Placename notes from the Newsletters
Place-Names and the
Languages of Glasgow
TheGlasgowStory.com
The Ecclesiastical
Place-Names
of Bute
'Domnach' in Scotland
Onomastics and English
Language at the University of Glasgow
Wallace and Bruce
place-names of New Cumnock, Ayrshire
Online Maps
Gaelic Meanings of
Strathspey Names
Place-names of Beauly and
Strathglass
Recent
Publications:
The Fife Place-name 'Pusk'.
The Edinburgh Companion to Scots
Kentigern and Gonothigernus
Bibliography
Place-names and Personal
Names
Kilmurdie: Another twist in the
tail.
Place-Names and the Languages of Glasgow
This is a summary of a talk which Simon Taylor
gave
to the
Scottish Place-Name Society Conference, Glasgow Caledonian University,
9 November 2002.
Glasgow and environs, like any other part of Scotland, have a
complicated language history stretching back over 1500 years. The
earliest language to have left significant place-names is Cumbric, a
British language closely related to Welsh, giving us Glasgow
itself ('green hollow'), Partick ('little grove'),
Govan ('small hill', perhaps referring to the
now
vanished Doomster Hill), Balornock
(Buthlornoc
in 1186, 'the residence of, or more probably the church dedicated to, a
man with the Cumbric name Louernoc'), and Possil
('place of rest'). Barlanark is also Cumbric; the
second element is *lanerc ('clearing in a wood'),
found also in the place-name Lanark. An early reference to a place
called Pathelanerhc (early 12th century), which is
probably Barlanark, points to a first element from Cumbric *baedd
(boar),
found also in Bathgate 'boar wood'. It would therefore mean something
like 'boar-clearing' or 'clearing frequented by boars'. Another Cumbric
place-name which has ended up with Bar- as its first element is Barmulloch.
This is earlier Badermonoc,
one of the lands granted to the church of Glasgow by Malcolm IV (1153 -
1165), and meaning 'house or ? chapel of the monks'. Other Cumbric
names are Cathcart, 'wood on the River Cart'; Kelvin,
?'reed river' (cf Welsh celefyn 'reed, stalk,
stem') and Molendinar 'mill-burn'.
Cumbric was dying out by the 11th century, which means that Cumbric
place-names take us directly back to the first millennium of our era.
From the names mentioned above we can recreate a landscape of open
country, interspersed with woodland, through at least some of which
roamed wild boar, and with enough arable farming to warrant
water-driven milling; a landscape inhabited by speakers of a language
akin to Welsh, some of whom were not only Christian but also living in
monastic communities.
In the 11th century, at the latest, Cumbric was being replaced by
Gaelic, the language of the expanding kingdom of Alba or Scotland,
whose heartlands were originally the eastern lowlands north of the
Forth, but which since the 10th century had been moving its frontier
southwards into Lothian and, from the early 11th century, into
Strathclyde.
The bulk of the place-names in and around Glasgow were either coined by
Gaelic-speakers or adapted to Gaelic from Cumbric. An early Gaelic name
showing Cumbric influence is Polmadie. This
contains Gaelic poll 'pool', but in areas where
Gaelic replaced Cumbric it usually means 'burn'. From a late 12th
century form, Polmacde, it is clear that the middle
element is Gaelic mac ('of (the) sons'). The third
element could be either the personal name Daigh, or the Gaelic Dè
('of God'), referring to an early religious establishment beside the
burn. A remarkable feature of this place-name is how, even centuries
after its meaning ceased to be understood by those using it locally,
the original stress-pattern has survived: it is still pronounced 'pawmaDEE'
(with a half stress on 'paw' and full stress on 'dee'), exactly as it
would have been stressed in Gaelic.
Many place-names which medieval Gaelic-speakers in and around Glasgow
have left us reflect the importance of agriculture as the main industry
at this time. There are for example those containing the word gart
('enclosure, field; farm'), such as Garscadden,
apparently containing sgadan ('herring'), perhaps
indicating an important inland fish-market; Garscube,
containing sguab ('sheaf of corn'); Gartcraig,
containing creag ('rock, crag'); Garthamlock,
perhaps containing a personal name; and Gartnavel,
containing ubhal ('apple'); also those names
containing Gaelic blàr ('field, level
land for rough grazing'), such as Barlinnie,
earlier Blairlenny, with second element probably lèanach
(swampy) and Blocharn, earlier Blairquharne,
with second element càrn ('cairn, burial
mound').
Other names reflect the importance of religion in medieval life and
landscape. Barmulloch, Polmadie, and Balornock have already been
mentioned. There is also Dalmarnock, as well as Killermont,
probably Gaelic ceann tearmainn
('sanctuary-end'). It lay at the very eastern edge of the medieval
parish of Kilpatrick, and confirms that a wide sanctuary area
surrounded that important pilgrimage church (Gaelic for 'Patrick's
church'), now Old Kilpatrick,
Dunbartonshire.
A third language has played a major role in the named landscape of
Glasgow and its neighbourhoods: that is Scots. The first Scots-speaking
community of any note in the area would have been the burgesses or
citizens of the burgh of Glasgow, founded as a privileged trading
centre by Bishop Jocelin of Glasgow in 1176. That Scots was the
language of the Glasgow burgh from the very outset is reflected in the
place-names from within the burgh, such as Briggate
('bridge street'), Rottenraw, now Rottenrow
('rat-infested row'), and (the) Gallowgate
('gallows street').
Over the centuries Glasgow, in its spectacular and relentless
expansion, has taken in literally hundreds of small settlements,
hamlets and farms, each one with its own name, many of which, as we
have seen, are at least a thousand years old. By understanding the
languages and elements which have gone to create these names, it is
clear that we can throw light on many aspects of our past which would
otherwise remain hidden. Much work remains to be done on the
place-names of Glasgow, but I hope this paper has shown that it is work
well worth undertaking in a serious and systematic way.
The above draws on two longer pieces which Simon Taylor has written on
Glasgow place-names in recent years. The first will appear in his
chapter 'Gaelic in Glasgow: the onomastic evidence'
in Glasgow, City of the Gael / Glaschu, Baile Mòr
nan Gàidheal,
edited by Sheila Kidd, Department of Celtic, University of Glasgow,
forthcoming. The second is an essay on Glasgow's place-names for TheGlasgowStory, for
which see the next item
Simon Taylor
See a summary (with full references) of the discussions between Dr Thomas Clancy and Dr Alan Macquarrie on this name in the Annual Reports of the Friends of Govan Old.
