214 MR W. F. SKENE ON THE CELTIC TOPOGRAPHY OF SCOTLAND 



are not the same place, and the former never lost its name. Invernethy is at 

 the junction of the Nethy with the Earn, and Abernethy is a mile further up 

 the river. 



When we examine these Abers and Invers more closely, we find that in some 

 parts of the country they appear to alternate, as in Fife — Inverkeithing, Aber- 

 dour, Inveryne, Abercrombie, Inverlevin, and so forth. 2d, That some of the Invers 

 and Abers have the same specific terms attached to them, as Abernethy and Inver- 

 nethy, Aberuchill and Inveruchil, Abercrumbye and Invercrumbye, Abergeldie and 

 Invergeldy ; and, 3d, That the Invers are always at the mouth of the river, 

 close to its junction with another river, or with the sea ; and the Abers usually 

 a little distance up the river where there is a ford. Thus, Invernethy is at the 

 mouth of the Nethy ; Abernethy a mile or two above. These and other facts 

 lead to the conclusion that they are part of the same nomenclature, and belong 

 to the same period and to the same people. 



When we look to the south of the Forth, however, we find this remarkable 

 circumstance, that in Ayrshire, Renfrew, and Lanarkshire, which formed the 

 possessions of the Strathclyde Britons, and was occupied by a British people 

 till as late a period as the more northern districts were occupied by the Picts, 

 there are no Abers at all. 



What we have, therefore, is the Scots of Argyle with nothing but Invers, 

 the Picts with Abers and Invers together, and the Strathclyde Britons with 

 no Abers. As a mark of discrimination between races this criterion plainly 

 breaks down, and the words themselves contain no sounds which, from the 

 different phonetic laws of the languages, could afford an indication of a dialectic 

 difference. The truth is, that there were three words expressive of the junc- 

 tion of one stream with another, and all formed from an old Celtic word, 

 Ber, signifying water. These were Aber, Inver, and Conber (pronounced in 

 Welsh cummer, in Gaelic cumber.) These three words were originally common 

 to both branches of the Celtic as derivations from one common word. In old 

 Welsh poems we find not only Aber as a living word in Welsh, but Ynver like- 

 wise,* and Dr Reeves notices an Irish document in which Applecross or Appur- 

 crossan is called Conber Crossan. Ynver, however, became obsolete in Welsh, 

 just as Cummer or Cumber and Aber became obsolete in Irish ; but we have 

 no reason to know that it did so in Pictish. In the Pictish districts, therefore, 

 the Abers and Invers were deposited when both were living words in the lan- 

 guage. When the Scots settled in Argyle, Aber had become obsolete in their 

 language, and Inver was alone deposited, and in Strathclyde both words seem 

 to have gone into desuetude. 



In the same manner Dwfr or Dwr is quoted as a word for water, pecu- 

 liar to the Welsh form of Celtic, and an invariable mark of the presence of a 



* Ynver occurs twice in the Book of Taliessin. 



