166 Gaelic Language of the South of Scotland. 



Lothian towards Peebles ; for about a generation Northumbria 

 was strongly Columban. 



Glenkinning, the name used by Sir Walter Scott for the 

 Peel Burn, is given in a map of Selkirkshire of 1772, and 

 there is a Glentanner Burn among the tributaries of the 

 Caddon ; while the name of the Gala Water, which joins 

 the Tweed lower down, is the Gaelic geala, white, and applied 

 to land, meaning grassy or pastoral, and eminently descriptive- 



But, on the whole, there is a certain analogy in these 

 respects between Selkirkshire and Eoxburghshire, and the 

 Western Isles, where the language is, or has been till 

 lately, entirely Gaelic ; and yet the great majority of the 

 place-names are strange variations, or mispronunciations of 

 Scandinavian ones. This, Captain Thomas made out, with 

 great labour and research, and exceptional opportunities 

 for them. 



Some Place-Names in Scotland. 



Of the limited number of Gaelic names in Berwickshire 

 and on its borders, I am inclined to think some have been 

 introduced by the church, of which Gaelic was the language 

 for about thirty years. Melrose, the hill promontory, or bare 

 promontory, 'seems suspiciously good Gaelic ; it was probably 

 descriptive of the original Old Melrose, in the wooded valley. 

 The only name which at all keeps it in countenance in the 

 neighbourhood is that of Clackmae, which should mean the 

 village of the plain, but which stands on the rather high 

 right bank of the Leader. The Dunian, or Hill of St. John, 

 near Jedburgh, is clearly a Gaelic church-name. The best 

 Gaelic name, perhaps, in Berwickshire is Airhouse, Airie 

 being a shieling for summer herding, as may be seen in 

 Airie of Ballinluig, and many other northern names. 



In the name of Airlour in Galloway, it seems to duplicate 

 the old Basque lur^ land, which occurs as a name by itself, 

 and in names like Lorebottle and Loreburn. 



Roxburgh is an interesting case ; I had come to the conclusion 

 that it was a translation of the old name, Marchmont or 

 Marchidun, and meant the Horse's Hill, or perhaps rather 

 Rorad's Hill, before I knew that it was called Roaeburgh by 

 the people of the neighbourhood. It has, I think, b^^n 



