338 



NA TURE 



\_August II, 1887 



Of the forty-seven authorities given by the author, six- 

 teen are works exclusively relating to Ireland. We 

 suggest that many of the " Gallowaie " place-names are 

 well illustrated or explained in the following works not 

 consulted by him, viz. : — 



(i) Hector Boethius, c. iii. "The Description of Gal- 

 lowaie (in Holinshed, 1587, p. 9), " Aboue Nidderdale 

 is Gallowaie," &c. Thus " the two other lakes, the Salset 

 and the Neutrajncn, of equall length and bredth with the 

 Loch Mirton" do not appear in Sir Herbert Maxwell's 

 list. Of the MuU of Galloway, Boethius writes, " which 

 the Scots call a mule or nuke. . . . The common sort 

 name it the mu/es nuke," an evident reduplication, 

 "newk," which occurs several times in Maxwell's hst, 

 being Old Norsk H7ijukr, common in North England for 

 a projecting hill. The forms for " the two great lakes 

 Reanzxv^Lois" (Ryan and Luce) are also worth entering. 



(2) Chr. Irvine, " Historian Scoticae Nomenclatura 

 Latino-vernacula, multis flosculis, &c.," " enriched with 

 many select phrases from the ancient monuments of the 

 Scots and the aboriginal language of the Gael," Edin., 

 1682. Here (p. 84), " Gallovidia et Wallowithia (for it 

 is so named by the Welshmen) " offers a form not found 

 in Maxwell s.v. Galloway, and with many other forms 

 we have before us is well worth entering. In the article 

 (p. 186) on the word Gallo\v'ay, Sir H. Maxwell, 

 passing by Lloyd's etymology (" Church Government," 

 appended to Stillingfleet, " Orig. Brit.," vol. ii. p. 72), cites 

 Skene for the " stranger-Gael," but has he not observed 

 how Prof. Rhys shakes his head at this (" Celtic Btn.," 

 1882, p. 153) "i The form Galwychya, in " Bulla Innocenti 

 V. De Holmcolt." 1207, is worth recording, but the com- 

 plete list of forms, which is a very long one, should be 

 given. 



(3) Sibbald, " Hist. Animaliutnin Scotia," 1684, Part 2, 

 cap. iv., may be cited under Sir H. Maxwell's " Fumart 

 Liggat" (p. 184), " Fotna est Boethii." " Nostra arborea 

 est. Sylvas incolat abiegnas. Nidumque super Abietes, 

 sciurorum instar strait." The pine marten inhabits pine- 

 woods and, squirrel-like, builds its nest in the fir-trees. 



(4) W. Baxter, " Glossarium Antiq. Brit.," Lond. 1719, 

 deals with the Ptolemaic Galloway names ; but much more 

 welcome are the " Adversaria Posthuma " of the learned 

 Ed. Lhuyd, given as an appendix to that work. The title 

 is " D. Edvardi Luidi de Fhivm., Montm., Urbm., &c., in 

 Britannia nominibus Ad. Posth." Sir H. Maxwell has 

 "Finenhill" (p. 182); Luid (p. 268), " Fynnon though 

 generally used for a well \t.e. spring], signified also 

 the first or highest lakes of the great mountains.' 

 In Luid's " Adversaria " is a mine of wealth, from 

 which we select two names, (p. 274) " Turch, porcus" 

 (p. 267) Tiirch, a hog, in Brecknockshire. O'Reilly 

 (p. 542) gives Irish, Turc, and (p. 528) Tore, Wei. Torch, 

 a hog, swine. Sir H. Maxwell has "Turkey Hill" unex- 

 plained (p. 306), which is translated by "Swinefell, the 

 fell or hill of the swine " (p. 299). Again, " Hespin " 

 (p. 200) in Whithorn is left unexplained. Luid (p. 267) 

 has, Wei. " Hespin, a sheep that yields no milk. There 

 are two or three brooks of this name about Ystrad Vehlte, 

 in Brecknockshire, so called because their channels con- 

 sisting of limestone have great caverns which in summer- 

 time take up all the water the springs afford, so that, the 

 channels being left dry, the brooks are called Hespin." 