[Compare the Old Breton place-name in the Cartulaire de Redon Botlouuernoc (folii 3 v° and 79 v°) and Botlouernoc (folio 59 v°). If Louernoc in these is a personal name, and the place-name is not simply the equivalent of 'Foxcote', it may be a hypocoristic form of Lowarn, the saint of Lanlawren in Lanteglosby-Fowey parish, Cornwall (see Orme N, 2000 The Saints of Cornwall, Oxford, p. 167). I would thank André-Yves Bourges for confirming the references in the Redon Cartulary, and for drawing my attention to the reference in Orme 2000 - HWG-C]
Empty land 17km from Glasgow Cathedral: the northern edge of (Old) Kilpatrick parish before afforestation: Duncolm, highest point of the Kilpatrick Hills, on the right. Does Killermont (ceann tearmainn), (New) Kilpatrick, indicate that the undivided mediaeval parish was a sanctuary around the pilgrimage church dedicated to Patrick? This church and its early documentation was the subject of Thomas Clancy's conference paper later in the day.
This is a new website funded by the New
Opportunities Fund,
and run by a consortium of Glasgow City Council Cultural Services and
Glasgow, Strathclyde and Glasgow Caledonian Universities. It aims to
introduce the story of Glasgow and its people from earliest times to
the present to a wide range of groups, from school pupils, local
history groups and life-long learners. Of toponymic interest is an
essay by Simon Taylor, 'Glasgow Neighbourhoods: Earliest Times to
1560s', which looks at what place-names can tell us about many of the
different settlements and communities which have gone to make up the
modern city of Glasgow.
Available now on <www.theglasgowstory.com>,
following its launch on 31 October in the Kelvin Gallery
of
the University of Glasgow.
The Ecclesiastical Place-Names of Bute
A summary of a talk given to the Glasgow
conference.
Bute lies in the Firth of Clyde between the Ayrshire coast and the
peninsula of Kintyre in Argyll. I focused on place- names there which
contain the element rendered in modern place-names as kil- (from Latin cella
via Old Irish cell), names which mark
ecclesiastical establishments of some sort.
There are 11 such names on Bute, all of which have, as their second
element, the name of a saint. A further 5 place-names on Bute contain
the name of a saint with an element other than kil-.
I began by looking at the name which marks the most important religious
establishment on the island - a name which, like those attached to
other important ecclesiastical centres in Scotland (Iona, Applecross,
Lismore, Hinba, Abernethy), is not a kil- name: Kingarth. It is
recorded in the 9th century Martyrology of Oengus in a commemoration of
St. Blane: Bláán cáin Cinn
Garad - fair Blane of Kingarth.
I showed how the name has been applied to various different features
over time - from a topographical feature (cenn = head, garadh =
?thicket / copse), to a monastery (abbots of Kingarth are mentioned in
the annals of Ulster 737, 776, 790) whose territory probably extended
over much of south Bute, to a parish covering the whole island, to a
parish covering half the island, and now to a tiny settlement 3km north
of the early and later medieval remains which now are known as St
Blane's or St Blane's Church.
I then looked at Kilblane and Kilchattan, and their relationship with
Kingarth. Could they be shown to be early coinages, and to what
features, exactly, do they refer? Unfortunately the earliest references
to both are late (1646 Blaeu and 1449 respectively), it is not clear
what either name originally referred to, and the name Kilblane has now
disappeared entirely. These may simply be late coinages - Kilblane in
particular - or they might represent chapels formerly within the
monastic territory.
Having shown that the saints referred to in these names - Cathan and
Blane - are as slippery as the place-names (Why does Blane have no
Irish genealogy? Could he be British? When is he first linked with
Cathan? Could Cattan be a local saint too?) I went on to round up the
other kil- names on the island, illustrating the difficulties which
such names throw up by focusing briefly on a few of the most
interesting: Kildavanan, (and its relationship with Inch Marnock),
Kilbrook, Kilmichael, Kilchousland, Kilmachalmaig. I ended by asking
why, with such a rich crop of saints represented on the island - at
least 16 represented in place-names, there is no sign of St Brendan,
the saint with which people born on Bute still allegedly associate
themselves and after which Fordun claims the island is named - the both (= church) of Brendan.
In short, this was a talk which focused on the fascinating and
infuriating tendency of place-names, especially those which commemorate
saints, to change beyond recognition, to move about from feature to
feature, to gather to themselves ever-varying stories, and to get lost.
It was a celebration, but also an alert.
Rachel Butter
The Old Gaelic word domnach is a
loan word
from the Latin dominicum, 'the Lord's [building]'.
In continental sources, dominicum
is used of churches from the third to the fifth century, and comes to
Ireland during that period, where it forms the earliest Gaelic word for
a church. It was later displaced by other borrowings from Latin - cell
or cill, for the most part. Thomas Charles-Edwards
writes (Early Christian Ireland, p. 185) that 'domnach
was probably no longer a current term, applicable to new foundations,
after 500; otherwise one would expect to find it in Scotland' - he
reports that domnach is not found in Scottish
place-names.
However, it may be that domnach does appear in
Scotland. In Lochaber, on the north side of the River Spean, the land
rises to a druim over five miles long. In the
western part of the ridge is a farm called Druimandonich
[OS Pathfinder, 247,818]. A local gravestone in 1860 calls it Drumnadonach,
and it is Drumdonaich on the first OS map. On that
same map, however, Druim Domhnaich appears again
some four miles to the east of the farm. It seems likely that the whole
ridge was originally called Druim Domhnaich,
then. In these earlier occurrences the name appears without the
genitive definite article - often indicative of an early medieval
name-formation.
Druim Domhnaich with
'Cille
Choril' and Tom an Aingil, by Achluachrach in Glen Spean; first OS map.
Reproduced by permission of Ordnance Survey.
Druim Domhnaich
may be
a ridge belonging to, or near to, a Scottish domhnach
church. There are two church-sites on or near the ridge to which this Domnach
might refer. One is Cill Choirril
on the eastern end of the ridge, where there is archaeological evidence
of an early medieval church. An alternative site for a Domnach
church might be more convincingly identified at Kilmonivaig, to the
west of the ridge. This is now the parish church in whose territory Drumdomhnaich
sits, and local place-names suggest that Kilmonivaig is
an
ancient annat. The term annat
refers to a mother-church, a primary foundation - perhaps with relics
of its founding saint - which had a certain authority over other
churches in the area. Given that antiquity was an important dimension
of authority in church-organisation, we might consider that the terms annat
and domnach had similar implications, in which case
the domnach of Kilmonivaig was simply re-designated
as an annat when domnach ceased
to be a current term in discussions of church order.
If domnach did disappear from use after 500 AD, a
church of
that title in Lochaber suggests a very early Christian foundation, well
before the Columban settlement in Dál Riata.
