PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY

W'3

PLACENAMES

ROSS AND CROMARTY

" BY

w J WATSON

M.A., ABERD. ; B.A., OXON.

RECTOR OP INVERNESS ROYAL ACADEMY

THE NORTHERN COUNTIES PRINTING AND PUBLISHING

COMPANY, LIMITED

EDINBURGH : NORMAN MACLEOD, 25 GEORGE IV. BRIDGE LONDON: DAVID NUTT, 57-M LONGACRE

1904

Dfi

PREFACE.

THE uncertainty and lack of precision which have characterised so much of the work attempted in connection with the study of our Scottish names of places are due chiefly to defective or imperfectly ascertained data. In Lowland districts, where the sole data for names of Celtic origin consist of modern Anglicised forms and old spellings, this uncertainty is largely inevitable : the old Celtic pronunciation, the quantity of vowels, and the quality of consonants must often be matter of sheer conjecture. But wherever Gaelic is still vernacular, or when, as often, genuine Gaelic forms of names occurring in districts once Celtic but now English are procurable, these difficulties are im- mensely simplified. It will be found that modern Gaelic pronunciation as handed down by unbroken tradition is in the main intensely conservative, whether the names so transmitted are Pictish, Scandinavian, or purely Gaelic in origin. With the aid of these modern Gaelic forms, either alone or supplemented by old written forms, the investi- gator, given knowledge and experience, should in

VI. PREFACE.

most cases be able to arrive at a high degree of accuracy in interpretation. The work is raised from the sphere of conjecture to that of solid scientific enquiry.

In the present work, dealing with the Place Names of Ross and Cromarty, the method thus indicated has been followed throughout. In every case the genuine native Gaelic forms of names have been ascertained with absolute accuracy. In addition, the old spellings found in charters, etc., have been given wherever such were available. The result is that the interpretations offered can be criticised by Celtic scholars in the light of a full knowledge of the data. Incidentally a large number of new and important facts are offered for the con- sideration of philologists, both in the shape of obsolete Gaelic words rescued from oblivion, and in the treatment in Gaelic of Norse and Pictish names.

An attempt has been made in the Introduction to focus the general results obtained. The opening historical sections, though necessarily much com- pressed, will, it is hoped, serve to lend perspective. The sections which deal with the formation of Gaelic names and with the Pictish and Norse elements, should afford some not unnecessary assist- ance to future investigators. The account given of the treatment in Gaelic of the Old Norse vowels

- PREFA.CE. Vll,

and consonants is a pioneer piece of work which will, I hope, be found generally trustworthy, but may at least be amplified by further research. The collection of facts adduced with regard to traces of the old Celtic Church proves the strength of the hold which that Church took in the North, and indicates the wealth of material that awaits col- lection. As for the Pictish language, its remains in place names are only beginning to be scientifically considered. Everything so far goes to prove its close affinity to Cymric, but we still desiderate a thorough critical examination of the place names of Dalriada on the one hand and of the Central High- lands on the other, respectively the most Gaelic and the most Pictish of Scottish districts where Gaelic is still spoken.

In collecting materials for this work I have

o

personally traversed all parts of the County except Lewis, and therefore the number of those to whom I am indebted runs to hundreds. But I am under- special obligation to Mr Kenneth Mackenzie, Shade v, Barvas, both for general information on Lewis names and in particular for permission to make use of a valuable paper on that subject contributed by him to the Highland News. To that distinguished Celtic authority, Dr A. Macbain of Inverness, I owe much in friendly criticism and suggestions, especially

Vlll. PREFACE,

on the philological aspect of the names, and he has kindly read all my proofs. I have to acknowledge most valuable, and indeed indispensable assist- ance generously rendered by the Rev. Charles M. Robertson, who has freely placed at my dis- posal his unique knowledge of the Gaelic forms of Scottish names of places. The majority of the Gaelic forms contained in the following pages have been independently verified both by him and myself. Valuable assistance has also been received from Mr Donald Mackenzie, Inland Revenue, Bonar- Bridge ; Mr John Whyte, Inverness ; and from Mr J. Mathieson, H.M. Ordnance Survey, to whose pains- taking diligence we shall soon owe a map of Scot- land largely purged from those erroneous and mis- leading forms of names which render the existing O.S. maps useless to philologists.

The complete Alphabetical Index of about 3000 names has been prepared by my colleague, Mr H. F. Robson, with the help of our pupils, and revised by myself.

W. J. WATSON.

INVERNESS, May, 1904.

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION.

SECTION I. — HISTORICAL.

PAGE Physical Features*.— Ptolemy's Account.— The Picts.— The Scots.—

The Norsemen — in the Isles --on the West Coast— on the East Coast. — English Influence . . . . * . . . . xi.

SECTION II.— DIVISIONS.

Ro.ss — Original extent and meaning. — Ergadia Borealis or North Argyle. — Cromarty. — Ardmeanach or Black Isle. — Ferindonald. Ferintosh. — The Five " Quarters." — Parishes. — Hebrides or Imise Gall xxi.

SECTION III. — THE BASIS OF INTERPRETATION.

Modern Pronunciations, English and Gaelic. — Old Written Forms. —

Physical Characteristics. — Analogy ...... xxvii.

SECTION IV.— THE FORMATION OF GAELIC NAMES.

Simple or uncompounded names. — Simple words with extension. — Compounds. — Phrase Names. — Periods represented by such. — Prefixed Adjectives and Accent. — Prefixed Nouns and Accent. — Prepositions and Accent. — Accent in Simple Names. — Accent in Phrase-names. — The Article. — Case xxxiii.

SECTION V. — THE PICTISH ELEMENT.

Terms used to denote " Pict."— P and Q Celts.— Pictish Names.— P-names. — Various. — Picto-Gaelic Hybrids. — Pictish Termina- tions.— Stream Names (a) in -n, (6) in -ie, (c) various. — Pictish prefixes xlr.

SECTION VI.— THE NORSE ELEMENT.

Distribution of terms. — Composition of Norse names. —Quantity of first syllable. — Crasis. — Norse-Gaelic Hybrids. — Norse Gaelic Phonetics — (a) Vowels, (6) Consonants liii.

X.

CONTENTS.

SECTION VII. — CHURCH NAMES.

PAGE

Records of Applecross. — Sculptured Stones. — Ecclesiastical terms — ncimhidh — annaid — cM — clachan — tcampvM — eaglais — seipeil — manachainn — comraich — cdtair — crois — cananaich — sgir — manach — sagart — cliar — dtireach, ministear. — Norse Church terms. — Dedications to Columba. — Moluag. — Donnan.— Colman. — Malruba.— lurnan or Iturnan.— Fillan.— Congan.— Kentigerna.— Fionn.— Brigh.— Curitan. — Ferchar. — Dubhthach. — Cormac.— Roman Catholic Dedications lx.

SECTION VIII. — GENERAL.

Terms for Streams. — Marshes. — Confluences. — Fords. — Sea terms. — Flats. — Hollows. — rHeights. — Promontories. — Woods, trees, plants. — Animals. — Dwellings. — Cultivations and Enclosures. — Crops. — Occupations and Customs. — Land Measures. — Numerical Combinations. — Historical Events. — Miscellaneous . . . Ixxi,

		PAGE.	PAGE.
Parish of	Kincardine .	. 1	Parish of Cromarty .	. 124
it	Edderton .	. 23	„ Rosemsrkie	. 128
sj	Tain .	. 32	., Avoch	. 132
t	Fearn .	. 40	„ Knockbain .	. 136
u	Tarbat	. 45	,, Killearnau .	. 142
ii	Nigg . . .	. 50	,, Contin	. 147
„	Logic Easter	. 58	Glenshiel .	. 171
.,	Kilmuir Easter .	. 63	Kintail	. 178
w	Rosskeen .	. 69	„ Lochalsh	. 184
H	Alness	. 75	,, Lochcarron .	. 192
u	Kiltearn	. 85	„ Applecross .	. 201
,,	Dingwall .	. 93	,, Gairloch	. 220
}J	Fodderty .	. 96	„ Lochbroorn .	. 241
M	Urray ' .	. 104	Lewis	. 26*
„	Urquhart .	. 113	Additions and Corrections .	. 273
„	Resolis	. 120	Index	. 285

INTRODUCTION.

I. — HISTORICAL.

THE County of Ross and Cromarty, including Physical Lewis, the northern and larger part of the Long F Island, is the third largest in Scotland. Its mainland part extends from sea to sea, and falls naturally into three divisions, Easter, Wester, and Mid Ross, each of which possesses a character of its own. Much of Easter Ross, between the Dornoch and Cromarty Firths, is distinctly Lowland or even English in type. Its great alluvial plain, Machair Rois, the plain of Ross, comprises some of the richest agri- cultural land in Scotland ; much of it stands only a few feet above the sea level, and the skeleton of a " cetaceous animal"1 found at Fearn proves that it was actually covered by the sea at no very remote period as geological time is reckoned. With it goes the large peninsula known as the Black Isle, between the Firths of Cromarty and Inverness, not level like the Machair, but sloping gently to both firths, and nowhere particularly Highland in aspect. Mid-Ross may be said to extend from the western watershed to the uplands of

1 New Statistical Account.

Xll. PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

Alness and Rosskeen. It is a region of glens, straths, and streams, dominated by the massive bulk of Ben Wyvis, and drains through the Conon and its tributaries Orrin, Meig, Blackwater into the head of the Cromarty Firth. Wester Ross is the long strip to the west of the watershed, between the latter and the sea, deeply indented by sea lochs and seldom far from sea influence. The great " hinterland " of Wester and Mid-Ross is wholly mountain and moor, with the exception of the beautiful valleys of the Kincardine Carron and its tributaries, and the Oykell and Kyleside Valley, the latter facing Sutherland.

Ptolemy's Our earliest information about the inhabitants of Account. j^oss comes from the geographer Ptolemy of Alex- andria, who lived about 120 A.D., and wrote an account of Britain, in which he locates a number of places and tribes, the position of which can be determined with more or less confidence. He states that from the Lemannonius Sinus (Loch Fyne) to the estuary of the Varar (Beauly Firth), and on the east side of Drumalban, lay the Caledonii ; westward of them were the Cerones or Creones. These, then, lay on the southern border of Ross. In the district corresponding to Ross were the Carnonacae on the west coast, the Decantae in Easter Ross from the Beauly to the neighbourhood of Edderton, and the Smertae, who may have occupied the valleys of the Carron, the Oykell, and the Shin. Northwards of these lay three tribes, the Caereni and Cornavii in north-west Sutherland and Caithness, and in the

INTRODUCTION. Xlll.

east of Sutherland the Lugi. At a later period all The Picts. the tribes to the north of the Roman wall between the Firths of Forth and Clyde were included under the general name of Picts, those north of the Grampians being referred to as Northern Picts, and the others as Southern Picts. The headquarters of the King of the Northern Picts at the time of Columba's visit in 565 were near Inverness ; his authority extended at least as far as the Orkneys, probably to the Shetlands. With regard to the Northern Picts, two questions arise which have to he kept separate, the question of race, and the question of language. On the latter point the place-names should throw some light ; here it is enough to say that most authorities now agree that the Picts spoke a Celtic language not of the Gaelic but of the Welsh or Brittonic type. When this Celtic language was introduced into the North it is hard to say ; certainly it was there in the first century, for Ptolemy's names are Celtic. Good authorities place the coming of the Celts into Britain about 600 B.C., others much earlier. One thing is certain, that when they came they found in possession another people less highly civilised, of a different race, with different manners and customs. And, as Celtic influence would reach the north last, and would long be comparatively weak, it is reasonable to suppose that there these primitive people would survive longest and have most influence on the new-comers. In point of fact, the northern Picts show very distinct traces of non-Celtic

XIV. PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

institutions and customs in respect of their family relations and their mode of succession. It may be concluded, therefore, that the Picts were a mixed race, combining a Celtic strain with a strong dash of non-Celtic and probably non- Aryan blood. In very remote places such as Lewis this non-Celtic element would naturally be strongest, and, indeed, is probably still recognisable.

The Scots, In the early centuries of the Christian era Scots from Ireland began to settle among the Picts of the West Coast. The first colony on record was led in the second century by Cairbre Riada, whence the name Dal-Riada or Riada's lot.1 In 501 the coming of the sons of Ere with a strong following marks the establishment of Dalriada as a Scottish kingdom roughly co-extensive with the modern Argyle. The influence of the Gaelic-speaking Dalriadic Scots gradually spread northward along the coast and among the islands. When it reached the west coast of Ross we cannot say exactly, but it is significant that in 673 Malruba, an Irish priest and noble, founded the monastery of Applecross, and it is probably safe to assume that at that date Apple- cross was well within Dalriadic territory. There are at least two other indications of the rapid spread of the Gaels on the west. When the Norsemen came in 793, they called the Minch Skotland-fjorcSr, the firth of the land of the Scots ; the province of

1 " Scoti, duce Reuda de Hibernia egressi, amicitia vel ferro sibimet inter Pictos sedes quas hactenus habent Yindicaveruut." The Scots, led by Riada, left Ireland, and by friendship or force won for themselves among the Picts those territories which they still possess. — Bede, Eccl. Hist., L. i., c. 1.

INTRODUCTION. XV.

Argyle extended from the Clyde to Lochbroom, and Argyle (Gael. Earra-Ghaidheal, older Airer Goedel), means the bounds of the Gael or Scots from Ireland. Not the least difficult of the problems in early Scottish history is the manner in which the language of the Gaels supplanted that of the Picts. For the west coast the answer, as has been seen, is easy : it was settled by Scots at an early date. In the east various causes can be seen to have co-operated. In the first place, Gaelic was the language of the more highly civilised people, which made it a priori unlikely that it should give way to Pictish. Another factor, the importance of which can hardly be over-estimated, was the influence of the Celtic Church. Again, the advent of the Norse on the West Coast must have had the effect of driving the Gaelic-speaking settlers east- ward. Lastly, we cannot tell how long Pictish survived in Easter Koss. It is possible and even probable that, just as on the West there was a period when first Gaelic and Pictish, then Gaelic and Norse, were spoken side by side, so on the East Coast, Pictish, Gaelic, and Norse were spoken con- currently. Pictish has, in any case, left very strong traces in Easter Ross place-names.

The Norsemen began to make plundering expedi- The tions on the coasts of Britain before the end of the eighth century. In 793 they sacked Lindisfarne J in 798 they plundered part of Man and the Hebrides ; in 802 they ravaged lona, and in 806 they slew sixty-eight of the monastic family there ; during

xvi. PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

the same period they made incursions on the Irish coasts also. Monasteries, being rich and defenceless, were special objects of attack, and there can be little doubt, though record is silent on the subject, that to them was due the destruction of Malruba's Monastery of Applecross.

i. In the By degrees they began to settle both in Ireland Isles' and in the Isles. In 872 Harold Harfagr, King of Norway, found it necessary to lead an expedition against the western Vikings, when he subjugated Orkney, Shetland, and the Sudreys (the Hebrides) as far south as Man, But as in Ireland settlement began in the first quarter of the ninth century, it is probable that tbe Hebrides, which lie on the way to Ireland, were occupied long before King Harold's expedition. What is known of the subsequent history of the Norse settlements in the Western Isles has been related too often to need repetition.1 The Isles were finally ceded by Norway in 1266, in consequence of the disastrous battle of Largs, having been more or less under Norse influence for about 470 years. For much of that time the Norse language must have been predominant ; the Isles were not felt to be part of Scotland ; mainland Gaels referred to them as Innse Gall, the Isles of the strangers. And if Norse was spoken in Lewis in 1266, as it doubtless was, it is not too much to suppose that it was not wholly extinct at the time of Bannockburn or even later. Hence at once the

1 Gregory's History of the Western Highlands ; Dr A. Macbain iu Trans, of Inverness Gael. Soc., rol. xix.

INTRODUCTION. XV11.

preponderance of Norse names and their remarkable freshness as preserved in common speech.

The Norse occupation of the western mainland ii. On the probably began later, ended earlier, and, to judge WestCoafit- from the place-names, was less continuous in extent. On the west of Boss they seem to have selected the parts most fertile arid best adapted for grazing. Kintail and Glenshiel show very little Norse influ- ence ; it was strong in Gairloch and round the shores of Loch Maree. But in no part of Wester Ross did the old Celtic nomenclature wholly give way ; from Loch Duich to Loch Broom not only old Gaelic but even Pictish names are well in evidence.

On the eastern mainland, according to the Sagas, iii. On the Thorstein the Red, together with Sigurd of Orkney, East Coa8t- conquered and ruled over Caithness and Sutherland, Ross and Moray, and more than half of Scotland.1 Their exploits here referred to took place about 875, and the net result of them appears to have been that the Norsemen retained possession at least as far south as Dingwall. Over a hundred years later, eirc. 980, Sigurd, Earl of Orkney, defeated Finlay, Mormaer of Moray, at Skida Myre in Caithness, and established his power over " dominions in Scotland, Ross and Moray, Sutherland and the Dales." Earl Sigurd fell at Clontarf, 1014. The Norse power on the mainland attained its highest point under his son Thorfinn, of whom the Sagas say that he held " nine Earldoms in Scotland, the whole of

1 Islands Landndmabdk.

XV111. PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

the Sudreys, and a large territory in Ireland."1 He died in 1064, and after his time the Norse dominions gradually contracted to Caithness. " Many rikis which the Earl had subjected fell off, and the inhabitants sought the protection of those native chiefs who were territorially born to rule over them." 2 At the beginning of the twelfth century Norse may still have been spoken in Easter Ross, but the power of the native chiefs was reviving, and by the middle of it we find Malcolm MacHeth in the position of Earl of Ross, The total duration of the Norse supremacy in Easter Ross was rather less than 200 years. The place-names are instructive. No name of Norse origin appears south of the Beauly valley. The centre of administration was Dingwall, Thing-vollr, plain of the Thing, the Norse court of justice. Some important valleys well inland bear Norse names, Alladale, Dibidale, Strathrusdale, Scatwell. The Black Isle shows only two or three ; elsewhere the proportion is about the same for the area as on the West Coast. To Norse influence per- haps may be due the curious fact that none of the larger streams that flow into the Cromarty Firth — Uarie, Averon, Conon — show an Inver or an Aber. Such Invers as exist belong to small streams, the largest being the Peffery, which gives Inver-feoran (Inbhir-pheofharain), the Gaelic name of Dingwall. In the Dingwall Charters, the estuary of the Conon appears as Stavek, plainly Norse, probably Staf-vik,

1 Orkneyinga Saga. 2 Orkneyinga Saga.

INTRODUCTION. XIX.

Staff-bay, a name which, it may be suggested, supplanted an old *Aberconon, to be in its turn forgotten.

In Wester Eoss the Norsemen met the Gael ; on the eastern side they doubtless met both Gael and Pict.

The twelfth century saw the triumph of Gaelic English over Pictish and Norse; and probably this period Influcnce- (circ. 1100-1200) was the only one since the coming of the Gaels, in which one language and only one was spoken throughout the mainland of Eoss. Under Pictish rule, Ross was governed from Inver- ness ; in the time of Norse supremacy its over-lords hailed from Orkney. The twelfth century was a transition stage ; at its close Eoss was fast coming into touch with the south of Scotland, and to some extent with the language of the Lowland Scots. That English is of long standing in the north is proved by the place-name Wardlaw, near Beauly, which appears on record in 1210 Wardelaue, the hillock where watch and ward was kept by the retainers of the Norman Lord of the Aird, John Byset. No Norman baron, however, obtained a grant of land in Eoss ; English was introduced there through the Eoyal Castles and the Church. In 1179 William the Lion founded the Castles of Dunskaith in Nigg, and Eddirdover, now Eedcastle. In the next century we find the Castles of Cromarty and Dingwall upheld by the Crown and the Castle of Avoch belonging to the De Moravia family. In all of

XV111. PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

the Sudreys, and a large territory in Ireland."1 He died in 1064, and after his time the Norse dominions gradually contracted to Caithness. " Many rikis which the Earl had subjected fell off, and the inhabitants sought the protection of those native chiefs who were territorially born to rule over them." 2 At the beginning of the twelfth century Norse may still have been spoken in Easter Hoss, but the power of the native chiefs was reviving, and by the middle of it we find Malcolm MacHeth in the position of Earl of Ross, The total duration of the Norse supremacy in Easter Ross was rather less than 200 years. The place-names are instructive. No name of Norse origin appears south of the Beauly valley. The centre of administration was Dingwall, Thing-vollr, plain of the Thing, the Norse court of justice. Some important valleys well inland bear Norse names, Alladale, Dibidale, Strathrusdale, Scatwell. The Black Isle shows only two or three ; elsewhere the proportion is about the same for the area as on the West Coast. To Norse influence per- haps may be due the curious fact that none of the larger streams that flow into the Cromarty Firth — Uarie, Averon, Conon — show an Inver or an Aber. Such Invers as exist belong to small streams, the largest being the Peffery, which gives Inver-feoran (Inbhir-pheofharain), the Gaelic name of Dingwall. In the Dingwall Charters, the estuary of the Conon appears as Stavek, plainly Norse, probably Staf-vik,

1 Orkneyinga Saga. 2 Orkneyinga Saga.

INTRODUCTION. XIX.

Staff-bay, a name which, it may be suggested, supplanted an old *Aberconon, to be in its turn forgotten.

In Wester Ross the Norsemen met the Gael ; on the eastern side they doubtless met both Gael and Pict.

The twelfth century saw the triumph of Gaelic English over Pictish and Norse; and probably this period Influen (circ. 1100-1200) was the only one since the coming of the Gaels, in which one language and only one was spoken throughout the mainland of Ross. Under Pictish rule, Ross was governed from Inver- ness ; in the time of Norse supremacy its over-lords hailed from Orkney. The twelfth century was a transition stage ; at its close Ross was fast coming into touch with the south of Scotland, and to some extent with the language of the Lowland Scots. That English is of long standing in the north is proved by the place-name Wardlaw, near Beauly, which appears on record in 1210 Wardelaue, the hillock where watch and ward was kept by the retainers of the Norman Lord of the Aird, John Byset. No Norman baron, however, obtained a grant of land in Ross ; English was introduced there through the Royal Castles and the Church. In 1179 William the Lion founded the Castles of Dunskaith in Nigg, and Eddirdover, now Redcastle. In the next century we find the Castles of Cromarty and Dingwall upheld by the Crown and the Castle of Avoch belonging to the De Moravia family. In all of

XX. PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

these the garrison was, doubtless, composed chiefly of Lowlanders. The seat of the Bishopric of Ross was at Rosemarkie ; in 1227 the Chapter of Ross consists wholly, with one exception,1 of clerics bear- ing English names. So with the Bishops of Ross, all except the first, Macbeth. The other chief centre of ecclesiastical influence in Easter Ross at this period was the Abbey of Fearn, founded circ. 1225, whose Abbots as a rule came from Whithorn in Galloway, and may or may not have known Gaelic ; their names are usually English. The fame of St Duthac's shrine at Tain was also a factor of some importance in attracting Lowland pilgrims. In 1306 we actually find Walter, son of the Earl of Ross, a scholar at Cambridge. All this, of course, had little effect on the native Gaelic, but it shows that in the vicinity of Castle, Cathedral, and Abbey, as well as among the upper classes, there must have been some acquaintance with English. And at the present day we find that it is precisely in these places — Tain, Cromarty, Rosemarkie, Avoch, and, to a less extent, Dingwall — that Gaelic, except for importations, has practically died out. The Castles of the West Coast, Strome and Ellandonan, were garrisoned not by King's men, but by Gaelic- speaking clansmen of native chiefs, and were oftener held against the King than for him.

1 The exception is Donald, Vicar of Locunethereth (Logic Wester).

INTRODUCTION.

XXI.

II. — DIVISIONS.

The ancient district of Ross,1 which gives its name to the modern county, originally extended from the Stockford on the river Beauly to Tarbat Ness, thus comprising Easter and Mid Ross, together with a slice of Inverness-shire. The name has been explained as from (l) Ir. and Gael, ros, a promontory; (2) Ir. ros, a wood ; (3) Welsh rhos, a moor ; Breton ros, a knoll, all equally possible phonetically. Ros, a wood, does not seem to occur elsewhere in Scottish topography ; ros, a promontory, when it occurs, is used with the article, e.g., an Ros Muileach, the Ross of Mull, but the article never appears with the county name ; for these and other reasons a Brythonic or Pictish origin seems most likely. The meaning of " moor" would have been appropriate in times antecedent to regular cultivation.

The Pictish kingdom was divided into provinces —traditionally seven — ruled by petty kings called Mormaers, who were subject to the head-king. Whether Ross ever possessed a Mormaer of its own does not appear ; in the records it goes with Moray.

1 Probably the earliest mention of Ross occurs in the Life of St Cadroe, ascribed to the llth century. "The Choerisci" (wandering Celts from Asia Minor, according to the legend), crossed over from Ireland and peopled lona. Thereafter they coasted along the sea which adjoins Britain, and, through the valley of the river Rosia, entered Rossia (per Rosim amnem, Rossiam invaserunt). The river Rosis, according to Skene, is the Rasay, now called the Blackwater. The legend may be based on an eastward movement of the West Coast Gaels.

