EARLY SETTLEMENT OF THE BRITISH ISLES BY CELTS. 319 
granted that Cymric names occur in the Topography of Strathclyde, 
it would still be true that the names of streams, and hills, and valleys 
in that part of Scotland are purely Gaelic. 
Taylor correctly observes in his Words and Places (p. 203): “That 
the river-names, more especially the names of important rivers are 
everywhere the memorials of the very earliest races. These river- 
names survive where all other names have changed: they seem to 
possess an almost indestructible vitality.” The names of the streams 
and rivers that occur in the southern counties of Scotland are so 
manifestly of Gaelic origin, that they refute the theory to which 
allusion has already been made, e. g. 
In Wigtonshire are Tarff (tarbh, a bull), the wild river. Cree, 
criadh, clay, perhaps owing to the colour of the water. 
In Ayrshire are the rivers Ayr, a, water, reidh, smooth. Doon = 
Don, dubh an, the black or dark river. Girvan, town and river, 
garbh, rough, an, river, rough river. Irvine, town and river, Jar, 
west, an, the west river. 
In Kirkeubright are Dee = da, two, abh, water, double water. 
Ken, ceann, a head. Urr, oir, a margin, from the direction in which 
it flows. 
In Dumfries (Dunphreas, the fort of the copsewood), Esk, wisge, 
water. Annan, an, quiet, and an, the quiet river. 
In Lanarkshire, Avon, amhainn, river, which flows into the Clyde. 
Douglas, dubh and glas, grey, the black, grey stream. Kelvin, cozlle 
an, the wooded river. Clyde = Cliid = Cli, strong. 
In Peebles, Esk, wisge, water. Lyne, Linnhe, pool, as in Dublin, 
Loch Linnhe. Leithen, Hiath, hoary, and an, the hoary river. 
Earn, Zar, east, and an, the east river. 
In the counties of Roxborough and Selkirk are some of the rivers 
that have been celebrated by Sir Walter Scott, e.g., Teviot taobh, a 
side, and ate, a place, from the course which the Teviot pursues. 
Ted, teud, a string, owing to the straight channel of the river. 
Gala, geal, white, and a, water, the white water. Tweed, tuath, 
north, and atte, a place, from the direction in which it flows. Yarrow, 
garbh, gharbh, rough. Enrich, an, river, riabhach, greyish, the 
greyish river. 
Those rivers in Strathclyde, whose names have now been given, 
are purely Gaelic and not Cymric, and therefore invalidate the 
theory that the Topography of Strathclyde is Cymric. 
