The Place Names of Stirlingshire
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N i ngshi re EV AME B . OH N T R . S S ON B D J J , . ’ ST. AN DREW S CHURCH, FALKIRK ( Author of The Place N ames of Scotland SECOND EDITION WITH A N EW PREFACE THOROUGHLY REVISED AN D MUCH ENLARGE-D PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION THE writer desires to acknowledge the valued help / of several kind friends in preparing the followin g paper and i f f x L st o Names ; in particular, Dr. J. A. H. Murray o O f ford, Mr. W. B . Cook and Mr. David B . Morris o Stirling, ‘ M Lu ki k . Mr . J. R . c e , of Falkir , and Rev . 0 . J T Me rr l s M A of An y e e , . , of Glasgow, a native Balfron . y f ‘ r corrections , additional place names o interest , o fresh reliable information“ of any kind will always be most wel come . J. B . J. ’ Sr . AN DREW A E S M N S , FALKIRK Febr , uary , PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION of THE first edition this little book was very limited, and was all sold ou t within six weeks . The writer is grateful for the very kindly and appreciative way in which it was a s received both by the press a whole, and by private readers . a But the first edition had m ny imperfections , a nd the writer is gla d to have the O p portunity of presenting his work in this much enlarged and improved form . The Introduction a r a nd has been c efully revised , but the chief alterations additions will be found in the a ppended List of Names . In its revision the writer h as drawn largely from the Val uation f r Roll , and has enjoyed the skilled assistance o M . John f l Cameron , o Ullapool, a Gaelic scho ar of repute , who has help ed him to adj ust n ot a few grammatical nice f a ties, which vexed the righteous soul o the scholarly G el ; but for all O p inions expressed in this book the writer alone i s responsible . It should a lso be understood that sometimes, a of se t purpose , he has not spelt G elic na mes as they would - a be spelt t o d y, because it seemed evident that , in some 500 600 cases, things have changed in the or years which ha ve passed since Gaelic ceased to be spoken in the most of Stirlingshire . Many Gaels, like Fionn in Glasgow, and Mr . T. D . Macdonald of Stirling (with whom on e is sorry so often to disagree) , have treated the writer with all courtesy, even ne when expressing their disapproval . But there i s o group of critics who stand in a different category ; they have contributed much of hi gh va lue to Place - Name study in r Scotland , fo which the present writer, like all true students , is sincerely grateful ; but both their methods and their statements seem to demand some pla in rej oinder here . The critics referred to are the men of the Inverness school, - whose otherwise high class work is, in every case , marred h ri zi n s w by Pictish t e o g , sentimental obstinacy, and, hat is vi PRE FACE m r r uch worse , by litera y manners which a e n ot considered d ou of a a mirable anywhere t Inverness , and prob bly not even there . Exa mples of these la st had best be left in obscurity ; but a few examples of their other defects it may be useful to dwell upon . A h a The name llan s been much discussed , and seems still fi an d s u doubtful . It is con dently claimed as Pictish , , in p r i po t o this , it is asserted that the same root occurs in - a Alness , Ross shire, which leading Inverness scholar i n lan i r a sists is in Gaelic A a s , with a sho t initial and a clear Pictish ending . The writer doubted this, made most ca re ful inquiry , and found that this asserted Alanai s w as wrong r in every syllable . N o Gael in Easte Ross makes the first a short ; no Gael pronounces the second syllable as a at all ; n d a - - a nobody s ys ais . The native pronunciation to day is Awln s h either e , with the second syllable absolutely forgotten , or Ahli n s he else e , showing that the earliest spelling of t - 1226 s w much abused scribes , Alene , as absolutely correct , and tha t this Pictish ending is pure theory . It may be c - a i orrect , but the ending has not been s these 700 years . The manifest shiftiness of the first vowel in this root Allan or Alun j ustifies the writer in making the suggestions as to its origin , which he does in the List . These facts also show how slender are the grounds on which many asser a r e tions about Pictish names still being made . ’ But the head and front of the writer s offending has been that he resolutely refuses to subscribe to the Inverness a - the theory, that ( ) Inverness Gaelic of to day must be criterion of the Gaelic which entered into the Gaelic names of Stirlingshire 700 or 1700 years ag o ; and ( b) tha t the way - in which a Celtic name is pronounced by a Ga el to day, even though he is not a native , is the only evidence to which weight can be attached ; while the old scr ibes are to be looked upon as men stupid and careless beyond all de G a a and scription . The ael is held to be rigidly ccur te unvarying in his pronunciations all through the centuries , he is an a uthority to be accepted even for Norse names ; but the phonetic spellings of the English scribes are only a fit to be laughed to scorn . In all these tenacious ssertions a a a there is great ex ggeration . Gaelic , like all other l ngu ges, changes , and this the Inverness school often ignore . One PREFACE vi i derivation of which their leader is Specially proud is that l ki b th hle as of B o e s n, near Foyers , which he derives from o f “ ” a i n h of i n g , house , bot y, withies , though the phonetic Spelling of the charter of 1226 it is B ule ske (n) . It is true that in the slovenly and mutilated pronunciation of modern — i Gaelic o course , modern English can be slovenly and — b th hle a s ai n B ole ski n mutilated , t oo o f g sounds very like . i s a 4 But the evidence wide and mple (see p. , note) , which a m kes it as nearly as possible certain, that the Old Gaelic ba th or both was not sounded bu or bo in a n y part of Scot land as e a rly as 1226 ; it is doubtful if the f would then have disappeared either. So the present writer still adheres decidedly to on e or other of the origins suggested in his e am e s o S otla nd t n Pla c N f c . One proof that bo h was ot sounded ha in the 13th century comes from the present p r o n nc i a i on our a hk nn u t of Stirlingshire p rish , B ot e ar, where th the is always sounded , even as it w a s spelt in the ea rliest 1291 B o hk n n r known record , t e e , a date when Gaelic must or have been dying dead at that spot . a - The truth is that G elic name pronunciations , though , as a an d a rule , st ble enough , can be shifty unstable to the last A degree . lness, j ust cited , is a good case in point ; Lomond (see the List) is a case still more striking . Or take tha t - a a much debated name C llander . The n me may after all a t r be Pictish ; but this least is certain , the Pe th and Stir ff ling Callanders are two di erent names , which only became assimilated because , for a time , they belonged to the same - r English speaking proprieto s, the Livingstones , Earls of. r al nt are a Linlithgow . The Sti ling name is originally C e , name reproduced in the Kale n ta re m or e and Kale nt are be g 1504 o a in Perth , mentioned in as belonging t Gr ham , un Ea rl of Montrose . The first part of the name is still i i r old ra certain ; Gaelic , it may eithe represent an plu l of “ ” oi e ai o B ok c ll or c l , a w od , as in Dunkeld, which in the o of De e r (1132) is D ni n c a i lle n ; or it may be the same root ” s a i lle a u a s a c , seeds or husks . In any c se the Invernes school is wrong in a sserting that the name is of the sa me as - A a Gae li i type the Inverness shire berch lder, in modern bai rc h al dai r a h as r d O a , where , it is said , been lost in acco h ance wit phonetic law .