Update Spring 2002
Update Autumn 2001
Update Spring 2001
Update Autumn 2000
Update 1999
Update, Autumn 1997
Update 1996
The news that our AHRB application for funding for the Scottish Place-Names Database has been unsuccessful comes as a disappointment to those of us who are working in name studies. The current state of the discipline is one which members of the Society find highly frustrating, since the Scottish Place-Name Survey in the School of Scottish Studies (now the Department of Celtic and Scottish Studies of the University of Edinburgh) remains without a full-time post, following your Editor's retirement, though he continues to be an Honorary Fellow. The survey has been supported by the University of Edinburgh since the 1950s. It has shared the fruits of toponymic research with the wider public and has an important archive of placename data, in text and on tape. Unfortunately, these splendid resources are now underexploited.
What can be done to rectify this situation? One of the possibilities is to approach the Scottish Parliament, by raising the profile of Scottish name studies among our parliamentary representatives, and demonstrating the clear need for government funding. After all, states like Norway, Denmark, Finland and Ireland, with populations similar to those of Scotland, have succeeded in funding their Place-Name Surveys adequately, and sometimes generously. There is no reason why Scotland, with its resources and widespread interest in the subject, should not do the same. We may now have a unique opportunity to approach government with a viable package which could have an exciting spin-off in tourism, the "heritage" industries, schools and colleges, local government and many other sectors.
All this, however, requires effort and commitment. The Committee of the SPNS has since its inception been composed largely of people who have fulltime jobs in fields other than name studies, and their work in connection with the Society has been carried out very much on a voluntary basis. The process of creating the right conditions for attracting such funding must be time-consuming, and will require the full support of the membership. It is important that our approach is nonpolitical, and is seen to be so, not only by our members, but by the wider public. We therefore would be delighted to hear from you if you feel you have the time and expertise to further our efforts. The next twelve months could well be crucial to onomastics in Scotland.
We should not forget, however, that the Department of Celtic and Scottish Studies in the University of Edinburgh remains fully committed to support of the Scottish Place-Names Survey, and the senior staff, Professor William Gillies, Professor Donald Meek and Dr Margaret Mackay are continuing to press for advancement of the subject.
SCOTTISH PLACE-NAMES DATABASE
Simon Taylor
As intimated in the last issue of Scottish Place-name News (10), the Carnegie funded Scottish Place-name Database Pilot Project is now complete. It has resulted in a flexible relational database in Microsoft Access, as well as a User Manual, which fully describes the Database, various in-putting strategies, and the rationale behind them. The Database itself at present contains approximately 8000 place-names, with about 13,500 historical forms. These include all the place-names within the pre1975 county of Banff which appear on the OS Pathfinder (1:25000) and OS 6 inch 15` edition, as well as a variety of historical maps going back to Pont's manuscript maps of the 1590s. These were collected by Daibhidh Grannd in the course of his research into the linguistic interaction between Scots and Gaelic in this area. While this valuable collection of place-names generally lacks linguistic analysis, many of the other collections in the Database are to a large extent linked to an Elements Database, which forms part of the overall Database. These other collections include: the parishes of Kilmorack and Kiltarlity and Convinth, Inverness-shire (collected under the auspices of the Arts and Humanities Research Board [AHRB] one-year Beauly and Strathglass Project), which together contain c. 350 place-names; the parishes of Old and New Deer, Aberdeenshire (i.e. the medieval parish of Deer), which together contain c. 450 place-names; the parish of Lesmahagow, Lanarkshire, with c. 100 place-names; and Aberdour, Fife, with c. 50. Most of these have at least one historical form. In addition the Database contains the names, with some basic coordinates such as county, of all c.1300 medieval and modern (pre-1975) civil parishes; and for about half of these National Grid References, early forms and some name analyses have been entered. The Database as it stands will be kept on a machine at the Scottish Place-Name Survey, School of Scottish Studies, George Square, Edinburgh.
The Down-side
So much for the up-side. The downside is that there is now no more money available to do any more work on the Database, to populate it with more data, to put it on the web, or to bulk-load new collections of data into it. From the two Database Days (held at Edinburgh in December 2000 and February 2001) a group of Society members has emerged who are willing to input data from different areas in Scotland. Unfortunately, at the moment, there is no infrastructure which can support this work. I myself am needing to take some time off from Database, and so for the time being I will not be taking on any coordinating role. Also, the lack of funds means that we cannot afford to pay for the computer expertise so vital to the development of the project. Collecting of material can still proceed by volunteers, either by inputting directly into the Database which those who attended the December Database Day have a copy of, or laying out the material in Word, laid out in such a way that it can be automatically fed into the Database (for more details, see below).
