292 



NA TURE 



[July 28, 1904 



PLACE-NAMES OF SCOTLAND. 



Place-names of Scotland. By James B. Johnston, B.D. 

 Second edition. Pp. cxi + 308. (Edinburgh : David 

 Douglas, 1903.) Price 6s. net. 



THE author of this work aims to do for Scotland 

 what Dr. Joyce in his " Irisli Names and 

 Places " has already done for Ireland. It is a laud- 

 able attempt and one that is full of interest. Not 

 only do we get here an alphabetical list of a large 

 number of the place-names of Scotland, with explana- 

 tions of their origin, but introductory chapters 

 dealing at some length with the different sources from 

 which have sprung the characteristic names of North 

 Britain. Thus Mr. Johnston gives an account of the 

 Celtic, Norse, English, Roman, Norman, modern, and 

 ecclesiastical names, aiming to make his treatment of 

 the subject no mere dilettante trifling, but a work 

 based on historic evidence. He has in many cases 

 ransacked old books and documents to get the older 

 forms of the words as a guide to their original 

 meaning, and this is really the most valuable part 

 of the task he has undertaken. Had he consistently 

 followed out his own principles enunciated in the 

 introduction, his work would have been of a much 

 higher order and free from the defects which too 

 obviously encumber it. As it is, many of his deriva- 

 tions are quite as fantastic as the " mouth-esk-burgh " 

 for Musselburgh, which by the laws of phonetics he 

 solemnly rejects. 



The real reason for the inequalities which even a 

 second edition of the book, after twelve years' in- 

 terval, has failed to remove is the author's inadequate 

 acquaintance with the Gaelic language. As he admits 

 himself, the Celtic names constitute the largest and 

 most complicated portion of his task. 



" The Celt's warm, emotional heart loved to seek 

 out the poetry and colour in the world around, and 

 many of his place-names show that ' stern nature 

 was his daily companion, and friend.' Indeed, the 

 majority of Celtic names give either the simplest 

 possible description of the site named, or describe some 

 prominent feature, or else the colouring or appearance 

 of it as it strikes the eye." 



In view of this, it is obvious that a thorough know- 

 ledge of the original language spoken in the country, 

 as well as of the topography, is essential to the writer 

 who would adequately discuss the meaning of the 

 place-names ; without it there must necessarily be much 

 juggling with words. 



If Mr. Johnston really knew the Celtic laws of 

 aspiration and eclipsis, he would never say that the 

 Gael loves to speak of the " Shawms of David," nor 

 would he, when deriving Nairn from G. an earrann, 

 find it necessary to suppose that Auchenairn must be 

 .\uchencairn through loss of c. Clachnaharry is clach 

 na h'aire, " stone of watching," and yet he cannot 

 think what Altnaharra is unless allt-na-charraigh, 

 " stream with the pillar or rock," or from marbhaidh, 

 " of the slaughter." 



Allt, which is a streamlet passing through a ravine, 

 NO. 181 3, VOL. 70] 



he interprets sometimes as a glen or river. Kil, so 

 common in the place-names of Scotland, becomes at 

 one time cill, church, at another caol, narrow, again 

 cul, back, and yet again coille, a wood, in the most 

 arbitrary fashion. Auchter suffers in the same way, 

 being uachdar or achadh just as suits his fancy. 

 Take the three words ending in ellan. Killellan, we 

 are told, is "church of St. Fillan," Inellan, en 

 eilean, " bird-island," Balmaclellan, " village of John 

 Maclellan." On the same principle Balmaghie be- 

 comes in this book " village of Macghie," whereas it 

 more probably means " wind-swept town," like 

 Tonderghie, not far away from it, which means " back 

 to the wind." Another form of the word, Balmuchie, 

 ludicrously appears as " the house or farm of swine." 

 Banavie, he says, is probably not the " Vicus 

 Bannavern " of St. Patrick's birth; why probably 

 in a matter so entirely certain by every form of 

 evidence ? 



Mr. Johnston says " every ' ness ' is Norse, this 

 being the Icel. nes, Dan. Naes, a nose," and he 

 admits that it may be traced in names like Stromness 

 and Deerness. Yet when he comes«to Alness he has 

 recourse to the extraordinary derivation G. ath'n-innis, 

 " ford of the island " (the Black Isle). It would in- 

 deed take as violent a stretch of imagination to suppose 

 that the Cromarty Firth was fordable at Alness as 

 to imagine that Rogart means " red enclosure," 

 " from the Old Red Sandstone here." As a 

 matter of fact there is no Old Red Sandstone there, 

 only granite. But these derivations are no less in- 

 genious and far-fetched than that for Belleville, near 

 Kingussie, which in a footnote Mr. Johnston says is 

 in G. bail-a-bhile (sic), "village at the brae-top." 

 Who with any claim to Celtic literary knowledge does 

 not know that Belleville is the name which James 

 Macpherson of Ossianic fame g'ave to the house 

 which he built in the eighteenth century, thus super- 

 seding the former name of the place, which was called 

 fiaitts? No Highlander would translate allt grad as 

 " ugly burn," or write achadh tuas for " field above " 

 as the derivation of Auchtose. Ptolemy in his ancient 

 map did not apply the name Varar, as here alleged, to 

 the Moray Firth, but to the estuary of the Farrar, now 

 the Beauiy. 



Many of the most beautiful ancient names in the 

 country, such as the names of farms, little hills, 

 lochs and rivulets, as well as hundreds of names be- 

 ginning with prefixes such as tigh, allt'tobar, Ceann, 

 Cnoc, &c. , are left wholly untouched. One wonders 

 on what principle the author selects some of the names 

 he inserts and omits others. There are not more 

 than about 500 names worthy of note in his own 

 county of Stirling, he says. Why ! there arc almost 

 as many in many a parish. 



Yet for all its defects Mr. Johnston has written a 

 book which is a good foundation for a better, and 

 will have a fascination for a great many people, and 

 it is quite true, as he says, that the historian, the 

 philologist, the antiquarian, and the anthropologist 

 will, each and all, find in it sidelights both helpful and 

 interesting. 