An alternative explanation is that this early term continued in general
use beyond 500 AD, at least in some places - there is no reason to
assume that changes in spoken Gaelic happened simultaneously from
Limerick to Lochaber.
Another possibility is that domnach had disappeared
from
ordinary speech by the sixth century, but had entered into the
vocabulary of what we might call 'canon law' in Gaelic circles, and
that it was applied to this early church to signify its status - a
status subsequently advertised by the use of the term annat.
Gilbert Márkus
Dept of Celtic
University of Glasgow
(Above) Incised cross on under side of leaning standing stone at Tombreck, 2km SW of Kirkton of Foss, by Loch Tummel; (below) distorted colours to show the cross more clearly. No stylistic features to help dating, unless possible hint of rectangular finials. RCAHMS record describes as 'early Christian'. Could missionary activity in Highlands be early enough to leave traces of Old Gaelic 'domnach'?
[An interesting follow-up to this item can be found under
'Domnoc/Dommoc' (Richard Coates) in Coates & Breeze Celtic
Voices - English Places.
Could there be other possibilities worth investigating in Dunning
(Perthshire) - Duny occurs in 1380, Rodono (St Mary's Loch) and
possibly Domnaheiche (Foss, Perthshire), all puzzling names in areas
with early mediaeval ecclesiastical activity? (WP)]
Onomastics and English Language at the University of Glasgow
Onomastics comprises a small but
significant part of the
Level 2 course in English Language at the University of Glasgow,
usually taken by about 80 undergraduate students. During the first
semester, a course component on 'Aspects of Linguistics' focuses on
language relating to people - for instance, the cultural significance
of different systems of kinship terminology - and includes material on
the development on personal names and surnames in Scotland. During the
second semester, the focus moves to language relating to the physical
world, and includes material on Scottish place-names. This forms the
basis for an Honours course in Onomastics which is usually taken by
about 15 home students and is also popular with visiting students from
abroad. Taught through a combination of lectures and seminars, the
first semester deals in turn with each of the major language groups
represented in the place-names of Scotland and England, including
settlement-names, field-names and street-names. The second semester
traces the development of personal names, bynames and surnames, before
turning to onomastic theory and literary onomastics.
There is an emphasis throughout on the evidential value of onomastic
material, and its relationship to other disciplines. The course is
taught by Carole Hough, Katie Lowe and Doreen Waugh, with an
introduction to the specialist map collection at Glasgow University
Library by John Moore. Assessment is through coursework and
examination, together with an oral presentation given by each student
towards the end of the course. Undergraduate dissertations on onomastic
topics average about two per year, and this summer we have also had one
student working on a Carnegie-funded vacation project to investigate
topographical terms in Scottish place-names.
Carole Hough
Wallace and Bruce place-names of New Cumnock, Ayrshire
Local historical accounts of many parishes throughout
Scotland
will
inevitably have a chapter reserved for the exploits of William Wallace
and Robert the Bruce. Typically, such accounts will include a list of
place-names associated with these great heroes or their contemporaries.
Based on fancy or fact the derivations are worthy of preservation. New
Cumnock in Ayrshire is one such parish.
Cumnock: The fanciful Comyn Nock
, Comyn's Castle [1]
can be discounted. John Comyn killed by Bruce in February, 1306 did
hold lands in Nithsdale (Dalswinton) but not in Cumnock (then the
combined parishes of Old and New Cumnock). Comenoc Castle was owned by
Patrick Dunbar, Earl of Dunbar (Patrick of Comenagh, Ragman Roll 1296).
Comenoc, Comenagh and Cumno (see later) were later forms of Gaelic comunn
achadh 'place of the confluence', for the castle stood on the
hill overlooking the confluence of the River Nith and Afton Water [2].
Castle William: William Wallace held a 'royal
house
at Black Rock, Blak Crag in Cumno' [3].
The Blak Rok is Blackcraig Hill
at the head of Glen Afton some 5 miles from Cumnock Castle. Across the
valley stands the rocky outcrop known as Castle William, reputedly
marking the site of Wallace's castle[1,
4].
The rediscovery of the Wallace seal suggests that he was the son of
Alan Wallace. The name Alan Wallace 'crown tenant in Ayrshire' appears
in the Ragman Roll, 1296 [5]. Was
Wallace's royal
house a reference to these Wallace crown-lands at Blackcraig, in the
far east corner of King's Kyle - i.e. that part of Kyle maintained
under royal control?
In 1722, William Hamilton published his translation of Harry's
'Wallace', a book which was only outsold by the Bible [6],
creating a new generation interested in all things Wallace. Doubtless
new Wallace place-names were spawned across Scotland, including Castle
William, the earliest reference to which is on a map of 1775, where it
is depicted as a ruined dwelling [7].
Black Bog Castle : Ironically, Hamilton's work
was
responsible
for creating a new name in the parish of New Cumnock He renamed Harry's
Black Rok as Black Bog (to rhyme with 'merry cog'). The parish minister
writing in 1838 applied this invented name to Cumnock Castle [8]. A case of two wrongs making a
right mess!
Stayamrie: Robert the Bruce and his force of
400 men
evaded capture from Sir Aymer de Valence 'up in the strenthis'
of Cumnock (the hills of New Cumnock)[9].
Near to Castle William, is the sheer rock face of Stayamrie, or Stay
Amery, called after the beleaguered Sir Aymer and his
attempts to capture Bruce, i.e. keep going Amery![4]. Another account considers
Stayamrie to contain a reference to Wallace's armoury, due to the
proximity of Castle William [1].
However, Stayamrie appears to comprise two elements. Scots stey
'steep hill to climb' (cf. Steygill in neighbouring Dumfriesshire) and
Gaelic, Irish aimreidh (amrie)
'steep or rugged' (cf. Carrickcamrie in Galloway 'steep or rugged
rock',[10]). Stayamrie, the
doubly steep rock!
Craig of Bohun : Yet another rocky outcrop,
near the
source of
the Connel Burn, carries the name Craig of Bohun, in honour perhaps of
Sir Henry de Bohun, Bruce's first victim at Bannockburn [4]. Gaelic bothan 'hut, booth, tent'
on the banks of Gaelic connel (connyr ,c. 1590) conghair
'uproar' may be more likely.
Robert Guthrie
[1] George McMichael 'Notes on the
Way through Ayrshire'' (c.1890)
[2] Robert Guthrie, SPNS
Newsletter 9, Autumn 2000 and www.new-cumnock.co.uk.