XX11. PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

The first Earl of Ross was Malcolm MacHeth,1 circ. 1157, son of Ed, Earl of Moray, and Malcolm, who succeeded his brother Angus slain in rebellion in 1130, appears to have received the Earldom of Ross on his reconciliation to King David I., as part of his ancestral dominions.

The next Earl of Ross is the Count of Holland, of whom nothing is recorded. About 1220 the title was conferred by Alexander II. on Ferchar Mac-in- tagart (son of the priest), surnamed O'Beolan, who appears to be rightly regarded as the then repre- sentative of the lay Abbots of Applecross. The accession of Ferchar was fraught with important consequences, local and national. As lord of the Church lands of Applecross, he was already practically chief of the district from Kintail to Lochbroom, known then as North Argyle ; when, in addition, he became Earl of Ross, he was the leading man in the north. This power, loyally exercised as it was by Ferchar and his descendants, was largely instrumental in establishing the authority of the Scottish Crown in the Highlands at this critical period. Locally he brought the easter and the wester divisions together under one strong hand, thus preparing the way for the modern county. Previous Earls were, of course, Earls of Ross only, i.e., the district east of the central watershed.

1 Heth, Head, Eth, Ed all represented Gael. Aed, later Aodh, Hugh (stili used as a personal name in Sutherland). MacHeth in modern Gaelic is MacAoidh, Mackay. Skene's Highlanders of Scotland, ed. Dr A. Macbain.

INTRODUCTION.

XX111.

The western sea-board from Kintail to Lochbroom Ergadia was, from the beginning of the Scottish Monarchy, known as North Argyle or Ergadia Borealis. a term of which the significance has been explained above. In 1292 William, Earl of Boss, grandson of Ferchar, got his lands of " Skey, Lodoux, and North Argyle " erected into the Sheriffdom of Skye by King John Balliol. The West Coast continues to appear under the name of North Argyll till the early part of the fifteenth century.

The Sheriffdom of Cromarty, which appears to Cromarty have been originally connected with the Royal Castle there, appears on record in 1266, when William de Monte Alto was " vicecomes de Crum- bauchtyn." It was of very small extent, apparently not exceeding the bounds of the modern parish of Cromarty, yet under its hereditary Sheriffs always continued separate, and when in 1661 the Sheriffdom of Ross was definitely disjoined from that of Inver- ness, Cromarty is specifically excepted. The first Earl of Cromarty was Sir George Mackenzie of Tarbat, grandson of the Tutor of Kintail (an Taoitear Taileach), who was made Earl in 1703, and obtained the privilege of having his various estates, large and small, throughout Ross erected into the new County of Cromarty, an arrangement extremely inconvenient, and now surviving only in the county name Ross and Cromarty.

The Black Isle, Gael, an t-Eilean Dubh, a mis- nomer which can be easily paralleled, is the name ° the peninsula between the firths of Cromarty and

The

XXIV. PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

Inverness. Peninsulas are frequently miscalled " islands ;" the classical instance is Peloponnesus, Pelops' Isle. The epithet " black " is sensibly explained by the writers of the Old Stat. Ace., from the fact that even in their time four-fifths of it was black moor, uncultivated. Its old official name is Ardmanache or Arclmeaiiach, meaning the " mid height," midway, that is to say, between the firths, surviving in the farm of Ardmeanach, near Fortrose. A still older name is Eddirdail, now obsolete, meaning apparently Eadar-da-dhail, Between two dales. The Lordship of Ardmanach went with the fortalice of Redcastle, and included all the Black Isle, except the Sheriffdom of Cromarty.

Ferindonald The district from "the Averon or Alness River to the burn of Allt na Lathaid, to the east of Ding- wall, was called of old Ferindonald, G. Fearainu Domhnuill, Donald's land, a name still in use. It comprises the parishes of Alness and Kiltearn, and is the land of the Clan Munro. The Donald in question is the traditional founder of the house of Fowlis, and is supposed to have received this grant of land from Malcolm II. (1005-1034) for services rendered against Danish invaders. Though this account cannot be verified — the origin of the Munros is one of the problems of Clan history — it may be substantially correct. The name Ferindonald i& parallel to Dalriada and Ferintosh.

Ferintosh. The origin of the division of Ferintosh is explained at p. 114. It is expressly excluded from Ross in the

INTRODUCTION XXV.

Act of Parliament of 1661, and till recent times continued to form part of the county of Nairn.

The "five quarters" of Ross appear in 1479 in The Five connection with the confiscated estates of John, last U(^ua Earl of Ross. They are (l) Delney, extending from Tarbat Ness to the Alness River ; (2) Balkeny or Balcony, co-extensive with the bounds of Ferin- donald as given above ; (3) Kynnardy or Kinnairdie, including the valley of the Peffery, arid the parts to the south and west of it, viz., Moy, Achilty, Scatwell Meikle, Brahan, Dunglust, Ussie ; (4) Kynnellane, modern Kinnellan, which included " Coul, Rogy, cum le Ess, Li till Sea thole cum le Ess, Foreste de Rannach, Meyn in Straquhonane, the two Eskatellis, Innermany, Innerquhonray, Kinlochbenquherane ;" (5) Fyrnewer (a name now obsolete), from Fairburn round by the Beauly Firth to Kessock : " the Ferburnys, Auchansawle, Arcoyn, Balbrade, Urra, Kynculadrum, le Orde, Belblare, Balnagoun, Kynkell, Logyenreith, and the two Kessokis." Though this is the first appearance of the quarters as a whole, there appear on record the quarter of Petkenney in 1281 and the " maresium of Fernewyr " in 1350, from which it is a fair inference that the other " quarters " also existed long prior to 1479. They were evidently divisions of the Earldom of Ross, each under a " maor," or land steward, but they may have represented still older tribal divisions, or, possibly, the Norse organisation.

XXVI. PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

Parishes. The division into parishes must have been roughly contemporary with the organisation of the Bishopric of Ross, circ. 1128. The Bishopric was co-extensive with the Earldom, and therefore it was only on the accession of Ferchar Mac-in-tagart, circ. 1220, that it came to include the churches of North Argyle. But little change seems to have taken place in the parochial organisation, the chief being the disjunction of Fearn from Tarbat in 1628, the union of Kilt earn and Lemlair, of Kinnettes and Fodderty, and of Urray and Gilchrist (date uncertain) ; of Kirkmichael and Cullicudden in 1G62, of Urquhart and Logie Wester circ. 1669, and of Kilmuir Wester and Suddy in 1756, now Knockbain. Glenshiel is a new parish carved out of Kin tail. Before the arrangement of 1661, the parish of Kilmorack belonged territorially to Ross, as it still does ecclesiastically. In dealing with parish names, it is important to bear in mind that the name of a parish is regularly taken either from the old parish church, e.g. Kilmuir, or from the spot where the old church stood, e.g. Logie.

Hebrides. The name Hebrides has arisen from a misreading of Pliny's Haebudes, which, he says were thirty in number. Ptolemy gives only five Aebudae. The word must be Pictish, or pre-Pictish ; its meaning is quite obscure, but it has been suggested with some probability that its modern representative is Bute, Gael. Bod. During the Norse occupation they were called by the Gaels Innse-Gall, by the Norse themselves Sudreys, the south isles.

INTRODUCTION.

XXV 11.

III. — THE BASIS OF INTERPRETATION.

The study of names of places involves two pro- cesses, collection of facts and interpretation, and if the interpretation is to be sound, the facts on which it is based must be accurate and adequate. It is therefore proper at the outset to consider the nature of the facts at our disposal in dealing with the names encountered in Ross and Cromarty, names which fall, in respect of language, into four divisions — Pictish, Gaelic, Norse, and English. These facts or data are, in the main, of three kinds—

(1) The names as they are now pronounced.

(2) Old written forms.

(3) Physical characteristics of the places denoted by the

names.

(l) At the present day both Gaelic and English Modem are spoken over the whole of the county, with this qualification, that in the eastern part English is predominant, while Gaelic still prevails on the West Coast and in Lewis. The result is that to some extent over the whole, but especially in Easter Ross, we have a sort of double nomenclature ; on the one hand the names as they are pronounced by the Gaelic-speaking natives, on the other the Anglified forms used by English speakers, and by Gaelic natives, too, when speaking English. These latter are the "official" forms which appear in the Valuation Roll, the Post-Office Directory, and on

XXV111. PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

the maps, and are often of considerable antiquity. The form Raddery, for instance, must have come into vogue at a period when the d of the modern G. Radharaidh was still audible as a consonant. Culbokie dates from a time when the o sound had not yet become a, as it has in modern G. Cuil- bhaicidh. Strathpeffer shows in an unaspirated form the /of modern G. Srath-pheofhair. Cromarty and Drumderfit show old teminations lost in the modern G. forms Cromba! and Druima-diar. Yet the practical value of modern English forms by themselves is small ; at their best they fail to indicate the quantity or the quality of vowels, and often they have undergone changes that quite disguise the original. Modern Gaelic forms of Gaelic names which have been handed down by unbroken tradition have undergone only such changes as occur regularly within the language ; they are, in fact, Gaelic words, conforming to the rules of Gaelic phonetics, and form as good a starting point for the philologist as any other Gaelic words. There remains the question of the value of Gaelic forms of names originally Pictish or Norse. In the case of Norse names, the answer is easy. Gaelic has been, on the whole, wonderfully consistent in its treatment of the old Norse vowels and con- sonants, and it possesses the great advantage of clearly indicating the quantity of the vowel in the first syllable of Norse names, which is usually the important part. In one small class of such names, indeed, it fails us badly, but it is safe to say that

INTRODUCTION.

XXIX.

very slight authority can be attached to any investi- gation of Norse names that fails to take careful account of the modern Gaelic forms. These forms are imitations, but they are only one degree removed from the original ; the English forms are imitations of an imitation. How Pictish names have fared in Gaelic mouths is the more difficult to determine, because practically no specimens of that language have come down to us. It may, however, be remarked that there is no reason to suppose that they were treated differently from the Norse names ; Gaelic may be expected to preserve the vowel quantity of accented syllables, and to be tolerably consistent in its phonetics. In both cases there was a bilingual period, which gave the Gaels ample time to become familiar with the names which they adopted from Pict and Norseman. The changes undergone subsequently have, of course, been in accordance with those of Gaelic. Examples of Pictish and Norse names as they appear in the modern forms will appear later in treating of these elements ; in the meantime some may be given to illustrate the comparative value of the modern Gaelic forms of Gaelic words as compared with their English equivalents —

Pitnellie(s)

Tenafield

Kindeace

Ardroil

Bogbain

Locheye

Kilcoy

Bail' an ianlaith.

Tigh na fidhle.

Cinu-deis.

Eadar dha fhaodhail.

am Bac Ban.

Loch na h-Uidhe.

Cuil-challaidh.

XXX. PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

Pookandraw Bog an t-srath.

Fowlis Folais.

Kiurive Ceanna-ruigh.

Fain na Feithean.

Dochcarty Do'ach Gartaidh.

Other examples will be found passim.

Old (2) The forms of names preserved in ancient

Written documerits have been utilised with much success by Dr Joyce in dealing with Irish names of places. In Irish writings, names have been transmitted with great care from very ancient times by scribes who were masters of the language, and from them the original forms can often be ascertained with immediate certainty. For Scotland, unfortunately, the case is diiferent. The great bulk of our written forms date only from the period not earlier than the twelfth century, when charters came in under the sons of Margaret. Their authority, moreover, is largely discounted by the fact that they were written by scribes who knew no Gaelic, and consequently spelled at random. In the case of Highland names, it is obvious that charter forms must have been more or less phonetic attempts at reproducing Gaelic pronunciations, and their value is, therefore, greatest when they can be controlled and inter- preted by the modern Gaelic. This applies equally to all names not of English origin, whether they are Pictish, Norse, or Gaelic. Thus controlled, the charter forms are often helpful and suggestive ; as independent authorities, they are unreliable. A few examples are given in illustration ; others in abundance will be found elsewhere —

INTRODUCTION.

XXX 1.

Pitnellies	Petnely 1512	Bail' an ianlaith.
Pitkerrie	Pitkeri 1529	Baile-cheiridh.
Strath of Pitcaluie	Culderare 1611	C uilt-eararaidh.
Rhives	le Royis 1479	na Ruigheannaiu
	Ilu vis 1487
Delny	Dalgeny 1356	Deilgriidh.
Alness	Aleiies 1227	Alanais.
Lemlair	Lemnelar 1227	Luirn na' Lar.
Learnie	Larny 1576	Leatharuaidh.
Achterflow	Ochtercloy 1456	Uachdar-chlo.
	Achtirflo 1560
Kilooy	Culcolly 1294	Cuil-challaidh.
	Culcowy 1479
Sanachan	Tannachtan 1548	Sambnachan.
	Safnachan 1583

Perhaps the best example in Ross of a really helpful old spelling, which must take precedence of the modern Gaelic, is Inverasdale, Inveraspidill 1566, &c. ; G. Inbhir-asdal. The oldest record forms for Ross names belong to the first half of the 13th century, and come from the Register of Moray. Written forms antecedent to that date are very few. Ptolemy, the Alexandrian geographer, mentions two names of places which seem to be rightly located in Ross, Volsas Sinus, for which cf. Lochalsh, and High Bank, identified with Norse Ekkials-bakki, modern Oykell.1 In addition, he mentions three tribal names, already referred to. The Carnonacae, somewhere on the West Coast, are, doubtless, the men of the Cairns, or of the Rough Bounds, and we may com- pare the modern Carranaich, the Lochcarron men. In Easter Ross were located the Decantae, but of their name no trace appears subsequently. So, too,

1 Tliis identification is due to the Rev. Charles M. Robertson.

XXX11. PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

with the Smertae, who may have dwelt from Kin- cardine northwards in the valleys of the Carron, Oykell, and Shin. In the interval of over a thousand years between Ptolemy and the record forms, we find only the old forms of Applecross, Lewis, and Ross itself.

Physical (3) As the names of places are usually descrip- Character- tive, it is often useful, sometimes necessary, to see the place itself. It is only by inspection and com- parison that one learns, for instance, to differentiate between the numerous words for hill, or to dis- tinguish between a strath, a glen, and a corry. Inspection is specially useful when names are applied in a metaphorical way, from likeness to some object, e.g., Meall an Tuirc, Boar-hill, from its striking resemblance, as viewed from a certain point, to a boar. Na Rathanan, the pulleys, require to be seen to be appreciated. Places involving obsolete names such as eirbhe, faithir, seolaid, eileag, have to be studied for confirmation of the meaning pro- posed. This applies specially to Pictish names such as Allan, Alness, Contin, Aradie. Orrin. But it is well to bear in mind that no amount of looking at a place can alter the phonetics of the name, and that inspirations derived from inspection must be received with caution.

In the discussions that follow, I have availed myself wherever it has been possible of the three- fold data above indicated. In particular, the modern Gaelic forms, which, in the absence of reliable old spellings, must be regarded as by far

INTRODUCTION. XXX111.

the most reliable basis of interpretation, have been ascertained with accuracy from reliable native sources. In addition, advantage has been taken largely of the analogy of names occurring elsewhere Analogy, which are wholly or partly the same as the names under discussion, or which resemble them in assign- able respects. This is, of course, merely the method of comparative philology applied to place-names. The field from which possible analogies may be drawn is a wide one ; in practice it will be found that for Gaelic names one has to compare names occurring in Scotland and Ireland ; the pre-Gaelic or Pictish element involves, in addition, an acquain- tance with Welsh, Cornish, Old British, and Gaulish names ; while for names of Norse origin the best auxiliaries are the names that occur in the Sagas, and especially the Landnama-bok.

IV. — THE FORMATION OF GAELIC NAMES.

Gaelic place-names may be divided into four classes according as they are — (l) simple or uncom- pounded words without extension ; (2) simple words with extension ; (3) compounds ; (4) phrases.

(1) Simple words without extension, e.g., crasg, a crossing ; magh, a plain (Moy) ; sron, a nose or point (Strone). The names belonging to this class are few, and present no difficulty.

(2) Simple words with extension or extensions. This class is so important as to demand somewhat •extended treatment.

XXXIV. PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

The following is a list of the extensions or ter- minations added on to primary Gaelic words in the names of Ross : -ach, -adh, -ag, -an, -ar, -dan, -I, -lack, -lean, -t(d) or -id.

Combinations of two of the ahove are ; -ach + an, -ach + ar, -ag + an, -an + ach, -ar + ach, -ar + adh, -ar + an.

Combinations of three are : -ar + an + acli, -ach + ar + an, -an + ach + an.

-ach (Gaulish -dcus, abounding in ; -dcum, place of) ; in the locative case it appears as -aich ; the most eommon of Gaelic terminations.

(a) With nouns : Crann-aich, place of trees ; Giuths-ach, place of fir ; Carn-ach, place of stones or cairns ; Capl-aich, place of horses ; Mias-ach, place of platters ; Soc-ach, place of the snout ; Eilean-ach, place of islands ; Glaodh-aich, place of mire ; Av-och, place on the stream ; Sleagh-ach, ? spear-place ; Ceap-ach, tillage place.

(6) With adjectives, less common : Breac-ach, dappled place ; Ard-och, high place ; Dian-aich, steep place ; Liath-ach, grey place ; Leithe-ach, half place.

In old Gaelic, as is still the case in Irish, the dative or locative, and also the genitive case of nouns ending in -ach was formed in -aigh (pro- nounced nearly -ie), and this old formation survives in a considerable number of names. On the west coast we have Logie (twice), G. an Lagaidh ; Dornie (thrice), G. an D6irnidh (cf. Dornoch, an accusative)^

INTRODUCTION. XXXV.

both used with the article as nouns feminine, after the model of nouns in -ach ; e.g., Dun na Lagaidh, the fort of Logie ; Ceannaiche na Doirnidh, the merchant of Dornie, as compared with Ian Dubh na Carnaich, &c. The other west coast instances are not found with the article, viz., Duchary (as against an Dubhctiroch in Loch broom, for Dubh-chatharach) ; Tolly (twice) ; Arriecheirie, G. Airigh-che'iridh ; Ach- a-bhanaidh ; Coire-bhanaidh. In Easter Ross names with this ending are more common, and they never have the article. The following occur here : Logie, Tolly (twice), Pitkerrie (G. Baile-cheiridh ; cf. Airigh-cheiridh above) ; Delny ; Muie-blairie (cf. Blairich in Sutherland ; a locative) ; Kinn-airdie (cf. Ardoch) ; Drynie (cf. an Draighneach) ; Learnie (cf. Lernock in Stirlingshire) ; Comrie ; Garty ; Dounie ; Tarvie ; Carn Sgolbaidh ; Cambuscurrie (cf. Cambuschurrich on Lochtay-side), Haddery (cf. na Hadharaichean in Perthshire) ; Cartomie (cf. Tomich) ; Culcraggie ; Culbokie ; Culvokie ; Duchary ; Balaldie ; Cuil-challaidh (Kilcoy) ; Bealach Collaidh ; Creag lucharaidh ; Balcony.

The above seem to be all tolerably certain cases of survival. In one or two instances the usage varies as between Gaelic and English : Pitglassie is in G. Bad a' ghlasaich ; Glen Docharty is G. Gleann Dochartaich. Here the Gaelic forms may be due to a process of levelling up to the modern -aick formation.

In some other cases, especially in Easter Ross, this ending seems to have been introduced by analogy. It is difficult to account for otherwise

XXXVI. PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

in Pit-hoggarty, Fluchlady, Muiilochy. Analogy may also account for Rhynie and Gany (now in plural Geanies), where the Gaelic is Rathan and Gaan or Gathan.

-aidh, diminutive : Indistinguishable in sound from the above is the diminutive ending -aidh found chiefly on the West Coast.1 In Easter Ross there are Strathy in Rosskeen, Creagaidh-thom in Knockbain, and perhaps Aldie near Tain. On the west we have Lochaidh, a small loch, thrice at least ; Badaidh, a little clump, is common ; Camasaidh, a little bay ; Coiridh, a little corry ; Strathy, a little strath. In the spoken language perhaps the best instance is rudaidh beag, " a wee bittie ;" in Sutherland one hears beanaidh, wifie ; and I have heard eileanaidh beag, a little islet. This is an ending which does not seem to occur in Irish names of places, and may be com- pared with the common Scots diminutive seen in " wifie," "lassie," "Jamie," &c.

-adh : this termination seems to occur only in con- junction with -ar, as -aradh.

-ag (Irish -de), now the diminutive termination for nouns feminine, but in the old language added to nouns masculine also.

(a) With nouns : Breab-aig. a little start ; Giag-aig, a little noisy one ; Fearn-aig, the little place of alder.

(b) With adjectives : Leisg-eig, the little lazy one, a well ; Dubh-ag, the little black one, a

1 It is also common in Sutherland.

INTRODUCTION.

XXXV11.

common streamlet name ; Cas-aig, the little steep one, a rock.

-an (Ir. -an ; Proto-Celtic -agnos) now the diminu- tive ending for nouns masculine.

(a) With nouns : Creag-an, little rock ; Torr- an, little hillock ; Poll-an, little pool or hollow ; Loch-an, a little loch.

(b) With adjectives : Arc-an, the little black place ; Riabhach-an, the little brindled place ; Garbh-an, the little rough place.

(c) It is common in a collective sense : C6inneach-an, place of moss ; Dobhr-an, place of water ; Olach-an, place of stones (stone houses) ; Eathan (Rhyme), place of raths, or, of the rath ; Poll a' Mhuc-ainn, pool, or hollow, of the place of swine ; Druineach-an, place of ? Druids.

-or (cf. Gaulish -aros), rarely used alone. Croch-ar, place of the gallows ; Salach-ar, place of willows.

-dan, the diminutive or collective termination which Dr Joyce finds in Sailcheadain, &c., is probably seen in Ardoch-dainn ; possibly in Crumbauchtyn, the old form of Cromarty.

-I -II (-lo-), probably in Srath-Chromb-ail, Poll- moral.

-loch (Gaul. Catu-slogi, war- folk ; G. sluagh) ; a noun, sunk to a termination.

(a) With nouns : Meagh-laich (mang-lach), place of fawns ; Muc-lach, place of pigs.

(b) With adjectives : Breac-lach, spotted place ; Garbh-lach, rough place; Cuillich (cuing-laich), narrow place ; Fuara-lach, cold place.

XXXV111. PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

-lean : Reidh-lean, a little plain ; Ceis-lein, a little sow (hill name). Very rare.

t, d (-id), found in Ireland by Dr Joyce, and not uncommon with us. Se61-aid, place of (careful) sailing, or sailing mark ; Allt na Lath-aid, burn of the miry place ; Rath-t in Ratagan, from rath, a round fort ; Meith-eid, Meddat ; Blaad. In Ireland this ending is specially common in stream names : Duinn-id, the brown stream, is the only example in Ross.

-ach + an : a combination in which -an usually seems to have a collective force. Gius-achan, place of fir ; Duchan, for Dubh-ach-an, black place ; Doire-achan, place of groves ; Cais-eachan, place of cheese ; Achlorachan ; Fiacl-achan, place of teeth. Na Bothachan (Boath) and na Peit'chan are plural forms, though -an has in both the open sound.

-ach + ar : Poll-ach-ar, place of pools, or hollows.

-ag + an: in form a double diminutive, seen in Irish also. Coire Mhail-eagan (twice), Rat-agan.

-an + acli : a well-attested but rather uncommon combination. Rath-anaich, place of raths ; Cip- eanoch, place of blocks ; Frianach for Friamh- aiaach, place of roots ; cf. Baid-eanach (Badenoch), drowned place.

-ar + ach: with adjective; Ruadh-ar-ach (Ruaroch), the red place.

-ar + adh : Bog-aradh. soft place ; Fliuch-araidh, wet place ; possibly Garbh-araidK, rough place ; Loch a' Mhagraidh, Loch of the place of pawing (or, of toads).

INTRODUCTION. XXXIX.

The Gaelic pronunciation renders the first of these examples certain. The others, so far as sound goes, might come from a nominative in -ach, with the old genitive formation in -aigh.

-ar+an : Dos-muc-ar-an, clump of the place of swine ; Garbh-ar-an, rough place.

-ar+an+ach : Muc-ar-n-aich (Muckernich), place of pigs ; common ; Beith-ear-n-aich, place of birch : Ceap-ar-n-aich, place of blocks.

•ach+ ar+an : Loch Beann-ach-ar-an ;

-n-ach-an : Samh-n-ach-an.

isidh, seen in Camaisidh, Caoilisidh, Lianisidh, Cruaidhsidh ; a difficult termination, possibly Pictish. It does not seem to occur in Ireland. (3) Compounds : —

(a) Noun with noun ; an uncommon formation. Plucaird, lump promontory ; Carnasgeir, Cairn- skerry ; Eigintol, difficulty hole ; Mor'oich, sea plain, are the only examples met in Ross.

(b) Adjective with noun : a much more com- mon formation. Fionn-alltan, white burns ; Dugaraidh, black den ; Cam-allt, bent burn ; Gearr-choille, short wood ; Crom-loch, bent loch ; Du-chary, black rough ground ; Du-loch, black- loch ; Seann-bhaile, Oldtown, and others.