(5) How could Sir H. Maxwell overlook Kirk's list of 

 over 400 Gaelic words in Append. II. p. 99, to Bp. 

 Nicholson's " Scottish Hist. Liby.," Lond., editn. 1776, " A 

 vocabulary of the Irish dialect spoken by the Highlanders 

 of Scotland, collected by Mr. Kirk," with a few words 

 added by Ed. Lhuyd } They are in twelve chapters, 

 several of which relate to Nature and her productions, 

 and help to form place-name.s. 



(6) Horsley, " Brit. Rom.," Lond., 1732, cited. 



(7) " Etymology of the Names of Places in Ireland," " by 

 a gentleman well versed in the language and antiquities 

 of that country," contributed by " C. L." to A7if. Repertory, 

 vol. iv. 1809, gives a list of eighteen words used in place- 

 names. 



(8) Thos. Murray, "Lit. Hist, of Galloway," Edin., 1822, 

 Append., Note D. He has also a fairly full article on the 

 forms of the name " Galloway " in Note A, the oldest of 

 which, in a charter of Earl David, A.D. 11 24, is Galwegia 

 [? Galweyia]. 



(9) W. Mackenzie, " Hist, of Gall.," Kirkcudbright, 

 1 841, has (pp. 12-22) several place-names taken from 

 Chalmers's " Caledonia," without acknowledgment. 



(10) M. M. Harper's beautiful " Rambles in Galloway,'^ 

 with illustrations by Faed, &c., Edin. 1876, smooths 

 away the difficulties that lie in the path of the name- 

 hunter, and his terse descriptions of sites are a model, e.g. 

 (p. 99) '^ Rusco Castle, beautifully situated on a rising 

 knoll in the Vale of Fleet, near the margin of the river.'' 

 That is what we want to know. But " Rusco " can only 

 be assumed to be here, as it is known to be in Nidder- 

 dale, after a man's name. Throughout Sir H. Maxwell's 

 list, terse physical descriptions are much missed. Again, 

 facing p. 109, Harper gives a view of " Kirkclaugh shore" 

 that goes a long way to convince one that " Kirkstone " 

 is meant. He gives etymological notes on place-names, 

 no doubt from Chalmers, e.g. " Minnigaff," p. 133, differ- 

 ently explained by Maxwell (p. 254) and by Symson. 

 Who shall then decide? On p. 151 several names. But 

 his most important hint is in the admirable picture of the 

 " Cow Clout Stone" (p. 187), which in the "Stat. Acct." 

 is described by Crosbie as "a flat stone about 3 feet in 

 diameter," in which are the marks of what might be sup- 

 posed a cow's foot, a horse-shoe and the four nails on 

 each side being very distinct, &c. Were cows formerly 

 shod in Galloway as oxen are near Naples? Sir H. 

 Maxwell has "Cowloot" (p. 128) unexplained. O'Reilly 

 gives— Irish, /z^^/, the foot, ("Ir. Eng. Die," p. 337)> which 

 explains the name. 



(11) Chalmers's "Caledonia" requires mention apart, 

 for in that work many, if not most, of the names treated in 

 Sir H. Maxwell's painstaking work have been considered, 

 generally with satisfaction to the reader, as will be found 

 in vols. i. and iii., where he will be found to have antici- 

 pated some of Sir H. Maxwell's explanations, as "Loch 

 Brack," " Loch Breac, in the Scoto-Irish the lake of 

 troutsT 



(12) Prof. Rhys, " Celtic Britain," 1882, a good antidote 

 to Skene for those who may require it, has several ancient 

 Galloway names. 



(13) Dugdale, " Monasticon," gives a host of charters 

 with the old forms of Galloway place-names. No less than 

 twelve of the eighty-seven charters relating to the Abbey 

 of Holmcoltram, whence the monks had a pleasant row 



