August II, 1887] 



NA TURE 



339 



I 



across Solway to their lands in Galloway, contain forms, 

 too numerous to be enumerated here, of Kirkewinni, 

 Kirkwyni, Kyrkewynwi, Kirkewenny, Kirkgunny, Kirk- 

 wynnyn, &c., &c., now Kirkgunzeon. The same St. 

 Winnin probably explains Kirkennan, Kilennan, the 

 ancient name of Buittle (Chalm. iii. c. iii.), and Kirven- 

 nie. Here also the River Urr is spelt " Hur" — "a portu 

 Hur usque ad ' Poucsterbened'" (No. xxiv.), or " Poll- 

 esterheved" (No. Ixxxii.) ; perhaps the same " Pow, a 

 slow-moving rivulet in flat lands" (J amieson), recorded 

 by Sir Herbert Maxwell at New Abbey, which last was 

 formerly called " Loch Kendelock " or " Loch Kender- 

 loch " (Chalm. iii. 296, 305), " Loghendello " in a charter 

 of Roland, son of Huctred (No. Ixxxi., Holmcoltram, 

 Dugd.), and now " Loch Kinder," after Cendaelaidh, 

 King of the Picts, D. 580, q.v. We find also " Lotchit- 

 dale,"" Bulla Lucii III." (No. xxi. Holme, Dugd.), and 

 "Lochent" (No. Ixxxi. fol. 103); " Millebronna," "Bulla 

 Alexandri IIL" (No. xxiv.), which, unless the same as 

 " Millbawn," is wanting in our author's list. So also 

 " Salternes," i.e. salthouses {ib) ; " Polben," probably our 

 author's Polbae (16.) ; and " Sivchaye," now Southwick, 

 according to Chalmers, iii. 296 ; " Glenlus," now Glen- 

 luce (No. Ixxxii.) ; " Mayby " (id.), now Mabie, in 

 Troqueer, and "Achencork" {id.) ; " PoUackercin " (No. 

 Ixxxi.); "Polleychos," or "Polthos" (No. Ixxxii.), some 

 stream, and " Genesik," i.e. sandy, " s^ndy-sike," or 

 gutter (A.S. Sik), for which see " Genoch " and " Gan- 

 nock " in our author's list, the last form occuring several 

 times in Middlesex and Hertfordshire. Then we find 

 " Mustard Garth," evidence of the Northman, in " Kir- 

 koneville," or the manor of Kirkconnel {id. fol. 112) west 

 of the estuary of the river " Nud," now " Nith," formerly 

 " Nid," the Noviosof Ptolemy, a river-name of pre-Celtic 

 origin, ranging from Wales to Trondhjem. " Trenguer" 

 (Ixxxiii.) preserves an n dropped in the modern Troqueer. 

 "Botil" {id.), A.S. Botl, perhaps " Buittle " (?). The 

 charter of William the Lion also preserves the names 

 Kirche Cormack (Maxwell," Kilcormack") ; S. Andreae ; 

 " Balincros " (not in Maxwell), and " Cheletun," now 

 Kelton. 



We will now take at random a few names from Sir 

 Herbert Maxwell's list. We cannot concede that the 

 northern adjectival termination el represents AS. wudu, 

 as claimed by our author (Introd., p. 9), in "Aiket," &o. 

 " Thornit," thorny, also occurs in Anglian North England. 

 Are we to understand that the stream which " was 

 rolling along its wild and turbid waters with a freshet 

 upon it" was rolling along a fresh wood? "Bail Fell," 

 Old Norsk Bali, "monticule," z. p-assy bank, cf. " Bale 

 bank," Nidderdale, so also, "Bailie Hill," but see a 

 learned article, s.v. Baillie, Bailie, and s.v. Bel, Boel, 

 cour intt'rieure, in Dum^ril, "Patois Normand," 1849, 

 which clears away the fog from " BaiUie, meaning doubt- 

 ful," of Jamieson. " Barean," " Barend," and " Borron," 

 unexplained by our author, a well-known word in North 

 England, a rocky slope, or hill, where foxes and badgers 

 burrow. It ranges at least as far south as Kettlewell, 

 where it appears as " Borrance," the stony screes below 

 the limestone girdles or cliffs. It is also called " Burran," 

 and, among the Yctholm gipsies, " Burran " means a 

 badger. O'Reilly (" Ir. Eng. Die") has :— " Barran, the 

 tops 0/ mountains J " " Boireand [Barend], a large rock; 



a stony, rocky district. Is the name of several rocky 

 districts in the north and south of Ireland. It is applied 

 to the face of a desolate mountain in Achil," &c. 