(c) Preposition with noun : Edderton, between duns : Eddracharran (New Kelso), between two Carrons ; Coneas, combined falls ; Contullich, combined hillocks ; Conchra, combined weirs ; Conachreig, combination of rocks ; Araird, fore- promontory ; Ach-eadarsain ; Urray for air-rath or air-ath.

xl. PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

(4) Phrases, of which the component parts stand in grammatical relation : —

(a) Without the article ; these approximate to compounds, but have the principal accent on the second syllable. Beinn-damh, Stag-hill ; Suil- ba, Cows' eye (a well) ; Acharn, field of the cairns, and others.

(b) With the article : Carn a' Bhreabadair, the weaver's cairn ; Tobar a' Chlaidheimh dhuibh, well of the black sword ; Sgurr nan Conbhairean, peak of the dog-men. This is a class too common and well known to need further illustration. There is, however, a variety, specially common OR the West Coast, which deserves special notice, where, contrary to modern usage, the article is prefixed : an L6n-roid, the meadow of bog-rnyrtle ; am Blar-borraich, the moor of rough grass ; an t-Allt-giuthais, the fir-burn ; an Camas-raintich, the bracken bay. The modern Gaelic formation would be L6n na roid, &c.; in the old formation L6n-roid is treated as one word.

Periods The different methods of formation indicated

represented. above mav be taken roughly to represent different stages or periods. The second class of names, com- prising those formed by extensions from a simple root, must have been given at a period when the language still retained its power of using those extensions and combinations of extensions to form fresh names, when, in other words, these were still living and active. When precisely or even approxi- mately they ceased to be such is hard to say, but it

INTRODUCTION.

xli.

is significant that the Gaelic names of Lewis and of Skye are almost wholly of the fourth class, phrase names. Compounds like Ben Damh, Poll-cas- gaibhre, Suil-ba, and names involving prefixed adjectives, nouns, or prepositions, are also of an antique cast. Phrase names are not necessarily modern, for they are well in evidence in the Book of Deer (circ. 1085-1150), but as a rule they belong to the most recent stratum.

The formation of Gaelic names is closely con- nected with questions of accent, the position of general and qualifying words, and the usage of the article.

In modern Gaelic the adjective regularly follows the noun, except in the case of the adjectives deagh, good ; droch, bad ; sar, excellent ; seann, old, which always precede. The old language was freer in this Prefixed respect, and in the place-names adjectives are prefixed Adje?tlves which modern usage would place after their nouns. The number of such is small, and they are all adjec- tives of one syllable relating to colour or some other physical feature. Among the adjectives thus occasionally prefixed in the names of Ross are the following : — dubh, black ; ? loch, black ; fionn, white ; ruadh, red ; Hath, gray ; glas, green ; gorm, blue ; gearr, short ; garbh, rough ; crom, bent ; cam, crooked ; meirbh, slender ; geur; sharp ; cruinn, round ; saobh, false (in saothair) ; mor, big.

In all such cases the principal accent falls on the adjective, with the result that the noun following it tends to be pronounced indistinctly, e.g., Fuar-tholl

xlii. PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

becomes Fuarthol ; Garbh-allt becomes Garbhalt. The effect is most apparent when the noun is of more than one syllable, in which case the first syllable of it is apt to be "jumped," e.g., Dugraidh for Dubh-garaidh ; or slurred, e.g., Glaic nan Seann- innsean is pronounced Glaic na' Seannisean ; so also Bog na Seannan is probably for Bog nan Seann- athan ; Seann-tulaich becomes Seannt'laich.

The adjective dubh, when placed first, is some- times lengthened to du by the stress of the accent, as in Duloch, Dug(a)raidh.

Prefixed Sometimes, though rarely, the prefixed part is a Nouns and noun use(^ as an adjective (see above 3 (a) ), in

-A.CC£HL. 9 i

which case the results are exactly the same in respect of accent and effect on the word following. A special instance of this formation is the very small class of names represented by Maoil Cheanndearg, a' Chlach CheanmT for ceann-dearg and ceann-liath respectively, meaniDg " head-red " and " head-gray/' or " red, gray in respect of the head." This was a favourite type of combination in Irish, and is seen in Gaelic in caisionn for cas-fhionn, foot- white, speckled; earrgheal, tail-white, etc., and in the common terrier name Busdubh, muzzle-black.

Prepositions In compounds of which the first part is a pre- nt' position the principal accent falls on the preposition, with consequent indistinctness or slurring of the second part. Thus Con-tulaich becomes Cunnt'laich, Con-chra is Conachra; Far-braoin becomes Fara- braoin. When the preposition eadar, between, is compounded with a dissyllabic noun, there are two

INTRODUCTION. xliii.

principal accents, one on preposition, one on noun, and eadar itself becomes ead'r, e.g., Eadar-dha- Charrann becomes Ead'ra-charrarm ; Eadar-da- chaolas becomes Ead'ra-chaolas. But if the second part is a monosyllable the accent follows the usual rule, e.g., Ettridge in Badenoch, Gael. Eadrais for Eadar-da-eae, between two falls ; cf. Edderton.

In phrase names the principal accent falls on the Accent in

qualify in & part, whether adjective or noun, which J>arase~

J ° 1 J ' .: vmes

regularly comes after the generic part. In con- sequence, the first part sometimes suffers, while the second part is preserved entire. Thus Achadh, a field, appears as achd in Achd-a-charn, Achtercairn, and many other names ; ach in Ach-na-seileach, Achnashellach ; acha in Acha-mor, Achmore ; while it retains its full form in Achadh -ghiiirain. Perhaps the best example is afforded by the treatment of neimhidh, church-land. Dalnavie is in Gaelic Dal-neimhidh ; so also Cnoc-navie and Inch-navie ; here the strong accent has preserved the second part in full. But when neimhidh comes first, as the generic part, it sinks to neo' as in Neo' na Gill, Nonakiln ; an Neo-mhor, Newmore. This is, fortunately, an extreme case.

In uncompounded names the accent is always on Accent in the first syllable, as in Deilgnidh, Delny ; a' Mhucarnaich, Muckernich.

The usage of the article is noteworthy. As a The Article, rule it is used with Gaelic nouns wherever the grammatical structure admits, and the presence of the article is a sure sign that the word to which it

xllV. PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMABTY.

is prefixed either is Gaelic or has been borrowed into Gaelic, and become naturalised as a Gaelic word.1 In English we speak of Torran, Tullich, Boath ; in Gaelic these places are always an Torran, an Tulaich, na Bothachan.

The absence of the article, however, does not necessarily prove a name to be non-Gaelic, though it does raise that presumption. Pictish names never have the article ; Norse names very seldom, and then only in Lewis, never on the mainland. But we have already noted above an important class of names, chiefly found in Easter Ross, which almost consistently reject it, though they may be regarded as Gaelic. The exact explan- ation of this curious phenomenon is difficult ; these names were apparently regarded as in some way unfamiliar or foreign. Perhaps it was because of their retaining the old locative form, though this seems hardly an adequate reason. Another class seldom found with the article consists of names in -achan, e.g. Giusachan. The only exception met in Ross is am Fiadachan. Apart from these the principal case of an apparently genuine Gaelic name without the article is Suddy, G. Suidhe, seat, see.

1 This perhaps requires some qualification in view of the usage of the article with names of countries. Here it is sometimes capricious. Ireland is Eirin ; Scotland, Alba ; in Ireland^is " Ann an Eirinn ;" in Scotland, " Ann an Alba ;" yet the article appears with the genitive ; " Coig coigimh na h-Eirinn ;" " Righrean na h-Alba ;" yet Brag had Albainn, Breadalbane. Rome, Italy, Spain, Germany, Holland, Greece, Egypt, Europe, Asia have the article in Gaelic — an R6imh, an Eadailt, £c. But Scandinavia is Lochlann.

INTRODUCTION. xlv.

Finally in this connexion we may note that Case, place-names seldom (if ever) appear in the nomin- ative case. They are usually in the dative or locative, the reason being that this was the case in most common use after a preposition ; there was seldom occasion to use the nominative, for a place- name rarely forms the subject of a sentence. Thus we get Tullich, Cill-duinn (Kildun), Cinn-deis, where Cill-duinn,1 is dative of Ceall-dhonn, Cinn of Ceann, and so on. Not unfrequently a name appears in the accusative, as would arise in cases where the custom was to speak of " to such a place."2 Thus we have Tulloch, Dornoch, Ardoch, a' Chip- eanoch, Ceann-a-ruigh (Kinrive), and others, all accusative.

V. — THE PICTISH ELEMENT.

The Picts of Alba3 are sometimes called by the Terms used Irish writers Cruithnig arid Cruithne, genitive pi. *°-^e^?,te Cruithnech, dative Cruithniu, and their land appears as Cruithen-tuaith. From this form pro- bably come such names of places as an Carnan Cruithneachd in Kintail, Airigh nan Cruithneachd in Applecross and near Scourie (Sutherland), and Cruithneachan in Lochaber.

More often they are called in the Irish Chronicles Picti, Pictores, Pictones, rendered into Irish by Piccardai or Picardaig, genitive pi. Piccardach, dative Picardachaib. Their country is Pictavia. In Latin also they are Picti. There were Pictones,

1 Cf. An Candidam Casam, the old Latin form of Whithorn 2 Cf . Stamboul for eis rrjv TrdAti/. 3 The Picts of Erin (immigrants thither) are always Cruithne.

xlvi. PLACE-NAMEB OF ROSS AND OROMARTY.

later Pictavi, in Aquitanian Gaul, whose capital was Pictava.

The old Norse word for a Pict is Pettr, and the Norsemen called the channel between Caithness and Orkney (in G. an Gaol Arcach) Pettlands-fjonSr, now corrupted into Pentland Firth. In Shetland there still survive names such as Petta water, Pettidale, Pettasmog, Pettigarthsfell.1

In a charter of Alexander II. granted to the Monastery of Kinloss in 1221 appears the phrase " ad Rune Pictorum," glossed " Hune Pictorum, the carne of the Pethis or the Pechts feildis " (rune = G. raon). This gloss shows the old Scottish form of the name.

Modern philologists derive Cruithne from the root seen in G. cruth, a shape, "the pictured, tattoed men." The Welsh equivalent of cruth is pryd, and as the Welsh name for Britain and for Pict is Prydain,2 this makes it probable that the name Britain is derived from the Brit tonic form of Cruithne, and means the land of the Picts.3 The name Pict itself, in view of the Gaulish Pictones or Pictavi, cannot be connected with the Latin pictus, painted. It was evidently the name by which the northern Picts were known to the Norsemen, and by which they doubtless called themselves. The initial p indicates Cymric affinities, and the word has been equated with Ir. cicht, engraver, carver, thus again leading to the notion of tattooing.

1 J. Jakobsen Dialect and Place-names of Shetland.

2 The best and oldest forms of Britain show p, Gr. IIp€TTavot,

our form is from the Latin Britannia. 3 See further A. Macbain's Etym. Gad. Diet., p. 353.

INTRODUCTION. xlvii.

Linguistic evidence goes to show that the Pictish P and Q language was Celtic, and belonged to the Cymric branch represented now by Welsh and Breton, and until recent times by Cornish. One outstanding difference between the Brittonic and Gadelic branches of Celtic is their treatment of the primitive Indo-Germanic qu sound. In Gaelic and Irish this primitive qu invariably becomes c hard ; in Welsh, Breton, and Cornish it is represented by p. Thus a primitive maquo-s, son, becomes Gael. mac, Old Welsh map. As for the primitive p sound, it never appears in Gaelic. Initially and between vowels it has dropped entirely, e.g., Lat. pater, piscis as against G. athair, iasg. Elsewhere it is not wholly lost, but leaves some trace either by way of compensatory lengthening or by a new com- bination.1 It follows that no genuine Gaelic word contains a p, except as the result of some late com- bination of consonants.

Initial p is seen in the names involving Pit,2 to Non-Gaelic be compared with Welsh peth, a part, Gael, cuid, j a share portion, O. Ir. cuit, English piece ; in Book of Deer pett. For the usage we may compare dal, a share, lot, in Dal-riada. Tiie Pictish pett was borrowed by Gaelic, and treated as a Gaelic word, e.g., na Peit'chan, the places of Pits ; Petty, G. Peitidh, a locative of Peiteach, place of Pits. For reasons that will occur to Gaelic scholars, Gaels have usually translated it, most frequently into baile, a

1 For examples, cf. A. Macbain's Etym. Gael. Diet., xxxv. 2 v. Index.

xlviit. PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

stead, e.g., Pitkerrie, G. Baile-cheiridh ; sometimes into innis, a meadow, e.g., Innis-fiur, formerly Pit- fuir, or bad, a clump, e.g., Pitglassie, G. Bad a' ghlasaich. Sometimes it is left untranslated, as in the Black Isle Pitfuir, G. Pit-uir ; Pitmaduthy, G. Pit-'ic Dhuibh, also Baile-'ic-Dhuibh. The Pits are mostly confined to Easter Ross, where Pictish influence was most lasting, but Peitneane appears on record in Lochcarron, and Pitalmit in Glenelg. Other names with initial p are Peffer, Porin, Loch Prille, Peallaig, and those involving preas. ii. Various. In addition to these p names, which are obviously non -Gaelic, the following are non -Gaelic either in whole or in part : —

Achilty (2) Drumderfit Monar

Achterneed Fannich Navity

Allan (4) Fodderty Oykell

Alness Kinnettes Pitcalnie

Balkeith Kincardine Tarlogie

Blairwhyte Lochalsh Udais

Contin Lundy (3) Urquhart

Dallas Multovy

With the exception of Lochalsh and that Lundy and perhaps Achilty are repeated on the West Coast, ... <\ all the above occur in Easter and Mid Ross. The explanation of Multovy offered in the text requires qualification ; the termination is better compared with the Old Welsh suffix -ma1 (Ir. mag, a plain), the whole representing a primitive Moltomagos, Wedder-plain. Lo with Mucovie, Migovie, Inver-

1 Zeuss Gramm. Celt. 4, 890.

INTRODUCTION. xlix.

ness, and probably Rinavie, G. Roinnibhidh in Sutherland.

It will be observed that Balkeith, Blairwhyte, Kiunettes, and Kincardine are hybrids, i.e., part Gaelic, part Pictish. The change from Pit into Baile has been already noted. That Pictish pen, head, has been translated into Gael, cinn is proved by names such as Kinneil and Kirkintilloch of old Pen-fahel and Caer Pen-taloch respectively. On this analogy we should have had also at one time Pencardine, Penettes. Blairwhyte is different ; it means the Blair (moor) of Whyte, just as we say the Moor of Rannoch.

The non-Gaelic termination -ais (open a), found Termina- only on Pictish ground, and referred to a proto- Celtic vostis, a dwelling, appears in Alness, G. Alanais ; Dallas, G. Dalais ; Farness, G. Fearnais ; Kinnettes, G. Cinn-it-'ais or Cinn-iteais ; Cnoc- udais. The most northerly instance known to me is Altas, G. Alltais, in Sutherland ; elsewhere it appears in Forres, G. Farais ; Geddes, G. Geadais.

Another termination occurring only in Pictland -tidh. is seen in Navity, G. Neamhaitidh or Neamhaididh (from neimhidh, Gaulish nemeton), Fodderty, Buchanty (as against Buchan) and others.

Stream names are usually old, and probably most iii. Stream Ross -shire streams of any consequence possess names Names- imposed in Pictish times. This, of course, applies only to the mainland ; the names of Lewis streams, when they are not Norse, are unmistakably Gaelic and modern. The majority of the mainland streams

tion. -ais.

,

1. PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND OROMARTY.

— apart from mere burns, which are usually pure Gaelic — admit of being classified by terminations, one class, numerically small but comprising the most important rivers, ending in -n, the other much larger, consisting of relatively secondary streams, ending in -ie.

(a) in -n. The -n group includes the two Carrons, Conon, Gaul. -ona. Qrrin? Crossan, all of which in the text have been

treated as showing the Gaulish river ending -ona, -onna, -ana, as in Matrona, Saogonna, Sequana. .--To them should probably be added Averon and Daan.1 With these may be compared the Don, G. Dian, proto-Celtic Divona ; Almond from Ambona (Gaulish ambis, river) ; Spean, Spesona, from root- as in Spey cognate with Ir. sceim, vomo.

(b) in -idh. To the -ie group belong the following : —

-ios.

-iam Allt Gowrie Wl Grudie (2)

-eta. Allt Rapaidh H,(^ Inver-breakie

Aradie Inver-many

* Ard-essie . ;. Inver-markie

Balgaidh Inver-riavenie

Coire-bhacaidh Loch-calvie

Coire-chrubaidh Polly

Coire Liridh llaonaidh

Eathie (2) Rogie

Glen-calvie Uarie (Strathrory)

Glen-marxie Ussie

One or two of these, e.g., Breakie and perhaps Bacaidh, may be regarded as diminutives of Gaelic origin ; cf. p. xxxvi. sup. The majority, however,

' At p. 26 Daaii is treated as a place-name. I have since found that the littl* glen through which the stream passes near its source is called Gleann. Da'an, thus suggesting Daao to be a stream name.

INTRODUCTION. li.

seem to be of very old type, showing the termination -ios seen in Ptolemy's Libn-ios, Tob-ios. Nov-ios, or perhaps rather -id, common in Gaulish rivers. The Gaulish ending -eta is also possible.1 The geographical distribution of these -ie stream names points to a Pictish origin or strong Pictish influence. Few or none are found in Dalriada, the oldest Gaelic settlement. Of the above list nine are in Wester Ross as against fifteen in the eastern parts. In Sutherland, where Norse influence was strong, fewer are found ; there are, however, two Grudies. But their great habitat is east of Drumalban in the central Highlands, where Gaelic came latest ; e.g.. Feshie, Tromie, Mashie, Markie, Geldie, Nethy.

There remain some stream names which fall (c) Various, under neither of the above categories, viz., Goran, G. Corainn, older Gonrainn ; Meig, G. Mig ; Sheil, G. Seile, Adamnan's Sale ; Dourag, G. Dobhrag, \ ^p* fjfc from dobur, water. The first two are difficult names, of which the explanations given must be regarded as tentative ; in any case they are obviously pre-Gaelic. The river Ewe, G. lu, I have taken, with hesitation, from Ir. eo, yew tree ; the fact that Tobar na h-Iu in Nigg shows the article is practically decisive in favour of iu being there at least a Gaelic word. No Pictish name is accompanied by the Gaelic article. But the river Ewe may be a Pictish name from the same root, or from a totally different one.

1 Gaulish Albeta, White river ; Gabreta, Goat-wood ; cf. Cowrie ; " flumen Gobriat in Pictayia."

Hi. PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

foter. Of prefixes usually regarded as Pietish, there 10 occur in Ross foter, in Fodderty ; and uachdar, in Achterneed, Achterflo, Achtertyre. The former is undoubtedly Pietish ; the latter is good Irish, though in point of fact in Scotland it is confined to Pietish ground, and may therefore be of Pietish origin. To these may probably be added the pre- air. positions ur, Gaelic air, Gaulish are, as seen in lir- Urray, G. Urra', on the Ford (ath), or possibly near the Fort (rath). The ur of Urquhart is certainly Pietish.

In view of the number of Boss* shire rivers of fair size, it is remarkable that we can show only one abair. Aber, and that in a corrupt form, Apple-cross. This may be ascribed partly to strong Norse influence on the coast, partly to the Gaelic habit of translating abair into inbhir. To Norse influence may be due the singular circumstance that no important stream flowing into the Cromarty Firth has either abair or inbhir at its mouth ; translation accounts for Invercarron, Inveraithie.

In dealing with the Pietish element in detail, the following Welsh words have been compared in the text : —

arqf, slow : Aradie, Inver-arity : Gaul. Arar, Arabus. cardden, brake or thicket : Kin-cardine, Ur-quhart. dot, plateau : Dallas, Dal-keith ; dol-men. - gwaneg, a wave : Loch Fannich. -v^ \\.\, gwydd, wood : Bal-keith. nant, valley : Achter-need.

pawr, pasture : Porin ; Inch-f uir ; Pit-f uir ; Bal-f our ; Doch- four.

INTRODUCTION. lili.

pefr, bright : Strath-peffer.

peth, portion : Pit-calnie, Pit-kerrie, &c.

prill, streamlet : Loch Prill. 3 «

MM, moor: Ross.

tal, forehead : Tarlogie.

uchel, high : Achilty, Oykel ; Ochil ; Ochil-tree.

ud, a yell, blast : Cnoc-udais.

To these should be added the word preas, borrowed from Pictish into Gaelic ; cf. W. prys. In modern Gaelic preas means " bush ;" in place- names, however, it has rather the meaning of " clump " or " thicket," which echoes the Welsh prys> brushwood, covert.

In the above there is a distinct Brittonic element, which cannot be referred to Gaelic. Many other names show roots common to both branches, and are therefore difficult to classify. Thus Delny, G. Deilgnidh, might be referred to G. dealg or Cornish dele ; Lainn a' Choirc, Oat -flat, may show the rare G. lann or the common Welsh llan.

VI. THE NORSE ELEMENT.

While the list of Norse names given in the text may be regarded as exhaustive for the mainland part of the county, it is not so in respect of Lewis.

Lewis and Harris are more Norse in nomen- clature than any other part of Scotland, and it would be possible from Lewis alone to add a thousand names, more or less. The great majority of Lewis names are wonderfully well preserved, and

liv. PLACE-NAMESfiOF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

once the Gaelic pronunciation is heard, present little difficulty. But there also, as on the mainland, there is a residue difficult of explanation, to some extent no doubt involving old Norse words current in common speech, but not preserved in Icelandic literature.

Bolstadr. On the mainland the distribution of the term bolstaftr is analogous to that of G. baile. No name involving bolstaSr is found on the West Coast ; on the east there are Arboll, Cadboll, Carbisdell, and Culbo. On the other hand, we have a parallel to erg. the distribution of G. achadh in the Norse erg shieling (borrowed at an early stage from G. airigh ; O. Ir. airge), which appears on the west in Smirsary, Kernsary, Blaghasary, Aundrary, but is not found in the east.

Composition The composition of Norse names differs from that of Non o£ Qaelic names, in that the specific or qualifying part, which in Gaelic comes after the generic term, is in Norse invariably prefixed to it. Thus N. dalr, a dale, comes at the end of names, after the descriptive epithet, e.g., Slattadale, Attadale, Scama- dale. G. dal, a dale, regularly stands first, e.g., Dalmore, Dalbreck, Dalnacloich. In this respect Norse resembles English ; Gaelic resembles Latin. The accent in Norse names, as in Gaelic names, falls on the qualifying part, that is, in this case, on the first syllable.

Quantity In Norse names transmitted through Gaelic the

°\f KI* quantity of the first syllable — which is the important

one — can always be ascertained from native Gaelic

INTRODUCTION. Iv.

pronunciation. The quantity of the following unaccented syllable or syllables (i.e., of the generic part) is lost ; long vowels are shortened, e.g., vik, bay, terminally becomes -aig. Further, in the case of polysyllabic names, or in the case of compounds consisting of three words — triple-barrelled — there is, under certain circumstances, a tendency to "telescope," i.e., to slur or even wholly jump the Oasis, middle part of the name. Thus Askary in Caith- ness is historically known to represent Asgrims- ergin, Asgrim's Shielings ; the old spelling of Inver-asdale is Inver-aspedell, G. Inbhir-asdal. This affects only a small number of names, but where it has taken place there must, in the absence of record forms, be considerable uncertainty in restoring the part suppressed. Apart from this, the modern Gaelic pronunciation is extremely con- servative in resisting corruption. A good example is Skibberscross in Sutherland, G. Siobarscaig; in 1360, Sibyrs(k)oc ; 1562, Syborskeg, Schiberskek.

The hybrids that occur between Norse and Norse-Gaeli« Gaelic are of a nature easily intelligible. Examples are Inver-kirkaig, Glen-dibidale, Strath-rusdale, Ard-shieldaig, Eilean Thannara. Here the Gaels accepted the legacy of the Norsemen, and finding such names as Kirkaig, Dibidale, &c., added on further Gaelic descriptive terms as they found occasion. The result is frequently unconscious tautology, as in Glen-dibidale, Glen-deepdale ; Strathrusdale, Strath-ram's-dale ; Ard-shilldinish, Cape of herring-cape, and so on. What is not found

Ivi. PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CKOMARTY.

is the conscious blending of Gaelic and Norse, e.y.r it would be wholly impossible to find Norse a, river, bolstaftr, stead, dalr, dale, ey, island, viJc, bay, qualified by a Gaelic adjective or noun. What we do find is the full-fledged Norse name further described by a Gaelic epithet or generic term, often unconsciously pleonastic. This is exactly parallel to the usage as between English and Celtic, e.g., the Kiver Avon, the Moor of Eannoch, the Strath- peifer Valley. There is, however, a very small class of names where the Norse fjcdl, hill, has been translated into Gaelic beinn ; the instances known being Goatfell, G. Gaota-bheinn, Goathill ; Blaven, G. Blabheinn, Blue-fell; Sulven, G. Suil-bheinn, Pillar-fell, and Badhais-bheinn in Gairloch. These must be regarded as the exceptions that prove the rule. Many Norse terms, of course, have been borrowed by Gaelic, the outward and visible sign of annexation being the prefixing of the definite article. On the mainland one of the names so borrowed was apparently tafta, an in-field, of which we have a plural diminutive in Taagan, G. na Tathagan ; the singular nominative is shewn in Fear nan Tathag (the genitive plural being in Gaelic identical with the nominative singular). In Lewis ordinary Norse names are sometimes found with the article, e.g., Cnoc a Mhiasaid : the inference is that there the meaning of these Norse names continued to be understood down to a late date.

