The Scottish Place-Name Survey is based at the School of Scottish Studies, University of Edinburgh. It is involved in many aspects of place-name research and teaching, and has an extensive place-name library and archive.
Spring 2002
Autumn 1998
Spring 1998
An Institute for the Languages of Scotland?
The Scottish Place-Name Survey is one of the partners in conducting a feasibility study funded by the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland to examine the proposed establishment of an Institute for the Languages of Scotland. Part of the remit of such an institute would be the provision of resources for place and personal name studies.
Simon Taylor writes:
On 12 November 2001 the following question was put in the Scottish Parliament by Michael Russell MSP (SNP Shadow Minister for Children and Education) to Allan Wilson, then Deputy Minister for Sport, Culture and the Arts:
Index Heading: Education Department.
Research Funding
Michael Russell (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to prevent any cutback to the activity of the Scottish Place-Names Survey at Edinburgh University which may result from the current financial position of the survey.
(S1W-19108)
Allan Wilson: The funding of the Scottish Place-Names Survey is a matter for the University of Edinburgh.
When this was brought to my attention I wrote to Mike Russell thanking him for bringing the matter up in the Scottish Parliament, informing him about the Scottish Place-Name Society, as well as mentioning the proposed Institute for the Languages of Scotland. I received a reply from him dated 29 November reiterating his concern about the uncertainty of the Scottish Place-Name Survey's long-term funding, and about the apparently complete lack of interest in the subject by the (by this time former) Minister. Russell had written to him, but is still awaiting a reply from the new Minister for Sport, Culture and the Arts, Lord Watson. Russell had also taken up the matter with Lord Sutherland, Principal of Edinburgh University, who indicated some concern at the Executive's view that it does not need direct funding, even for a project of this national importance, and despite the different attitude taken by the Governments of other countries.
The situation regarding Scottish Place-Names has deteriorated even further since Mike Russell's parliamentary question, as at the beginning of December 2001 it was learnt that the School of Scottish Studies (now the Department of Celtic and Scottish Studies) Arts and Humanities Research Board Resource Enhancement grant for the next phase of the Scottish Place-Name Database, to be based at the Scottish Place-Name Survey, had been unsuccessful. This would have at least ensured concentrated place-name research and development activity by two full-time researchers for the next three years. As it is, there is now no one employed to run the Survey, although Ian Fraser, as an Honorary Fellow of the new Department, is continuing on a part-time, unpaid basis to hold the fort.
On 12 February Dr Dauvit Broun, Department of Scottish History, Glasgow University, Dr Maggie Mackay, Department of Celtic and Scottish Studies, Edinburgh University, and myself met with Mike Russell and his Parliamentary Assistant Alasdair Allan, to discuss the possibility of a campaign to draw attention to the woeful state of place-name studies in Scotland, both in absolute terms and in comparison with almost every other country in northern Europe. Watch this space for more information.
Ian Fraser, Director of the Survey, writes: Over the years, the Survey has accumulated a number of collections from members of the public who have worked in various parts of Scotland. Many of these have involved a great deal of research, mostly covering small areas, or even individual parishes. It is often the case that these researchers have access to specialised information in the form of manuscript collections in local libraries, and a number of them have included place-names gleaned from local informants, such as farmers, fishermen and others who are closely involved with the land and the coast. This is a small selection of these collections held by the Survey:
1 The Field Names of the former parish of Melrose, arranged by John Gilbert. This was completed by members of the Melrose Historical Association in 1980-83, and covers 51 forms. Sources for early forms of the farm-names include the cartulary of Melrose Abbey (Melrose Liber) and the Records of the Regality of Melrose (Melrose Recs.)
2 The Field Names of the parish of Cockburnspath BWK, by Gail Christey. This is a typed MS of 95pp., and includes transcriptions of tape recordings made from informants on names in the parish (1987.) An O.S. 1:25,000 map is included.
3 A Study of some of the Place-Names in the Caddon Valley SLK, by Iona MacCuish. This was a student vacation project completed in 1980, and consists of settlement names, topographic names, and a number of stories relating to names in the area, such as Moses' Well and Merlin's Cleugh.
4 Ainmean-Aite ann am Baranachd Bhaile nan ceard (Place-Names in the Barony of Balnaguard PER) by Sylvia M Robertson. This is unusual in that it is a project written in Gaelic, for the Certificate of Sixth Year Studies. Perthshire is not particularly well covered by place-name studies, and this was a nice collection of local names, backed up by recordings from informants, and including 6" O.S. map copies, as well as a copy of a 1755 plan of the area from the Charter Room of Blair Castle. In longhand, with xeroxed map copies.
5 A Collection of Field Names and Minor Names from East Lothian by David Sydeserff, 1996-98. This is a massive piece of careful investigation, listing field-names from a wide variety of sources, including Sasines, 18th- and 19th-century maps and plans, and contemporary newspaper sources. Includes material on Haddington street-names, 'lost' names, duplicated names and much more. In longhand, with many farm plans in line drawings.
Anyone wishing to consult any of the above, please contact Ian Fraser at the School of Scottish Studies, 27 George Square, Edinburgh University, EH8 9LD or phone him on 0131 650 4162/4161.
Spring 1998.
In this the first of a regular column about the activities and holdings of the Survey, its Director, Ian Fraser (also Convenor of the Scottish Place-Name Society) wrote:
Student Projects on Place-Names
As part of the Scottish Ethnology teaching programme in the School of Scottish Studies, undergraduates are required to study a number of onomastic topics. This begins in the first year (SE1), which normally consists of up to 120 students, many of whom are U.S. students on their junior year abroad, as well as ERASMUS students from Germany, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Spain and France. The class receives a short introductory course on the theory and methods involved in name studies, including a brief introduction to Scottish topography. Scottish Ethnology 2 students receive lectures on place-names on selected parts of Scotland as part of the case-studies which are involved in the teaching course. Over the past few years this has involved Easter Ross, Lothian, Argyll, Perthshire and the Western Isles.
Every second session I teach an honours class in Onomastics, involving 18 hours of lectures, plus weekly tutorials, to give students a more thorough grounding in the subject. This usually involves an in-depth study by individual students on an approved place-name topic, sometimes on a generic theme, but more usually on a regional basis, at parish level. Students have found this honours option course very attractive, and numbers usually range from 8 to 12 in any given year. It is also attended by post-graduate students, usually those who are studying narrative, music or custom and belief.
As part of the honours degree in Scottish Ethnology, students are required to complete a MS dissertation on any topic covered by the honours options which they have taken, and over the past few years a number have chosen to investigate a place-name topic. These are listed below.
1992: James R. Wardell, A Study of the Place-Names Threap and Unthank in Scotland and he North of England. Includes maps and place-name tables.
1996: Iain Lang, The Street Names of Edinburgh: Towards an Etymological Approach. Concentrates on the areas of the Old Town, New Town and Wester Hailes in Edinburgh.
These projects are lodged in the Archives of the School of Scottish Studies, and form an important body of student research.
Anyone wishing to consult any of the above, please contact Ian Fraser at the School of Scottish Studies, 27 George Square, Edinburgh University, EH8 9LD or phone him on 0131 650 4162/4161.