 Similarly used in North England. His last form 

 " Boireand, Borro7i, a large rock," identifies the word 

 completely. Dumdril, s.v. "Buret," porcherie, records 

 low Latin " Burutn le Bure vieil anglais et le vieux 

 fran^ais Buron," &c. "Bine Hill," O'Reilly has 

 " Binn, a hill," which may also explain "Byng Hill," 

 though Old Norsk " Bingr" looks tempting. However, it 

 is not found directly applied to hills as hills, " Caughie 

 Stone " reminds us of numerous " Cockle Hills" in North 

 England, all on moorlands. " Hecla," the cloak, and 

 " Cloak Hill" (p. 123), suggests Ir. Cocal, a cloak, which 

 is intelligible if the cloak be peat, as in " Caugh Moss," 

 Girthon. Old Norsk forms are scattered through our 

 author's list, e.g. Cawvis Hill, z/Old Norsk Kdlfr, a cal/Q), 

 as Sir Herbert Maxwell suggests. 



"Cockplay, a hill of 950 ft." (p. 124), seems to be a transla- 

 tion of " Cocklakes," or properly " Cocklaiks," dry ridges 

 on the moors, which has been explained (" Stud, in Nidder- 

 dale ") as " the playing-ground of the grouse or moor- 

 cock." The keepers and others familiar with their habits 

 understand this. "Cokelayk" is often mentioned in the 

 early charters of Holmcoltram Abbey, Cumberland, given 

 in Dugdale. The prefix " Darn " in " Darnarbel," " Darn- 

 cree," t&c, reminds us of " Darnetal," a place-name at 

 Caen. " Dame " in " Patois Normand," and " Darn " in 

 Breton, means 2l piece, portion (Dumdril). " Dub," a pool, 

 common in North England, and in our author's list " Dub 

 of Hass," " Duchdubs," is evidently Celtic, as it occurs 

 as " Douve, grand fossd plein d'eau, dtang," in " Patois 

 Normand." The necessity for a brief physical description 

 is well illustrated by the name " Knockmullin." Our 

 author observes that the same words serve for emin- 

 ences and hollows, hills and valleys, and the fact is well 

 known. All his " Knocks " are hills, and he does not say 

 what kind of thing " Knockmullin " is. The second half 

 is clear — " mill," and the word might mean mill-race, for 

 we have, " Patois Normand," " Noc. Dalle, goutidre en bois, 

 canal qui apporte I'eau sur la roue d'un moulin." " Laicht, 

 on the eastern shore of Loch Ryan " (Skene, " Chron. 

 Picts and Scots." Pref. clxxv. 1867), is omitted in Max- 

 well's list, though we believe there is a farm of the name 

 there yet. " Rerrick, anciently called Diindrainan, the 

 hill of thorns" (Chalm. " Caled." iii. 313) renders the 

 spelling " Rerwick " very questionable. Is there not an 

 initial d dropped ? " Wigg," certainly the " Wigstones " 

 of the Nidderdale moors, a huge projecting rock, or, 

 rather, pile of rocks, records the Gaelic " Wig," a rock. 

 The old forms given by Sir Herbert Maxwell divorce the 

 Whithorn "Wigg" from the A.S. " Wic," to which he 

 would assign it. 



We conclude an imperfect review of this important 

 work with a question to which our personal knowledge of 

 Runic inscriptions on British soil suggests that there is 

 no satisfactory answer. Why send the two Runic inscrip- 

 tions (Introd. p. 18) to Denmark? No Danish scholar 

 has ever deciphered an English Runic inscription cor- 

 rectly from the days of Spelman and Ole Worm to July 21, 

 1887. We have read our own A.S. Runes from the 

 Futhorc Otho B. 10 in Hickes's " Thesaurus," by the 

 true learning of Kemblej and, moreover, no known Runic 



