GEOLOGY. 



ON THE VALUE OP THE NAMES OF PLACES IN IN- 

 DIOATINa THE ANCIENT SUKPACE - PEATURES OP 

 THE OOTJNTKY. 



By the Rev. ADAM MILROY, D.D. 



AVERY cursory glance at the names of the places around 

 us suffices to disclose to us the fact that a rich store of 

 information lies hidden in them. We see at once that many, 

 and these the most recent, are Saxon ; and such names show that 

 they were given by a Saxon-speaking people. Others, and these 

 the most ancient, are of Celtic origin ; and these must have been 

 given by a Celtic- speaking people. The Saxon names are quite 

 intelligible to us. We require no explanation of such words 

 as Mossend, Woodside, Burnfoot, Muirton. The older Celtic 

 names, on the other hand, have long ceased to be significative 

 to the people who use them. To them they are words without 

 meaning — names, and nothing more. Being used by a peojDle 

 who did not understand them, they have frequently become so 

 altered as to be hardly recognisable. They are liable also to 

 another danger : frequently the unmeaning Celtic name is by a 

 slight change converted into a significative Saxon term. The 

 meaning thus forced upon the original is usually very absurd 

 and quite erroneous, but still the word becomes significant. It 

 would be an easy and instructive task to give instances of such 

 forced meanings and derivations from names of places and 

 parishes in our own neighbourhood, but neither space nor time 

 allows us to enter upon the subject. To avoid the danger thus 

 arising, the investigator should always obtain the oldest form of 

 the word, and, if possible, the way in which the word was written 

 by men to whom it was quite intelligible ; and when this form of 

 the word has been obtained, he will be surprised to see how 

 often current derivations and meanings vanish in sheer absurdity. 

 In the local Celtic names there is a rich and almost neglected 



