II. MAIDEND WORDE AN NOTE BRITISTH N N I N SME O H TOPOGRAPHY. BY DAVID MAORITCHIE, F.S.A. SOOT.

n writinI g upo e antiquitieth n f Cornwallo s , Professo Miillex Ma r r observes1 that e larg"onth f ee o stone s with rock-basin s callei se th d Men-rode, rock being simply the interpretation of the Cornish MC-n." An f thoso d e special pillar-stones n Scotlani whic e w h d generally kno s "wa bore-stones, e remarksh " 2:— " The e callear y d M6n-an-tol, hole-stones Cornwalln i , e namth f tol-men,d eo an ; r dol-men,o which is somewhat promiscuously used by Celtic antiquarians, should be re- stricte monumento dt f thio ss class, toll bein Cornise gth h wor hole,r dfo e article.th e n add a maH r stone, "sd fo n an further 3:—"Kist-vaen .... means a stone-chamber, from cist, the Latin cista, a chest, and vaen, e modifieth d for f maenmo r m&n,o stone." e samTh e. wors i d again seen in the compound " men-hir " ; and, in short, throughout the Cymric districts of Brittany, Cornwall, and Wales, the word man or men, wit s labiait h l letters sometimes modifie , / dsignifie r into v o s atone.*

1 Chips from a German Workshop, 1870, vol. iii. p. 319. til.,. . 278Op p 3 . cit.,. . 283Op p 2 . The Welsh maen (see n "i n Pen-OTacn-mawr ") hacompoune th s d derivatives hogfaen, whetstona e (A<^=whet) d cistfaen,an , define y Spun-elb d a Britis" s a l h monument, consistin f fouo g r flat stones place t righa d t angles, wit a hfift n o h top" ; n Cornishi cist, s a , Gaelic d Lowland-Scotchan , , signifyin g"chesta , coffer, or box. Cornise Th " h spelling mean occur "n si Gwrean "n s i (1611)d By n An sa . Breton we have "wicn-hir," " lichaww" or "licawft," and "peuhxiw" (Souvestre's 'MEN. 'MAIDEND AN ' BBITISN I ' H TOPOGRAPHY9 15 .

Of special stones denoted by this word, some Cornish examples are the Men r InscribeSerifo , a d Stone Men-Rode,e n Perhenth Me ,d an both n Constantini e circlee parishth d s an calle, Dawnse dth Men, some five miles west of Penzance. With regard to this last, Max Muller says1 that the name, which signifies " the dancing stones," " was soon cor- rupted iiito dance-men, and a legend sprang up at once to account for the - name, viz., that these men had danced on a Sunday and been changed into stones. Another corruptio same th ef o nnam e into Danis- traditioe th o t men nd le that these circles wer e Danes. th buil y b t " t anotheYe r misconceptio . TregellesP . G s indicatei o n r wh M , y b d states that, about four miles fro t ColombS m detachea , "s i d menhir, 7 feet 6 inches high, .... called the ' Old Man,' .... and Mr W. C. Borlase point t tha Manou d st 'Ol ' sounds very much lik e' hue l maen' or ' sun stone.'"2 " A still more curious name for these circles," continues Professor Max Mliller,3 " is that of ' Nine Maidens,' which occurs at Boscawen-un, and in several other places in Cornwall. Now the Boscawen-im circle consists of nineteen stones, and there are very few ' Nine Maidens' that consist of nine stone e namth s t eonly prevailsYe s likewis.i d an , e supported by local legends of nine maidens having been changed into stones for dancing on a Sunday, or some other misdeed. One part of the legend may perhaps be explained by the fact that medn would be a common corruption in modern Cornish for men, stone, as pen becomes pedn, and (jwyn gwi/dn, etc., and that the Saxons mistook Cornish medn for their own maiden." earln A y recorded instanc f thieo s misconceptio thas ni t of Hals, who, writing abou e yeath t r 1700, describes "nine large moor stones commonly calle e Ninth d e Maids r Yirgio , n Sisters; ^probably

Les Verniers Bretons, i. 105). A special Breton example is that of Men Jensel, the rocke namth f so elyin Capf gof e Ushan whicn o t e unfortunathth e " Drummond Castle" struc n Juni e ksam th e e n i 189localit 6d an ; y occur e namth sr A e Men.

