46 Trtmaactions. 



distinguishing the different kinds of glens and pastures are also 

 awanting. The first set of names, it is plain, are Teutonic, and 

 the second Celtic. There is thus, in the distribution of these place- 

 names, clear evidence furnished that the Teutons at some time 

 drove out the Celts from Dumfriesshire, and that the latter made 

 a stand in Galloway. But in Dumfriesshire we have British or 

 old Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, Danish, and Norwegian names all com- 

 mingled. In Galloway, Anglo-Saxon names are applied to modern 

 localities, such as churches, villages, and farms recently formed ; 

 and Norwegian and Danish names occur on the coast, having been 

 deposited there by the Vikings when they possessed the Isle of 

 Man and Galloway. In Nithsdale we find Celtic and Teutonic 

 names side by side : Dramlanrig, Auchenbainzie, and Barjarg on 

 one side of the river ; Thornhill, Closebuni, and Auldgirth on the 

 other. It would be an interesting pursuit to find out how far 

 west certain names are to be found. Grain, for instance, as the 

 name of a stream, or the valley through which one runs, is to be 

 found in the Hen Grain, a tributary of the Mi : we do not think 

 it occurs in Nithsdale or Galloway. In like mannei-, it would be 

 interesting to trace the positions of the Anglo-Saxons and Scandi- 

 navians in Galloway, and to find out how far inland they pene- 

 trated. That some attention should be paid to this subject of the 

 2:)hilosophy of place-names is apparent, because, like the land to 

 which many of them apply, they are being reclaimed and cultivated 

 — broken up and made conformable to modern ideas in regard to 

 the mode of spelling and pronouncing tliem. In their new form 

 it is impossible to distinguish their derivation or meaning. 

 Poultrybuie, for instance, suggests fowls ; but if we make it 2^ul- 

 tre-huaiyh Celtic scholars may be able to draw the proper meaning 

 from it. The fashion is to spell many of these old names, not as 

 they are written in ancient documents, the learned ecclesiastical 

 scribes of which knew their composition and interpi-etation, but as 

 they are now pronounced. No one would think that Neowklie 

 was Knevock-law, or Cambee, Cairn-buagh. Now were members in 

 country districts to note down the names of farms, fields, glens, 

 knowes, &c., in their resi^ective localities, a list might be formed 

 from which much interesting information regarding place-names 

 could be obtained. It must not be forgotten that language has 

 become the medium by which the migration of the oarly races of 

 mankind, from the primal home of humanity — " the Hoof of the 

 World " in Central Asia — can be traced ; and has been of great 

 service in thi-owing light on pre-historic times. 



