LL-L: "Place names" LOWLANDS-L, 24.APR.2001 (04) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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From: Sandy Fleming [sandy at scotstext.org]
Subject: "Place names"

> Stefan wrote:
>
> > I can't think of an example of false
> > translation of Celtic to English right off, but putative Slavic
> > *berl-in "Swampy place" gave rise to Low Saxon Berlin "wee
> > bear".

This sort of thing (what's the linguistic term for "false
friends"?) happens in Scottish place names a lot. There are
many fairly boring examples of English or Scots being
imposed on Gaelic place names with similar sounds (Tongue,
Tough, Scone &c), but here's some more interesting ones...

"Loch Long" is Gaelic for "Ship Loch" since Gaelic "long"
means "ship" - if it really meant "long" it would be
written "lang" in Scottish place names.

Drumboy is from the Gaelic for "Yellow Ridge" - "drum" or
"drem" is common in Scottish place names but comes from the
Gaelic for "ridge".

The Brythonic word "caer" (castle) is often replaced with the
unrelated but the similar-sounding Scots word "kirk" (church),
as in Kirkcaldy, Kirkintilloch &c.

Bathgate - seems to be Scots for "the road to the (Roman??)
bath", but is actually Brythonic "Baedd Coed" - "boar wood".

Chesthill - Gaelic "seasduil", meaning "plateau".

Applecross - Gaelic "apur crossan", meaning not well
understood.

Backward - Scots "back ward", meaning "rear meadow"

Gaelic "allt", meaning "stream" tends to get confused with
"auld" (Scots for "old"): Auldbar, Auldearn &c and becomes
further transliterated into English "old": Old Maud, Old
Ladders &c. The Scots "burn", also meaning stream, gives
rise to names that seem silly to English speakers (though
transparent to Scots): Burnfoot, Burnmouth &c.

Badcall - from Gaelic "clump of hazels"

Birse - not the Scots word meaning "bad temper", but Gaelic
"preas" meaning "thicket".

Blackadder - "black" is the Scots word, "adder" is a
pre-Celtic word for "watercourse" related to Germanic
"oder".

Blawrainy - not a Scots reference to the weather, but
Gaelic "blar raineach" - "ferny place".

Crossmyloof - Scots for "cross my palm" but is from
the Gaelic for "Malduff's cross".

Dollar - Gaelic "dail", "field".

Elphinstone - not due to the presence of an "elfin stone"
as the locals have tried to persuade me, but "Alpin's Farm".

Petty, Pettycur, Pettymuck - the "petty" is a Pictish
locative of "pit" - "place"

Cotton - "cot town" - a town of those houses known as "cots".

Fair Isle - Old Norse "faer", meaning "sheep".

Kingskettle - "King's preserve" - the second part from
the Brythonic "cuddial".

Phones - very strange Scots or English rendition of obsolete
Gaelic "fotherais" - "slope of the wood".

The Study - English misconception of the Scots word
"studdie", meaning "anvil".

Larkhall (& other "halls" as opposed to the Scots "haa")
- an English corruption of "lark haugh".

Lightnot - Gaelic "bare slope".

Bandshed - this is of course the Scots "shed" - a parting,
and refers to the division of land, similarly "Middleshade".

Morebattle, Newbattle &c - here "battle" is from the Old
English "botl", meaning "house".

Sandy
http://scotstext.org
A dinna dout him, for he says that he
On nae accoont wad ever tell a lee.
                          - C.W.Wade,
                    'The Adventures o McNab'

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