eit., . . 284-5Op pp 1 . e StoneTh f . o 16-1CirclesPp 7 2 f Cornwall,o y Georgb x TregellesFo e . Re- printed froe Transactionsmth e Penzanceth f o Natural History d Antiquarianan Society, 1893-4. 3 Op. fit., . 285p . 100 PROCEEDING E SOCIETYTH F O S , MA11CH 14, 3898;

set un memori p o mans f yo y sister nuns heretofore interred there."1 This last example showexceptionan a s su e numbel th cas f eo f stone o r s agreeing with the English numeral nine; although it is pretty evident that the Cornish word represented hy that sound has some other mean- ing. It is, moreover, interesting to note that in this case of the year 1700 we have the form maid, instead of maiden or men. It may well be questioned whether the d in gwydn, pedn, and medn does not re- presen obsoletn a t e form, instea f beino d ga moder n corruptiox Ma s na Miiller states. t maycleas i e thii B s t sa i r , tha e Cymrith t c wor r rode stoner dfo O gradualls ha y become confused wit Englise hth h word f similaso r sorind but different meaning,—man, men, maid, and maiden. Without pausing to consider how far other districts of South Britain may furnish parallel islande evidence parth n f o t.ow r I ,shaltur ou w o nt no l " The Maiden Way" which comes northward through Cumberland has I think, , been pronounce r MacclonalD drova y b e db e o roadt d , and not a Koman causeway. It ought, however, to be mentioned in this connection; as also a " Maiden Castle" situated in the same county. r StuartD citeo 2 swh , these two, speaks als e f Maide"o th n Stone" at Ayton in Berwickshire,—" a striking rock on the coast, isolate t higa d h water" therd an ;e are, further e " Maideth , n Bower Craigs " near Dumfries.3 Going northward alon coase gth t from Ayton, we com e Maidenso "t eTh f Nortof " h Berwick d theian , r offshoot, " The Maiden Foot," a dangerous submerged rock near the entrance to the harbour; off the south end of the Isle of May lies the " Maiden Hair " rock; and then at St Andrews, on the sea-shore, there is the natural rock-pillar called " The Maiden Rock." Inland in there is e Maide"Th n Castl ef Collessieo " , e vestige" whern th a e f o ar se ancient fort" ;4 and, in the Falkland district, there is another ancient

. F stoneG 1.e r QuoteTregellesTh M s . y referre d. b cit.,10 . op , p for o t dm a e pariscirclth Wendfonn f ei ho , between Redrut Helstpnd han . 2 Sculptured Stones of , vol. i. p. 3. Mr F. E. Coles, to whom I am indebted for this last reference, mentions an interestin3 g local custom connected with these rocks. 4 Sculptured Stones of Scotland,- vol. i. j>. 3. . 'MEN 'MAIDEND AN ' BRITISN I ' H TOPOGRAPHY1 16 .

fortification known as "The Maiden Castle."1 [I have been sub- sequently informed by Sheriff Mackay that there is another " Maiden Castle " in the neighbouring parish of Kennoway.] Returning across the Forth finde w , e Maide"Th n Castl ef Eoslin e "o banke th th f n o so , Esk, " wher e e foundationpartth f so see e b fortresa n o f t d "; o s e 2an ar s the more notable " Maiden Castle " of Dunedin or Edinburgh. Of this last-named, an anonymous writer of 1718 remarks :—" The Castle was formerly call'd Castrum puettarum, i.e., the Maiden Castle, because, as some say, the Kings of the Plots kept their Daughters in it while unmarry'd: But those who understand the ancient Scots or Highland Language, say the Words Ma-eden signify only a Castle built upon a Hil Bock."r o l 3 Whether this write analyses ha r wore dth d accurately may well be questioned. But the point to be noticed is that, about two centurie believes s agowa t i ,d tha t leasa t t this " Maiden Castle " really derived its name from a Celtic term meaning " the castle of the rock." Proceeding northward acros Firte sth f Tay ho e encounte w , a namr e whic t oncha e recall mane sth y stone circle Cornwalf so l designatede "th nine maidens." This is a well beside the old churchyard of Strathmar- tine, near Dundee, know Nine "s nth a e Maidens' Well, associated "an d in popular tradition with certain nine maidens, and also with the sculp- tured stone called "t Martin'S s Stone.o " tw Thif o se stonon s i e which, Dr Stuart states, were dug out of the old churchyard about yeae th r 17 96.4 Some twenty miles farther e parisnortth f s Menmuii ho h r (spelt "Menmoreth" about 1280 A.D.) ; and Mr Johnston, in his Place-Names of Scotland,5 suggests that the first syllable of this word may be the Cymric men, "a stone." Certainly, Menmuir possesse e well-knowson n sculptured stonelocaa d l an ;rhyme , quoter Jervisr Pro-M ou y db n ei