INTRODUCTION. Ivii.

Eeliable interpretation of Norse names as pre- Norse-Gaelic served in Gaelic depends on an investigation of I>IlonetlC8- Norse-Gaelic phonetics. A complete account of the interchanges between Norse and Gaelic has never so far been attempted, and that subjoined must be regarded as subject to amplification and alteration On subsequent enquiry. In the main I hope it is correct.

Vowels.

Norse. Gaelic.

a a bakki, bac ; stafrr, stadh ; stafr, Staffa.

a a a, amat ; mar, Masgeir ; skari, Scarista ; gas,

Gasacleit ; grar, Gradail ; gja, geodh, geodha. e e, ea klettr, cleit ; hesl, Ard-heslaig ; hestr, Hestaval ;

melr, Mealabhaig ; ger^i, gearraidh ; hellir,

Thealasvaigh.

e e slettr, Sleiteadal.

i i gil, gil ; fit, fid ; skip, sgioba ; rif, Biof ; tirnbr,

Teamradal. Final i is dropped : bakki, skiki. i i hris, Risadal ; sild, Sildeag ; iss, \slivig ; I'm,

Linish ; gnipa, Gniba ; griss, Grisamal. o o hross, Rosay ; kollr, Colabol ; oruir, Ormiscaig,

6 6 L611, toll ; h6p, ob ; 6ss, os ; stj6rn, Stebrnabhadh •

h61mr, Tolm (-tuilm). u u kuml, Traigh Chumil ; hund, Hundagro; tunga,

Tungavat ; hlunnr, lunn. u u hriitr, Srath-rusdail; hiis, Husabost', siili, Sulbheinn;

miili, mii^ (also maoil).

7 i myrkr, Mircabat ; kyrr, Kirivick ; hryssa, Riwil ;

byr^iiigr, birlinn. y iu dy'r, Diurinish.

y'r, Z7ac?a/.

se ei green, Greinatot. o o mol, ?7io/ ; stu^, s^o^A ; orfiris-ey, Orasay.

Iviii. PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

Norse. Gaelic,

au 6 straumr, Strom, ; haugr, Tbgh : sautfr, Soay ;

hraun, Rbna. ei ao geit, Gaota-bheinn ; eifr, uidk(aoidh).

ei breidr, Breidhvat ; belt, beid ; steinn, Steinn. ey ao reynis-a, Raonasa (Ranza) ; dreyr-rik, Draoraig. ei reyiT, Reireig.

eu ey-fjord^r, Euord ; ey-fjall, Euval ; ey-fjorfrr, Euport.

but, eyland, eilean. ja tjorn gen. tjarnar, (Loch an) tighearna ', hjortr

gen. hjartar, Thartabhat. ja gja, geodh, geodha.

J6 eo Lj6tr, Mac-Leoid; flj6t, Srath-Flebid (Strath

Fleet) ; but, grj6t-a, Gride.

kv cu kvi, Cuidhshader ; svord'r, Suardal ; sveinn, sv su Suainabost.

Kvaran, Cuaran.

hv f hvar es,far-asl (where is1?); hvitr, fiuit.2

bh, v hvalr, Valasay. ch hvammr, Chamasord.

Consonants (N on- Initial).

Norfee. Gaelic.

k g skip, sgioba ; thorskr, trosg • vik, -aig ; skiki, -sgaig (-scaig) ; skata, sgat, sgait ; sker, sgeir. After a consonant remains c: myrkr, Mirckabat ; but Arkb61, ^rfco?.

kk c stokkr, Stocanish ; bakki, iac ; stakkr, stac ;

bekkr, Becamir.

g gh haugr, Tbgh; hagi, Tao'udal (Taghadal) ; vagr» -bhaigh; Sigurtf-haugr = Siwardkoch 1160; fugl, Fulasgeir. But «,^r stands : Tungavat, Stangarey.

gg g Skeggi, Sgiogarsta ; egg, Aignish, eig.

1 TFar o/ t^e tfaeZ and the GaU, p. 174.

2 Book of Leinster, 172a 7 ; 205b 48. Tc» these may b« added Hritern (Whi thorn), Futernc, evideatly a Gaelic form.

INTRODUCTION. lix.

Norse. Gaelic.

t d, t fit, jid ; belt, beid \ grjot, Gride ; setr, Siadar

(Shader) ; flatr, Plaid ; holt, Nead-alt • hrutr,

ruta. tn final becomes t : -vatn, -bhat ; t before 6*

is dropped ; hriitsdalr, Rasdal ; after a consonant

remains t. tt t klettr, chit ; sle'ttr, Sleit : skattr, Scatail (Sgatail) ;

brattr, Brataig, Bratanish. p b gnipa, Griba ; hop, bb, Oban ; Pap-ey, Paba. But

pt becomes bht, topt, tobhta. pp p kleppr, Cleipisgeir ; kappi, Capadal. & th,dh breidr, Breidhvat ; hladU, Lathamur ; tada,

Tathag ; saiicTa-ey, Sba ; stad'r, -sta(th) ; sto'fr,

Stoth. For -rft- in the body of a word, cf. gerfri,

gearraidh ; -r& final becomes -rd, -rt, fjord'r,

Slpkort, Ckamasord. d d hund, Hundagro • -nd final becomes -id in Miasaid

for mj6-sund ; remains in Assynt for ass-endi ;

elsewhere remains ; sandr, Sandabhaig. dd d oddi, Toddin (the point).

1 1 melr, Mealabhaig ; but Is becomes s ; hals, Thais.

m n hamarr, Puthar-hamar • timbr, Teamradail.

ormr, Ormiscaig. n n always except in terminal -nd, which is sometimes

-id ; gn initial becomes gr in Griba from gnipa. f f, bh klif, diof; rif, riof; scarf, scarbh ; rof, Robhanis ;

gljufr, Globhur (also ? Gleadhair) ; orfiris-ey becomes

Orasay ; / before s is dropped : klifsgro, Clisgro.

Initial / is apt to become jt? ; flatr, PfaiW (being

mistaken for ph] ; /«- becomes win, nn ; hofn, gen.

hafnar, Thamnabhaigh, Tannara.

th (initial) t throskr, trong ; thari, Tarigeo • Thorir, Tbrasdal. b (initial) b regularly ; but, biid1, genitive bufrar, Putharol,

Putharhamar.

Initial h frequently developes t in Gaelic, being naturally mistaken for th, i.e., aspirated t • thus hafnar-ey becomes Tannara ;

Ix. PLACE-NAMES OF BOSS AND CROMARTY.

haga-dalr, Taghadal ; Mmr, Tolm and -tuilm ; hjalli-dalr, Tcalladal ; holl, ^To//. In one important name at least hj becomes se : Hjaltland, SeaUainn (Shetland), or, in Reay, Seoltain.

VII. CHURCH NAMES.

Columba, the great Apostle of the Northern Picts, arrived in lona from Ireland in 563, and two years later visited the Pictish King Brude at his palace near Inverness. The Irish monks were full of mission- ary zeal. On the occasion of Columba's visit to King Brude, incidental mention is made of a proposal by one of his brethren to seek " a desert in the sea '* somewhere about the Orkneys. By the end of the eighth century, as we know on the reliable authority of the Irish monk Dicuil, as also from other sources, the missionaries of the Celtic Church had reached even Iceland, which, however, they abandoned before the arrival of the Pagan Norsemen in 875. There is therefore no reason to doubt that before the year 800 the Christian religion had spread to Lewis also, though about that time it must have received a severe check from the influx of the invaders. The direct proofs of Celtic Church influence are three :— (l) records, (2) sculptured stones, (3) dedications and ecclesiastical terms preserved in place-names. 1. Records. Of records we have only those relating to the Monastery of Applecross, as follows : —

A.D.

671 Maelruba in Britanniam navigavit (Tig. Ann.) 673 Maelruba fundavifc ccclesiam Aporcrossan (ib.).

INTRODUCTION. Ixi.

A.D.

722 Maelruba in Apercrossan, anno LXXX. aetatis suae et

tribus mensibus et xix. diebus peractis in xi. kl. Mai,

tcrtiae feriae die, pausat (ib.). 737 Failbe me Guaire, Maelrubai eiris .i. Apnorcrosain .i.

prof undo Pelagi dimersus est cum suis nautis numero

xxn. (ib.).1

From other sources we learn that Malruba before he left Ireland was Abbot of Bangor, and that, like Columba, he was of noble birth.2 His name has been derived from mael, tonsured, and ruba, peace or patience ; another quite feasible explanation is from ruba (now rudha), a promontory ; Mal-ruba = Gille an Hudha, the Lad of the Point. Names were often given from the accident of place or time of birth.3 Dedications to him are extremely common, and his name assumes a variety of forms. In Ross we have Combrich Mulruy, i.e., Comraich Maol- ruibh, Malruba's sanctuary, to wit, Applecross. On Eilean Ma-Ruibli, Isle Maree, is a bury ing-ground and sacred well, whose waters used to cure insanity. In honour of him the finest of our northern lakes has changed its name from Loch Ewe to Loch Maree. Near Jamestown in Contin is Preas Ma-

A.D.

1 671 Malruba sailed to Britain.

673 Malruba fouuded the Church of Aporcrossan.

722 Malruba died at Apercrossan at the age of eighty years three months and nineteen days, on the 21st day of April, being a Tuesday.

737 Failbe, son of Guaire, successor of Malruba in Apuorcrosain, was drowned in the open sea with his sailors to the number of twenty- two.

2 Practically all that can be gathered about St Malruba is to be found in Dr Reeves' article (Proc. Soc. Scott. Antiq. vol. III.)

3 Cf. Mael-Mocheirigh, Slave of Early-rising ; Lat. Manius.

Ixii. PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

Ruibh, Malruba's Grove, long a place of sanctity, and now the burial-place of the family of Coul. An autumn fair, Feill Ma- Ruibh, was long held at Contin, later at Dingwall, where it died out within living memory. Two or three places are said to be called Suidh Ma-Ruibh, Malruba's seat, where he was wont to rest on his journeys, but I have been so far unable to verify them. One is said to be marked by a low pillar stone in a field at Bad a' Mhanaich, Monk's Clump, at the west end of Loch Rosque.

ii. Sculp- Sculptured stones belonging to the Celtic Church 58 have been found at Applecross, Rosemarkie, Nigg, Tarbat, Edderton, and Kincardine. The presence of such, most of them indicating a very high degree of skill in workmanship, is in itself a conclusive proof of strong Church influence.

iii. Ecclesias- For convenience, it will be well to include all the tical Terms, ecclesiastical terms found, distinguishing those

peculiar to the early Church from later ones. Neimhidh. The word neimhidh, church-land ; 0. Ir. nemed, saceUum, chapel ; Gaulish nemetoii or nemeton, a shrine in a grove, is a pagan term grafted on to Christian usage. It is a common element in Gaulish names, e.g., Nemetomarus, great shrine ; Augus- tonemeton, shrine of Augustus ; Vernemetis. faiium ingens, very great shrine. Zeuss quotes " de sacris silvarum quae nimidas vocant," concerning shrines in woods which they call nimidae ; " silva quae vocatur nemet," the wood which is called nemet. The root is seen in Latin nem-us, a grove ; Gael.

i

INTRODUCTION. IxiiL

neamh, heaven: It is quite possible that the places in which the word occurs with us were originally sacred to the pagan deities of the Picts ; later they were church-land. In Rosskeeri are Dalnavie, Cnocnavie, and Inchnavie, Dale, Hill, and Haugh of the Church -land ; all adjacent to Nonakiln, G. Neo' na Cille, in 1563 Newnakle, Glebe of the Church, viz., the ancient chapel whose ruins still exist.1 The N. Stat. Ace. mentions that in Rosskeen there were at the time of writing two glebes, one " at Noinikil, the cell or chapel of St Ninian," a derivation obviously impossible, for it would require Cill- Ninian. With this goes also the assumed dedi- cation to Ninian, who is nowhere commemorated in Ross. Eastwards of Nonakiln is Newmore, G. Neo'-mhor, of old Nevyn Meikle, Great-glebe, the exact representative of Nemetomarus above. It was church-land before the Reformation. All these names occur together. The only other instance in Ross is Navity, near Cromarty, also church-land, G. Neamhaitidh, the formation of which makes it very doubtful whether it was ever given by the Celtic Church, and strongly suggests Pictish origin.2 It recurs in Fife as Navaty, in 1477 Nevody. Rosneath, G. Ros-neo'idh, in 1199 Neveth, 1477 Rosneveth may mean Promontory of the Nemet. Nevay occurs as a parish name in W. For far.

JIn 1275 we hare " Nevoth et Roskerene " (Theiner, Vet. Mon.), i.e.^ Navie and Rosskeen. It is probable that at this date " Nevoth " included both Nonakiln and NeMrmoi-e.

2 The well-known legend that the final Judgment is to take place on the mo'.ir of Navity may have its root in some pagan superstition.

IxiV. PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

Annat. Annat, G. annaid or annait, Ir. annoid, O. Ir.

Annaid. an^i^ is a very old term, peculiarly and decisively characteristic of the Celtic Church. It appears to come from late Lat. antas, antat-is, glossed senatus, council of the ancients or elders. In Irish usage the annoid was the church in which the patron saint of the monastery or monastic district was educated, or in which his relics were kept. The Book of Armagh (c. 800) relates that St Patrick left Iserninus or larnan at a certain place to found his monastery (manche) and his patron saint's church (andooit). The exact position of the Scottish Annats is not so clear ; they are at any rate of great antiquity, indi- cating doubtless the earliest Christian settlements in their particular districts. We have Ach-na- h- Annaid in Kincardine ; Annat and Loch na h- Annaid in Nigg ; Annat and Clench na h-Annaid beyond Clachuil on the way to Strathconon ; Annat opposite Iiivermany ; Annat at Torridon ; and Annat at Kildonan, Lochbroom — six in all, on the main- la'nd of Ross. In the Island of Crowlin, off Apple- cross, is Port na h-Annaid. In Lewis there is na h-Annaidean, the Annats at Shader ; there is also an Annat in the Shiant Isles, G. na h-Eileanan Sianta, the Charmed Isles. These names must have survived through the Norse occupation from the time of the early missionaries.

Cill. dM is the locative case of O.I. cell, a church, from Lat. cella, a cell. In place-names it always means church, in modern G. churchyard. As a rule cill stands first in compounds, followed by the name

INTRODUCTION. Ixv.

of the saint commemorated by the dedication. Sometimes, but rarely, the specific part of the com- pound is not a saint's name, e.g., Kildun, G. Cill- duinn, appears to be the locative of Cell-dhonn, Brown Church. The Gill's of the Celtic Church may be distinguished by their dedications to Celtic saints, e.g. , Kilmachalmag ; names such as Kilmuir and Kilchrist are of Roman Catholic origin. In English spelling and pronunciation, but not in Gaelic, cill is apt to be confused with cuil, corner, e.g., Kilcoy ; caol, narrow, e.g., Kildary ; coille, wood, e.g., Kinkell, G. Ceann na Coille, Woodhead. For the Ross Gill's see index under Kil-, Gill-.

Clachan, a stone church, Ir. clochan, a stone Clachan. bee-hive monastic hut. On the mainland of Ross clachan is practically confined to the West Coast : on the east the only instance known to me is Beinn a Chlachain, not far from the Parish Church of Kincardine. On the west, as a reference to the index will show, it is common.

Teampull, a church, borrowed from Lat. templum, Teampull. a temple, occurs only twice on the mainland, and in both cases it seems likely that the term applied not to a "temple made with hands," but to places naturally adapted to shelter a few worshippers. In the Isles it means simply church, and is regularly followed by a saint's name.

Eaglais, from Lat. ecelesia, the modern G. for Eaglais. church, occurs seldom in place-names. Beinn na h-Eaglaise above Annat, Torridon, is one of the few examples with us.

Ixvi. PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

Seip«il. Seipeil is a late word from Eng. chapel, as is shown by initial s ; a direct loan from Lat. capella would give caibeal.

Manachainn Manachainn, a monastery, abbey, priory, from manach, a monk. From the Abbey of Fearn the parish is in G. Sgir na Manachainn. The other northern example is Beauly Priory, G. Manachainn 'ic Shimidh, v. Fearn.

Comraich. There were in Ross two girths or sanctuaries, that of St Malruba in Applecross, and of St Duthac at Tain. The memory of the former is preserved in the G. name for Applecross, a' Chomraich, and of the latter by Clais na Comraich, on the Scotsburn road, two miles from Tain. The limits of both were marked by stone crosses. Reference to the Tain girth-crosses is made in the text ; in Applecross one was to be seen just opposite the U.F. Church Manse till recent times, when the zeal of a Pro- testant mason smashed it. The most notable personages who sought to the sanctuary of St Duthac were the queen and daughter of King Robert Bruce (1306); "but that travele they mad in vane," for the influence of the English King was sufficient to induce William, then Earl of Ross, to violate the girth and surrender the fugitives. The last occasion of public importance in this connection was in 1483, when William, Lord Crichton, on a charge of treason, took refuge in the girth of Tain. Celtair. Celta-ir, an Irish word for church, is perhaps seen in Kildermorie, Alriess, though in the absence of the Gaelic form we can have no certainty. Natives

INTRODUCTION. Ixvii.

speak only of Gleanna-Mhoire, Mary's Glen. Per- haps Kildermorie is to be regarded as a reversed form of Maryculter, a name which, with Peterculter, has never been satisfactorily explained.

Crois, a cross, appears in Crois Catrion, near Crois. Tain ; probably also in Crosshills, and Corslet.

A' Ohananaich, the place of Canons, Chanonry, Cananaich. is the Gael, name of Fortrose. A Roman Catholic term.

Sgir, a parish, is a loan from Ang. Sax. sci'r, a Sgir. county, now shire.

Other ecclesiastical terms occasionally found in Manach. place names are manach, a monk ; sagart, a priest ; ^** " cliar, clergy ; cleireach, a cleric ; mfnistir, a minister Oeireach. — the last a presbyterian term. Cf. Ard-mhanaidh , Mmistir- Priesthill, Dochnaclear, Dalnaclerach, Clach Airigh a' Mhinistir.

Traces of ecclesiastical establishments found by Norse the Norsemen on their arrival are Inverkirkaig, ^er^g from kirkju-vik, Church Bay ; Mungasdale, Monk- dale, both in Lochbroom ; Pabay, Pope or Priest Isle ; Bayble, Priest-stead ; Mungarsta, Monk- stead, in Lewis.

The saints commemorated in Ross are Columba, Dedications. Moluag, Donnan (contemporaries of Columba), Colman, lurnan, Malruba (already mentioned), Fillan, Congan, Kentigerna, Fionn, Brigb, Curitan, Ferchar, Dubhthach or Duthac, and perhups Cormac.

No dedication to St Columba appears on the Columba. mainland of Ross. In Lewis the old church of Lochs, on Eileau Chalum-Cille (St Columba's Isle), was dedicated to him.

Ixviii. PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

Moluag. Moluag shows the honorific prefix mo, my, com- mon with saints' names. Lu-oc itself is a pet form of Lugaid, root long, win, whence the Celtic sun- god Lugos. The saint was Bishop and Abbot of Lismore, and tradition says that he was buried at Rosemarkie.1 His name survives in Davach-Moluag, Fodderty.

Domian. Donnan of Eigg (from donn, brown), has his name preserved in Kildonan on Little Lochbroom, Seipeil Donnain or St Donan's Chapel in Kishorn, and probably j Eilean Donnain, Donnan's Isle, Kintail.

Colman. Caiman, " little dove," was a favourite name among the Irish clerics, and in the multitude of Colmans it is impossible to be sure of the particular saint who is commemorated in the names Kilmach- almag, G. Cill-mo-Chalmaig, and Portmahomack, G. Port-mo- Cholmaig, and to whom the parish church of Tarbat was dedicated. In Portmahomack is Tobair Mo- Cholmaig, St Colman's Well. At Kilmachalmag, near the right bank of the burn not far from its mouth, there are still traces of a very small chapel adjoining a disused and sadly neglected bury ing-ground. East of it is Achnahannet, noted above, lurnan. ;por Iurnan Vm under Killearnan.

Fillan, G. Faolan, little wolf, was the son of Kentigerna. Hence Kilillan, G. Cill-Fhaolain, in Kintail.

1 Aberdeen Breviary.

INTRODUCTION. Ixix.

Congan, brother of Keritigerna, is the patron Congan. saint of Lochalsh, and appears also in Kilchoan, now Mountrich, in Kiltearn.

Kentigerna, Ir. Caintigerna, kind lady, crossed Kentigerna. from Ireland to Lochalsh, according to the legend, c. 615, accompanied by her son, Fillan, and her brother, Congan. Her name is kept in Cill- Chaointeort (Glenshiel), in 1543 Kilkinterne, 1727 Kilchintorn, 1719 Killiwhinton. It will be seen that the place-names support the legend.

The existence of St Fionn is guaranteed by the Fionn. name Killin, G. Cill-Fhinn, at Garve, taken together with Loch Maol-Fhinn, Loch of the shaveling of Fionn, which is the G. for Loch Garve.

Brigh, a female saint ; Cladh mo-Bhrlgli is a Brigh. small burial place with remains of chapel between the public road and the sea, two miles east of Ding- wall.

Curitan, G. Curadan, Latinised Queretinus, and Curitan. sometimes called Boniface, was a native of Scotland, for he is referred to as Albanus Queretinus (i.e., Curadan Albanach), cf. St Duthac. Curitan was an important personage, who flourished c. 700, a con- temporary of Nechtan, son of Derili, that King of the Northern Picts who promulgated the edict of conformity to Rome in the matters of Easter and the tonsure. It is probable that Curitan was of the Romanising party, and was Nechtan's adviser in things spiritual. In Ross we have Cladh Chur- adain, St Curitan's graveyard, a small rectangular burying-ground north of the farmhouse of Assynt,

Ixx. PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

Novar, used within living memory, and stated to have contained stories with inscriptions and car- vings.1 Cnoc Churadair, north of Ardoch, Alness, is St Curitan's Hill (the n of Cladh Churadain is sometimes heard as r) ; as the place is thickly wooded, it would be difficult to search for remains of a chapel, and I have heard no tradition. Other traces of Curitan are Cladh Churadain and Suidh Churadain at Lochend, Inverness; Cladh Churadain at Struy, Strathglass ; Cladh Churadain, Tobair Churadain and Croit Churadain in Gleri-Urquhart. The old church of Fearnua, in Kirkhill paiish, was dedicated to " Corridon."

Ferchar. Ferchar (Ver-caros, very dear), is known only by a small deserted burial-place opposite Shiel School, called Cill-Fhearchair.

Dubhthach. Dubhthach or Dubtach (Dubotacos), from Dubh, black, was a name not uncommon. Dubhthach, contemporary with St Patrick (432), was one of the nine compilers of the Seanchus Mor ; another was Abbot of lona (850-870), and there were others besides. It is generally agreed, however, that St Duthac of Tain is the one whose death is thus recorded in the Annals of Ulster under date 1065:—

Dubtach Albannach, prim Anmchara Erinn agus Albain in

Ardmacha quievit. Dubtach of Alba, chief soul-friend of Erin and of Alba rested

in Armagh.

St Duthac is the patron saint of Tain, where may be seen the ancient chapel " quhair he was borne,"

1 This venerable spot was inadvertently planted, but is now cleared and tended by order of Novar,

INTRODUCTION. Ixxi.

and Tain in G. is Baile-Dhubhthaich, Duthac's Town. Hugh Miller notes St Duthus' well near Cromarty. In Kintail there are Clachan Dubhthaich on Loch Duich, and Cadha Dhubhthaich, the name of the Bcalach leading into Glen Affric.

The name of St Cormac may be commemorated Cormac. in Tobair Corniaig, Niggf. A Tain fair was also named after him (v. Tain). Cormac was the name of the brother for whom Columba sought the pro- tection of King Brude, and who reached Orkney in his voyaging.

All the saints above mentioned belong to the Roman Celtic Church, though by Duthac's time relations Dedication!. with Rome were closer. To the subsequent period, when under the influence of Queen Margaret and her sons the Scottish Church was made in all respects to conform to the Church of Rome, belong such dedications as Kil-muir, Kirk-michael, Kil- chriat, and names like Tobair Eadhain Bhaist, Port Eadhain Bhaist, Weil and Port of St John the Baptist. St Cowstan's Chapel, on the Eye Penin- sula, shows a dedication to St Constantino .

VIII.

It may be useful to add a short analysis of the principal terms connected with natural features, artificial structures, old occupations, plants, animals, etc., found in the names of Ross. As the Norse names of Lewis are so arranged in 1 he text, it will be unnecessary to include them here.