[3] Blind Harry 'Wallace' (c. 1477)
[4] Hugh Lorimer 'A Corner of Old
Strathclyde' (1951)
[5] Dr. Fiona Watson 'A Report
into Sir William Wallace's connections with Ayrshire' (1999)
[6] William Hamilton 'Blind
Harry's Wallace' (1722)*
[7] Captain Armstrong's Map of
Ayrshire (1775)
[8] Rev. Matthew Kirkland 'New
Statistical Account' (1838)
[9] John Barbour 'The Bruce'
(c.1375)
[10] Sir Herbert Maxwell 'The
place-names of Galloway' (1930)
* The Luath Press Edition 1998 contains a map showing some 83 Wallace
place-names.
Place-names
on
the (online) map : National Library of Scotland maps, 1560-1928.
I'm glad to have this opportunity in the Newsletter to update members
about the National Library of Scotland's maps websites. These have
expanded over the last couple of years now to include 3,700 maps of
Scotland from the earliest 16th century mapping through to the 1920s.
All the images are in colour, and zoomable to high resolutions, to
reveal place-names and other topographic features. Even for those
without convenient Internet access, the new images allow much clearer
printouts (in greyscale or colour) to be made of all maps - for a
modest charge - and sent out by post. We can also supply customised
images or printouts of maps for publications.
As many toponymic researchers know well, historical maps are useful not
only in showing the form of place-names through time, but also in
helping to understand many of their meanings, especially when related
to the landscape. Our earliest mapping of Scotland from an original
survey that survives is by Timothy Pont in the late 16th century, and
our Pont maps website contains a large quantity of supporting
information about the maps as well as images of all the maps
themselves. This year we have added fully searchable transcriptions
from 100 pages of the 'Topographical Notices of Scotland'
(Adv.MS.34.2.8), thought to derive from Pont, and these are packed with
place-names for areas often not covered by his manuscript maps. We are
also continuing to gather and monitor the various place-name listings
and gazetteers being compiled by several researchers of particular Pont
maps, with the hope that one day we may have a comprehensive 'Pont
gazetteer'. Pont's work was supplemented by Robert and James Gordon in
the 1630s and 1640s, who drafted over 60 manuscript maps, and used by
Blaeu for the first atlas of Scotland (1654) with 46 engraved regional
maps of Scotland. Later this year we hope to add fully searchable
transcriptions from the Latin text of Blaeu's atlas, never hitherto
translated into English, and again most valuable for its toponymic
information.
Later county maps were created by John Adair in the 1680s, and in
greater detail by a range of surveyors a century later, some of whose
work was incorporated in John Thomson's magnificent Atlas of Scotland
(1832). In parallel, there were also more detailed town plans surveyed,
showing names of streets and urban areas, for many towns only from the
late 18th-early 19th century, with John Wood's Town Atlas (1828)
including 48 towns. Although at present we have not scanned the first
Ordnance Survey mapping of Scotland from the 1840s at the 6" and 25" to
the mile scales, a range of other Ordnance Survey mapping has now been
scanned. This includes 1,900 large-scale town plans covering 62 towns
(1847-1895), the most detailed ever surveyed by Ordnance Survey, and
one-inch to the mile mapping in the 1890s and the 1930s covering all of
Scotland. Amongst other things, these maps are valuable in showing
parish boundaries through time, particularly before and after the major
local government changes in the 1890s.
Last but not least, the site includes marine charts of Scotland from
1580-1850, particularly useful for names in coastal and island areas.
This autumn we have added 71 Admiralty Charts (1795-1904) to these,
most dating from the 1830s and 1840s, and therefore valuable in
pre-dating the Ordnance Survey topographic mapping for northern
Scotland.
I hope this brief message encourages members to view these maps, online
at http://www.nls.uk/maps
or in person. Please contact us at the addresses below for more
information.
Chris Fleet
Map Library
National Library of Scotland
33 Salisbury Place,
Edinburgh, EH9 1SL
Scotland.
Tel: 0131 466 3813 (direct dial), 0131 226 4531 x 3412 (operator)
Fax: 0131 466 3812
Email: maps@nls.uk
Gaelic Meanings of Strathspey Names
The Grantown Museum & Heritage Trust has
produced two
booklets,
each of which lists all the Gaelic names on the local O.S. Explorer
maps 418 and 419, and offers translations for most of them. Gaelic
speaker Mr Neil Campbell (native of Harris), and SPNS member Iain Hay,
worked together to produce the booklets. As Iain explains, accurate
translations are often difficult to achieve, due to "(map)
mis-spellings, lack of knowing the Strathspey dialect of Gaelic, and
not knowing the reason or the story for a name". He gives the example
of Delliefure, which has been alternatively suggested as cold dell (fuar
= 'cold'), hellish cold (suggested by an Islay Gaelic speaker), or more
likely oat-growing field (dail a' phuir).
The result of their labours is a fascinating collection, and members
with Gaelic may care to suggest translations for the few left with only
a ? - try for example Glen Mazeran, Dulnain, Farclas, Balnacruie, or
Drumagrain. The two booklets can be obtained from the Curator, Grantown
Museum, Burnfield House, Grantown-on-Spey, PH26 3HH, or on-line from
Curator, <molly.duckett
@btinternet.com>, at a cost of 50p each, plus 50p for
postage (for one or both).
Peter Drummond
Place-names of Beauly and Strathglass
Some of the fruits of the AHRB (Arts and Humanities Research Board)-funded one year project (2000-2001) looking at the place-names of south-east Inverness-shire are now available. A long article by Barbara Crawford and Simon Taylor in the most recent Northern Scotland (23, 1-76), entitled 'The Southern Frontier of Norse Settlement in North Scotland: Place-Names and History' sets out the data and conclusions regarding the central focus of the project. However, in order to evaluate the few place-names of possible Norse origin, the Project collected and analysed many names from the drainage system of the River Beauly or Forn and its chief tributaries, the Glass, the Farrar and the Cannich i.e. the parishes of Kilmorack, Kiltarlity and Convinth, and the western part of the parish of Kirkhill. Thus the results of the research also form the basis for a complete place-name survey of an area which had hitherto received little serious attention from place-name scholars. All the place-names collected and analysed have been entered into the Scottish Place-Name Database, and will be published in book-form, with an extensive introduction. A draft text of this book, supplemented with colour photographs taken by Mary MacDonald, is also available on the project's website http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/resources/beauly, which is now accessible.
A longer version of the paper on the Fife place-name Pusk
given by Carole Hough at the Society's Glasgow conference in November
2002 has been published in the journal English Studies, 83 (2002),
377-390, under the title 'Onomastic evidence for an Anglo-Saxon animal
name: OE *pur "male lamb"'. Hough discusses Pusk and other place-names
containing the Old English word pur, previously taken to refer to a
wading bird such as the bittern or dunlin. In combination with Old
English wic 'specialized farm', the second element of Pusk, a reference
to a wild bird seems unlikely, and the paper presents linguistic
evidence in support of an alternative interpretation 'male lamb'.