s situate i southere t th 1I n o d n bas f Blaceo k Hill, S.W. from Falkland House, and about mid-way between Falkland and the station of Gateside.

2 Sculptured Stones, loc, cit. t. 3 Slezer's Theatrwm Scotiae, edition of 1718, p. 7. r referenceFo 4 thio t s straditions it place Sculpturedd th ean e se , Stones of Scot- Statisticalw Ne e th ; Account4 2 d an 0 oland,2 f Scotland,. pp " Forfarshire,; 4 5 . "p and the Dundee Evening Telegraph of 17th July 1895. 5 1892, p. 180. VOL. XXXII. L 2 16 PllOCEEDING E SOCIETYTH F O S , MARC , 1898H14 .

ceedings,T- speaks of the " Killievair Stanes," as though there had once been several. In there is " the Maiden Craig," " a re- markabl egorge a littlroo th f o en eki valley,' about three miles, from "; e north-wes a th littl d o t e famouan 2 th f thao s ti ts " Maiden Stone Chapel-of-Gariochf "o . This sculptureo d tw ston s eha different traditions relatin o "t g maiden s "; bot f whico h r StuarD h t rejects. Had the name occurred in Cornwall, Professor Max Miiller would undoubtedly have classed maiden-stone with men-rock, regarding both as mere translations from one language into another. In connection with this particular " Maiden Stone," Dr Stuart further observes that near it is " a paved road .... called the Maiden Causeway," and that Gordon states that " this ston s contiguousi e a smal o t l Danish fort called ' the Maiden Castle.' " In this same quarter of Scotland mention mae sculpturemade th yb f o e d ston t Manbeana e e paristh f n o i h, Elgin; where the first syllable of " Manbean " suggests a comparison with " Menmuir," and the possibility that both names are derived from the Cymrimen,r o n stonea cma . As an important contribution to this ^'detail, I may quote from a letter received fro frieny mm Eeve dth r Stewar .D t ("Nether Lochaber"), to who writted e subjectha th m e observeI n H no . s follows:—a s "A few Welsh word hero therd sd ean ee topographica occuth n i r l nomen- clature of the Highlands. Examples are Glen Nant, 'twixt Taynuilt and Loch Awe. At the head of Glencoe we have ' ??ze?i7wV-chlach,' — somewhat tautological meanind an ,e roc/ry-stony-place. th ' g y m n I ' own paris ' mew/wV-a-cheo,'— s i h e misty-rocky-height,th ' ' rocky r o ' - place.'" Of these place-names the first is specially interesting, as the additio e Gaelith f o nce Cymri th dacli o t c menhir form n exaca s t parallel to the "men-rock" of Cornwall. In the latter case, English has displaced e formeCymrith n i r c; case, Cymri s beeha cn displacey b d Gaelic,—whic rathes hi r suggestive.3 1 Vol. ii. (1854-7) p. 462. 2 Sculptured Stones of Scotland, vol. i. p. 3. kindreA 3 d illustration is furnishe . Johnstone RevR th . s Place-J .y hi b d n i , Names of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1892): — " CAKB ROCKS (Grail and Berwick-on- Tweed). Tautology: G[aelie] carr . ... a rook." The first of these is the Carr Rock or Carr Brigs, off Fife Ness, while the other seems to be the "East Cavr" and " West Carr,'' two miles to the south of Eyemouth. (It is interesting to note that 'MEN' AND 'MAIDEN' IN BEITISH TOPOGRAPHY. 163

