The Journal of Scottish Name Studies Vol. 4 The Journal of Scottish Name Studies Vol. 4 edited by Richard A.V. Cox and Simon Taylor Clann Tuirc 2010 The Journal of Scottish Name Studies4 (2010) edited by Richard A.V. Cox and Simon Taylor First published in Scotland in 2010 by Clann Tuirc, Tigh a’ Mhaide, Ceann Drochaid, Perthshire FK17 8HT Printed in Wales by Gwasg Gomer, Llandysul ISSN 1747-7387 © text: the authors 2010 © book and cover design: Clann Tuirc 2010 All rights reserved. No part of this book can reproduced in any form, or by any means, known or otherwise, without the prior consent of the pubisher. The Journal of Scottish Name Studies JSNS is a peer-reviewed journal that exists to publish articles and reviews on place and personal names relating to Scotland, her history and languages. JSNS is published with the endorsement of The Scottish Place-Name Society, for whose members a discount is available – the Society web site is <http://www.spns.org.uk/>. Editors Professor Richard A.V. Cox and Dr Simon Taylor Reviews Editor Gilbert Márkus Editorial Advisory Board Professor Dauvit Broun Dr Rachel Butter Professor Thomas Clancy Mr Ian Fraser Dr Jacob King Mr Gilbert Márkus Professor W. F. H. Nicolaisen Professor Colm Ó Baoill Dr Maggie Scott Mr David Sellar Dr Doreen Waugh Subscriptions Visit <http://www.clanntuirc.co.uk/JSNS.html>, or contact the publisher by e-mail at fios@ clanntuirc.co.uk, or by post at the above address. Contributions Prospective contributors to the Journal should refer to the Notes for Contributors, available from the publisher and at <http://www.clanntuirc.co.uk/JSNS/notes_for_contributors.html>. Contents A Grammar of Manx Place-names George Broderick 1 Memories, Meids and Maps: the Shetland Place Names Project Eileen Brooke-Freeman 43 Scottish Gaelic Sannda and Its Aliases Richard A.V. Cox 61 Scotland’s -ham and -ingham Names: a reconsideration Alan G. James 103 The Shadow of ‘Onomastic Graffiti’ Denis Rixson 131 Varia Jacob King Aberkarf 159 Review Henry Gough-Cooper Terry Kinder, ed., Life on the Edge. The Cistercian Abbey of Balmerino, Fife (Scotland) 169 Bibliography for 2006–2009 173 Simon Taylor Notes on Contributors 187 A Grammar of Manx Place-names1 George Broderick University of Mannheim 1 Introduction From August 1989 to July 2005 a systematic collection of place-names from both oral and documentary sources was undertaken in the Isle of Man under the auspices of the Manx Place-Name Survey. This resulted in the publication by Max Niemeyer Verlag, Tübingen, of Place-Names of the Isle of Man in seven volumes (Broderick 1994–2005). The material netted was considerable, both in the Scandinavian as well as in the Goidelic (Gaelic) component, the latter being much greater than the former. Gillian Fellows- Jensen (Fellows-Jensen 2005) has provided an extensive linguistic outline of the Scandinavian component. The remaining task is to provide the same for the Goidelic component. The presence of some five ogam stone inscriptions in Man (MacManus 1997, 44 §4.2(c)) testifies to Goidelic speech there from c. 500 AD until the end of the seventh century.2 Before then British speech was apparently spoken there (cf. Jackson 1953, 173) until the sub-Roman period and perhaps thereafter. The archaeological record tells us of the presence of a significant number of keeill-sites relating to the early Christian church in Man (sixth to seventh centuries; cf. Kermode 1909–18), as well as some 15 ring-forts of the type found in Ireland during the sixth to eighth centuries AD,3 suggesting that Goidelic speech was also present in Man at that time.4 The language of the population of Man at the time of the Scandinavian arrival (ninth century) was likely Goidelic. As we have noted, British was evidently spoken, but with the incoming of Goidelic settlers from Ireland around 500 AD the population would likely have become predominantly Goidelic-speaking by the onset of the Scandinavian period (c. 900 / 925– 1 This is an expanded and revised version of the same as appears in the Introduction to Vols 1–6 of PNIM. 2 Two further ogam stones from Man belong to the ‘scholastic’ type (McManus 1997, 170, note 2 and 130, §7.5(ii)), dated by R. I. Page (1983) to not before the mid-12th century. 3 Cf. Davey (2005, 335). His map shows 31 ring-forts of which 10 have so far been identified by aerial photography and five are ‘possible’. No comment is made about the others. See also summary reports in Medieval Archaeology 19 (1975), 230–31; 20 (1976), 174; 21 (1977), 216. 