The Edinburgh Companion
to
Scots, edited
by John Corbett, J. Derrick McClure and Jane Stuart-Smith (Edinburgh,
2003), contains two chapters of direct interest to SPNS members.
Chapter 2 'Scottish Place-names' is by Maggie Scott, a former committee
member, while Chapter 3 'Scottish Surnames' is a longer version of a
paper given by Carole Hough at the Society's Dunfermline conference in
May 2002. Topics covered in other chapters are 'A Brief History of
Scots', 'Studying Scots Vocabulary', 'Syntax and Discourse in Modern
Scots', 'The Phonology of Modern Urban Scots', 'The Phonology of Older
Scots', 'Corpus-based Study of Older Scots Grammar and Lexis', 'The
Language of Older Scots Poetry', 'The Language of Modern Scots Poetry',
'The Scots Language Abroad' and 'Language Planning and Modern Scots'.
The book is published by Edinburgh University Press, and retails at
£16.99 (paperback).
Historians as well as name scholars will be interested in an article by
Henry Gough-Cooper entitled Kentigern
and Gonothigernus: a Scottish saint and a Gaulish bishop identified,
published in issue
6 (Spring 2003) of the free online journal The
Heroic Age: Taking as his starting point the suggestion
outlined in John Morris's Arthurian Sources Vol. 3
(Chichester, 1995), pp.85-86, that St Kentigern, the patron saint of
Glasgow, is to be identified with Gonothigernus, Bishop of Senlis
c.549x573, Gough-Cooper sets out to investigate the onomastic and other
evidence relating to such a possibility. He begins by discussing
historical and documentary sources for both Gonothigernus and
Kentigern, and then presents a brief summary of archaeological evidence
for trading links between Britain and Gaul during the late sixth and
seventh centuries before moving on to the onomastic data which forms
the main focus of the article. The chronological and geographical
distribution of personal names in -tigern are
examined in detail
alongside place-names and church dedications, with the evidence clearly
set out in the form of tables and appendices. Although ultimately
inconclusive, this is a useful review of the material which succeeds in
demonstrating that there is no compelling argument against the
identification, and fairly strong circumstantial evidence in its
favour. The article has been carefully researched, and is supported by
an extensive bibliography. A small problem is that references are
difficult to follow up due to the omission of page numbers from
citations within the text, but this is presumably attributable to the
journal editors rather than to the author. The approach is scholarly
and responsible, acknowledging and indeed drawing attention to the
limitations of the extant evidence, and the article is warmly
recommended to SPNS members.
Carole Hough
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Compiled by Simon Taylor (with help from Carole Hough).
Breeze, Andrew, 2002, 'Brittonic place-names from south-west Scotland,
part 3: Vindogara, Elvan Water, "Monedamdereg", Troquhain and
Tarelgin', Transactions of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural
History and Antiquarian Society, 76, 107-112.
Breeze, Andrew, 2002, 'Some Celtic place-names of Scotland, including
Tain, Cadzow, Cockleroy and Prenderguest', Scottish Language, 21, 27-42.
Breeze, Andrew, 2003, 'St Kentigern and Loquhariot, Lothian', Innes
Review 54 (Spring), 103-107.
Cox, Richard A. V., 2002, 'Notes on the Question of the Development of
Old Norse bólstaðr in Hebridean Nomenclature',
Nomina 25,
13-28.
Cox, Richard A. V., 2002, 'The Gaelic Place-Names of Carloway, Isle of
Lewis: Their Structure and Significance' (Dublin Institute for Advanced
Studies).
Crawford, Barbara E., and Taylor, Simon, 2003, 'The Southern Frontier
of Norse Settlement in North Scotland: Place-Names and History',
Northern Scotland 23, 1-76. [place-names of Strathglass and Beauly,
Inverness-shire - see article above].
Hough, Carole, 2002, 'Onomastic Evidence for an Anglo-Saxon Animal
Name: OE *pur 'male lamb', English Studies 83 (no. 5, November 2002).
377-390 [includes discussion of Pusk, Leuchars parish, Fife - see
article above].
Hough, Carole, 2003, 'Larkhall in Lanarkshire and related place-names',
Notes and Queries, 50, 1-3.
Nicolaisen, W. F. H., 2002, 'Ortsnamen als Zeugnisse der
Siedlungsgeschichte Nordost-Schottlands' ['Place-names as evidence of
the settlement history of north-east Scotland'], Namenkundliche
Informationen, 81/82, 179-189 [English abstract].
Nicolaisen, W. F. H., 2003, 'Orkneyinseln. I: Onomastics', in
Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde, 2nd edn, edited by H.
Beck, D. Geuenich and H. Steuer, vol. 22 (Berlin and New York: Walter
de Gruyter), 214-215.
Nicolaisen, W. F. H., 2003, 'Orts- und Hofnamen. III. Grossbritannien
und Inseln. 15: Scotland', in Reallexikon der Germanischen
Altertumskunde, 2nd edn, edited by H. Beck, D. Geuenich and H. Steuer,
vol. 22 (Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter), 300-302.
Room, Adrian, 2003, 'The Penguin Dictionary of British Place Names'
(London).
Taylor, Simon, 2002, 'The Element sliabh and the Rhinns of Galloway: or
Place-Names and History: a Case Study', History Scotland vol. 2 no. 6
(Nov./Dec.), 49-52.
Taylor, Simon, 2003, 'Lickerstane: meanings and myths', History
Scotland vol. 3 no. 2 (March/April), 49-52.
Wilkinson, John Garth, 2002, 'Deep Thoughts on the Devon, and a Fresh
Look at the Nith', Nomina 25, 139-145.
Place Names and Personal Names
At the AGM of the Scottish Place-Name Society, held in
Lerwick
in
April 2003, I proposed that the Society give consideration to amending
its objects to include the study of Scottish personal names within its
remit. I made this plea originally when arrangements for the
establishment of a Scottish Place-Name Society were first under
discussion. On that occasion the plea was unsuccessful. However, I
believe that the arguments in favour of including both place names and
personal names remain cogent, and that now is the appropriate time to
reconsider the suggestion.
I can only guess why the initial proposal did not find favour. There
may have been a feeling that it was necessary to be single-minded and
strongly focused if the new venture was to be successful. In this
context the inclusion of personal names may have been seen as a
distraction from the main object of the initiative and the main
interest of its promoters: the study of Scottish place names. There may
also have been a concern that the fledgling society might find itself
overwhelmed by legions of genealogists with a very different agenda.
