear power station and cement works in distance on left.

Turning to Whittingehame, we encounter a different usage of –ing, -ing², a place-name forming suffix.¹⁶ This occurs here in a form with an archaic locative inflexion, -inġ²ī-: -inġ²ī + hām gives us the pronunciation [in^dʒəm] in Whittingehame ELO, which means the 'hām (landholding) at the place named after Hwīta', identical in origin to Whittingham NTB and Whicham CMB.¹⁷ Nicolaisen recognised this, but he nevertheless attempted to force Whittingehame into the –ing³ahām class. However the forms he proposed, *Hwītingiahām or *Hwītin^dʒahām ('the settlement at Hwīting [= at the place named after Hwīta])' are impossible in Old English, and Whittingehame, *Hwītinġ²īhām, has nothing to do with -ing³ahām.¹⁸ Whittingehame is probably a 7th century name, but not necessarily pre-Christian.
In the first edition of Scottish Place-Names, Nicolaisen counted Penninghame WIG among 'non-genuine examples' of –ing³ahām, even saying that it 'may or may not contain the element hām',¹⁹ but in the second edition he wrote 'Peningham in 1287 in Bagimond‘s Roll shows it to be a genuine –ingahām name and a witness to an early Anglian presence in Galloway'.²⁰ The early forms do confirm that it is certainly –hām, but neither the Bagimond‘s Roll form nor any later mediaeval records show any evidence for a vowel between –g- and -h-, and Penninghame is a good hundred miles from the nearest certain examples of -ing³ahām.

Penninghame may have been closely associated with Northumbrian Whithorn: it became a large mediaeval parish, with a grange (and possible residence) of the Bishops of Whithorn.²¹ With this in mind, Carole Hough‘s proposal, that the name was not an –ing-hām formation but *Pening-hām 'a hām assessed at a penny' is attractive.²² Early modern forms are often Penyhame etc., and the pennyland was an important unit of land-valuation in 12th to 13th century Galloway. Northumbrian silver peningas were minted in York in the late 7th to late 8th centuries: eight were found during the excavations at Whithorn.²³ However, the fact that Northumbrian peningas went out of production by 790, along with the point that hām was obsolete as a habitative term by that date implies a limited window of opportunity for such a formation, in the early to mid 8th century. Monetary valuation of land entails more than the presence of coins, it implies a fully-functioning monetary economy: how likely was that in 8th century north-west Northumbria? The coins found at Whithorn (as at other 'high status' sites) could well have been used only in transactions with visiting merchants. There is really no evidence for the circulation of coins away from such sites in northern Northumbria/ Cumbria/ 'Scotland' before 1100. There might just possibly have been a local monetary economy in the regio of Whithorn, and perhaps an early Northumbrian bishop might have introduced the radical new idea of monetary valuation of land-yield, but if Penninghame was *Pening-hām it must have been revolutionary at the time, and it would have remained wholly exceptional in north-west Northumbria for more than three centuries.

An alternative, perhaps more likely interpretation, is to see Penninghame as *Pen-ing⁴-hām, with -ing⁴-, a connective particle not subject to inflection: 'landholding associated with Pen'.²⁴ Brittonic pen[n] refers in inland place-names to the 'head' or 'end' of a ridge or hill-spur. Penninghame church stands at the southern end of Barr Hill, a ridge ending in a sharp point that might well have been named, or at least referred to, by Brittonic speakers as *Pen[n]; either way, English speakers would have taken that for its name, and formed *Pen-ing⁴-hām, 'landholding associated with [the headland called] Pen[n]'. Such a name could have been formed at any time during the currency of hām, i.e. mid-6th to mid-8th centuries, but there is no reason here to think it any earlier than the later 7th or early 8th century.
All the –hām names in southern Scotland are certainly important, but Nicolaisen‘s attempt to associate the –ingham names among them with the pre-Christian -ing³a-hām names in southern and eastern England was perhaps an unfortunate distraction. I suggest that the –ham and –ingham names of southern Scotland / northern Northumbria are best understood in context of Northumbrian state-formation and the closely-related development of the Northumbrian church, especially during the mid 7th to mid 8th centuries.

1. W F H Nicolaisen (2001) Scottish Place-Names: their study and significance 2nd edn, ch5.
2. A H Smith (1956) English Place-Name Elements part one, EPNS XXV (Cambridge), pp 226-9; G Fellows-Jensen (1990) 'Place-Names as a Reflection of Cultural Interaction‘, Anglo-Saxon England 19, pp 13-21
3. V Watts (1994) 'The Place-Name Hexham: a mainly philological approach‘ Nomina 17, pp 119-36 at pp135-6; M Higham On Names, Places and People, pp73-80.
4. Smith (1956), pp282-5 and 298-303.
5. Ibid. pp290-1.
6. Nicolaisen (2001) pp89-93 and 95-8.
7. E Ekwall (1960) Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names (4th edn Oxford), p39; J McN Dodgson (1977) 'The Significance of Place-Names in –ingas, -inga- in South-East England' in K Cameron (ed.) Place-Name Evidence for the Anglo-Saxon Invasion and Scandinavian Settlements (Nottingham 1977), pp 27-54 at p28; G Smith '–ingas and the Mid-Seventh Century Diocese' in Nomina 31 (2008) pp67-88 at pp75 and 84-5.
8. Dodgson (1977) pp 27-54.
9. B Cox (1973) 'The Significance of the Distribution of English Place-Names in Hām in the Midlands and East Anglia' Journal of the English Place-Name Society 5, pp 15-73.
10. Nicolaisen (2001), pp93-5 and p xx.
11. Ibid, at p94.
12. For DRH, see V Watts (2002) A Dictionary of County Durham Place-Names (Nottingham); for Yorks, M L Faull (1974) 'Britons and Angles in Yorkshire' Studium 6, pp 1-24.
13. HE III.23.
14. Watts (1994), pp134-6.
15. HE IV.19; Coludesburh in OE Bede and A-SC E.
16. Smith (1956), pp285-90.
17. J McN Dodgson (1967) 'The –ing- in English place-names like Birmingham and Altrincham' Beiträge zur Namenforschung NF2, pp 221-45 and idem (1967) 'Various forms of OE –ing in English place-names' Beiträge zur Namenforschung NF2, pp 325-96.
18. Nicolaisen (2001) p93.
19. Nicolaisen (1976) Scottish Place-Names: their study and significance 1st edn, pp72 and 76.
20. Nicolaisen (2001) p xx.
21. D Hall (2006) Scottish Monastic Landscapes (Stroud), pp175-7.
22. C Hough (2001) 'The Place-Name Penninghame (Wigtownshire)', Notes and Queries June 2001, pp99-102.
23. E J E Pirie (1997) 'The Early Medieval Coins' in P Hill Whithorn and St Ninian: excavation of a monastic town 1984-91 (Stroud), pp 332-45; idem (1986) 'Finds of sceattas and stycas of Northumbria' in M A S Blackburn (ed) Anglo-Saxon Monetary History: essays in memory of Michael Dolley (Leicester) pp 67-90; D M Metcalfe, ed., (1987) Coinage in Ninth Century Northumbria BAR Br. Ser. 180 (Oxford).
24. Smith (1956), pp291-8.