Ixxii. PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

Streams. The general name for a river is abhainn, applied to all relatively large streams, and often to smaller ones, whose course is tolerably smooth. The obsolete word abh, stream, is seen in Av-och, stream place. Allt, in Irish means a wooded valley or glen, a cliff ; in Welsh, a wooded cliff; connected with Lat. altus, high. Our meaning of " stream, burn," is peculiar to Scottish Gaelic, and is probably of Pictish origin. The original meaning appears in the common Leth-allt, half-burn, really half-height, applied to a burn with one steep side. Oaochan, from caocli, blind, is applied to a small stream which is sometimes almost hidden by the heather. Another term for stream is glais, more common in Ireland than in Scotland. With us it occurs in Glen-glass, in Fowlis G. Folais for fo-ghlais, arid in Allt Folais on Loch Maree. A slender rivulet is feadan. The very general term uisge, water, is met in Uisge Bhearnais, water of the cleft, Kintail. A still, narrow channel between two waters is uidh, a water isthmus, from Norse ei(S. The nearest Gaelic equivalent is eileach. Feitli, literally a vein, is applied to a bog channel. The O. Ir. word bir, denoting water, well, is seen in Poll a' Bhior, in the Applecross river. O.G. and Pictish dobur, water, gives Dobhran, Dourag, Eddirdover. A fall is eas ; a combination of two or more is coneas. Cuingleum, Coylum, narrow leap, gut.

Marshes. The Pictish name for a marsh appears to be Allan, from the root seen in Lat. pal-us. Alness, G. Alanais, means ' the place of the marsh.' Riasg means a boggy place, where dirk grass grows. Bogradh is a soft place ; glaodhaich, a miry, gluey

INTRODUCTION. Ixxiii.

place ; cathar, a place of broken, mossy ground. A damp meadow is Ion usually ; once we find cala.

The Pictish for confluence is Con tin, in G. Confluences. Cunndainn, cf. Gaulish Condate, Contion-acum. Another Pictish term is obair, for od-ber, out-put, out-How, corresponding to the Gael, inbhir for in- ker, in-put, in-flow. The real term for a junction is comar, from eon-ber, joint-flow ; also, though rarely, comunn. In Lewis the regular term for a river mouth is bun, bottom. The Norse for confluence is dr-mot or d-mot, river-meet, appearing as Amat.

A ford is dth ; a ford-mouth, beul-atlia, pro- Fords, nounced quickly apt to be confounded with baite. A place where crossing was wont to be made on planks sometimes involves cldr, a board, e.g., Poll nan Clar. A place for crossing on stones is clacharan, in Lewis starran.

Camas means a bay, bend ; ob from Norse hop is Sea Terms, the same ; also bdgh, a late word not much used in place-names. A sound, firth, or narrow is caolas or simply caol, e.g., Caolas Chromba', the Cromarty Firth ; an Caol Arcach, the Orkney Narrow, i.e., the Pentland Firth. A tide race is sruth, e.g., Sruth na Lagaidh ; or strom, from Norse straumr. Parts of the Minch are called linne, pool, e.g., an linne Sgith- eauach, an linne Rarsach. The Minch itself is a' Mhaoil, the Moyle ; also an Cuan Sgith, the sea of Skye ; Cuan Uidhist, the Little Minch. A shore is cladach ; a stony beach, faoilinn ; a sea bank, scaup, oitir ; port means a harbour on the west coast ; on the east a ferry, usually ; aiseig, a ferry. Feadhail

Ixxiv. PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

is an extensive beach, or a place between islands uncovered at low tide ; pi. feadhlaickean. Bodha, Norse bofti, is a sunken reef; iolla, a fishing rock, usually covered at high tide. Saothair, from saobh- thir, false-land or side-land, is a low promontory covered at high water, or the similar bank between an Eilean Tioram and the mainland. The shelving slope between the old raised beach and the present beach is on the west coast c&TLedfaithir, probably from fo-thir ; Tairbeart is a portage, isthmus. Flats. The level land by a river side is srath, a strath, Norse dalr, dale. The term srath is much commoner in Scotland than in Ireland, and may be rather Pictish than Gaelic. A narrow strath is gleann, a glen ; a rounded glen is coire, a cauldron, corry ; often narrow at the mouth. Innis, primarily an island, means commonly a haugh, river-side meadow ; fan is a level place or a gentle slope ; hence fanaich, place of the flat. Dail is a dale, usually by a river side ; it is to be compared with Pictish dol, dal, dul, plateau. A plain is magh ; a sea-plain is mor'oich, from mur-magh ; a mossy flat is blar. Machair is an extensive low-lying fertile plain ; monadh, tolerably level hill ground. In Lewis the land between machair and monadh, the strip where the houses stand, is the gearraidh, from Norse ger^Si, an enclosure. Another word for a plain is clar, primarily a board. A little plain is re'idhlean ; a wet plain or lea, leana, diminutive leanag, or with us lianag, e.g., Lianagan a' Chuil-bhaicidh. Faithche means a lawn ; ailean, a green ; cluan, meadow.

INTRODUCTION. Ixxv.

ID dealing with names of lochs, straths, glens, and comes, it is well to remember that the Celtic custom is to name each after the stream that flows through it.

A gap or pass between hills is bealach ; a cleft is Hollows. beam or bearnas. A chasm is glom, e.g., Eas na Glomaicb, Falls of Glomach. Eag is a sharp notch ; lag, a rounded hollow ; slacan, a circular depression like a kiln ; poll, a wet miry hollow, also, a pool ; sloe, a pit, slough ; cos, a nook ; dais, a narrow shallow ravine.

Beinn (an oblique case of beann) with us means Heights, a high hill ; in Ireland applied only to hills of medium size. Its primary meaning is pinnacle, horn, which is still kept in Eilean na Binne and in the adjective beannach, pointed. Sliabh, applied in Ireland to mountains, is very rare with us, and means rather a mountain moor. A hill of medium height is cnoc ; xgurr is a high sharp pointed hill ; -sgor, a peak. A low smooth hill or ridge is tulach ; the highest tulach is Tulach Ard or Ard-tulach in Kintail. Tom is a rounded knoll, with diminutive toman ; a one-sided torn or toman is a tiompan. A great shapeless hill is meall, a lump ; sgonn is similar, but rare ; maol, maoil, means a great bare rounded hill. Aonach is (1) market place, (2) high moor ; aoineadh, a very steep hill side. A broad slope is leathad ; leacainn and leitir have much the same meaning. A level shelf in a hill side where one would naturally rest is spardan, a roost, or suidhe, a seat. Pait, a hump, sometimes a ford.

Ixxvi. PLACE-NAMES OF BOSS AND CROMARTY.

Two words remain : sitliean and cathair. Slthean means a fairy mound ; in some of the very few cases in which it occurs with us it applies to a big rounded hill. The fairy mound is always called cathair on the West Coast, and conversely almost every cathair is a fairy mound.

The following parts of the body are found used to denote shape, position, and appearance : — Ceann, head ; claigionn, skull ; aodann, face ; sron, nose ; beul, mouth ; teanga, tongue ; fiat-ail, tooth ; bile, lip ; siiil, eye ; feusag, beard ; braghad, neck, upper part of the chest ; uchd, breast, with its diminutive uchdan ; cioch, mam, a pap ; druim, a back ; gualann, shoulder ; achlais, arm-pit ; ruigh, fore- arm ; meoir, fingers ; ionga, nail ; dorn, fist, cf. Dornie ; mas, buttock ; amhach, neck ; ton, rump ; slios, side.

Woods. The generic term for wood is coille ; doire means Plants a grove> primarily of oaks ; bad, diminutive badan and badaidh, is a clump ; gar, a thicket, is rare ; preas, in modern G. a bush, is in place-names better translated clump. The Pictish cardden, a brake, occurs in Kincardine, Urquhart, and Glen-Urquhart. A tree is crann, whence Crannich. Of individual trees we have call, hazel (the modern calltuinn never appears), darach, oak ; rala, oak ; beithe, birch ; caorunn, rowan ; giuthas, fir ; cuilionn, holly ; fiodhag, bird cherry ; fearna, alder ; sgiach, haw- thorn ; draigheann, blackthorn ; seileach, willow ; uinnsin, ash, is rare ; leamh, elm, also rare and somewhat doubtful. From fiodh, wood, comes

INTRODUCTION. Ixxvii.

Achnegie, G. Achd-aii-fhiodhaiclh, with which may be compared the Pictish Balkeitli.

Among the smaller plants are aitionn, juniper ; bealaidh, broom ; eidheann, ivy ; roid, bog myrtle ; raineach, also rainteach, bracken ; fraoch, heather ; luacliair, rushes ; creamh, wild garlic ; borrach, rough hill grass ; giivran, cow parsnip ; suibhean, raspberry ; dris, bramble ; sarnh, sorrel ; feartag, sea-pink ; carrachan, wild liquorice.

The regular words for promontory are rudha and Promon- ard or aird, corresponding to Norse ness. Ros, a point, occurs in Rosemarkie and Rosskeen. Some- times, chiefly in Lewis, gob, a beak, occurs. A little promontory at the end of a rounded bay is corran, very common on the west coast. Ploc is a lumpish promontory. Maoil, a loan from Norse miili, is rare. cf. the Mull of Cantyre.

The various names for horse are each, marc, Animals. capull ; a mare is lar, and is often difficult to dis- tinguish from lar, floor, low ground ; and lar, middle. Tarbh is a bull ; bo, a cow ; laogh, a calf (of cow or hind) ; gamhainn, stirk ; gabhar, a goat ; boc, buck ; meann, kid. Caor, a sheep, does not occur, though mult, wedder, appears as applied figuratively to sea rocks ; also in the Pictish Multovy ; Norse, saufta, sheep, hrutr, ram, give Syal and Strath-rusdale ; muc, pig, is common ; tore, boar, is applied some- times to hills from their appearance, e.g., Meall an Tuirc ; sometimes from the wild boar ; cat, a cat, indicates haunts of wild cats ; broc, badger, is rare ; cu, dog ; cu odhar, otter, appears in Altchoriier, G.

Ixxviii. PLACE-NAMES OF BOSS AND CROMARTY.

Allt a' choin uidhir ; madadh may mean either fox or wolf. Of the deer tribe, we have damh, stag ; eilid, hind ; agh, hind ; mang, fawn ; earb, roe. Moigheach, a hare, occurs once.

The following names of birds are found :— Coileach, a grouse cook ; clamhan and clamhag, a kite ; speireag, a sparrow-hawk ; seabhag, a hawk ; fitheach, a raven, also the old word bran, raven ; iolair, an eagle ; feadag. a plover ; druid, a thrush ; corr, a crane ; lack, tunnag, a duck ; leirg, black throated diver ; geadh, a goose ; caiman, a pigeon ; eala, a swan ; sgarbh, a cormorant.

Dwellings. A house is tigh. The regular word for a home- stead is baile, so common in Ireland. The distri- bution of this term in Ross is remarkable. In Easter and Mid Ross it is extremely common, occurring over eighty times. On the west there are only four instances, Balmacarra in Lochalsh, Baile Shios, Baile Shuas, and am Baile Mor ( = Flower- dale) in Gairloch ; in Lewis there is only Balallan. The absence of baile in Lewis is natural : the town- ships are denoted by the Norse bol-sta&r and stafSr. On the West Coast its place is taken by achadh, a cultivated field, which is correspondingly rare in the east. The distribution of achadh is over forty in the west, to about twelve in the east. The Pictish pett so common in Easter Ross has already been noted. Both, a booth, hut, occurs only in na Bothaclian, Boath, and perhaps in Claonabo in Kin tail. This is another term the distribution of which throughout the Highlands deserves investigation. It is very

INTRODUCTION. IxxiX.

common along the valley of the Caledonian Canal, also in certain regions of Perth and Stirling, extremely rare north of Inverness. The obsolete fasadh, a dwelling, is frequent ; outside of Eoss it occurs in such names as Fassiefearn, Teanassie, Foss. Another much less common term of the same meaning is astail. A shieling hut was called long- phort,1 which appears in Loch-luichart, and in the form of Longard, Lungard. Treabhar, as a collective noun in common use in Easter Ross, meaning farm buildings, is found once only in Tornapress, G. Treabhar nan Preas. The ancient fortified places are represented by dun, rath, lios. The site of a ruined house is larach ; a ruin with walls s Landing and roof fallen in is tobhta.

A cultivated field is achadh (shortened into ach, Cultivation acha, achd), the distribution of which has been Encu>glircs noted above. Another word in common use for field is raon ; a lea field is glasaicli ; a park is pairc, an early loan from English ; bard, very common in Mid Eoss, means, usually, enclosed meadow. lomair is a ridge or rig ; feannag, a lazy-bed ; gead, a narrow strip of land. Gart is enclosed corn-land ; diminutive goirtean ; ceapach, a tillage plot. Terms connected with enclosures are eirbhe, now obsolete, a fence, or wall ; dig, a moat ; cro, a sheep fold, with its variant era, a cruive ; buaile, a cattle fold ; fang, a fank ; geata, a gate ; cacJ/aileitJi, a field gate, or hurdle. A tidal weir for catching fish is cairidh ; an arrangement for catching fish in a stream by

1 Taylor, the Water Poet, who travelled in Scotland in 1618 and saw a hunting in Marr, mentions the " small cottages, built on purpose to lodge in, which they call Lonquhards."

Ixxx. PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

means of the cabhuil is eileach, applied also to a narrow shallow stream joining two lochs, or to a mill-lade. JEileag, now obsolete, appears to have been a Y-shaped structure, wide at one end, narrow at the other, into which deer were driven and shot with arrows as they came out.1

Together with the general term arbh, corn, Crops, which occurs thrice, there are several names involving seagail, rye ; Lainn a' Choir c is the Oat- flat ; lion, flax, occurs twice.

In connection with the preparation of corn for Occupations fOOcl are ath, a kiln ; eararadh, the process of Customs, parching ; muileann, a mill. Sabhal, a barn, is fairly common, as also baitheach, a cow house. Cnagan na Leathrach, and possibly the Sutors, are connected with tanning. Allt and Muileann Luathaidh commemorate the fulling of cloth. Gobha, a smith, occurs in Balnagown and Led- gowan. Ceardach, a forge, smithy, has sometimes reference to ancient smelting works. The seven- teenth century works on Loch Maree side give a' Cheardach Huadh, the red smithy, Fuirneis, Furnace, and Abhainn na Fuirneis, E-iver of the Furnace. The old practice of making peat char- coal gives rise to Meall a' Ghuail. The shieling custom gives the numerous names involving airigh. Flax was steeped at the Lint-pools and Tobair narn Puill Lin, and linen was bleached at Baliritore. Balleigh means Leech's or Physi- cian's stead. Baronies with power of pit

1 Another name, not found in Ross, for a similar arrangement, but not necessarily artificial, is Elriy, G. lolairig.

INTRODUCTION. IxxxL

and gallows have left traces in the not uncommon Cnoc na Croiche, where men were hanged, and Poll a' Bhathaidh, where women were drowned.

The old standard measure of land in Pictland was Land

. . ,, P ., , , Measures,

the dabhach, originally a measure 01 capacity, vat.

The extent of the dabhach varied according to the land and the locality. It is usually given as four ploughgates, but must have been often less. Many names involving dabhach are found all over the mainland part of Ross. Lewis was divided into fifteen davachs. The word usually appears in English as Doch ; in E. Ross the Gaelic form is do'ach. A half-davach is leith-do'ch, Englished Lettoch. or sometimes Halfdavach, whence Haddach, Haddo. Further divisions of the davach appear to have been the ceathramh, fourth part, and the ochdamh, eighth part, whence Balcherry, Ochto or Ochtow.

The old Gaelic practice of division into fifths survives in the name Coigach, Place of fifths.

The oxgate appears doubtfully in Midoxgate ; the rental of 1727 gives Mickle Oxgate and Middle Oxgate as divisions of Ruarach in Kintail. The merkland survives in Drumnamarg in the Black Isle, and in 1538 appear "the four merklands of Eschadillis" (Eskadale, Ashdale), somewhere in Strathconon. But apart from the davach and its divisions, the representation in place-names of these old land measures is trifling.

Aon, one, is found in Leathad an aon Bhothain, Hillside of the one hut. Names involving the ations numerical da, two, are not uncommon on the West

Ixxxii. PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

Coast, e.g., Achadh da Tearnaidh, Field of two Descents ; Cnoc da Choimhead, Hill of two pros- pects; Ach' da Domhnuill, Field of two Donalds; Ach' da Sgaillt, Field of two bare places; Poll da Ruigh, Wet hollow of two slopes. In the eastern part the only examples met are Cnoc Dubh eadar dk Allt a' Chlaiginn, Black hill between the two burns of the Skull, and Ach' d& Bhannag, Field of two Cakes. Trl, three, is found in Sgeir an Trith- inn, Trinity Skerry, a sea rock with three humps. Coig, five, is the base of Coigach, Place of Fifths. Seachd, seven, occurs in Fuaran seachd Goil, Well of seven Boilings. Leth, half, is frequently prefixed to denote one-sidedness. Lethallt, half-burn, really half-height, describes the valley of a stream with one steep side ; leth-ghleann, half-glen, is of similar meaning. Leth-chreag is a one-sided rock ; leith- each, a one-sided place, half-place, e.g., the narrow strip of land between loch and hill ; Norse skiki. So lethoir, half-border, similar in meaning to Welsh lledymyl = G. leth-iomall, border near the edge, which exactly describes Learnie, on the south side of the Black Isle, sloping down to the sea- cliffs. The very common leitir is probably for leth-tir, half-land, sloping hill-side.

Historical Fights of olden times are commemorated in such Events and names as Blar nan Ceann, Knocknacean, Ath nan Ceann, Moor, Hill, and Ford of the Heads ; Allt nan Cnuimheag, Burn of Worms ; Bealach nam Brog, Pass of the Brogues; a more recent battle (1719) has left its mark in Sgurr nan Spainteach, Peak of

INTRODUCTION. Ixxxiil.

the Spaniards. Cadha na Mine, Path of the Meal, and other names near it, are connected with the '45. Leac na Saighid and Sgurr na Saighid recall old feats of archery. One of the most interesting names is Scotsburn, G. Allt nan Albanach, in connection with which are Cam nam Marbh, Dead men's Cairn ; Lochan a' Chlaidheimh and Bearnas a' Chlaidheimh, Sword Lochlet and Sword Cleft. That a consider- able battle was fought here is practically certain ; also that Albanaich, " Scotfcis men," were engaged in it. The curious thing is that the burn should have been named from the Albanaich, Scots, and not from their opponents, as might have been expected. It looks as if from the standpoint of the namers the Albanaich were regarded as strangers. They may have been Lowland Scots.

The great Pictish name Nectan appears in the obsolete Dalvanachtan, i.e., Nectan's davach, also in Cadha Neachdain, Nectan's Path. The latter is one of the many steep paths in Nigg Rocks, and from the fact that near it is a cave called Uamh an Righ, the King's Cave, one is inclined to connect it with the Pictish King Nectan, son of Derili, who flourished circ. 715. This king had a remarkable and chequered career, one of the incidents in which was his joining the Church or becoming a recluse. The scene of his clericatus is unknown, but it may be plausibly conjectured that he spent some part of it in Uamh an Righ.

The great forest or hunting ground of Freevater, G. Frith Bhatair, Walter's Forest, in which Leabaidh

Ixxxiv. PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

Rhatair, Walter's Bed, occurs twice, most probably derives its name from Walter, that son of the fourth Earl of Eoss who fell at Bannockburn, v. p. 12.

Glaic an Righ Chonanaich, Hollow of the Strath - conon King, is a somewhat surprising name, for which v. p. 249. The West Coast names are rich in references to local men and events of note. Of legendary heroes we have Fionn, Diarmad, and Oscar, all of the Fenian cycle. The widely spread story of Diarmad's tragic death is located with con- siderable circumstance in Kintail. A reference to Fionn seems to be contained in Suidheachan Fhinn. Fenian legends are attached to Feith Chuilisg, Loch Lurgainn, Cnoc Farrel, Clach nan Con Fionn, Coulin, but several of these have obviously been invented to explain the names. The Fenians appear in Coire na feinne, and legends of their huntings are connected with Sgurr nan Conbhairean. The hero Oscar's name is found in Buillean Osyair, Oscar's Strokes — certain claisean or gaps on Little Lochbroom. From the great battles of modern time we get Camperdown, Waterloo (near Dingwall), and Balaclava (or Balnuig). Maryburgh, near Dingwall, was named from Queen Mary, wife of William of Orange. A good deal of fancy nomenclature has arisen in Easter Ross within the last century and a half, e.g., Mountgerald, Mountrich, Petley, Arabella, Invergordon, and others, in English — not to the same extent in Gaelic — displacing the old names.

Under this head may be noted our one certain instance of druid/i, a Druid, viz., Port an Druidh,

INTRODUCTION. IxXXV.

the Druid's Port, with Cadha Port an Druidh, the Druid's path near it, both in Nigg, old names doubt- less. The term druineach, which occurs with us in Airigh nan Druineach, Cladh nan Druineach, Druineachan, Poll and Drochaid Druineachan is frequent elsewhere, e.g., Cam nan Seachd Druin- eachan in Glen Fin tag, Inistrynich is Lochawe, Cladh nan Druineach in lona, Tigh Talmhaidh nan Druineach (Earth House of the D.), a round house or broch in Assynt. The word is sometimes equated with druidh;ii is based on O. Ir., druin, glossed glicc, wise, clever ; and druinech in Ir. means an em- broideress. 'The exact significance of it in our place names is far from clear. Logan1 takes it to mean cultivators of the soil as opposed to hunters, which may represent a genuine tradition. Martin makes mention of little round stone houses in Skye capable only of containing one person, and called " Tey-nin- druinich, i.e., Druids' House." Druineach, says Martin, signifies a retired person much devoted to contemplation.

Some miscellaneous terms omitted above follow. Croit, a croft, with its variants creit, crait, cruit, is common in Easter Ross. The Exchequer Eolls supply an interesting record of the crofts held by the minor officials of a great castle, v. p. 146. Linne, besides meaning a pool in a river, is used to denote a part of the sea near the shore, also a bay.2 Crasg, a crossing, generally, if not always, applies to a

1 Scottish Gael, II., 72 (ed., Dr Stewart). 2 The Greek equivalent At/xv?/ has exactly the same meanings in Homer.

Ixxxvi. PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

crossing over a ridge. Gasg, diminutive gasgan, is explained at p. 208. Cadha is usually a steep, narrow path, but is sometimes applied to steep parts of a regular road, e.g., an Cadha Beag and an Cadha M6r, near Gruinard. By Bac we mean in E. Ross a peat moss ; in the west the primary sense of bank, ridge, is preserved ; Norse bakki. Grianan means a sunny hillock, or a place, e.g., good for drying peats. Roinn, a point, occurs in Roinn an Fhaing Mhoir. Botag is a wet or soft channel in a peat moss. Rabhan, after much search, I took to mean water lily, and from one description of it that seemed correct. But another and better authority had no hesitation in defining it as a long grass growing in shallow, muddy parts of lochs or pools, and formerly used for feeding cattle, an account of it which I have had since confirmed beyond doubt. The word is almost certainly a Pictish loan, to be compared with Welsh rhafu, to spread ; rhqfon, berries growing in clusters. It occurs frequently in Suther- land place-names. A similar kind of grass growing in pools and lochs is barranach, from l>arr, top.

PLACE-NAMES

OF

ROSS AND CROMARTY

PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

KINCARDINE.

Kincardine — Kyncardyri 1275 — G. Ciim-chardain ; ' cinn' is the locative case of ' ceann,' head ; cardain is of common occurrence in names on Pictish ground, cf. Adamnan's Airchartdan, now Glen-Urquhart, Plus-carden, Carden-den, and the various Kin- cardines and Urquharts. Though not found in Gaelic, it appears in Welsh as ' cardden,' a wood, brake, whence Kin-cardine means Wood-head or Wood-end. The name originally 110 doubt applied only to the immediate neighbourhood of the church ; whence it extended to the district served by the church, i.e., the parish. Such is the origin of most parish names. The parish falls into two divisions : the part drained by the Carron and its feeders, and the part beyond the watershed, toward Sutherland. We shall begin with the former.

Carron — There are two rivers Carron in Ross, and some half-dozen elsewhere in Scotland, all char- acterised by roughness of channel. The root is kars, rough, and, on the analogy of Gaulish rivers

1

PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

such as the Matrona, the primitive form of Carron would have been Carsona. It is doubtless pre- Gaelic, that is to say, Pictish ; cf. Carseoli in Italy.

Pools in Carron are : Poll na muic, sow's pool, opposite Gledfield ; pott a ckapuill, horse pool, near Braelangwell ; linne sgainne, pool of the burst, a large dam-like pool opposite Dounie ; poll an donnaidh, pool of the mishap ; poll an t-slugaid, pool of the gulp or swallow. With the last named we may connect Braghlugudi, which appears in 1529 as belonging to the Abbey of Fearn, and no doubt refers to the braighe or brae- face above the pool. In 1623 appears " part of Carron called Polmorral," still known as Poll- moral. Mr Macdonald (Place-names of West Aberdeenshire) collects the following instances of this name : Balmoral, Polmorral on Dee near Banchory, Morall in Stratherne, Drummorrell in Wigtown, Morall and Lynn of Morall in the lord- ship of Urquhart, Morall mor and Morall beag on Findhorn. Mr Macdonald suggests mor choille, great wood, which is far from suiting the phonetics. The examples collected above may not all be of the same origin (Morel at Tomatin, for instance, is in Gaelic Moirl), but the second part of Poll-mbral above can hardly be other than moral, majestic, noble. The pool in question is one of the largest on the river. Craigpolskavane appears on record in 1619, and appears to refer to a pool somewhere below Craigs, near Amat. There is a Loch Sgamhain in Strathbran.