The Scottish Place-Name Society is now well established, and has proved
an outstanding success, not least thanks to the energy and foresight of
its founding members and committee. It holds regular conferences,
publishes newsletters and has attracted a membership from all over
Scotland. If there was ever anything to fear from extending the ambit
of the Society to cover personal names, which I would doubt, there is
certainly nothing to fear now. On the contrary, there is much to gain.
The two disciplines are sufficiently close to be regularly combined as
complementary, as, for example, in the Society for Name Studies in
Britain and Ireland and the Society for Name Studies in Scandinavia.
Although the main thrust of the former is towards the study of place
names, it also covers personal names at its conferences and in its
journal Nomina. The Society for Name Studies in Scandinavia, known as
NORNA, likewise covers both place and personal names.
Although much remains to be done, the study of Scottish place names has
been well served, and the discipline firmly established, by a
succession of scholars from W. J. Watson onwards. The situation is
different as regards personal name study, covering forenames, bynames
and surnames. Despite George Black's magisterial Surnames of
Scotland, and local studies such as Gregor Lamb's Orkney
Family Names
(2003), it still remains a Cinderella discipline. There is nothing, for
example, to compare to George Redmond's recent work on English
surnames, founded on much local research, or the Norsk
personnamn-leksikon. A number of individual studies, such as
Gillian Fellows-Jensen on "Some Orkney Personal Names" in The
Viking Age in Caithness, Orkney and the North Atlantic,
Hermann Pálsson on "The name Somhairle and its clan" in So
meny people longages and tonges, and, long ago, Alexander
Macbain on "Early Highland Personal Names" in the Transactions
of the Gaelic Society of Inverness show what might be
achieved. Geoffrey Barrow's Anglo-Norman Era in Scottish
History illustrates the advantages of enlisting both personal
names and place names in the service of history.
It seemed appropriate to raise the matter again in Lerwick on the
occasion of the very successful joint conference - Cultural
Contacts in the North Atlantic Region -
described elsewhere in this Newsletter. Many members of the Scottish
Place-Name Society also have an interest in personal names, both in
conjunction with place names, such as Bo'ness, Maxpoffle and Cyderhall
(Berewald, Maccus and Sigurd respectively), and on their own account.
It makes sense for the Society to take personal names under its wing.
If that does not happen, the serious study of Scottish personal names
will continue to languish.
David Sellar
Kilmurdie: another twist in the tail.
Kilmurdie appears on OS, as well as earlier maps, as the
name
of a
bulge in the arable fields a little over 1 km WSW of North Berwick Law,
East Lothian. It is known as the site of 19th century finds of cist
burials and aerial photographs show a complex oval enclosure. However,
the name from earliest maps onward has the superficial appearance of a cill
Muiredich, 'church of Muiredach'.
Then Prof Geoffrey Barrow found Carmurdac in the 13th century records
of Lanercost Priory, Cumberland, clearly referring to this site, and
inviting interpretation as a caer, or defended settlement, perhaps of
someone called Morthec,
a name that appears in a Cumbric-name milieu in Jocelin's 12th century
Life of St Kentigern. But recently Prof Barrow has found a 12th century
reference in the church records of St Andrews, 'ad quartam
Murediches'. This suggests that the initial syllable of Carmurdac,
followed by a common Gaelic personal name, is the cearamh ('quarter')
that appears in many names such as Kirriemuir ('Mary's quarter').
Another reference in the same record is consistent with the theory that
Camptoun (renamed by the landowner in the 19th century from
Captainhead) near Drem derives from Gaelic coitchionn,
common grazing land.
Bill Patterson (with thanks to Simon Taylor
for
passing on the
results of Prof Barrow's investigations - and of course to Prof Barrow
for enlightening us on this intriguing place-name and evidence of
Gaelic speakers in this corner of East Lothian nearest to Fife.)
Culdee Monks and
Priests
and Bachalls
Book Reviews:
John MacQueen: Place Names in
the
Rhinns of Galloway and Luce Valley
William J Watson: Scottish
Place-Name
Papers
Stuart Harris: The Place Names of
Edinburgh: Their Origin and History
David Dorward: The Glens of
Angus:
Names, Places and People
CULDEE MONKS AND PRIESTS, AND BACHALLS
Pit- names are associated
with
Culdee Houses
The Culdees are known to have used the word pit,
referring to
a monk's portion of food, as early as the 9th century. This fact is not
well known, maybe because Watson relegates it to a footnote (p408). It
is much better known that several Pit- names have
specifics relating to the early church (Watson p267). Pittentagart,
Pettincleroch, Pitliver
and Pitbauchlie
are the portions of the priest, cleric, (holy) book, and crozier. These
early church related Pit- names occur near to the major
centres of the early church, as noted by Simon Taylor (1994). I would
add that Pit- names are centred round Culdee
churches. Also, I think that Pittendreich is Pet-an-druach
= portion of the druid (priest). To test these beliefs, I am looking
for Pit- names involving priests, monks, and
croziers, especially those near important centres of the Culdee church.
Pittendreich = Pet-an-druach
= portion of the druid (priest)
Though it is the most common of all Pit- names, Pittendreich
has only eleven occurrences. Four of them are close to Culdee churches:
Brechin, Loch Leven, Monymusk and St Andrews. Four of the rest are
within a few miles of sites that, according to Easson, are arguably
linked to the Culdees: Turriff, Deer, Blairgowrie, and Dunblane. The
three awkward cases are the Pittendreichs near
Lundie,
Edinburgh and Elgin. In this note I will try to link those at Lundie
and Edinburgh to the early church. I have no link for Pittendreich
Elgin as yet.
Pittendreich Lundie is near Balbeuchlie
Pittendreich Lundie is the centre of a
cluster of Pit-
names, but there is no obvious link with the Culdees, the nearest
Culdee House being at Monifieth, a rather distant 20 km to the east.
Perhaps the Culdees had a presence nearer to Lundie, say at
Strathmartine. Perhaps it was their bachall
(crozier) that was kept at Balbeuchlie (5km east of
Pittendreich). Bachalls
are generally connected with important early religious centres, such as
Lismore, Applecross and Dunfermline. Watson says that the bachall
of Lismore was in the keeping of John Mac Maol-Muire, Standard Bearer
of the Earls of Argyll. The Scrimgeours of Balbeuchlie
were Constables of Dundee, and Standard Bearers to the king. In all
probability, they once kept a bachall.
The Scrimgeour banner had "ane crukit swerd, in maner of ane huke"
(Boece, quoted by Black 1999). The word "huke" is Middle English for a
shepherd's crook, or bishop's crozier. A probable site for the early
church associated with Balbeuchlie is
Strathmartine, about 3 km southeast.