4 The Goidelic period in Man traditionally dates from c. 500 AD, on the basis of the five ogam inscriptions noted above, to c. 900 AD, the date of the first known Scandinavian settlements in Man (Wilson 2008, 25). The Journal of Scottish Name Studies 4, 2010, 1–42 2 George Broderick 1266).5 Though there seem to have been some pre-Scandinavian Goidelic (and British?) place-names in Man (Broderick 2008), it seems certain that Goidelic continued in use throughout the Norse period (Thomson 1983) and thereafter became the main language of the native population until c. 1880–1920, when it was replaced by English. In this regard a number of names show developments deriving from English pronunciation. The extent of the material here gives us a clearer insight into earlier stages of Manx Gaelic, showing regular developments as found in other branches of Goidelic in Ireland and Scotland. The material admits of the following aspects of Manx grammar relevant to place-names, which, as we shall see, spans the entire gamut of Goidelic speech in Man, from its arrival c. 500 AD to its demise and obsolescence during the 19th and 20th centuries. 2. The structure of Manx place-names 2.1 Simplex place-names consisting of a noun only Simplex place-names of Goidelic origin also occur in Man and mostly seem to have originated as the names of natural and topographical features, surviving as treen, quarterland, field, mountain names etc. They stand on their own. Apart from the name Man itself 6 (cf. PNIM VII, 337–38, Broderick 2008, 166–67), the following two names in Man are, in Manx terms, of some antiquity: Appin Appyn in Glenfaban 1376–77 PA ‘abbeyland’ (ScG apainn)7 (PNIM I, 19). See also Nappin (an apainn) JU (PNIM II, 257ff.), LE (PNIM III, 441). Rushen russin 1257 RU (diminutive of ros (Ir. ros, roisean), OIr. ross < PCelt. *φrostos > PBrit. *rossos (cf. Schrijver 1995, 407; PNIM VI, 165–66) ‘any kind of elevated area of land, e.g. hill, plateau’, cf. with rhosfa (< *rhos- ma) ‘mountain pasture’, Skt prº-stha ‘plateau’. However, judging from its 5 The year 1266 marks the formal ending of Norwegian conrol in Man, after Man and the Hebrides were sold in that year to the kingdom of Scotland. For details of the Scandinavian period in Man see Wilson 2008, McDonald 1997, Sellar 2000, Broderick 1995 and 2003. For an assessment of the Norse on the 26 known rune-stones in Man, see Page 1983. For an appraisal of the continuity of Goidelic speech in Man throughout the Scandinavian period, see Megaw 1976 (1978) and Thomson 1983. 6 (< IE *men, *mon ‘protrude, rise, cf. W. mynydd ‘mountain’ < *monijo- (cf. LEIA, s.v. muin), with suffix *-aua, the sense being ‘mountain island’ or ‘high island’, i.e. protruding out of the sea, as seen from the sea or from adjacent coasts (cf. also PNRB 411; Sims-Williams 2000, 7; Schrijver 1995, 96). 7 Manx examples are given their equivalent in either Irish (Ir.) or Scottish Gaelic (ScG), mostly the latter. A Grammar of Manx Place-names 3 distribution pattern, ros in place-names frequently means ‘promontory’. Meanings such as ‘wood, copse, level tract of arable land’ etc. are secondary.8 There is no indefinite article in Manx, so baatey can mean ‘boat’ etc. or ‘a boat’ (ScG bàta), etc. The (definite) article could also be implicit in an element of this type, e.g. Mx Rushen ‘the hill, plateau’, ScG beannan ‘the peaked place’. Nouns standing alone also function as place-names in English and Scandinavian place-names, with the element of definiteness implicit and not stated, even though many languages normally employ a definite article, cf. Brooke (Leicester, Norfolk; OE brōc), Breck (Lancashire; Scand. brekka), Dal (Denmark; Scand. dalr).9 Sometimes the simplex names in Man are latterly accompanied by the English definite article. The recorded examples include the following: Barra Bara 1920 PA ‘channel through which boats reach the Niarbyl mooring’, cf. Ir. barra ‘a sand-bar running into the sea’ (PNIM I, 52). Bollagh the Bollough 1704, Bollaugh 1709 GE ‘pass, track between curragh and mountain land’ (ScG bealach) (PNIM I, 210). Carraghan (mountain) Carraughan 1707 BN ‘(place of) rocks, rocky place’ (Ir. carrachan) (PNIM V, 76). Carran (mountain) fo’n Charron (‘under the Carron’) 1868, Carran 1898 RU ‘crown of the hill’ (ScG caran) (PNIM VI, 371). Carrick (mountain) (the) Carrick 1704 LE, AbQL ‘rock (on land)’ (Ir. carraig) (PNIM III, 317). Carrick The Carrick1957 RU ‘rock (in bay)’ (Ir. carraig) (PNIM VI, 372), Yn Carrick [n kark] 1929 MA (PNIM IV, 72). Chibberan the Chibberyn 1923 PA ‘place of wells’ (OIr. tiprán) (PNIM I, 67). Croggane Balla Crokane 170410 Crogane 1739 AN ‘little hill (farm)’ (Ir. cnocán) (PNIM III, 99), with voicing of intervocalic /k/ in the Manx reflexes. Cronk Cronk 1688–89 BA ‘hill’ (Ir. cnoc) (PNIM II, 163). Driney Dryny 1704 GE ‘place of blackthorns’ (Ir. draigheanaigh) loc./dat.