KINCARDINE. 3

Esbolg — Waterfall of bubbles, appears on record in 1657. On one of T. Font's maps it is located on the river now known as the Blackwater, which joins the Carron at Amat, but on the old map called Ayneck (perhaps from confusion with the Eunag, a tributary of the Oykell). There is a large waterfall on this stream near Croick, now Eas a' mhuilinn. Perhaps, therefore, Esbolg is the "Big Fall" on Carron. Balgaidh, bubbly stream, is the name of a river in Applecross ; cf. also the better known Strathbhalgaidh, Strathbogy. Working from the eastern part of the parish along the south side of Carron, we have

Ardchronie, G. ard-chronaidh, an obscure name ; ard, of course, means height or promontory ; cronaidh may be from either cron, dark brown, or cron, a hollow, both found in Irish names. Dr Joyce gives Ardcrone in Kerry as meaning brown height, and Ardcrony appears in the " Four Masters."

Gradal — G. Gradal, Norse Gra-dalr, gray dale ; now usually called Badvoon.

Allt Eiteachan — (O.S.M. Allt na h-eiteig), probably from eiteach, root of burnt heather. Hence ' an fheill eiteachan,' the Kincardine market.1

1 The old-established Feill Eiteachan, the winter market still held at Ardgay, is said to owe its name to a certain quartz stone (clach eiteag), the old custom being that the market was held wherever this stone happened to be at the time. The stone was sometimes shifted west by the Assynt men, and east by the men of Ross, but finally it was built into the wall of the pre- sent Balnagown Arms Hotel at Ardgay, and so the market has ever since been held there. I give the story for what it is worth. Ma 's breug bhuam e, is breug thugam e. But eiteachan cannot be based on e"iteag, which is a loan word from English hectic (Macbain).

4 PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

Tigh'mhadaidh — Dog's (or wolfs) house. An garbh choille — The rough wood.

Ardgay — G. ard gaoith, windy height. A deed, granted in 1686 to erect it into a burgh of barony, was never carried into effect.

Near it is Cam Deasgan, apparently the remains of a broch. There are numerous mounds near it. Less than half-a-mile away is Cnoc ruigh gricg, hill of the pebbly slope. It bears marks of forti- fication on its western brow, and this side is studded with tumuli.

BadaVOOn — G. bad a' mhun (' n ' long). This is the highest lying place with traces of cultivation in the locality. ' Mun,' with long ' n,' seems to be a dialectic form of ' muine,' just as ' dun,' with long ' n,' is heard for ' duine ;' muine means, according to O'Reilly, thorn, brake, mountain, and the last, if it can be relied on, would suit the situation — mountain clump, Joyce, however, gives muine only in the sense of ' brake/ and Lhuyd has it ' thorn-tree ;' cf. Bad a' mhuin bheag and Bad a' mhuin mhor in Coigach.

Gledfield — A translation of G. leth'-chlamhaig, half (i.e., half-strath) of the buzzard. The word is usually clamhan, a masculine diminutive, while clamhag is of feminine form. The place is known also as eloii na speireig,' sparrow-hawk mead, but the other form is supported by the records: Lachelawak, 1529; Lawchclawethe, 1561, as belonging to the Abbey of Fearn ; Lachclawy, 1606 ; Lachclaveig, 1643. A third form given me

KINCARDINE. 5

is Leac 'chlamhaig, which also satisfies the written forms. An t-sean bhaile — Old town, a very common name.

Clais a' bhaid choille — Wood-clump dell.

L6n dialtaig — Bat-meadow (Upper Gledfield).

Dounie — Dun, fort, with extension. There are traces < >f an ancient fort.

Ruigh na meinn — Ore-slope. The epithet ' na meinn; literally ' of ore,' is usually applied to places where the water shows signs of oxide of iron.

An airigh fhliuch — The wet shieling.

Alitan Domhnuill — Donald's burn.

Gruhiard or Greenyards, Croinzneorth 1450, Grain - yord 1528 ; Norse grunnfjorcSr, shallow firth ; cf. Gruinard in Loch broom and Gruineart in Islay.

Na h-6rdan— The heights, from ard, high. The common tendency to change 'a' into 'o' is par- ticularly strong in Strathcarron.

An fhanaieh — The declivity; fariach, of which fanaich is locative, is a derivative of fan, a gentle slope, which is itself a common element in place- names, e.g., Balnain (but Balnain in Badenoch is beul an iithain, ford-mouth) ; cf. also na fana, the Fendom, Tain.

Bun an f huarain— Well-foot.

Croit na caillich— Old wife's croft.

Dal na era — Dale of the (sheep) fold, or, possibly, cruive ; era is a variant of cro, and is here feminine, if, indeed, it is not, as it may well be, for dal nan era (gen. pi.)

6 PLACE-XAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

Grianbhad — ? Sun clump ; but it may be Norse grunn-vatn, shallow loch.

Dalbhearnaidh— Dale of the cleft.

Bail* an achaidh— Town (i.e., homestead) of the cultivated field.

Amat— Amayde 1429 ; Almet 1643, G. amait, from Norse a-mot, river-meet, confluence, to wit, of the Carron and the Blackwater rivers. There are also Amat in Strath-Oykel and Amat in Strath-na- sealg, Brora, while the records show an Amot in North Kintyre 1643 (Eeg. Mag. Sig.), in Islay 1614. Amat in Strathcarron is in two divisions, Amat iia' tuath (of the husbandmen) to the south of the Carron, and Amat na h-eaglais (of the church) on the north side. There is still a tradition of a church having once stood on the 'claigionn,' above the present Lodge, and in 1609 there appears ' Amott Abbot under the barony of Ganyes, called of old the Abbacy of Fearn ' ; also in 1611 Ammotegiis, and Amad Heglis, T. Pont. 1608. The spelling Almet is of no significance beyond that the ' 1 ' shows that the initial vowel is long.

BaiP an fhraoich — Heather-stead.

Baile Chaluim — Maicolm's-stead.

Bail' an dounie — G. bail' an donnaidh, town of the mishap. Near it is a pool in Carron, poll un donnaidh, so called, doubtless, from some drowning accident.

Bail* an loin — Town of the damp meadow.

Baile mheadhonach — Mid-town.

KINCARDINE. 7

Bail' uachdarach — Upper-town. Dal-ghiuthais — Fir dale.

An garbh allt— The rough burn.

Gar nan aighean — Thicket of hinds ; from gar

comes the diminutive garan, thicket. On it is Drochaid chaolaig, bridge of the little narrow place, over the Carron. The green place (lub) on the Glencalvie side was known as bail' bean an dro'idich, town of the bridge-wife, but a still older name for it is said to have been Tuitim- tairbheach. There may be here a confusion with the well-known place of that name at Oykell : my informant was born and bred at Gar nan aighean. Also Coylum. i.e., cumhang-leum, narrow leap ; cf. Cuilich in Rosskeen.

Glencalvie — G. Gleann Cailbhidh, cf. Loch Cail- bhidh in Lochalsh. A Glencalvie man (there are still such, but not in the Glen), is known as a ' Cailbheach.' Glencalvie was, and is, noted for its herbage, and so are the shores of Loch Calvie : the root may therefore be calbh, colbh, plant- stalk ; Ir. colba, wand ; Latin culmus, stalk, calamus, reed.

Coire mhaileagan — V. Glenshiel. The waterfall at the mouth of the Corry was given by two informants, both natives of Glencalvie, as Eas caraidh and Eas cadaidh.

Dibidale— ' The half-davach of DebadailT 1623, G. Diobadal, from Norse djupr, deep ; dalr, dale, djiipidalr, ' deep-dale,' which accurately describes this beautiful, but now solitary, glen. There is a

PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMAKTY.

Glen Dibidil in Rum, Mull, Skye, and Lewis ; cf. also Diabaig, Gairloch.

Sallachy — Salki 1529, on record as pasture land of the Abbey of Fearn ; from saileach, the old form of ' seileach,' willow ; Ir. sail, saileog, with meaning ' place of willows.' For formation cf. Lat. salictum, from salicetum, a willow copse, cf. Sallachy on Loch Shin, Sallachy in Lochalsh, Sauchie-burii ; also Salachar in Applecross, Salacharaidh, Loch Nevis. At the head of Strathcarron, forking off to the right, is

Alladale — G. Aladal, probably Ali's dale, from Ali, a Norse personal name.

Glenmore — Glenmoir, 1619 ; great glen.

Deanich — G. an dianaich, the steep place ; a locative of dianach from dian, steep, a name which well fits the place.

Meaghlaich — A place where the road crosses by a ford to Dianich ; locative of mang-lach, place of fawns ; cf. coire na meagh, between Dibidale and Lochan a* Chairn. On one of Pout's maps it is marked Meuloch. Above it is srbn 'n ngaidh. Near it is

An giuthais mosach — Pout's Gewish Moussach ;

Gyrissmissachie 1619, Reg. Mag. Sig. (where the transcriber is surely at fault), the nasty fir wood.

Tordigean : oigean, from 6g, young, is used as a, sort of nick-name ; the name therefore means Oigean's torr, or the youth's knoll. On the north side of the Carroii we have

InvercaiTOn — Estuary of the Carron.

KINCARDINE. 9

Baile na COite — Boat-town ; cf. Sron iia coite on

Loch Maree.

Langwell— Norse, lang-vollr, long-field. Cornhill — G. Ciioc an airbh ; Knokinarrow, 1642;

O. Ir. arbe, corn ; later Ir. arbar, genitive arba,

whence our modern Gaelic arbhar. The form

' arbh " occurs also in Cnoc an airbh, Urray, and

in Ard-arbha, Lochalsh. Syal— Seoll 1578, Soyall 1642; G. saoidheal ; locally

explained as ' suidhe fala,' seat of blood ; but it is

Norse sau'Sa-vollr, sheep-meadow. Clllvokie — G. culbhocaidh ; hobgoblin's nook ; it

has an uncanny reputation ; so has Poll-bhocaidh

at the foot of Glenmore ; cf Culboky in Ferintosh. Cadearg — G. an cadha dearg, the red steep path. Culeave— G. Cul-liabh, apparently for cul-shliabh,

back (or nook) of the mountain moor ; cf. for

formation Cul-charn, Culcairn. Balnacurach — Town of the curachs or hide boats ;

cf. Balnacoit above. Hilton — Bail' a chnuic. Corvest — G. coire-bheist (accented on first syllable),

locally explained as ' the monster's corry.' There

is a very deep gully at the place, which gives

colour to this, but the accent is against it. An t-allt domhainn- — Deep burn, flowing through

the corry just mentioned. Braelangwell — -G. braigh-langail, upper part of

Langwell. Bard an asairidh— Asair, or fasair, good pasture :

bard is a somewhat uncommon word, but known

10 PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

in Badenoch in the sense of ' meadow.' In Boath, Alness is Bard nan laogh, and in Glen-Urquhart is a meadow called ' the Bard.' The present name therefore means ' the meadow of good pasture.' Near Bard nan laogh in Boath there is curiously enough ' an asaireadh,' the Assarow. Bard seems borrowed from Norse bar^, meaning first, beard, then fringe, edge (cf. a hill, etc.,) hence applied to the land on the edge of a river, which is the situation of the Strathcarron, Boath, and Glen- Urquhart ' bards.'

Scuitchal— Scuittechaell 1642, Skuittichaill 1657, ? Skatwell 1584, Skuddachall, Pont, G. Sguit- chathail. Scuit is a locative of sgot, a piece of land cut off from another, a small farm ; cf. the Scottish ' shot,' a spot or plot of ground. The second part of the compound is most probably the personal name Cathal, Cathel, the meaning of this being Cathel's section or croft.

CraigS — G. Tigh iia creige, Rock-house, from the rocky hill behind it. Font's map shows Kreig- skaweii about this spot, and in 1619 we have Craigpolskavane.

Glaschoille — Green wood ; Glaischaill 1619.

Lub-conich — Mossy bend.

Lllb-na-meinn — Bend of the ore (irony water).

Letters — Na leitrichean, the hill slopes.

Croick — G. a chroic ; ' gillean iia croic ' occurs in a Strathcarron song ; the word is thus feminine. It may be a locative of croc, an antler, thus meaning 'a branching glen, or side glen,' which

KINCARDINE. 1 1

would suit the locality ; a locative of crog, paw, hand, is also possible, in which sense the common ' glaic ' might be compared. The latter meaning suits the Croick in Glencasley, Sutherland. A diminutive of cro, sheep-fold, has been suggested, but the difficulty here is that cro, being masculine, would give cro-an, unless, indeed, we may sup- pose cro to have been dialecticaily feminine.

Strathcuillionach means as it stands, 'holly strath ;' there is, however, a strong local tradition that the older Gaelic was ' srath cuireanach,' from ' car ' a turn ; hence, winding strath. The stream which flows through it is certainly very winding, and the change from ' r ' to ' 1 ' is quite possible. In its upper reaches this stream is called Allt a glilais citha, burn of the wan ford. In the high ground adjoining Strathcarroii are

Garvary — G. garbhairigh, rough shieling. The termination -ary is usually best regarded as an extension of the adjective, but as there actually were shielings at Garvary, it may be taken as airigh.

Meall na CUachaige — Cuckoo hill ; possibly hill of the little ' cuach,' or cup-shaped hollow.

Meall Bhenneit — Apparently Bennet's Hill; cf. Bennetfield in the Black Isle, G. Baile Bhenneit.

Coire bog — The wet or soft cony.

Sron na saobhaidhe — Point of the den ; usually called sron saobhaidhe.

Carn Bhren — So often in Gaelic, but a Glen- calvie man, who ought to know, called it Cam

12 PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

Bhreathainn. There is a legend connecting it with Fingal's dog Bran. He entered a cairn there, and was never seen again. It means Raven's Cairn.

Cam salach — 'Dirty' cairn, from the broken and boggy nature of its surface.

Cam an liath-bhaid — Hill of the grey clump. Creag na ceapaich — Rock of the tillage plot.

Ceapach (Keppoch) is one of the commonest names in the Highlands.

Cnoc na Tuppat — Locally derived from the English tippet, from the appearance of the vegetation on its rounded top ; but it is more likely from * tap,' a rounded mass or lump, which gives in Ireland Topped, Tapachan, Toppan, £c. (Joyce).

Creag Riaraidh— So the O.S.M., but G. creag(a)-

raoiridh, the rocky termination of the ridge behind the old lodge of Glendibidale. There is in Tarbat a famous cave called toll-raoiridh, and below Achtercairn, Gairloch, is Leac raoiridh. This somewhat difficult name may be from roithreim (O'.R.) a rushing (ro, very, and rethim, run), and may have reference to the very stormy nature of the place.

Leaba Bhaltair— Always called Leabaidh Bhatair, Walter's Bed, is on a hill on the south side of Glendibidale. There is another similar place bearing the same name on Alladale ground. Who the Walter in question was may be con- sidered doubtful ; but in any case the name must be connected with Frivater, ' fridh Bhatair.' or Walter's forest. The probability is, and 1

KINCARDINE. 1 3

believe there is a tradition to the effect, that the Walter whose name we find among these wild hills was one of the early Rosses of the line of Ferchar Mac an t-sagairt. The name is old, for it is stated in the Chronicle of the Earls of Ross that Paul Mactyre (fl. circ. 1360) acquired inter alia Friewatter. Sir Walter Ross, son of William, the fourth Earl, fell at Bamiockburn, and, as he was evidently a noted man, being recorded as the dear friend of Edward Bruce, he may be the eponymus of Walter's Bed and Walter's Forest. The next choice would be Sir Walter de Lesley, who married Euphemia, daughter of William, the sixth Earl, and regarding whom William, in 1371, addresses a ' querimonia ' to King Robert II., complaining of the way in which his lands had been given to Lesley. But the reference in the Chronicle of the Earls of Ross, though perhaps not decisive, points to the existence of the name before Sir Walter de Lesley's time. With regard to Paul Mactyre, I may say in passing that tradi- tion makes him a freebooter. He may have been, and probably was, a man of his hands, but he is said to have been a great-grandson of the King of Denmark, and he certainly married the niece of Hugh of Ross, Lord of Fylorth, and obtained the lands of Gairloch by grant of William, Earl of Ross, in 1366 ; and in 1365, by grant of Hugh of Ross, the lands of ' Tutumtarvok, Turnok, Amot arid Langvale in Strathokel.' His pedigree, as given by Skene, connects him closely with the

14 PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

Rosses or Clan Anrias, for it makes him fourth in descent from Gilleanris (modern Gillanders). He was therefore highly connected, and held a respectable position, and his descendants, the Poisons, have no reason to feel ashamed of him.

Creag Illie— G. Creag-illidh. ; Illie ' has exactly the same sound as in Bun-illigh, Helmsdale, where it represents Ila, the Ptolemaic name of the Helms- dale river. Creag Illie stands just about the west end of Glendibidale, not far from the source of the stream, now nameless, which runs through the glen, and though, of course, the case does not admit of certainty, 'Illie' may here also be the old river name ; cf. the rivers Isla, and for root German * eilen,' to hurry. Cf. also G. ' ealadh ' (Macbain's Diet.).

Creag Ruadh — The red rock ; near Creag Illie.

Dunach liath — The grey place of dims ; Leac Gorai, the green hillside ; and the Dimaii liath, grey little dun, are beyond Coire Mhalagan.

Cam Speireig — The sparrow-hawk's cairn.

Leab' a' Bhruic — The badger's lair.

Beinn Tarsuinn — ' The cross hill,' which bars the head of Dibidale and of Coire Mhalagan.

Feur mor — The big grass.

Crom Loch — The bent loch — descriptive of its semi- circular shape.

Lochan Sgeireach — The little rocky loch.

Meall na Raineich — Hill of bracken.

An Socach — The snouted hill.

Sr6n gun aran — Bread-less point — a quaint name.

KINCARDINE. 15

Allt a mheirbh ghiuthais— (O.S.M., allt a mhor ghiuthais). T. Pont, phonetically but accurately, has it ' alt very gewish,' ' burn of the slender pine- wood.' Mearbh is a variant of meaiibh.

Loch Sruban — G. Loch Struaban. ' Lochen Strom- aniiach so cald from great golden beared trowts ' (Pont). What 'beared' means I cannot conjecture; the letter rendered h is doubtful, otherwise the MS. is perfectly clear. It is interesting, however, to know that * struabanach math brie ' is still locally used to denote a good-sized trout, such as are the trout of Loch Struaban. The root may be sruab, to make a paddling noise in water (H.S. Diet. ) ; a ' sruabanach ' would thus mean a fish that lashes the water.

Coire mor — The great corry.

Meall am madadh: prop. Meall a' Mhadaidh— Dog's, or perhaps wolf's, hill.

Bodach mor and Bodach beag — The big and the

little old man.

Meall nam fuaran— Hill of springs.

Allt a* chlaiginn — Skull burn. A ' claigionn ' is

usually a skull-shaped hill ; but sometimes it

means the best field of a farm. An Sgaothach — ' Sgaoth,' swarm ; place of swarms ;

cf. ' sguabach,' place of ' sweeps ' (of wind). Allt a' ghuail — Coal burn ; what the coal is, I have

not learned ; but cf. meall a' ghuail.

Creagloisgte — Burnt rock.

Carn a' choin deirg — Cairn of the red dog.

16 PLACE-XAMES OF BOSS AND CROMARTY.

Sithean ruarach — Sithean, a round hill, diminutive of sith, a fairy .seat ; ruarach, an extension ofruadh, red ; cf. Ruarach in Kintail.

Coir' an t-seilich — Willow cony.

Gnoc an tubaist — Hill of the mischance.

Corriemulzie — G. coire muillidh, mill-corry ; cf. Corriemulzie in Contin and in W. Aberdeenshire, Mulzie in Kiltarlity. Mr J. Macdonald suggests ' maoile,' corry of the hill brow, but the Gaelic pronunciation at once negatives this. In Corrie- mulzie, it appears from local information, there were at one time or other no fewer than seven mills, the sites of five of which can still be pointed out. The Garve Corriemulzie is also a place of old habitation, where there were, doubtless, mills. Muileann, a mill, has a genitive muilne, which readily becomes muille.

Abhainn dubhach — Sad river.

Mullach a' chadha bhuidhe — Stop of the steep

yellow path.

Allt rappach — Noisy or dirty burn. Creag Eabhain — Gladsome rock ; cf. Beinn Eibhimi

in Badenoch, which is a hill with good outlook. Allt Tarsumn — Cross burn, from loch na bithe,

pitch loch (from pine wood) ; cf. Blarnabee in

Strathconon. Allt COIF an ruchain — Probably from ruchan, throat,

Bullet ; corry of the throat, a narrow opening. Strath Seasgaich — Probably a derivative of ' seise,'

reed, seasgach, loc. seasgaich, reedy place. There

is also seasgach, a yeld cow, but this ought to

give srath na(n) seasgach.

KINCARDINE. 17

Allt Ealag — Ealag, properly eileag, is puzzling ; it looks like a diminutive of the feminine proper name Eilidh, only in point of fact this diminutive does not seem to be found. It may well be from ail, stone, meaning ' the little stony burn.' There is also Mointeach Eileag, a" dreary stretch of moor on the Lairg and Lochinver road.

SgOiman m6r — The great lumps ; sgonn, block, lump.

Loch COir' na meidhe — There is meidh, a balance, arid meidhe, a stem, stock, trunk, the latter of which is more likely to be in point here.

Coir* a' Chonachair— Conachar means uproar ; also, a sick person who gets neither better or worse. It may be the proper name Conachar ; there is really no means of determining ; cf. Badach- onachair in Kilmuir Easter.

Lubcroy — G. an lub-chruaidh, the hard bend ; cruaidh is applied to hard, stony ground, or to firm ground as opposed to bog.

Oykell has been happily identified with Ptolemy's Ripa Alta, High Bank, the exact location of which has long been matter of dispute. It must also be identified with the Norse Ekkjals-bakki, i.e., Oykell Bank, which Skene strangely makes out to be the Grampians. Oykell represents the Gaulish uxellos, high, seen in Uxello-duiium, high fort. The word appears in Celtic in two forms — (l) Welsh uchel, high, which gives the Ochil Hills and Ochil-tree, high town ; (2) Gaelic uasal, high, and, without the -llo- suffix, uaise, height, majesty,

2

18 PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

whence Beinn Uaise, Wyvis. Oykell follows the Welsh form. It will thus be seen that Ptolemy's Kipa Alta is a part translation of Oykel, which is echoed by the Norse Ekkjalsbakki. The word for bank is gone, but it evidently existed in Ptolemy's time, and it looks as if it survived to the time of the Norse occupation, and was translated by the Norsemen into bakki. It is worth noting that the high ground on the Sutherland side of the Oykell estuary is Altas, G. Allt-ais, an extension of alt, eminence ; cf. Welsh allt, wooded cliff, hillside ; also O. Ir. alltar, heights.

luveroykell is the confluence of the rivers Oykell and Casley.

Einig— A tributary of the Oykell ; G. Eunag. Pont makes Avon Ayneck flow into the Carron at Amat. Dr Joyce gives ean, water, as the basis of eanach, a marsh. The streams falling into the Eunag are — Allt Eappach, noisy or ' dirty ' bum ; Abhainn Poiblidh, river of the booth, pubull ; Abhainn Coire Muillidh, the Corriemulzie river ; Abhainn Dubhach, the sad or gloomy river.

Amat — At the junction of Eunag and Oykell ; cf. Amat in Strathcarron above. The Oykell Amat was distinguished as Amat na gullan, i.e., na iicuilean, of the whelps.

Lochan Phoil — Paul's lochlet, is probably a remini- scence of Paul Mactyre, who held these lands, as above stated.

Langwell — Cf. Langwell, Strathcarron.

Beinn Ulamhie — Cf. ulbh (Sutherland), a term of reproach, from Norse ulfr, wolf.

KINCARDINE.

19

Meoir Langwell — The 'branches' of Langwell; i.e., hill streams that converge there.

Loch Mhic Mharsaill probably contains the name of a son of ' William Mareschal, armiger to Hugh of Ross,' who was granted by the said Hugh, between 1350 and 1372, the lands of ' Dachynbeg in Westray' (Edderton) for good and faithful services. He received also lands in Tarbat and elsewhere ; but he could hardly have held lands in the Oykell district, for it was held by Paul Mac- tyre. This, however, does not necessarily affect the argument.

Brae— G. a bhraigh.

Doune — Downe, 1657 ; a township on the Oykell ; dun, fort.

Oape — 6b, creek ; Norse hop ; it is near a bend in the river ; cf. Oban.

Innis nan damh — Ox, or stag, meadow ; cf the other well-known Inshindamff.

OchtOW — G. an t-ochdamh, the eighth-part, to wit, of Davach-carbisdale (1623), which included most of this district.

Birchfield — Formerly Ach na h-uamhach, field of the cave, probably from the chambers of the broch, now much broken down, a little to the west of the farm-house.