Pittendreich Edinburgh is
near Barbachlaw
The -bachall name Barbachlaw is
only 8km to the northeast of Pittendreich
Edinburgh. Both these lands became the property of Holyrood, an
Augustinian Abbey that was 8.5 km north of Pittendreich.
As it is known that most Culdee Houses became Augustinian, it is quite
possible that Holyrood also fell heir to some Culdee lands, and this might
include Pittendreich and Barbachlaw.
Watson believed that Barbachlaw was identifiable
with Inveresc minor, which would link to Dunfermline, and hence to the
early church (Taylor 1994).
Pitmenzies = Pet+mainches
= Nun's portion
There is a certain asymmetry in Pit- and Bal-
names. Though Bal- names generally outnumber Pit-
names, even in Pit-land, there are no Ballendreichs
anywhere in Scotland. On the other hand, Gaelic manach (= monk) occurs
quite often in Scots place names, but the combination Pit+manach
is not mentioned anywhere. Care is required, however. For example, Balmenach
(Midtown) and Balmanach (monk town) are often
confused. Baile a' Mhanaich (Benbecula) is Gaelic
for monk's stead, rendered Balivanich in modern English. Note that the
Gaelic word manach may appear as 'vanich' when
Englished, and this might be written 'wanich' in old charters. I
believe that Pitmenzies Abernethy has this meaning.
Simon Taylor (1996) says that this is probably Pethwnegus
1201 x 14, 'Angus's estate'. Rather than Peth-angus,
I would suggest Peth-mangus, where mangus
may be derived from the Old Irish manach =
monk or mainches = nun. Thus Pitmenzies
is Pet-mainches = nun's portion. The monks in
question are Culdees of course.
Balmanno Abernethy and Balmungie
St Andrews
Two previously unidentified Pit- names may have the
same root, both close to Culdee centres. In the parish of St Andrews
Fife, Pethvwenethe (c. 1170) is possibly the Balleminigi
of the Terrier list. Balleminigi may be the
hometown of Robert Balmanauch, who was a bailie in Crail in 1361 (see
Black 1999). In turn, this may be the Balmungzie in
the Retours, and the Balmungo of the present day (Simon Taylor 1994).
Near the Culdee centre at Abernethy there is a Balmanno.
This may be the old Petyman (1214 Lib. Arbroath).
Against this, Black (1999) mentions a Huwe de Balmenaghe
of the county of Perth in 1296.
Perhaps Balmanno Abernethy was Balmeanach
(Middletown) after all. There is another Balmanno
in Kincardine. And there is another Balmungie, near
to Rosemarkie, in Ross. These Balmannos and Balmungies
are all close to clusters of Pit- names, and
because of this I would expect the monks to be Culdees. Most authors
prefer other meanings for Balmungo, either from the
personal name Mungo, or from rather unlikely
botanical species. These meanings might well be true. However, in the
particular case of Balmungie
Ross it should be borne in mind that Callachy Hill is only 1 km away.
It seems more likely that this pair of names involves monks and nuns.
Final Remarks
The existence of strong concentrations of Pit-
names in the
immediate neighbourhood of Culdee Houses was implicit in Simon Taylor's
1994 article. Because there are only four recognised Pit-priest
names, it is noteworthy if a Pit-priest name lies
close to a point of interest. Bachall names are
also rare. So they too are useful indicators of important early church
centres. Watson's Barnbauchlie (Dumfries) 'height
of the crozier' may be false, however. I might expect to see a buchaille
'shepherd' at the top of a hill, rather than a crozier.
On
the other hand, Watson might be right. Close by there is Arnmannoch
(Gaelic earrann nam manach), portion of the monk.
It may also be relevant that the Céli Dé sometimes used "manach" to mean a tenant of church-lands. In 1468, Thomas Balmannoch was a tenant of the abbot of Inchcolm, in the lands known as Balmanno Beath. There was a hermitage of Culdees on Inchcolm until the formation of an Augustinian monastery in 1123.
SPNS member Mr. J.G. Pittendrigh of Geneva has an
internet
document containing a summary of the main proposed meanings of Pittendreich,
together with a list of Pittendreich place names, location map, map
coordinates and references. The name of his site is "Pettindreich
Pittendrigh Exchange".
A search engine should locate it using the key words Pittendrigh
Exchange.
References
Black, GF. (1999 ed). The Surnames
of
Scotland, Birlinn, Edinburgh.
Easson, D.E. Medieval Religious
Houses,
Scotland, With an Appendix on the Houses in the Isle of Man,
Longmans Green, London.
Taylor, S. (1994). Some Early
Scottish
Place-Names and Queen Margaret, Scottish Language, 13, pp1-17.
Taylor, S. (1996). Review of Angus Watson's
1995
book: The Ochils: Placenames, History, Tradition.
Nomina, 19, pp115-120.
Watson, W.J. (1986 ed.). The History
of
Celtic Place-Names of Scotland, Birlinn, Edinburgh.
BOOK REVIEWS
This is a well produced book, 110 pages in length, with attractive covers featuring colour photos of the locality, and a set of crisp black-and-white photos in mid-book. The typeface is easy to read and the names under consideration are picked out in bold. The book is not laid out in the dry dictionary style adopted by books of Scottish place-names that are aimed at tourist shops, but has chapters that follow a theme, picking up and inspecting place-names like pebbles as it explores its by-ways.
He starts with Stranraer, the local centre of human gravity, and its environs: first its street-names then its roads, moving out to rural names swallowed up by the town's growth, and of course the Stranraer name itself - which he suggests is struthan reamhar, 'fat (or thick) stream-place'. He points out that on Pont's map the Town Burn, the main stream and source of the name, is irregularly-shaped and forms intermittent lochans, long since drained by canalisation, and that this may be the origin of the adjective in the name. He also quotes an Irish idiom which suggests that fat could refer to the bounty of fish to be had there, as another possible shade to the place-name meaning. My only surprise is that he doesn't deal with J B Johnston's proposal that the old version of Stronerawar pointed at sron reamhar, 'thick nose or headland'. Johnston's book is often used lazily by the tourist books mentioned, and elsewhere MacQueen often outlines other suggestions for names - for instance from Maxwell's Place-names of Galloway, or the contemporaneous Daphne Brooke - and agrees or argues with them.
The core of the book, occupying half its pages, are his two chapters on Gaelic names. In this he does more than simply translate or explain the names, but works to date them in relation to the earliest settlements from Ireland before 500 AD, the influence of the early Irish Church in the Age of the Saints, and the second major wave of settlement post 900 AD. His methodology here is faultless: he considers the meanings suggested both in their linguistic context, and as to how apt they are in the landscape and farming practices of the time. For instance he traces Losset back to losaid, literally 'a kneading trough to prepare bread', but picks up on its use in nearby Ireland for a field fertile enough to produce the wherewithal for the dough, and its consequent use in several place-names both sides of the Irish Sea.