The Future
However, this does not mean that the Database project is over. An Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB) bid was put in at the end of May from the School of Scottish Studies to fund a three-year project to move the Database forward in a big way by:
These AHRB grants are notoriously difficult to obtain, but if successful, the new project, which would employ two people full-time for three years, would start in Spring 2001.
If you would like details of how to lay out your place-name material in Word so that at a later date it can be automatically loaded into the Database, please contact Simon Taylor, Department of Medieval History, University, St. Andrews KY16.
Scottish Place-Name Database Pilot Project
The Carnegie-funded Scottish Place-Name Database Pilot Project, managed by the School of Scottish Studies, University of Edinburgh, is now drawing to a close. By the end of March 2001 a Users' Manual will be available which will describe the Database, the thinking behind its structure, and a full discussion of in-putting procedures. The end-product is the result of collaboration between Ed Dee of Computing Services, University of Edinburgh and Simon Taylor, Research Fellow, University of St Andrews, with important contributions from a variety of sources, especially from those who attended the two Place-Name Database Days held at Edinburgh University on 2 Dec 2000 and 17 Feb 2001. Another meeting of those who want to become involved in the inputting of data on a regular basis is planned for 9 June 2001 (venue to be decided). For more information, please contact Simon Taylor, Department of Medieval History, University, St Andrews, KY16 9AL.
Ian Fraser writes: It is now fifty years since the School of Scottish Studies was established in the University of Edinburgh, and with it, the Scottish Place-Name Survey. The first decade of the Survey concentrated on building up an archive of place-name forms of paper slips, with many thousands of hours being spent transferring, by hand, (in ink) the documentary forms from such important Scottish records as the Register of the Great Seal, the Retours, the Origines Parochiales, and many others.
Today, with sophisticated electronic means at our fingertips, we take the labours of half a century ago very much for granted. And labour it certainly was! When Simon Taylor and I made a brief inventory of the archive in February, we were struck by the range of material covered, the care with which it had been transcribed, and the vision of the founders of the School, who had established this core of data.
It is no fault of these early workers if the vision has taken a long time to reach fruition. The optimism of the fifties and sixties was understandable, but the universities drew in their horns and money became tight in the eighties and nineties, and priorities in the School moved from collection and research to teaching, to produce a new generation of ethnologists. However, the establishing of a Scottish Place-Names Database is a very welcome development, and it will, hopefully, bring a new vitality to the study of onomastics. We now deal with data so rapidly that the workers and researchers of 1951 would have regarded such processes as science fiction. Their scholarly vision is one that we must keep very much in our minds in the twenty-first century.
Database day in Edinburgh, details
Scottish Place-Name Data Ltd
This is the name of a new charitable company, set up in June of this year. It will be the legal owner of the Scottish Place-Name Database, and will safeguard the intellectual property rights of all those contributing to the Database. After detailed discussions with copyright experts, and in consultation Dr Maggie Mackay of the School of Scottish Studies, fundholder of the Carnegie award for the development of the Database, the Scottish Place-Name Society Committee decided that this was the best option for putting the Database on a sound legal footing. Copyright issues are looming ever larger, and growing ever more complex, in the world of electronic data, which is why the existence of such a charitable company which can negotiate and hold copyright of diverse material, is so advantageous. The aims (or 'objects' as the Memorandum of Association puts it) for which the Company is established are set out as follows:
'for the benefit of the public and through the creation, maintenance and distribution for the public benefit of a database, to advance and encourage research in and understanding of place-names and their contribution to the languages, history and culture of Scotland.'
The initial signatories of the Memorandum and Articles of Association were Simon Taylor and Doreen Waugh, who are now involved in putting together a board of directors and enlisting subscribers. The intention is to have two types of directors: ex officio and named. The ex officio ones will consist of the office-bearers of the Scottish Place-Name Society and the Head of the School of Scottish Studies, Edinburgh (representing the Scottish Place-Name Survey); while the named ones will be drawn from those who have been actively involved in the development of the database, including members of the SPNSoc. Database Working Group. The subscribers, all named, will be the present members of the SPNSoc. Committee.
Database Day in Edinburgh
Time: Sat. 2 December 10.00 - 17.00.
Place: Appleton Tower, University of Edinburgh (by Potter Row Car Park).
The day has a two-fold purpose:
1) to present and discuss the Scottish Place-Name Database structure;
2) to look at ways in which SPNSociety members can become actively involved in data-collection and inputting.
Several machines with the Database will be available to enable some hands-on experience. Because of this, numbers are restricted. It is primarily aimed at those who are actively working with electronic place-name data, or who would like to be actively involved in the Database Project. There will be a more general presentation and introduction to this whole topic in 2001.
If you are interested in attending this day, please write to Simon Taylor, Dept. of Medieval History, University, St Andrews KY16 9AL.
If you would like, please say briefly what area of Scotland you are especially interested in.
