216 MR W. F. SKENE ON THE CELTIC TOPOGRAPHY OF SCOTLAND, 



monks of Kinloss of the lands of Burgyn, now Burgy, and has attached to it an old 

 interpretation. Rune Pictorum is glossed the Pechts' fields, and Raoin is Gaelic 

 for field. Tuber na crumkel, ane well with ane thrawn mouth — Tobar is well in 

 Gaelic; Crom, crooked ; and Beul, for which Kell is probably written by mistake, 

 is mouth. Tuber na fein — of the Grett or Kempis men called Fenis, ane well. 



In a perambulation of the marches of Monymusk by Malcolm IV., we have 

 several such interpretations. Coritobrich is glossed Vallis fontis— Corre is 

 Gaelic for valley, and Tobar, well. Scleuemingorn, Mora caprarum — Sliabh, 

 Gaelic for moor ; and Gabbar, goat. Aide clothi, rivulus petrosus — Ault, Gaelic 

 for a stream ; Clachach, stony. Breacachach, campus distinctis coloribus — 

 Breacach, striped ; Ach, field. 



In a perambulation of the marches of Kingoldrum in 1256, we have names 

 which are also glossed in a subsequent charter. Invercrumbyn is said to be the 

 Concursus duorum amnium, Melgour et Crumbyn. Monybrech, Murrais of the 

 quhilk runs ane strype — Monadh, a moss ; Breac, striped. Pool of Monbuy, 

 yellow pool — Buidh, yellow. Athyncroich, Gallow burne, from Aid, burn ; 

 Croich, gallows. 



Thus on three points in the north-eastern lowlands, in Morayshire, in Aber- 

 deenshire, and in Forfarshire, we find, as early as the thirteenth century, the 

 local names interpreted in Gaelic. The names themselves are, too, in the Scotch 

 Gaelic, not in the Irish form, and in most cases we find the dental substituted for 

 the guttural, as clothi for clachach. When we apply to the present topography the 

 testing words Pen, Gwynn, and Gwydd, the Gaelic equivalents of which are Kin, 

 Fearn, and Fiodh, we find that with one exception, Pen, though frequent south of 

 the Forth, where there was a British population, does not occur north of the 

 Forth, while it is full of Kins, and Gwern and Gwydd occur only in their Gaelic 

 equivalents. 



Such then being the aspect in which the question really presents itself, it be- 

 comes important, with a view to ethnological results, to ascertain more closely 

 the geographical distribution of the generic terms over Scotland, and in order to 

 show this I have prepared a table of such distribution. The generic terms are 

 taken from the index to the Record of Retours ; and as this record relates to pro- 

 perties, and not to mere natural objects, the generic terms they contain are to a 

 great extent confined to names of places connected with their possession by man, 

 and more readily affected by changes in the population. For the purposes of com- 

 parison I have framed a list of generic terms contained in Irish topography from 

 the index to the Annals of the Four Masters, and of those in Welsh topography 

 from a list in the Cambrian Register. I have divided Scotland into thirteen dis- 

 tricts, so as to show the local character of the topography of each part of Scot- 

 land, and opposite each generic term in Scotch topography is marked, 1st, if it 

 occurs in Ireland, and how often ; 2d, if it occurs in Wales ; and 3d, I have 