The book's essential structure is geological - that is, it starts at the most recent names (English and Scots) - and bores down through the linguistic strata, particularly the thick beds of Gaelic names, into Norse and British names. This makes for an absorbing read, for even a stranger to the Rhinns, knowing but a handful of the names, can see where the narrative is taking us yet is keen to turn the next textual corner. John MacQueen's knowledge of place-name material, studies and methodology of recent decades - particularly Bill Nicolaisen's work - and his own detailed local knowledge of the area, have fused to produce a very fine work on the place-names of our south-westernmost corner.
Peter Drummond
Watson's writings are principally known to members of the Society in the well-established History of the Celtic Place-Names of Scotland (1926) and his earlier Place-Names of Ross and Cromarty (1904). These have an invaluable place on our bookshelves, and have served as reference works for all students of Scottish place-names. However, Watson was an indefatigable contributor of scholarly articles to the learned societies and journals of his day. These were mostly societies with a Celtic or Northern slant, such as the Celtic Review, the Inverness Scientific Society and Field Club, and the Gaelic Society of Inverness.
This book includes not only his articles in these journals, but a series of six Topographical Varia which were published in the Celtic Review in the years 1908-13. This journal was edited by Elizabeth Carmichael, who became the second Mrs W J Watson in 1906. Copies of the Celtic Review are now rare, and it is good indeed to see these articles, now a century old, in print once again. Here, Watson analyses a number of Celtic elements which gave contemporary scholars so many problems - terms like Old Welsh tros 'across', O.lr esc 'water', Old Celtic céto-n 'wood' (W.coed), O.lr fas, foss 'residence', and many others. Equally useful are the district surveys of such areas as Strathdearn, Breadalbane and the Lyon Basin where Gaelic has now died out, but where Watson was able to pick up local pronunciations from what was then a vigorous Gaelic-speaking population. In addition, his predilection for oral tradition, and it immeasurable value to the onomastic record, is evident on virtually every page.
The collection includes an appreciation, 'In Praise of William J Watson', by Prof. Bill Nicolaisen, which reviews his life and work. He reminds us that although Watson's scholarship was not confined to onomastics, in every sphere of study, whether of Celtic literature, language, education or archaeology, 'Watson's fascination with name studies would not be denied, whatever the topic' (p.21).
The publisher is to be congratulated on producing this
attractive
paperback of Watson's collected articles and reviews. They have, in
many instances, been out of public view for many decades, and it is
extremely useful to have them now accessible in such a compact and
user-friendly format.
I.A.F
Many of our readers will possess a copy of the original hardback edition of this book, first published in 1996 by Gordon Wright Publishing, Edinburgh. This paperback edition is a welcome development, as the Gordon Wright publication was originally priced at £40, and despite being aimed at the general reader, must surely have been a considerable investment for the average book-buyer.
Harris's work is arranged alphabetically, with a lengthy
introduction (pps. 9-42.) This is particularly useful in that it deals
with the terminology associated with the complex urban development of
Edinburgh, focussing on the estates, farming names, mills, and the
burgh names which form such an important part of the city's
nomenclature. Since Harris was on the staff of the now-defunct City
Architect's Office (as Senior Depute City Architect) he was in a unique
position to deal with the source material for the volume, as many of
the street-names have their origins in the rapid expansion of the New
Town and the many suburban developments of the nineteenth century.
If the entries for some of the major suburbs lack academic rigour, this
is more than compensated for by the wealth of detail and comprehensive
treatment of the street-names, which reveal Harris's intimate knowledge
of his city. This edition will therefore be much more acceptable to the
reader, and no serious student of the city's history can afford to be
without it.
David Dorward: The
Glens of Angus: Names, Places and People, The Pinkfoot Press, Balgavies, Angus, 2001.
ISBN 1 874012 25 3. 160pp. £7.99
The area covered by this book is, basically, the northern part of the County of Angus. It runs from the Perthshire boundary in the west to Mount Battock in the east, and is bounded on the north by the great ridge which runs between Broad Cairn and Mount Keen, on the Aberdeenshire march. This upland zone, which the author defines as 'The Glens of Angus', is of enormous interest from the point of view of the place-names student, since it contains Pictish, Gaelic and Scots place-names, many of which have been considerably altered in spelling since their original coinage.
David Dorward has divided the book into a number of
sections,
beginning with 'The Landscape' which contains a brief account of
geology, vegetation, rivers and lochs, wildlife and habitations. 'The
Languages' outlines the linguistic strata which are explored; 'Angus
Glen by Glen' looks at, amongst other things, land ownership, and 'The
Written Records' contains an account of the documentary material
available to the researcher, the evidence of early maps, and accounts
by early travellers and writers. Among these, the most colourful was by
John Taylor, an Englishman whose comments on the journey from Glen Esk
across the hill to Mar, in 1618, bear repeating: '… the way
so
uneven, stony and full of bogges, quagmires and long heath, that a
dogge with three legs will out-runne a horse with foure.'
The next section (pp32-76) deals with 'Some Interesting Names and the
Stories behind them'. This will prove to be of especial interest to the
general reader, since the well-used principle of 'the story behind the
name' is put to good use. It is here that Dorward includes the snippets
of popular tradition which often enliven publications of this kind. Two
examples will suffice to illustrate this. The name Nathro
in Glen Lethnot, 'dating from before 1462, was borrowed from a nearby
stream, notable for its snake-like course. One would not wish, however,
to discount a queer but persistent old folk-tale in the glen of a white
adder that led its progeny through a holed stone' (p64). Mount
Blair
(p63) was according to popular tradition, the site of a battle between
the Picts (or in some versions, the Danes) and the Scots, perhaps
because Gaelic blàr can mean
'battlefield' as well as
'plain'. There's no historical evidence for this, of course, but folk
tradition of this kind is widely found.
Finally, a gazetteer section takes up the second half of the book. This consists of the place-name, a three-letter contraction for the parish-name, a six-figure OS grid reference, a pronunciation where available, and a brief note on the derivation, giving the elements involved where these are applicable. Inevitably a proportion of the Gaelic derivations must be speculative, which the author admits. However, David Dorward has succeeded in producing a highly readable and user-friendly little volume, for a part of Scotland which is much under-researched as far as place-names are concerned. As such it deserves a good reception from both the general reader and those with a specialised interest in place-names. With attractive line-drawings by the late Colin Gibson, whose work as an illustrator is much regarded in the Angus and Tayside area, this is good value at £7.99.