Kilmachalmag — Sic 1548, Colman's cell ; v. Church names. Within a short distance of it, 011 the edge of the wood, is the foundation of what seems to have been a broch of rather small diameter.

Achnahannet — G. achadh na h-annait, field of the ' mother church,' v. Church names.

20 PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

An ruigh cruaidh — The hard slope. Meall Deargaidh— G. Meall dheirgidh, from dear- gadh, redness ; Hill of redness.

Badandaraich — Oak copse.

Achnagart — Field" of the corn enclosure ; cf. Garty, Goirtean.

Creag 'Chait — Cat's rock.

Lamentation Hill (O.S.M.) — G. creag a' ehoh in- each an, rock of the mossy place. Cf the continu- ation of the "History of the Earldom of Suther- land " with reference to the defeat of Montrose, which took place here in 1650 : — 'This miraculous victorie hapned the twentie seaventh of Aprill one thousand six hundreth fiftie years at Craig- choynechan, besides Carbesdell.' As this is a contemporary account, it effectually disposes of the popular notion, officially adopted 011 the O.S. Map as above, fthat the place meant Rock of Lamentation (Coineadh). The name was given long before the battle took place.

Poll cas gaibhre, Goat's foot pool, is a deep rounded hollow situated near the Kyle between Stamag and Riantyre (ruigh an t-saoir, the carpenter's slope). There is another of the same kind near the Church of Dunlichity, Inverness. These curious cup-like depressions are explained as the result of swallow-holes in glaciers.

Culrain— Of old Carbisdale; Carbustell, 1548. The modern name 'is said to have been imposed from Coleraine in Ireland. Carbisdale is Norse kjarr- bolsta<5r, copse-stead, with the suffix dalr, dale.

KINCARDINE. 21

Rhilonie— G. ruigh an loin, slope of the wet meadow.

Balnallinsh — Town of the meadow ; near it is the site of Carn nan Conach (O S.M. Carn nan Conacht).

Achagllliosa — Gillies' field ; Sithean an Radhairc, Prospect Hill.

From a retour of 1623 it appears that at that date Strathkyle (Slios a' Chaolais) as far west as Ochtow was included under the term Davocb- carbistell. We have * the lands of Achnagart, belonging to Davoch-carbistell,' also 'the western bovate of Davoch-carbistell, called Ochtow, with the croft and arable land lying near the Meikill Cairne, called Cairne Croft, above the east side of the burn called Auldualeckach under the Barony of Kilmachalmag.' The names of burn and croft have now disappeared. The Meikill Cairne perhaps refers to the Birchneld broch. In 1657 we have 'the lands of Dal- vanachtan [i.e., Davach-nachtan] and Downe, extending to six davach lands, whereof four davach lands lye benorthe the water of Oichill and two davach lands on the south side.' Davach- nachtan is also gone. Nachtan is, of course, the personal name Nectan, so common among the Picts, still surviving in the surname Macnaughton. In 1619 (Reg. Mag. Sic.) we have the lands of Auchnagullane, Glaischaill, and Tormichaell ; the forest of Frawatter, adjacent to them ; the lands of Glenmoir, Glenbeg, Drumvaiche, Brynletter, Correvulzie, Knokdaill, Dovaik ; the lands called

22 PLACE-XAMES OP BOSS AND CKOMARTY.

' the thrie Letteris,' viz., Letterinay, Letternaiche, Letterneteane, and Corremoir under the said forest of Frewatter; the scheillings of Mullach, Craigpolskavane, Gyrissmissachie, Tokach, Laik- garny, Alladul moir, Straithfairne, Alladill na nathrach, and Cairnehondrig. Pont marks Acha- nagullann on Avon Ayneck, near Esbulg, above noted. Tormichaell is somewhere in Strathcarron. The three Letters may, perhaps, be Letters noted above ; they appear to stand for Leitir an fheiclh, Leitir 'n eich, and Leitir na teine. Mullach is Meaghlaich noted above. Craigpolskavane seems to be the present Craigs. Gyrissmissachie is An giuthais mosach above noted. Alladul moir and Alladul na nathrach are clear. Cairnehondrig is Cam Sonraichte. Brynletter, Tokach, Laikgarny, Drumvaiche I do not know. The fishing of Acheferne and Stogok 1341 ; Achnafearne and Sloggake 1657. Downlairne 1604 appears on Font's map as Downilaern, a little west of Layd Clamag (Gledfield).

EDDEKTON. 23

EDDERTON.

Edderton — Ederthayn 1275 ; Eddirtane 1532 ; Eddirthane 1561 ; G. Eadardan, with accent on eadar. The traditional explanation is eadar-dun, between forts. In confirmation of this view may be adduced the various brochs referred to below and the hill fort of Strathrory. The name applies especially to the part near the old church, now the U.F. Church, which stands on the left bank of Edderton Burn, and it would seem that the old name for the district as a whole was Westray ; cf. below ' Dachynbeg in Westray ' and Blaeu's Dunivastra.

An luachar mhor — ' The big rashes ' (rushes), a large swampy tract of moor.

CHOC an t-sabhail — Barn-hill ; in the face of it, above Raanieh, is clack meadhon latha, mid-day stone. There are two stones, some distance apart, and which of the two is the real mid-day stone is hard to say. The position is such that the sun shines on them about noon.

Raanich — G. an rathanaich ; the root is rath, a circular enclosure or fort, the rest being exten- sions (-n-ach), meaning ' place of raths.' South of Raanich is baile namfuaran, well- town.

Ramore — G. an rath mor, the great rath. These raths were, probably, simply farm-houses fortified

24 PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CKOMARTY.

for security in troublous times. Behind Ramore is an linne bhreac, the dappled pool. Near it is

Galanaich, from gallan, a standing-stone. There is a striking perched block not far off ; cf. Gallanaich, Argyll ; Achagallbn in Arran.

An t-uisge dubh — Black water.

Gadha nan damh (O.S.M. Casandamff) — Stags' pass.

Gluich (Meikle and Little) — G. an glaodhaich ; Glaodhaich ard agus Glaodhaich iosal ; from glaodh, glue, E. Ir. glaed, with -ach suffix ; hence the soft, sticky, miry place, which applies well to the lower Gluich. There is another Gluich in Altas, Sutherland, also wet, and a third in Glen- convinth. Local tradition ascribes the name to the ' glaodhaich ' or lamentation of the Edderton women on occasion of a battle with the Danes, and a similar origin is assigned to Itaanich (bha iad a' ranail an sin).

Bailecharn — G. beul-atha chain, ford-mouth of the cairns, a ford on the Edderton Burn, above Eas an tairbh, the bull's waterfall, which latter is reputed to be the haunt of a tarbh-uisge, water- bull.

Inchintaury — The Gaelic hesitates between innis an t-samhraidh and innis an t-sea'raigh, but the latter seems to be the common local form, pro- bably for seanii ruigh, old shieling. Innis an. t-samhraidh means summer-mead, i.e., a grassy meadow on which cows grazed in summer.

Rhibreac — G. an ruigh breac, the dappled slope.

EDDEETON. 25

Bogrow — G. am bogaradh, a derivative of bog, soft, wet — wet place ; it is a soft place by the water side. Also leathad a bhogaraidk, broad slope of the soft place. In 1634 appears on record (Reg. Mag. Sig.) ' magnus limes lapideus vocatus Clachnabogarie,' the great march stone called, etc., to the east of Edderton Burn. The stone is still there, and known by the same name, but it is 110 longer a march stone, the burn being now the march.

CambuSCUrrie — G. camus-curaidh, bay of the curach, coracle ; possibly currach, marsh. The Gaelic has certainly been affected by the modern English form. Locally said to have been the landing place of Curry or Carius (v. N. Stat. Ace.), the Danish prince whose prowess caused the ' glaodhaich ' and ' ranail J above referred to. Cf. Cambuschurrich on Lochtayside.

Carrieblair — G. blar a' charaidh ; the farm-stead is bail' a charaidh ; caraidh means ' grave-plot.' Cf. clach 'charaidh, the name of the fine sculptured stone at Shandwick, Nigg (see Nigg). There is a sculptured stone on Carrieblair also, still standing and depicted in Dr Stuart's ' Sculptured Stones of Scotland,' near which ancient graves have been excavated. According to local tradition, this stone marks the grave of Carius referred to above.

Edderton Farm — G. baile na fbitheachan (final "' a ' open). The formation of ' foitheachan ' seems parallel with that of Guisachan, etc., and suggests as the base ' faidh,' a beech, which in Scottish

26 PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

Gaelic is ' faidhbhile,' beech-tree. The name would thus mean Place of beeches.

BaUeigh - - Ballinleich 1550, Ballinleich, alia* Litchstoune 1666 ; G. bail' an lighe (also lighich), Leech's or physician's town. Locally said to have been the place where the wounded were treated after the battle of Carrieblair.

Ardmore — G. an t-ard mor, great promontory.

Rudha nan Sgarbh — Cormorants' point ; here is a large round cairn, ' earn mathaidh,' where mathaidh is perhaps a proper name, near loch nan tunnag, duck loch.

Requill — G. ruigh Dhughaill, Dugald's slope.

Pollagharry — G. poll a' ghearraidh, pool of the ' gearraidh.' There is no pool here now, but there was once, according to local evidence, a small loch. Gearraidh is Norse ger^i, a fenced field, borrowed, very common in Lewis, and meaning the strip of land between machair and monadh, plain and upland moor.

Garbad — G. an garbh-bad, the rough chump ; also, coille a' gharbh-bhaid, Garbad wood.

Meikle and Little Daan — G. Dathan mhor and

Dathan bhig ; ' Dachynbeg in Vestray ' was granted circ. 1350 by Hugh of Ross to his armiger, William Marescal ; Daane 1429 ; Little Dovaiie 1578. These forms may possibly point to its being a diminutive of ' dabhach,' the old Celtic measure of land, and at the Reformation Dathan Meikle was three-fourths of a davach, and Dathan Lytle one-fourth — a davach in

EDDERTON. 27

all. The place, however, stands at the con- fluence of two streams, and as there is an O. Ir. word ' an,' water, the name may really be da-an, two waters. The joint stream is called the Daan burn, and the traditional explanation of Daan is da-athaii, two fords, which is quite possibly right. Near Daan is Torr a bhil, edge- hill. Also, ' an dtibhran,' which seems to be a derivative of O.G. dobur, water, meaning ' the wet place.'

Balblair — G. bail' a' bhlair, plain-towTn ; near it is 1 an ruigh bhreac,' spotted slope ; and east of it, ' leac an duinej man's flat stone ; and ' ard mlianaidhj monk's point.

Little and Meikle Dallas— Doles 1560; G. Dalais

mhor and Dalais bhig. It is never used with the article. The old form, as compared with the modern Gaelic, shows the common transition from • o ' to ' a '; cf. Culboky, G. cul-bhaicidh ; -ais is the Pictish ending seen in Allt-ais, etc. (v. Introd.), and the first syllable is to be equated with ' dol ' in dolmen, used in place-names in the sense of ' plateau.' Dallas is thus a Pictish word, meaning ' place of the plateau,' which describes its situation ; cf. Dallas, Elgin ; perhaps also Dal- keith.

Dounie — from dun, fort.

Hilton — G. Bail' a' chnuic.

Craigroy — a chreag ruadh, red rock.

Cartomie — G. cathar-tomaidh ; cathar, a moss or bog, and torn, hillock ; compounded on the same principle as Balaldie, etc. (v. Introd.)

28 PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CKOMARTY.

Polinturk — G. poll an tuirc, boar's pool.

Cnocan na goibhnidh — (O.S.M. Cnoc al na

gamhainn), smithy-hillock, near Polinturk.

Muieblairie - - Moyzeblary 1429. G. muigh- bhlaraidh, spotted plain ; locative of magh, com- pounded with blar, spotted, with the -idh ending so common in Easter Ross. Blar is not nearly so frequent in place-names as its synonyms riabhach. breac, ballach.

Alltnamain — G. allt na meinu, burn of ore, with reference to its irony water. There are strong- traces of iron in most of the Edderton burns and wells, and there are even said to have been iron- workings in Edderton burn.

Struie — G. an t-sruidh ; rathad iia Struidh, the road from Alness to Bonar, which attains its highest point at Cnoc na Struidh. Before rail- ways this was the usual route from the south, so John Munro of Creich in his ' Oran Ducha,' on leaving Glasgow to visit his native place, says —

0 theid sinu, theid sinn le suigeart agus aoidh, 0 theid sinu, theid sinn gu deonach, 0 theid sinn, theid yinii thairis air an t-Sriiidli Gu muinntir ar daimh, is ar n-eolais.

Struidh appears to be best regarded as a con- tracted form of sruth-aidh, an extension of the root of sruth, stream ('t' euphonic). From the base of Cnoc na Struidh streams flow in all directions ; cf. Struy in Strathglass, which is also a place of streams. At Lbn na Struidh, moist flat of Struie, isfaaran an oir, a well strongly impreg-

EDDERTON. 29

nated with iron, and reckoned to possess healing properties, but it has been insulted (chaidh tamailt a chur air), and is not what it once was ; so called from a gold ring having been lost in it in course of cleaning.

Lechanich — G. an leachanaich (Leachanaich ard and L. iosal) ; locally interpreted as leth Choinnich, Kenneth's half, but the presence of the article does not countenance this. The place is a sloping hill-side, and the name is, most likely, Leacanaich (with V aspirated), from leac, a sloping hill-face ; v. Macbain's Diet., s.v. lethcheann.

Cnoclady — G. cnoc leathadaidh, hill of the 'leathad7 or slope ; formed like Bal-aldie. Near it is badan binn ('n) eoin, where * eoin,' as in other cases where it occurs, seems to be the genitive singular of eun, bird.

Craggan — G. an creagan, the little rock ; behind it is edit na corrach, burn of the places of corries ; there are three small corries drained by it. Beyond this again, leading towards Fearn, is ' an cadha iosal? the low pass, over Struie.

Gnoc an liath bhaid— Hill of the grey clump.

Beinn clach an fheadain— Hill of the whistle

stone or of the spout (of water).

Carr Dubh— G. an cathar dubh, a hill ; cathar, usually a moss or bog, is here used to mean ' a rough, broken surface.'

Cnoc Bad a' bhacaidh — Hill of the moss-clump. CDOC an Ruigh ruaidh— Hill of the red slope. Chulash — A' chulais, the recess.

30 PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CKOMABTY.

CnOC Thorcaill— Torquil's hill.

Cnoc 'Chlachain— Hill of the clachan, with reference

to the Monastery of Fearn, the original site of

which was not far off.

Meall na siorramachd — (O.S.M. Cnoc Leathado

na siorramachd) ? Shire-hill, on the Kincardine boundary.

Beinn nan oighreagan — Hill of the cloud-berries ;

the usual plural is oighrean, implying a singular oighre, oi which oighreag is diminutive.

Easter, Western, and Mid Fearn — Fearn' ard,

Fearn' iochdarach, literally High Fearn and Lower Fearn, and Fearna meadhonach. Blaeu's Atlas has Faern lera, Faern Meanach, Faern Ocra ; from Fearria, alder. The Monastery of Fearn was originally founded ' near Kintarue, in Stiath- charron' (Chron. of Earls of Ross), probably, therefore, at Wester Fearn, about 1225, and about twenty years later, in the founder's life- time, ' for the more tranquillitie, peace and quietnes thereof translated ' to the spot it still occupies, where it was called at first Nova Farina, New Fearn, then simply Fearn.

Allt Grugaig — The little surly one, the burn of Wester Fearn.

According to the New Stat. Ace. (1840), " there is a complete chain of those round towers called Dunes surrounding this parish ; none of them, however, in a state of even tolerable preservation. One of these, situated at Easter Fearn, and known by the name of Dune-Alliscaig

EDDEKTON. 31

(from Dun-fair-loisgeadh, or the beacon watcli- tower), was about fourteen feet in height within the last thirty years, and had vaults and a spiral staircase within the wall." It was destroyed for dykes, etc., about 1818. The site is still to be seen, and the name is still current in Gaelic as Dun Alaisgaig. Falaisg, moor-burning, which seems hinted at in the derivation oifered above, suits the phonetics exactly, but the word is probably Norse. Blaeu has it Dun Alliscaig. East .of it he marks Dunivastra, i.e., Dounie of Westray, now Dounie, where there are also the ruins of a broch still known as the * c&rn liath.' There is a third, nameless, at Lechanich, said to have been six or seven feet high, with chambers, within living memory. Carn mathaidh, on Rudha nan sgarbh, may have been another.

There are no Norse names in Edderton, except the obsolete Westray, and possibly Dim Alaisgaig.

32 PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

TAIN.

Tain— Tene 1227; Thane 1483. The Gaelic form is not available, as Baile Dhubhaich, St Duthac's town, has in Gaelic displaced Tain. The existence of another Tain, near the head of Dunnet Bay in Caithness, suggests the name to be Norse, but it is difficult to offer a satisfactory etymology. The guesses of Rev. W. Taylor and others need not be repeated, nor have I arrived at anything certain. In Reg. Mag. Sig., under date 1612, the annual markets of Tain are given as follows : — Midsomer or St John's, 26 June ; S. Barquhani, 4 August ; [St Berchan] S. Duthosi, 30 December, 6 March ; S. Makharboch, 20 November. The Calendar of Fearn gives only three fairs, on 18 March, 9 August, and 20 December, the last being ' Mak- carmochis day.' (St Cormac ; cf. Tobar Cormaic in Nigg).

The girth of Tain, marked out by four crosses (Charter of James II., 1457), appears to have been roughly co-extensive with the bounds of the parish. In 1616 (Reg. Mag. Sig.) appears 4 the girth croce dividing the common lands of the Burgh of Tayne from Ulladil,' and Rev. W. Taylor notes dais na comraich,1 hollow of the girth or sanctuary, on the southern boundary of

1 It is at " The Canary."

TAIN. 33

the parish, towards Scotsburn (of old Ulladale). Crois Caitrion, Catherine's Cross, to the north of Loch Eye, may have been another girth cross. The revenues of the Collegiate Church of Tain, which dates from 1487, were derived from the lands of Tain, Innerathy, Newmore, Dunskaith, Morynchy, Tallirky, and Cambuscurry. Of these places, the last five were chaplainries, and the last three were within the girth of Tain.

Meikle Ferry — G. am port mor, of old Portin- coulter. The Little Ferry is at the mouth of Loch Fleet, between the parishes of Dornoch and Golspie.

Ardjachie — G. aird-achaidh, promontory of the cultivated field.

Tarlogie— Tallirky 1487 ; Tarlogy 1529; Tallarky 1559 ; Talreky 1580 ; G. Tarlogaidh. Talorg, diminutive Talorgan, was a Pictish proper name, from tal, brow, and the root arg, white, seen in argentum, airgiod, Argos. The Gaulish proper name Argiotalus shews the same elements. The name of a Pictish saint Talorgan survives in Kil- tarlity, G. Cill-Taraghlain. As a place-name, white brow is, of course, quite appropriate.

PitnelJies — Petnely 1512; G. Bail' an ianlaith, Birds' town. The plural form has arisen from the division of Pitnely into two — north and south. The English form is an instructive corruption.

Balcherry — G. Bail' a' cheathraimh, town of the quarter (davach), cf. Balcherry, near Invergordon, also Ochto.

3

34 PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMAE-TY.

Pithogarty— Petogarthe 1548 ; Pettogarty 1560 ; Betagartie 1574 ; G. Bail' shogartaidh, Priest's town. The true Gaelic form Avould be Bail' an t-sagairt or Baile nan sagart ; cf. Pitentagart and Balhaggarty in Aberdeenshire.

The Fendom — G. na f ana (fanoo), from fan, a gentle slope, or, usually in Scottish topography, a flat, low-lying place, the Scots ' Laigh.' Fan is seen as an adjective in Rob Donn, ' an rum a's fhaine fo 'n uir,' the lowest room beneath the earth, i.e., the grave. The English form is a curious cor- ruption.

Balkeith or Balkil— Ballecuth 1548; G. Baile na coille, town of the wood ; keith looks like Welsh gwydd, wood, which would make the modern Gaelic Baile na coille a direct translation of an original Pictish Pit-keith. Similarly Dal-keith, which is on a flat-backed ridge, may mean ' plateau of the wood.'

Plaids— Plaiddes 1560; G. a Phlaicl, from Norse flatr, the flat or low land. The plural form is English; cf. Pladday, Flat Isle. Fladay, off Barra, retains the Norse form. Near Plaids is said to have been a court-hill of Paul Mactyre.

Morangie — Morinchy 1487, Morinch 1507, Morin- schie 1618; G. M6r(a)istidh. The 't' of the modern Gaelic form is, doubtless, developed after 4 s ' (cf. an drasd for an trath sa ; culaist for culaix), and from the old forms it may be inferred to be of fairly recent origin. This leaves us with M6r(a)isidh, where ' is ' is the reduced form of

TAIN.

35

' iniiis,' haugh, and the rest is termination, the whole meaning Big-haugh.

Kirksheaf— Kerskeithl560,Kirkskeith 1607; Cros- kyth, Pont ; now in G. a chroit mhor, the big croft. The old forms suggest cathair, seat or fort, and either sgath, dread (cf. Dunskaith in Nigg), or sgeith, hawthorn. The place is close to the ancient Chapel of St Duthus.

Cnoc nan aingeal, or Angels' Hill — The small hill, now cut through by the railway, north-east of the old chapel. The road to Inver crosses the cutting by a bridge. Cf. Cnoc nan aingeal at Kirkton of Lochalsh. The name may equally well mean knoll of fires, from G. aingeal, light, fire.

Knockbreck — G. an cnoc breac, the spotted hill.

Cnocanmealbhain — Knoll of the white lump.

Aldie — G. Alltaidh, burn place, from allt, with extension.

Garrick Burn— Muirs and Moss of Garrack, 1690 ; also Ben Garrick, Beindyarrok 1632, and drochaid Gharaig, Garrick Bridge.

Knocknacean — G. cnoc nan ceann, hill of heads, with probable reference to a battle.

Glastullich — Green hillock ; locative of tulach.

Blarleath — G. am blar liath, the gray plain.

Ardival — Height of the home-stead.

Loch Lapagial — A tiny lochlet in the heights, the Gaelic form of which I have failed to verify.

Loch Uanaidh— (O.S.M. Lochan Uaine); Loch Owany, Pont ; perhaps from uan, lamb, but there is also O. Ir. uan, foam.

36 PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

An t-allt clachach — The stony burn.

Beinn na gearran — of O.S.M. should be Bimi

Garaig, the hill of Tain.

Lairg — ' The Lairgs of Tain ' ; G. lairig, a sloping hill, moor.

KingSCauseway — G. cabhsair an righ ; but, accord- ing to Rev. W. Taylor, rathad an righ ; probably the road by which James IV. so often rode to St Duthac's shrine.

Balnagall — Balnagaw 1560, town of the strangers ; scarcely likely to be a reminiscence of the Norse- man.

Bogbain — G. am bac ban, white moss.

Hunting Hill— G. druim na sealg.

Morrich more — G. a mhoraich mhor, a large, low- lying sandy flat by the sea shore. Moraich, better mor(mh)oich or mor'oich, is from Ir. mur- magh, sea plain ; cf. a mhor'oich, the Gaelic of Lovat ; Morvich, Kintail, &c. It is usually applied to a plain by the sea shore, yet we have a moor so called in Badenoch. A sand bank off the coast, accessible only at low tides, is called ' an aideal' from Norse va^ill, ford.

Loch Preas an uisge, Loch na Muic, Loch nan Tun nag, Loch of the Water- bush, Sow Loch, and Duck Loch are small lochs in the Morrich More.

An innis mhor, big isle, and an innis bheag, small isle, off the coast.

Whiteness — Apparently Norse, white point.

TAIN. 37

The Gizzen BriggS1 — A dangerous sandy bar guard- ing the entrance to the Dornoch Firth. G, drochaid an obh (ow). Taylor, however, gives drochaid an aobh, and says he had also heard drochaid an naomh, with a nasal sound. The local explanation connects with baobh, or baogh, hag, in Easter Ross called ' a vow,' and specialised into the meaning of water-sprite, or possibly mermaid ; in any case, a malicious spirit. Gizzen Briggs is connected by Taylor with Norse Geyser, a boiling spring, which suits neither the sense nor- th e phonetics. Brig, for bridge, is so utterly foreign to the English of Ross that it is most reasonable to regard it as a Norse survival, as also the ' meikle,' so common in. Easter Ross farm names. The name is, doubtless, the Norse ' gisnar bryggja,' leaky bridge. In Easter Ross the term ' gizzened,' leaky, is still commonly applied to tubs or barrels that have shrunk in the sun.

Inveraithie — Now practically obsolete ; in a Retour of 1652 appears as 'within the liberty of Tain, and having salmon fishings and stells.' ' The tradition is that the town of Tain was once built much nearer than it is at present to the mouth of the river, on land that has been in great part swept away by the sea, but that was called in old charters and is sometimes remembered still as

1 " Most of the Norwegian fiords are partially obstructed at their entrance by the remains of old moraines, which in the north are called havbroen, sea bridges" (Redus, Univ. Gcog.).

