Launch of
Scottish Place-Name Society Virtual Conference Nowhere and Everywhere 7 November 2020
Simon Taylor Scottish Toponymy in Transition: Progressing County Surveys of the Place-Names of Scotland
Project Team:
Thomas Clancy , Leonie Dunlop ,Carole Hough Peter McNiven, Simon Taylor, Eila Williamson
Knowledge Exchange Liaison Group Academic Advisory Board
2011-2014
hotos: Simon Taylor Taylor Simon hotos: P 2017 Leonie Dunlop (now Leonie Mhari), 2016, ‘Breaking old and new ground: a comparative study of coastal and inland naming in Berwickshire’, unpublished PhD, University of Glasgow. Online at http://theses.gla.ac.uk/7739/
Photo: Liz Curtis
ACADEMIC ADVISORY BOARD
Dauvit Broun, University of Glasgow Peder Gammeltoft, University of Bergen Kay Muhr, formerly of The Northern Ireland Place- Name Project Kevin Murray, University College Cork David Parsons, Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies, Aberystwyth KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE LIAISON GROUP
Janet Carolan Susan Mills Dollar Museum formerly of Clackmannanshire Museum and Heritage Service THE SURVEY OF SCOTTISH PLACE-NAMES SURVEANCE O THE PLACE-NAMES O SCOTLAND SUIRBHIDH AINMEAN-ÀITE NA H-ALBA
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Publisher: 2012 Shaun Tyas 2012
2017 2020 In the pipe-line are:
The Place-Names of Berwickshire Vol. 1, The Place-Names of Iona and Staffa (Argyll) The Place-Names of Kirkcudbrightshire Vol. 1 The Place-Names of Lanarkshire Vol. 1 The Place-Names of Mull and Ulva/Ainmeannan- àite Mhuile is Ulbha (Argyll) The Place-Names of Perthshire Vol. 1 (Menteith).
THE SURVEY OF SCOTTISH PLACE-NAMES SURVEANCE O THE PLACE-NAMES O SCOTLAND SUIRBHIDH AINMEAN-ÀITE NA H-ALBA Angus Watson, The Ochils 1995 (Perth and Kinross Libraries) The Authors The Wee County c.16 km x 15 km
Smallest County by area, but 18th out of 33 by population density
Bartholomew Map From https://maps.nls.uk/ Clackmannanshire post-1995
THE OCHILS
© HARVEY Maps - for walking, hiking, cycling and fell running Photo: Simon Taylor
PERTHSHIRE
PERTHSHIRE
STIRLING- SHIRE KINROSS- SHIRE FIFE
STIRLINGSHIRE FIFE Why such a big book? Not only does it have the analysis of the 660 head- names within the 6 parishes, it also has …
580 pages 3 Extensive Introductory Chapters • CHAPTER 1 Geography and Geology including Routeways and Industry • CHAPTER 2 Early History and the Evolution of the County • CHAPTER 3 Language and Place-names EACH OF THE SIX PARISHES HAS ITS OWN INTRODUCTION
Each is c.10-15 pages long, and deals with the history of that parish as it interacts with its toponymy. There is a lot of detail about early land ownership as understanding that helps us interpret some of the place-names. Stobie 1783 from https://maps.nls.uk/ Elements Glossary
• 40 pages of Elements Glossary, covering all the languages represented in Clackmannanshire place-names: Northern Brittonic Gaelic Scots Scottish Standard English. Clackmannan Clach Mhanann The Stone of Manau
Photo: Simon Taylor Image from: Gordon, Rev. T. Crouther, 1936, The History of Clackmannan CLACKMANNAN Clach Mhanann The Stone of Manau
SLAMANNAN PARISH Sliabh Mhannan The Moor or Upland of Manau
Scale: Half Inch to the Mile Bartholomew Map c.1930 From https://maps.nls.uk/ A problem in early medieval sources is that our Manau often appears in exactly the same form as the name of the Isle of Man, and it is only context which distinguishes them. A suggestion made in the book is that in fact some identifications need to be reassessed.
In an unpublished paper of 2001 Dónall Mac Giolla Espaig suggested that both Manau and Man share the early Brittonic element *man-, related to Latin mons ‘mountain, high hill’. See also James in BLITON under *man-. In Manau’s case, this most likely refers to the dramatically rising Ochils. It is suggested in the book that the earliest reference to the kingdom of Manau is from the Ravenna Cosmography, which draws on Roman sources from as early as the second century. It appears there in the name Locus Manavi literally ‘the place of Manau’, where ‘place’ = ‘place of assembly’, and it is possible that the stone of Clackmannan marked that place.
The last mention of Manau is in 711. It is suggested in the book that the earliest reference to the kingdom of Manau is from the Ravenna Cosmography, which draws on Roman sources from as early as the second century. It appears there in the name Locus Manavi literally ‘the place of Manau’, where ‘place’ = ‘place of assembly’, and it is possible that the stone of Clackmannan marked that place.
The last mention of Manau is in 711. THE OCHILS Sliabh nOcel 800 × 900 CGSH §722.106 usque ad montem qui dicitur Okhel c.1200 Vita Sancti Servani/Life of St Serf [Macquarrie 1993, 140]
Photo: Eila Williamson Conventional wisdom (including mine in Place-Names of Fife) would derive it from an early Brittonic word *uchel ‘high’. However Guto Rhys in his 2015 PhD has cogently argued that it represents early Brittonic *ocel, earlier *okelon ‘promontory, spur of land, ridge’. miracle of St Serf St Serf’s Well, Alva St Blane chapel in Sauchie Tower and nearby St Blane’s Well St Kentigern (chapel, later church + miracle) Alloa
St Mary (Mary Bridge, formerly Sanct marie brige 1637 ) + Lady Well, Tullibody
St Columba (?) LANGUAGES
Northern Brittonic Dollar, Doll(s), Menstrie, Aberdona, Kennet (?)
Gaelic Auchenbaird, Gartinkeir, Balquharn, Alloa, Alva, Ben Ever, Dollarbeg, Sauchie LANGUAGES
Scots Shavelhaugh, Cobblecruik, Girnal, Harviestoun, Elliston, Grassmainston
Scottish Standard English Beechwood House, Devongrove, Jubilee Belt Image courtesy of Dollar Museum Photo: Peter McNiven RE-INTERPRETATIONS and STORIES GENERATED BY PLACE-NAMES
DOLLAR Phot: Simon Taylor DOLLAR: A Dolorous Landscape
Dollar = Scots doloure ‘grief etc.’
BURN OF CARE
CASTLE GLOOM later CASTLE CAMPBELL
BURN OF SORROW
DOLLAR BURN
19th-century guide book to Castle Campbell etc. Courtesy of Dollar Museum RE-INTERPRETATIONS and STORIES GENERATED BY PLACE-NAMES
CLACKMANNAN and LOOKABOUTYE
With the instruction “Look about ye”, he sent his followers to search for the glove (mannan), which was found by the stone (clack) on the brae (Lookaboutye Brae) to the south of the town’ This is presumably a confected word based on G manag f. ‘glove, mitten’ (Dwelly). OS 1 inch 7th series from https://maps.nls.uk/
The End
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