One of the stated aims of the Society is the promotion of what will be an important national project - the Scottish Place-Name Database. The first stage is a Pilot Project in receipt of £26, 000 funding from the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland . This stage is due to finish in March 2000, by which time it is intended to have in place a flexible and user-friendly relational database structure as well as a database manual, which will fully explain the database both to the potential user and data-provider. To this end the Project has contracted myself and Ed Dee, the principal computing officer at Edinburgh University Computing Services and an ackowledged database expert. We will be building on, refining and completing the work started 6 years ago by Terry James and myself. It was decided to take this course because it was becoming increasingly difficult drawing on Terry James' expertise. He is based in Wales at the Royal Commission, and has played a fundamental role in the development of the Database project. He was generously devoting much of his spare time to the Database, but this spare time was getting less and less through a promoted post at work, as well as through illness. The Database Project owes him a deep debt of gratitude.
Ed Dee and I started working together on 20 April, and are meeting on average about once every three weeks. It is hoped to have the first draft of the user's manual ready by late autumn. This will then be put out to various interested parties, including the Scottish Place-Name Society Database working group, which at the moment consists of Dauvit Broun, Ian Fraser, Carole Hough, Anke-Beate Stahl, Doreen Waugh and myself, with Maggie Mackay in her capacity of fund-holder of the Carnegie Project. I would like to take this opportunity to thank this group for its support and input.
There is a considerable amount of exisitng electronic data which can be put into the database once the structural work is complete. This data will include all the medieval and modern parish-names throughout Scotland, with early forms and linguistic analysis of the names. It will also include the full toponymy of several individual parishes, ideally from different areas, representing different parts of the wide spectrum of languages and types of sources we have here in Scotland. By ‘full toponymy' I mean at the least a collection of early forms and linguistic analysis of all the names appearing on the O.S. Pathfinder map.
Another aspect of the database which has been the cause of much time and effort on the part of the Database Working Group is the issue of copyright. Intellectual property rights and copyright concerning all electronic data is fast becoming a legal quagmire. Before the Scottish Place-Name Database acquires any datasets it must be sure that this issue has been fully thought through, and to this end the Project has engaged the services of a copyright lawyer.
Discussions have also been taking place with both the Royal Commission, who are contributing a small sum of money to the Database Project, and Edinburgh University Data Library regarding distribution of the database on the web. These have been put on hold, but as soon as the structural work is complete it is intended to resume discussions.
The Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland has awarded a major grant of £26,650 for work towards the creation of an electronic Scottish Place-Name Database.
This pilot project, linking scholars of several Scottish universities, will support the production of a manual of practical guidance for those inputting data and for potential users of the material and several focussed studies addressing the diversity of settlement patterns, language traditions and sources of eveidence in Scotland.
This work will receive a grant of £750 per annum for three years from the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS).
A full report will appear in the next Newsletter (spring 1998); in the meantime, if you would like more information, please contact Dr Margaret A Mackay, School of Scottish Studies, University of Edinburgh, 27 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9LD (Tel:0131 650 4166, Fax:0131 650 6536).
A working structure of the Data Base now exists, and the first major set of names are being entered: these are of the medieval and modern parishes of Scotland. This work is being done by Simon Taylor, Anderson Research Fellow in early medieval Scottish Sources at St Andrews University.
Developmental work on the structure of a Scottish Place-Name Database started almost three years ago, at a symposium on place-names and computers held by the Northern Ireland Place-Name Project in Belfast. Toponymists from Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England and Denmark exchanged information and experience regarding the computerisation of place-name material. A particularly useful contact was made with Terry James, an archaeologist and information officer of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, who was developing place-name data-bases for various Welsh county place-name surveys. Working closely with Terry, a draft structure suited to the needs of Scottish toponymists was worked out. I was a part-time PhD student at the School of Scottish Studies at the time, and was able to devote only very limited energies to this project. Fortunately, when I was appointed Anderson Research Fellow at the St Andrews Scottish Studies Institute in August 1995, part of my remit was to continue this developmental work. It is now nearing completion. Terry James' input has continued to be invaluable, as has that of the Arts Computing Adviser at the University of St Andrews, Julian Crowe.
The main thinking behind the Database has been to anticipate the needs of as many different potential users as possible: in other words everything you might ever want to know about a place-name, no matter what background or discipline you are coming from! In addition to linguistic, historical and geographical information, it will pull together all the very dispersed and fragmented references to place-names and placename elements in both published and unpublished sources. The Foxpro relational database programme will also enable the user to question the data in a wide variety of ways, and to print out distribution maps of any element or combination of elements.
So the structure is almost ready; but the greatest work is still to come: the inputting of data. This will be an enormous task, and this task will need major, long-term funding. It will also require the co-operation of individuals and groups working throughout Scotland on a voluntary basis.