556 REPORT— 1893. 



in united parishes the inhabitants of the portions which formerly were 

 separate parishes may each have burial and other rights of which the 

 double name — Garwald and Bara — is prima facie evidence, and for this 

 and for historical reasons the Committee considered that the full name 

 ought in all such cases to be preserved. 



(2) Where more spellings of a name than one have been long preva- 

 lent, and about equally so, it may be allowed, especially where local 

 feeling is in favour of it, to adopt that one which is nearer the older or 

 original form. If the people in Wigtownshire prefer ' Machars ' to 

 ' Machers,' the Committee could only approve of such a spelling. 



(3) On the other hand, they could not attempt to enforce in a case 

 like that of ' Newbattle ' (which is well known to be a misnomer) a 

 reversion to a better form unless it were to be acceptable to the 

 proprietor. 



(4) The Committee, however, would strongly object to all new and 

 fanciful spellings having no authority in the records of the last three 

 centuries. Some such have crept into our best maps, and have been 

 copied into popular gazetteers, almanacs, and the like : these have seldom 

 any authority, and misrepresent the historical Place-names. 



In Gaelic names the Committee had to deal with different circum- 

 stances. A large class of these had never appeared in any record ; they 

 were so distinctly descriptive of the places that a person understanding 

 Gaelic could make no mistake about their meaning, and the only question 

 was the correct writing down of the name. Gaelic spelling, as well as 

 pronunciation, differs in districts lying apart : the enunciation and spell- 

 ing of a Ross-shire man will often differ from those of a native of Argyll 

 or Arran. There are also refinements of spelling that good scholars do 

 not consider necessary in Place-names. It has, therefore, been the aim of 

 the Committee not to give prominence to such refinements, but to deal 

 with the names on broad principles. This course the late Sheriff Nicolson, 

 who attended the Committee's meetings very regularly, and with the 

 weight of his extensive scholarship and local knowledge, was ever ready 

 to support. His death during the early part of this year has been a 

 serious loss to the Committee. 



In such of the Highland names as occur in valuation rolls and other 

 records there appear to be fully a larger proportion of variants than in 

 the same class of names in Lowland districts, and there was consequently 

 more scope for choice, but also more frequent calls for deliberation and 

 investigation. This made the work more arduous and troublesome, and 

 seemed to demand the services of a person qualified to collect the various 

 forms with the authorities for them to be weighed by the Committee ; 

 for it is just this class of names that require the most careful con- 

 sideration. 



The result of the examination of over .3,100 names in Islay has been 

 the revision or correction of about 620, or 16 per cent., of them, varying 

 from about 11 per cent, in Killarow to nearly double that proportion in 

 Kildalton. 



The grant of lOZ. made in 1892 was too small a sum to enable the 

 •Committee to engage any needed help, and was kept for stationery, 

 postage, necessary printing, and to procure a good Gaelic dictionary. 