38 PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

Inver-Eathie, or in Gaelic Inbhir-athai ' (Taylor). The Gaelic form here given, though it cannot now be verified, is doubtless right, for Eathie Burn in the Black Isle is Allt athaidh. Evidently athaidh was also the old name of the Tain river. The word is probably based on ath, a ford.

Inver — G. an in'ir (inbhir), the confluence, or mouth of a stream. Rev. W. Taylor says that it appears in old documents as Inverlochslin, which would imply that Lochslin, now drained, sent its waters in this direction.

Na h-oitrichean — The mussel scalps, from G. oitir, sea bank.

Culpleasant — A hybrid of comparatively recent origin ; cuil, nook. Near it is Fuaran Dhaidh, St David's well, the principal source of the Tain water supply.

The Canary— So called, it is said, from a drinking place which once existed here.

Queebec — Bridge and Brae, on the Scotsburn road about two miles from Tain ; the name arose from the fact that a gentleman who had made money in Quebec settled near. The Gaelic name is Muileann Luaidh, Fulling Mill, and the burn is Allt Luaidh.

Commonty— Once the common lands of the burgh of Tain.

The following names appear to be obsolete :— The two Thesklaris (on west side of Tain), Enycht, Croftmatak, Poltak, Neclacanalych, Bal- natouch, Petgerello, Skardy with its mill, Auley

TAIN.

39

{? Aldie), the Buttis, Gorlinges, Clerk Island, and Priest Island, the last three ' belonging to the Burgh from time immemorial (confirmation of 1612 by King James VI)

40 PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

FEAKN.

Fearn was until 1628 included in the parish of Tarbat. The name was transferred with the mon- astery from Fearn, Edderton. The monastery, on its new site, was styled Nova Farina, New Fearn, but in Gaelic the parish is Sgir na Manachainn, Parish of the Monastery, also simply A' Mhan- achainn. As distinguished from Beauly (Manach- ainn 'Ic Shimidh), it is called Manachainn Hois, the Monastery of Koss.

Cadboll— Cathabul 1529 ; Norse kattar-bol, cat- stead ; from this and similar names in Tarbat it appears that the rocks facing the Moray Firth were of old a haunt of wild cats. Cf. Cattadale, Islay. Below Cadboll are Tobar ct bliaile duiWi, Well of the black town, and Tobar Suardalain, Well of Suardalan ; also Creag na fiaintighearna, the Lady's rock.

Cadboll Mount — The curious story of Cadboll Mount is told by Bishop Forbes. The Laird of Cadboll was on bad terms with his cousin, Macleod of Geanies, and built the ' mount' to look down on his lands. Geanies replied by planting a belt of trees which in time shut out the view. The mound, which still exists, was made quadrangular, built in steps like a pyramid, and about 60 feet high.

FEAKN. 41

Hilton — Balnaknok 1610 ; G. bail' a' chnuic.

Balintore — G. bail' an todhair, bleaching-town ; cf. Balintore in Abriachan and in Kirkhill. The name goes back to the tiine when flax was culti- vated in the north. The old name of Balintore is given locally as Port an Ab, Abbot's Port, and Blaeu shows Abbotshaven here.

Tullich— Tulloch 1606; G. an tulaich (locative), at the hillock.

Clasnamuiack — Grlasnamoyache 1647; G. Clais na maigheach, Hares' hollow.

Balmuchy— Balmochi 1529 ; Balmoch 1561 ; G. Baile mhuchaidh. The meaning is uncertain ; muc, pig, is out of the question ; perhaps Ir. much, mist, or mucha, owl. Pendicles of Balmuchy were Bellewallie (Broomtown), Ballin- reich (Bail' an f/iraoich, Heather-stead, between Fearn U.F. Church and Manse, north of the road), and Glasnamoyache above.

Pitkerrie — Pitkeri 1529 ; G. Baile-cheiridh ; not the same as Balcherry, Tain, which has short e. The local derivation is ceir, wax : the place was covered with whins, from which the bees made only wax. This is quite possible, though it looks somewhat fanciful. But at least equally possible is a derivation from ciar, dark, whence ceiread, duskiness, hoariness. Behind it is Waterton, G. Baile nam fuaran, Well-town.

Rhynie— Eathne 1529 ; G. rathan (mhor andbheag, meikle and little) ; a derivative from rath, circular enclosure or fort. Rhynie in Aberdeenshire is-

42 PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

of different origin — Ryny 1224, Rynyn 1226 ; from roinnean, diminutive of roinn, headland, as Mr James Macdonald thinks (Place-names of West Abercleenshire).

Poulfock — G. poll a' phoca, pool of the bag.

IiOCheye — G. loch na h-uidhe ; uidh, from Norse eith, isthmus, is common in place-names, where it may mean (i.) isthmus, cf. the Eye peninsula at Stornoway, or (ii.) according to some, slow running water between two lochs. Here, from the fact that we have ' an uidh ' (see below) near the outlet of the loch, uidh seems to be used with the second meaning.

Mounteagle — G. cnoc iia h-iolaire, also, an uidh, as above, but the ' uidh ' is strictly the western part of Mounteagle, near the outlet of Loch Eye.

Lochslin — G. Loch-slinn, from slinii, a weaver's sleye. Lochslin, as a loch, has disappeared, and survives only in ihe names Lochslin Farm and the ancient ruin of Lochslin Castle. It must have been a small loch, at the eastern end of Loch Eye, v. Inver.

Knocknahar — G. cnoc na h-aire, watch-hill.

Loandhll — G. an Ion dubh, black ' loan ' or wet meadow.

Balnagore, probably baile nan gobhar, Goats' town, which is confirmed by a well, Tobar nan gobhar, Goats' well, noted by Rev. Mr Taylor, and appearing on record as Tobarnayngor. Formerly a number of small crofts.

The Talich — Dallachie, in the barony of Geanies, 1676 ; G. loch an dailich, ?loch of the meeting.

FEARN. 43

Allan — Allan Meikle 1479 ; G. Alan mhor (broad ' 1 '). In the parish of Knockbain there are three Allans, Allan-grange, Allan nan clach, and Allan fhraoich ; there is also Alan-ais, the Gaelic of Alness, all pronounced alike in Gaelic, v. Alness.

Ballinroich— Munro's town. William Munro, son of Andrew Munro of Milntown, obtained the lands of Meikle Allan about 1570.

Balblair — G. bail' a' bhlair, town of the plain.

Balindrum — G. bail an druim, town of the ridge.

Mttldearg — G. a' mhuil dearg (locative), the red rounded eminence.

Midoxgate — G. an (t-)uchd meadhonach, the mid hillock or terrace. In view of the Gaelic it would be unsafe to regard this interesting name as a genuine survival of the bovate or oxgate, the old land measure. The place is on the 100 foot ridge between Hill of Fearn and Loch Eye, and ' uchd meadhonach' is therefore quite applicable. In the absence of old forms, it seems more reasonable to suppose Midoxgate to be an ingenious mis- translation of the Gaelic by some one of anti- quarian tastes, than to regard ' uchd ' as a Gaelic attempt at ' ox.'

At Hilton of Cadboll stood a chapel, dedicated to the Virgin 'Our Ladyis Chapell ' 1610, in con- nection with which appears in 1610 (Reg. Mag. Sig.) Litill Kilmure, Toir of Kilmuir, a well called Oure-Lady-well, situated near the angle of the kailyard dyke occupied by And. Denune of Bal- naknok ; also the heavin called Our-Lady-heavin

44 PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

of Kilmure. Some of these names survive : Creag na baintighearna, Lady's Bock, is under Cadboll ; Tobar na baintighearna, Lady's Well, is (or was) near a small graveyard east of Hilton used for unbaptized children ; Port na bain- tighearna, Lady's haven. The name Kilmuir, curiously enough, seems to have gone, but there is Bard Mhoire, Mary's meadow or enclosure. I have met with no other clear instance of ban- tighearna in the above sense of ' Our Lady.'

TARE AT. 45

TAEBAT.

Tarbat — Arterbert 1227 ; Terbert 1529 ; Tarbat 1561-66 ; G Tairbeart, a crossing, portage, isthmus. The land of Estirterbate stands first in the list of lands given in the Exchequer Holls as belonging to John, last Earl of Ross, which passed to the Crown on his resignation in 1479.

Tarbat Ness — G. rudha Thairbeirt, cf. Arterbert above, where Ar(t) is for airde, promontory. Cairns near the lighthouse are named Bodach an rudha, the old man of the point ; an Cailleach, the old wife ; a' Bhean-mhuinntir, the servant lass. A rock in the sea is called Steollaidh, Norse stagl-ey, rock-island.

Port a' chait— Cat's port ; cf. Oadboll. There is also Got nan cat, hole or cavern of the cats, from Norse gat, hole ; English gate. Near it is Got nan caiman, hole of the pigeons.

Port Buckie — G. Port nam faochag.

Wilkhaven — A translation of Port nam faochag. Near it is n a h-athan salach, the nasty fords, a small burn, which appears on record as Allan - sallaeh, with a chapel dedicated to St Bride.

Blar a' chath— The battlefield.

Brucefield — G. crioc an tighearna, the laird's hill, probably from Robert Bruce Macleod, a former proprietor. North Brucefield is in Gaelic Loch

46 PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

Sirr\ Near it was Loch nan cuigeal ; cuigeal, a distaff, is also the name of a water plant.

Port Uilleam — William's port.

Hilton — G. Bail' a' chnuic ; near it is Cnoc beall- aidh, broom-hill.

Bindal — G. Biricleil ; Norse bind-clalr? sheaf-dale, The name occurs in Norway. Near it is Stiana Bleadar or stoney -blather, Norse stein-blettr, stone-spot.

Portmahomack — Portmaholmag N.S.A. ; G. Port ma Cholmag, Colman's port. Tobar ma Chalmag, Colman's well, is near the Library. Behind it is Pitfaed) G. Baile Phaididh, of doubtful meaning.

Gaza — So called (i.) because it is desert, being mostly sand-hills (cf. Acts viii. 26), or (ii.) because a minister of Tar bat once referred to its people as " muinntir Ghaza," men of Gaza, i.e., Philistines, because of their irregular attendance at church. Such are the local explanations.

Balnabruach — Town of the banks.

Rockfield — G. a' Chreag, or Creag Tarail beag.

Castle Corbet — G. an Caisteal dearg, Red-castle. In 1534 James Dunbar of Tarbat sold one-third of the lands of Arboll to John Corbet of Estir Ard, and the Corbets appear on record thereafter as proprietors in Tarbet.

Balachladich — Shore town ; further inland is Scafield.

Drumancroy — G. an druim(a) cruaidh (locative),, the hard ridge.

TARBAT. 47

Petley— So called in the first decade of last century by Sheriff Macleod of Geariies, who married Miss Jane Petley. The old name was Mulbuie, yellow height; Mulboyeid 1535.

Tarrel— John of Tarale 1373, Tamil 1561 ; G. Tarail. Probably ' tar,' across, over, and ' ail,' rock — Over-cliff. There are high cliffs at Tarrel and at Rocktown (Little Tarrel), as there are at Geanies. Gaelic has ' Tarail mhor, is Tarail bheag, is Tarail fo na chreag.'

Meikle Tarrel included in 1529 Royeindavoir, Renmasrycshe, Creitnacloyithegeill, Creitmantae, Kilpottis, Rownakarne, Rownaknoksenidis, and near it were Callechumetulle, Kandig, KilstaRe.

Geanies — Gathenn 1529 ; Eistir Gany, Wastir Gaiiy, Midilgany 1561-1566 ; G. Gaan. The modern form is thus an English plural. Gaan is most probably a Gaelic plural of Norse ' gja,' a chasm, from the precipitous rocks on the coast^ From the same root we have also ' gaw,' a furrow or small trench ; cf. ' yawn,' Ger. ' gahnen,' Scot- tish ' gant.'

Balaldie — ' Baile,' town ; ' alt,' burn, with -ie ending — Burn-town.

Balnuig — G. bail' an aoig, town of death ; Baile na h-atha, Kiln-town, is part of it.

Toulvaddie — G. toll a' mhadaidh, dog-hole.

Loch Clais na ere — Loch of the clay hollow.

Arboll — Arkboll 1463 and 1535 ; Norse ork-bol, ark-stead, but possibly from orkn, seal, which in Skye gives Or-bost. Near Arboll were Knokan-

48 PLACE-NAMES OF BOSS AND CROMARTY.

girrach, on the coast, 1633 ; also Lochanteny and Loanteanaquhatt, i.e., L6n tigh nan cat, Cats' - house mead.

Gallow Hill — G. cnoc na croiche, about a mile from Balloan Castle.

Skinnertown — G. baile nan Scinnearach. Skinner is a surname very common in the coast villages of Easter Ross.

Innis Bheag — Small Isle — off the north coast.

A' Chreag Mhaol — Bare or blunt rock, below Tarrel.

Teampall Earach — Easter Temple, a cave on the south coast, east of Bindal, opposite a moor now cultivated between Bindal and Wilkhaven, called Blar-Earach ; there is also Cruit Earach, easter croft ; cf. cuil earach, easter recess, in Islay. There is a tradition that the cave, which is but small, was once used for purposes of worship. Hev. Mr Taylor quotes a description, which applies not to it but to a much more imposing cave near it.

Balloan Castle — Two causeways lead to it, Cabh- sair an righ, King's causeway, and an cabhsar mbr, the big causeway. Near it is Cnoc Dubh, Black Hill, where stone coffins have been found, also Cnoc druim(a) langaidh.

Port a* Chaisteil — Castle-haven, whence the title in the Cromarty family of Viscount Castlehaven. In a rock to the west of it is Got a choice, hole of the cauldron.

TAEBAT. 49

Toll Raoiridh is a cave on the north-east side of Tar bat Ness. Its mouth is now blocked, but some cattle which entered it long ago came out in Caithness ! Cf. Creag Eaoiridh in Kincardine and Leac Eaoiridh below Achtercairn, Gairloch.

Kilpots, which appears as Kilpotis, is a sea-mark ; there is also oir na poit, edge of the pot.

Cillean Ilelpak is a fishing bank in the Moray Firth, called in Cromarty Geelyum Melpak. There is another ' Geelyum ' nearer Cromarty. Helpak is said to have been a witch.

The following names, probably belonging to Fearn or Tarbat appear to be obsolete : — Hard- nanen and Ardnadoler, Port na cloiche, Port nagrigack, Portnawest1 alias St John's port — all described as small ports, and the last three near Arboll ; Innerladour, Eochani, Knokydaff, Arth- reis, Coillen, Kandig, Eownaknoksenidis, Elvie more, Ballinsirach, and, near Arboll, a port called Camray.

1 This is probably Port cC Lhaist, still known.

50 PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

NIGG.

Nig — Nig 1227 ; G. 'n eig, the notch (locative of eag). The notch in question may be that cut by the bay of Nigg ; but it is noteworthy that the parish church, which has always apparently occu- pied the same site, stands on the edge of a Y-shaped gully, and on the analogy of other parish names it is perhaps safer to regard this gully as the notch which gave its name first to the church and then to the parish ; cf. Eigg, and Nigg near Aberdeen.

Broomtown — Ballewallie ; G. bail' a' bhealaidtu Between it and Balintore is Dorus na(m) ba, door, or pass, of the kine.

Shandwick — G. seannduaig, from Norse sand-viky sand-bay. In Islay the same combination gives Sanaig. A plan of the land about Shandwick, dated 1786, shews the following : — Tobar no, slainte, well of health ; Stronmore, the big point ; Walter's Seat ; Craggan, the little rock ; Cull lisk, back or nook of the enclosure ; Crot kerk, Hens' Croft ; Crot Ganich, Sandy Croft ; Crot Oich ; Fisher Crofts ; Eallnamorich, Fisher- town ; Cromlet, the bent slope ; Leatcaum, the bent hill- side ; Clasinore, ? Claisean mora, the big furrows ; Riliindow, black slopes ; Cocli kinich (i.e., Cach- aileith Coinnich), Kenneth's gate.

NIGG. 51

Rarichie (Easter and Wester) — Rarechys 1333, Raricheis 1368 ; G. Rath-riachaidh shios agus R. shuas. Fort of scratching (as by brambles), satis- fies the phonetics. The foundations of a circular fort still exist on a hillock, with well-marked fosse at foot, near the farmhouse of Easter Rarichie. The former existence of wood is proved by its name, Cnoc coille no, tobarach, Well-wood Hill. Of. Dunriachie, a hill fort in the parish of Dores, Inverness. The latter part of the compound may, however, be riabhach, dappled, with -idh exten- sion. The local derivation is as follows : — The Picts lived at Cadha 'n ruigh, and in spring-time they would say, ' tiugamaid 'bhan 'dheanamh rotha riachagan,' ' let us go down to make rows of scratches ' (to sow seed in).

Easter Rarichie includes Cnoc Coinnich, Ken- neth's Hill ; an Torran shuas and an Torran shios, the wester and the easter hillock.

Lower Rarichie — G. Bail' a' phuill, Pool-town.

Drumdil — G. Druim(a) daol, Beetle-ridge, west of Wester Rarichie. Below it is Croit Bhreunan, the little rotten croft.

Pitcalnie— Pitcahan 1662; G. Baile-chailnidh ; T silent in English ; an obscure name.

Pitculzean — Revived as the name of Westfield, which was of old Meikle Pitcalzean ; Pitcalzeane 1581, Pitcalzean 1598 ; G. Bail' a' choillean, town of the little wood, as is proved by Tobar na coille, well of the wood, on the place.

Culnaha— Oulnahaw 1611 ; G. Cul-na-h-atha, Kiln- nook or Kiln-back, for it is practically impossible

52 PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

in such cases to distinguish cuil, recess, from cul, back. With it goes CadJi a bhreacaich, path of the spotted place.

Culinald — Culnald cum ustrina lie kill die Nig, 1634 (Culnald with the kiln, called the kiln of Nigg) ; Burn-nook, now part of Nigg Farm. The streamlet in question flows through the gully at Nigg Church.

Strath of Pitcalnie— Culderare 1611 ; G. Srath chuilt-eararaidh ; eararadh is the process of parching corn ; cuilt occurs passim in Perthshire and elsewhere, e.g., a chuilt rainich, the ferny ' cuilt ' ; doubtless the Aberdeenshire Cult-s. The meaning of this obsolete word seems to be some- thing like ' nook ' ; it may be cuil, O. Ir. cuil, with excrescent ' t.' Cuilt-eararaidh would thus mean the nook of parching. In this Strath is Cnoc Ghaisgeach. From a loch in the hill above it flows Allt an damhain (O.S.M. Aultandown), burn of the little ox.

Balnabruach — Kindeis Wester, within the barony of Ballinbreich, 1650 Ret. ; Bank-town. Near it is Cnoc na h-iolaire, Eagle-hill.

Balnapaliag — A hybrid, Paling-town ; there were a number of small plots of land separated by ' palings.'

Castlecraig — G. Oaisteal Chrag (sic); now the name of a farm, on which may yet be traced the lines of the castle built by William the Lion in 1179. Its name was Dun Sgath, fort of dread, now English Dunskaith. The farm of Castlecraig includes several holdings formerly distinct : an

NIGG. 53

Annaid,the 4nnat (Annot 1611 ; Rhidorach, the dark slope ; Culbinn, back (or nook) of the hill, and Dunsgath, Dunskaith.

Bayfield — Formerly Meikle Kindeace ; G. Cinndeis mh5r, or Cinndeis Rob'son shuas, Wester Kin- deace of Robertson, from William Robertson, a burgess of Inverness, who bought it and the fol- lowing in 1629. The name was changed to Bayfield by John Mackenzie, commander of the ' Prince Kaunitz,' who bought the estate about 1788 (v. Nevile Reid's 'Earls of Ross.").

Ankerville— G. Cinn-deis bhig, Little Kindeace ; also Easter Kindeace; bought in 1721 by Alex- ander Ross (locally known as Polander Ross), late merchant at Cracow, who changed the name (v. 'Earls of Ross' and N.S.A.) — v. Kindeace in Kilmuir Easter.

Carse of Bayfield — G. Mor'oich Cinndeis, Carse of Kindeace, or simply, a Mhor'oich.

Gulliss— Culisse 1296 ; Culuys 1351 ; Culliss alias Cullenderie, 1642 ; G. Cul an lios, back of the ' lios ;' lios, now garden, formerly meant an enclosure or fort with an earthen wall ; cf. Lis- more. Rare in northern place-names. Near Culliss was Muileann Ach-railean, Achrailean Mill, cf. Badrallich in Lochbroom.

Blackhili — G. an cnoc dubh.

Hill Of Nigg— -G. Binn Nig ; of old ' the Bishop's Forest.'

Big Audle — A channel in the bay, from Norse va<5ill, a ford. There is also an oitir, the sea- bank.

54 PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

The Three Kings— G. Creag Harail, Harold's Rock. This skerry off the Nigg coast is called in the N.S.A. The King's Sons. The story goes that three sons of a Danish prince, sailing to avenge their sister's wrongs, were wrecked here. Their graves were marked by the sculptured stones of Hilton, Shandwick, and Nigg. Another legend of their burial is given below.

Of all Ross-shire parishes, Nigg is, in proportion to its size, the richest in wells. Most have names, but some that appear in the following list no longer rise to the surface at their proper place : —

Tobar Cormaig — Cormac's well, at Shandwick farm- house.

Tobar Cnoc Coinnich— Well of Kenneth's hill, i.e., the hill above Easter Rarichie.

Glagaig — Now closed, to the south of the road at Torran shuas, ' the little noisy one ;' cf. glagan, the clapper of a mill ; glagar, a prating fellow.

Sul bi — Cows' eye, i.e., well-eye at which cattle came to drink ; in front of the old curate's house at Easter Rarichie.

Tobar na h-iu — At the wester side of Cnoc coille na tobarach, Well-wood hill, which is the Gaelic name of the so-called Fairy hill or Danish fort, really a Celtic hill fort, at Easter Rarichie. Hard by this well once stood a tree whose branches bent over the water, and while the tree stood, the well cured ' white swelling.' The tree was cut, and the well struck. The following

NIGG. 55

rhyme in connection with this tale shows the sort of feeling with which such wells were regarded : —

Tobar na h-iu, Tobar na h-iu,

's aim duit bu chumha bhi uasal ;

tha leabaidh deis ann an iuthairnn

do 'n fhear a ghearr a' chraobh mu d' chluasan.1

Well of the yew, Well of the yew ! 2 to thee it is that honour is due ; a bed in hell is prepared for him who cut the tree about thine ears.

Tobar nam puill linn— Well of the lint pools,

above Wester Rarichie. Tobar nan geala (or deala) mdra— Well of the big

leeches, between Wester Rarichie and Culliss.

This well was insulted and is not what it was. Tobar Sein Sutharlain — Jane Sutherland's well, at

Drumdil. Tobar a' bhaistidh — Baptismal well, at Ankerville,

just above the old U.P. Church. Otherwise,

tobair Eapaig Ghearr, Eppy Gair's well. Tobar Eadhain Bhaist— John Baptist's well, beside

Chapelhill Church.

Tobar a* Oh6irneil— The Colonel's well (Colonel Ross), at Nigg Farm.

Tobar na coille— At Pitcalzean ; G. Bail' a choillean.

Tobar Alaidh Bhodhsa— Sandy Vass's well, sup- plies Westfield house.

1 The two last lines would be rendered less rugged by reading tha leabaidh deis an iuthairnn do'n fhear a ghear a' chraobh mu d' chluasan.

aThis translation supposes " iu" to represent Ir. e6, a yew tree.

56 PLACE-NAMES OF ROSS AND CROMARTY.

Tobar Dun-Sgath— Dunskaith well.

Tobar na h-6iteachan — On the top of Nigg hill,.

famous water, used by the Nigg smugglers. Tobar cadha 'n ruigh— Ca'an ruigh well.

Tobar na slainte — Well of health, near Shand- wick Village, and noted for its healing powers.

Tobar na' muc— Pigs' well, by the shore, west of Shandwick.

Leisgeig — The little lazy one, near Shandwick ; its water comes in very small quantity.

Tobar a* chlaidheimh duibh an Eirinn, 's i air

aghaidh na greine an port an Druidh (al. a dh-eirich an Port an Druidh) — Well of the black sword in Erin, facing the sun in the Druid's port (or, that rose in the Druid's port). It does not rise, but gushes out of the rock, and is excellent water. Port an Druidh is west of Shandwick.

Besides the old churchyard at the Church of Nigg, there are, or were, four other places of burial in the parish.

At Nigg Rocks, below Cadha Neachdain, there is a graveyard, now covered with shingle. Here the Danish princes were buried. Their grave- stones came from Denmark, and had iron rings fastened in them to facilitate their landing. So local tradition. This most unlikely spot for a graveyard was not selected without some good reason, the most probable being that hermits once lived in the caves, whence the place was reckoned holy ground.

At Clach' charaidh, the sculptured stone near Shandwick, all unbaptized infants of the parish

NIGG. 57

were buried up till fairly recent times. It is now cultivated.

At Easter Rarichie — Here the curate of Nigg lived, and the field behind his house is called ' raon a chlaidh,' the graveyard field. The plough goes over it now, and formerly used to strike the gravestones, but these are now removed.

Near Shandwiek Farm-house, to the south-west,

between the sea and the rock was a graveyard, the name of which I failed to find. Some of the stones are still