Alan James (summarising his talk at New Galloway)

New Publications

Compiled by Simon Taylor, with help from Carole Hough.

Breeze, Andrew, 2009, 'Bede‘s castella and the journeys of St Chad', Northern History 46, 137–9. Breeze, Andrew, 2009, 'Where was Historia Brittonum's Mare Frenessicum?' Northern History 46, 133–6.
Broderick, George, 2009, 'The names for Britain and Ireland revisited', Beiträge zur Namenforschung 44, 151–72.
Caldwell, David, 2008, Islay: The Land of the Lordship (Edinburgh) [with much toponymic input from Alan Macniven; Macniven contributed Chapter 2 'Prehistory and Early History'; while Chapter 8, 'Continuity and Change – Place-Names and Extents' draws heavily on Macniven 2006 ('The Norse in Islay: A Settlement Historical Case-Study for Medieval Scandinavian Activity in Western Maritime Scotland', unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Edinburgh); Appendix 1 is a useful compilation and examination of Islay surnames; while Appendix 2, entitled 'Islay Lands, Recorded Prior to 1722' is also drawn from Macniven 2006, giving suggested etymologies, as well as sources, but sadly no early forms]
Drummond, Peter, and Tempan, Paul, 2009, 'Close Compound Place-names in Ireland and Scotland', in A Land that Lies Westward: Language and Culture in Islay and Argyll, ed. J. Derrick McClure, John M. Kirk and Margaret Storrie (John Donald, Edinburgh), 48–9; see also below under Drummond and Tempan.
Drummond, Peter, 2009, 'Close Compound Mountain Toponyms in Islay and Jura', in A Land that Lies Westward: Language and Culture in Islay and Argyll, ed. J. Derrick McClure, John M. Kirk and Margaret Storrie (John Donald, Edinburgh), 50–61.
Hough, Carole, 2009, 'Eccles in English and Scottish Place-Names', in The Church in Place-Names, ed. E. Quinton (English Place-Name Society, Nottingham), 109–24.
James, Alan, 2009, *Eglēs / Eclēs and the formation of Northumbria', in The Church in Place-Names, ed. E. Quinton (English Place-Name Society, Nottingham), 125–50.
Márkus, Gilbert, 2008a, 'Reading the Place-Names of a Monastic Landscape: Balmerino Abbey', Cîteaux: Commentarii cistercienses, t. 59, fasc. 1–2 (Life on the Edge: The Cistercian Abbey of Balmerino (Scotland), 119–62.
Muhr, Kay, 2009, 'Place-names and Scottish Clan Traditions in North-East County Antrim', in A Land that Lies Westward: Language and Culture in Islay and Argyll, ed. J. Derrick McClure, John M. Kirk and Margaret Storrie (John Donald, Edinburgh), 79–102.
Oftedal, Magne, 1954, 'The Village Names of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides', Norsk Tidsskrift for Sprogvidenskap 17 (Oslo), 363–409, reproduced 2009 in booklet form with the title The Village Names of Lewis, The Islands Book Trust, Kershader, Lewis, with Foreword by John Randall, price £6.
Storrie, Margaret, 2009, 'Settlement and Naming in the Southern Hebridean Isle of Islay', in A Land that Lies Westward: Language and Culture in Islay and Argyll, ed. J. Derrick McClure, John M. Kirk and Margaret Storrie (John Donald, Edinburgh), 17–47.
Taylor, Simon, 2009, 'The Trenches at Falkland, Fife: a Legacy of Royal Deer-management?', in Carmarthenshire & Beyond: Studies in History and Archaeology in Memory of Terry James, ed. Heather James and Patricia Moore (Carmarthenshire Antiquarian Society, Carmarthen), 235–44.
Tempan, Paul, 2009, 'Close Compounds in Irish Place-names‘, in A Land that Lies Westward: Language and Culture in Islay and Argyll, ed. J. Derrick McClure, John M. Kirk and Margaret Storrie (John Donald, Edinburgh), 62–78.
Williamson, May G., 1942, 'The Non-Celtic Place-Names of the Scottish Border Counties', unpublished PhD, Edinburgh University. Published 2009 in digital form on SPNS website with introductory notes by W. Patterson,
http://www.spns.org.uk/MayWilliamsonComplete.pdf