On our western coasts there are sea-rocks distinguished similarly to those already specified between Berwick and St Andrews. Dr Munro, in referring to some Ayrshire antiquities, speaks of " the pretty little bay, known as the ' Maidens/ on account of a few fantastic and weather- beaten rocks that rear their heads above its surgy waves."1 Then, westward from Stranraer, and close to the Antrim coast, is a group of rocks also calle dMaidene "Th s "; while, much farthenorthe th f o of t ,r e Islrocke Skyef th th eo e y ar ,islet s called "Macleod's Maidens."o T 2 the north-west of " Macleod's Maidens " is the sea-loch of Loch Maddy in North Uist, which derives its name from two similar rocks at its entrance, know English-speakino nt g peopl s "Tha e e Maidies,n i d an " Gaelic as "Maddy-More" and "Maddy-Grisioch."3 This distinctive " Maddy " occurs agai n "ni Craigmaddie," near Glasgow,4 where there is a cromlech known as " The Auld Wives' Lift." In both of these cases, I think, " maddy " has been popularly derived from the Gaelic madadh, " a wolf." But in view of the many sea-rocks and other stones distinguished as maids and maidens, it seems as unreasonable to suppose tha Maidiee t "Th s Nortf "o h Uist wer calleo es d because they resembled wolves, as that exactly similar rocks elsewhere resembled maidens.instancee on n I ,5 indeed, thae Maid f "o Th t f Bute,o s o tw " boulders on the hillside opposite Tighnabruaich, a certain resemblance to

immediately to the south of these Carr Rocks we have the equally tautological name of " Ross Point." eas e littlTantallof A th o t ) o et n Castl have w e e alse " oth Car r Rooks, "particulan i wite hon r styled "The Grea tl thesCarr.al n eI case" s we hare parallel men-rock,o st maiden-stone, d menhir-chlacAan e onlth y; difference being that, while carr-rock appears to be a union of Gaelic and English, those names just quoted appea unito t r e Cymric with English Cymrid an , c with Gaelic. Possible yth Maiden-Hair rock, off the Isle of May, ought also to be regarded as coming within the last categor y; assumin g hair represeno t aspiraten a t d for cctrr.f mo 1 Froc. Soc. Antiq. Scot., vol. xvii. p. 433. perhaps i t I s righ stato t e tha r StewarD t f Netheo t r Lochaber regards this 2 name as quite unconnected with men and menhir ; but I venture to think that a

fuller consideratio subjece th modify f no ma ts opinion yhi . 3 According to the phonetic spelling in F. H. Groome's Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland, s.v. " Lochmaddy." 4 Two miles N.E. of Milngavie. Statisticald Ol e th n I 5 Account, vol. xv . 279p . , Craigmaddi s speli e t Craig- maddm. Her have ew clos ea e approac Englise th o ht Cornisr ho h form " maiden." 4 16 PROCEEDING E SOCIETYTH F O S , MARC , 189814 H . female th noteet e thi b figur bu y s d ; resemblanc ma e ekes ei s di t outi f i , not created, by the use of white paint. n I Shetlan e hav w dt leasa o epillar-rocks tw t , isolated froe th m parent cliff, which are known as " The Maiden Stack,"1 and there is a third, near Papa Stour, calle "e Frau-a-Stack,dth " which centurieo tw , s ago, was held to mean " Our Lady's Eock," and had a traditionary s imprisonestor a maidenwa f s yo summit.o it wh n o d . " They must havd somha e e difficult n gettini y e younth g g woma , unlesup ne sh s could climb like a cat, or they hoisted her up," observes Mr J. K. Tudor o record wh ,e tradition.th s 2 This word fraude b s sai i o t d the Danish frue, " mistress " or " lady "; and such a word may well exis n Shetlani t d Edmondston'n i t (althougfin t i no d o d hI s or Jakobsen's glossaries)r TudoM t r Bu point. s out8 that "Munch says Fruarstalclir e usuath s i l nam sucr efo h steep isolated e stackth n so Scandinavian coast" ; and I venture to suggest that the Danish fri, equivalent to English free, is more likely to be the root of the word.4 At any rate, we find similar rocks off the north point of Foula styled the " Friar Stack doubso "(n t once pronounced Freear Stacks) suio T t . t unlikelthino e swords i th for yt f i ,mo thae Foulth t a rocks will eventuall e sai b yo resemblt d e " friars,e comparisoth t f no i " s ha n been already made. But, considerin e questioth g a whole s a n , this association of frue, a lady, with a rock resembling other so-called " maidens, "anythins doea t appeae sno m o gt r more tha a ncoincidenc e —striking, certainly t morno t e strikinbu , g tha face nth t indicatee th n di titl f thieo s paper, tha e Cymrith t c worroca r kdfo should have branched off (with apparent consistence) int e English-soundinoth gn formma f o s and men, maid maiden.d an One other variant remains to be noticed, that of " old man," already

