BA (Hons) Scottish Music Scots 1 Wojtek Gardela w.gardela@rsamd.ac.uk Place-names and the History of Scots Anglian Old English Place-Names The earliest Anglian Old English place-names may date back as early as the seventh century. These include names ending in -ingaham, which usually denotes a settlement associate with a particular person. For example Whittinghame in East Lothian (Whitingham 1254), probably includes the Old English personal name Hwīta as it s first element and therefore originally denoted the settlement of Hwīta s people or the settlement at the place called after Hwīta. Names containing Old English hām village, homestead, which later becomes home in English and hame in Scots, include Ednam village on the River Eden (Ednaham 1107), Oxnam village of the oxen (Oxenham 1165) and Yetholm village near the pass (Yetham 1165) in Roxburghshire. Old English tūn enclosure, enclosed place, which later evolved to become English town and Scots toun, was also used to coin many early place-names. Some of the earliest are those in which Old Englih tūn combines with -ing- associated with and one other element, as in Edrington farm associated with the River Adder (Hadryngton 1095) and Renton farm associated with Regna (Regninton 1095) in Berwickshire. Old English worth enclosure is found in Polwarth Paul s enclosure (Paulewurth 13 th century) in Berwickshire, the word bothl or botl meaning dwelling-place, house occurs with tūn in Bolton house-farm (Botheltun c.1200) in East Lothian, and the same compound, with the addition of Gaelic tòrr hill, is also found in Tarbolton (Torboultoun a.1177) in Ayrshire. Old English wīc (dependent) farm occurs in names such as Borthwick, board farm, i.e. the farm supplying the board or table of the lord of the district (Bordewich 1165), Fishwick (Fyschewike 1095) fish farm in Berwickshire, and Hedderwick heather farm (Hatheruuich 1093) in East Lothian. (Atlas of Scottish History to 1707, Peter McNeill & Hector MacQueen, 1996, Edinburgh:
The Scottish Medievalists & Edinburgh University Geography Department, p.61) Scandinavian Place-Names The linguistic regions of Scandinavian Scotland Scandinavian place-name evidence can be divided into four distinct linguistic regions: (1) the Northern Isles and north-east Caithness, which is almost purely Scandinavian, and where Norn, a variety of language derived from Old Norse, was spoken until nearly 1800; (2) Sutherland, Easter Ross, the Western Isles and the western seaboard where original Norse place-names have been adopted by Gaelic speakers who have often altered the names; (3) the south-west, which is connected with the Scandinavian place-names of north-west England and has been influenced by Gaelic speakers from areas around the Irish Sea; and (4) the south-east, the scatter of Scandinavian place-names also have connections with the Scandinavian settlements in the north of England, though with less Gaelic influence than (3). 2
(adapted from Barbara Crawford, Scandinavian Scotland, 1987, Leicester: Leicester University Press, p.93) Gaelic Place-Names Place-names containing Gaelic achadh field (often Scotticised as auchen or auchin) (W. F. H. Nicolaisen, Scottish Place-Names, 2001 rev. edn., Edinburgh: John Donald, p. 181). Gaelic place-name elements include: BEN hill < Gaelic beann; CRAIG cliff, spur of rock < Gaelic creag; LOCH lake < Gaelic loch; TORR hill < Gaelic tòrr Old English place-name elements include: HEUGH cliff, steep precipice, ravine < Old English hōh heel ; LAW hill < Old English hlæw; SHANK downward slope of a ridge < Old English scanca; TOUN town < Old English tūn enclosure, enclosed place Old Norse place-name elements include: FELL hill < Old Norse fjall; KIRK church < Old Norse kirkja; NABB / KNABB summit of a hill, promontory < Old Norse nabbi; PIKE pointed hill prob. < an unknown Old Norse word > Norwegian pik peak, summit 3
French street-name elements include: PEND covered passage, archway, arched roof or canopy < Scots pend to arch over < Old French pendre to hang & Latin pendēre to hang VENNEL narrow lane between houses < OF venelle little street Indo-European Languages & Scotland s place-names P-Celtic place-names, linguistically related to Welsh, are often divided into two groups: 1) Cumbric place-names, found generally in the south, with some as far north as Fife: Examples include cair, caer fort (Cathcart, Renfrewshire, fort on the river Cart, Kerkert 1158; Cramond, Midlothian, fort on the river Almond, Caramonde 1178), pren tree (Primside, Roxburghshire, Prenwensete c1200 (wen white + OE sete seat ); Prinlaws, Fife; earlier probably pren las green tree.) 2) Pictish place-names, generally found in the north-east: the best-known of these perhaps being the group of Pit-names whose geographical distribution corresponds to the archaeological evidence for the Picts. Also aber river mouth, confluence (e.g. Aberdeen, at the mouth of the river Don) and pert wood, copse (e.g. Perth, Perthbeg in Banffshire). The division between the two groups may reflect different historic dialects, but there are some P-Celtic elements that straddle this apparent geographical divide, such as lanerc clear space, glade (> Welsh llanerch) in Lendrick in Ross-shire, Lanrick in Perthshire, Lanark and Barlanark in Lanarkshire and probably Caerlanrig in Roxburgh. 4
Recommended reading: Crawford, B. (1987). Scandinavian Scotland. Leicester: Leicester University Press. Nicolaisen, W., F., H. (2001). Scottish Place-Names. Edinburgh: John Donald. 5