136 



Transactions. 



Gael, the Romans, the Teuton or ancient Saxon witli a sprinkling 

 of Norse, the Irish Celt, and tlie Anglo-Saxon, have each left 

 some record of their history in the names they gave to the sites 

 and surroundings where they had found a home. Whenever we 

 attempt to make an analysis of local names we find that by far 

 the greater number contain two component elements, one of these 

 which in Gaelic names is generally the prefix, and in Teutonic 

 names the suffix, in some general term meaning island, river, 

 mountain, dwelling, or inclosure, as the case may be. Tlie 

 following are the Gaelic prefixes, with their English corruptions 

 and significations, which occur most frequently throughont 

 Galloway : — 



A field 



A field 



A plain, a field 

 Height, lofty, elevation 

 A town, farm, hamlet, or 



home 

 A point, an extremity 

 A mountain 



A mountain, also a monu- 

 mental heap of stones 

 A battle, a battlefield, 



also a plain 

 A bend, crooked, curved 

 A ravine, a deep hollow 

 The back, a back-lying 



place 

 A rock, a rocky place 



A ridge 



A castle, a fort, a mound 

 The side of a hill, the 

 slope of a hill, rising 

 ground 

 Rough, roughuess 

 A small valley 

 A larger valley 

 A wood 



A knoll 



A lake, a small lake 

 A hollow, a small hollow 

 A hill 



A conical hill 

 A pool, a marsh 

 A shealing, place of sum- 

 mer pasture 



The first to be noticed is the English corruptions of the Gaelic 



English Signijications. 