1 One at the Mull of Eswick, and another near the Grind of the Navir. (See p. 504 of Tudor's Orkneys and , London, 1883.) 2 Op. A, p. 503. It may be mentioned that Mr H. G. Aldis, F.S.A. Scot, inform thate m s , whe e visiteh n d Papa Stour in 1897 e onlh , y hear e namth d e "Maiden Stack " applied to the rock in question. tit., . . 503-4pp Op 3 . See Larsen's Dansk-narsk-engdsk Ordlog, s.v. fri : at staa fri-t = " to stand solated4 , detached exposee b o t , view.o dt " 'MEN' AND 'MAIDEN' IN BRITISH TOPOGRAPHY. 165

cited in Cornwall; where Mr Borlase has assumed it to signify " sun stone" ( = huel mam). In Scotland we have the " Old Man " of Hoy and the " Old Man" of Storr, pillar-rocks situated respectively in Orkne Skyed yan . Whateve e though b r Borlase' M y f ma o rt s trans- Cornise th latio s "a d "f hol n o wor r " hardl dn sun,fo ca saie t "i yh o d t eithen i n fif thesi to r e manevien i th cases.f wt yo instanceTe 1 s here adduced, it is difficult to see why the word man should not be regarded as the-Cymric " roce th k thesf " n instancei o o y etw an mucs n sa i s ha e questio th e surviva r th fo f o s nf a Cymriothers.o l d An c2 wordn i s Scotland, it is a fact that the Cymric numerals are even, yet used by Ayrshire schoolboys in their counting-out games, and that there are many Cymric place-names throughout Scotland. Finally, it must not be too hastily assumed that every place-name of this kin traceabls di e Cymrith o et c wor rocr d stonedfo an k . Maiden- JtirJc, for example, seems clearly to owe its name to St Medan. More- over, the names of places often become greatly abbreviated and corrupted; l sucal hd namean s mus judgee b t d from their earliest known spelling. But, discounting all this, when any rock or stone in Scotland is distin- guishe sucy db h form man,s a s men, r maiden,o e presumptioth n seems obviousl e thae b etymolog th o tyt s identicai y l with tha f similao t r place-name e Cymrith n si c regions further south. s Earlyhi n I Banes f Scotlando . (vol356-358)pp . .ii , Colonel Forbes-Leslie discusse e ethnologth s f "o y Maiden a place-name s a " , and gives a considerable list .of places so distinguished. Of those not included in the above paper are the " Maiden Castles " of St Yigeans, Forfarshire; of Dunipace, Markinch, Fife; of Campsie, Stirlingshire ; of Stanemore, Westmoreland; of the neighbourhood of Durham; of the neighbourhoo f Dorchesterdo t Llanartha d an ; , Cardiganshire ("Castle Moeddyn"). And, after pointing out that Maidstone, in Kent, was known as "Maydenstan" in 1303, he goes on to remark:—"The 1 Since thi ss beepape reads ha e tha n m f t huel i wa i r t, pointe o t t maenou d signifies "sun-stone" in the sense of a dial, then it might quite well be applied to any isolated pillar-rock. 2 The "Old Man" of Storr is rendered in Gaelic at the present day as AmBodach, i.e., "The Old Man." But this may be merely a modern translation from English into Gaelic after the original meaning was forgotten. 166 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, MARCH 14, 1808. primitive monument n thai s t neighbourhood—viz. t Aylesfora , d an d Addington—suggest an argument in favour of Maydenstane [sic] having a common origin, whatever that may be, with the Maiden Castles and Maiden Stone f Waleso Scotland.d san "