Transactions OF THE BANFFSHIRE FIELD CLUB. THE STRATHMARTINE BanffshireTRUST Field Club The support of The Strathmartine Trust toward this publication is gratefully acknowledged. www.banffshirefieldclub.org.uk 10 least become Guthry, the aspirate of course being eliminated in German. Shortly before the War broke out a Dr von Guthry. of Posen, came to see me on his way to Edin- burgh, where he wished to make some in- vestigations into the family history. He was able to give certain assistance to Mr A. Francis Steuart in editing the "Scots in Poland" for the Scottish History Society. By cutting off their tails, as it were, a number of Jews have passed into something Scots, thus Rosenberg, Rosenbloom, Rosen- thal, and so on, have become simple "Rose." though not of the Kilravock type. No doubt it is true as ever that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, except when its stalk is: -berg, -bloom, or -baum. From time to time during the War pro- posals have been made to deal more dras- tically with changes of name than we have hitherto done, but it may be questioned whether anything will be done to stop the practice altogether. As it is, the custom must lead to a great deal of confusion for genealo- gists, and the writing of family history will become more difficult than ever. BATTLE OF GLENLIVET. A paper on the Battle of Glenlivet was contributed by Rev. R. H. Calder— The Name. Altahoolachan is the big name of a small stream between three and four miles in length near the eastern boundary of Glen- livet parish. The stream-name has acquired distinction on account of the battle which was fought on a ridge on the right bank of the stream, 3rd October 1594. In his "History of Scotland" (1867-1870), John Hill Burton, LL.D., says—"In its own neigh- bourhood it is called the battle of Altachoy- lachan; but history has found for it a more easily pronounced and remembered name in that of the district—the same Glenlivet which has another and more festive celebrity." That is so. Altahoolachan is the local name of the battle. And, about 1898, an aged and patriotic Glenlivet lady, enlarging on the valour and invincibility of her countrymen, and on their conspicuous success in van- quishing their enemies, declared—"We beat them at Bannockburn, an' we beat them at Waterloo, an' we beat them at Alta- hoolachan !" The local pronunciation of the name is uniform; but in the spelling of the name there is bewildering variety, as the following selection will show:— Banffshire Field Club 11 Aultchoinachin Family of Gordon, 1726 Aultchoinachin House of Gordon. 1754 Altachoynlachan ... Old Statistical Account. 1796 Aultchoilnachan Province of Moray, 1798 Altachoylachan New Statistical Account, 1834 Altacoileachan Ordnance Survey Map, 1876 Altochoulachan, and Altachulichan J. G. Phillips' "Wanderings," 1881 Altahoolachan Local Pronunciation The form at the top of the list is perhaps the oldest form of the name in print; and the first writer or printer of a place-name was in a position of responsibility. He set the copy for subsequent writers. An old spelling is sometimes referred to for author- ity and light. But it may be only a light to mislead. Its value depends greatly on who the writer was. A Lowlander, ignorant of Gaelic and of the locality, and the local pronunciation, could scarcely be expected to make other than a rather rough shot at the spelling of a Gaelic name. And if the word passed through a number of mouths before it reached the writer's ears, undergoing changes and modifications in the course of its passage, the spelling might not even be reliably phonetic. Then the place-name had to run the gauntlet of the printing office, perhaps suffering injury at the hands of the printers. So that if the highlander some- times made free with the lowlander's cattle, the lowlander often had his revenge in dis- torting and mutilating the highlander's language! Certainly the local pronunciation gives no countenance to the n in the middle of the name before us; and there may be views and opinions as to whether an n should be there at all, and how it got there. A u indistinctly-written might easily be mistaken for an n, and so printed. In a book printed in London in 1860 the name Freuchic, the old name of Castle Grant, is repeatedly printed "Frenchie!" The local pronunciation, how- ever, was entirely unaffected by, utterly re- gardless of, the printer's error; and no sane Banffshireand self-respecting SpeysidFielde person coulClubd possibly have been misled or induced to call Freuchie "Frenchie." In the form Altachon- lachan, which is also found, though not entered in the above list, if the n in the middle of the name were displaced by a u, the name would fall into line with the local 12 pronunciation, which remained unaffected by the vagaries of spelling. As there are various spellings of the name so also there are various etymologies. In an examination paper in Moral Philosophy, 1878, the examiner said with reference to one of the Questions—"Before answering this Ques- tion state whether it is ambiguous or not, and explain how it ought to be understood in order to admit of being profitably dis- cussed." This principle might with advan- tage be acted upon in connection with place- names, and many other things. One has to- see that the question is a fair question—that the target is properly set up. Several of the forms of the name we are considering, how- ever, have been taken as they stand, and at their face value, and derivations and mean- ings supplied. Thus—Altachonlachan, the burn of the ravine, Altacoileachan, the burn of the little cocks; presumably grouse cocks; also the burn of the Coileachan, the little burn. The etymology favoured by the present writer is indicated by the form at the head of this paper. The word is tulach, a little hill, or hillock. Then the genitive plural tulaichean, which becomes by aspiration hoolachan, is of the hillocks. The name is thus seen to be identical with the well- known Hoolachan of the ball-room; the Reel of Tulloch, or Righil a' Thulaichean, the reel of the hillock or of the hillocks. And Alta- hoolachan, the burn of the hillocks. In dealing with the subject of place-names, one learns to be not too confident and cock- sure in his opinions. The subject is, indeed, well calculated to fostej caution and humi- lity. The etymology here advanced, however, has at least the merit of simplicity and ap- propriateness, and is in harmony with local pronunciation. It was also the view, strongly held, of a worthy and learned gentleman, a native of Strathaven, who was well acquain- ted both with the locality and with the Gaelic language. The Site. The site of the battle of Glenlivet does not obtrude itself on public notice. On the con- trary, it is retired and secluded. An old Banffshirehill road between Glenrinne Fields and the Brae sClub of Glenlivet, the Ca Dhu, does indeed cross the site, but the travellers by that route now are few and far between. Those who would view this site must be prepared to put themselves to a little trouble, to leave the "made" road and any conveyance they 13 may have, and use Shank's Naig on a rough moorland track for a spell. It may safely be said that of those who were born and lived all their lives in Glen- livet very few ever saw the site of the battle. And probably noue of the historians who have written about the battle ever saw the site. They described the scene at second hand, from hearsay, and hence their descrip- tions are usually vague and indefinite. It may well be suspected that even John Hill Burton who was, at all events in his younger days, an enterprising hillman. and was well acquainted with the Cairngorms, never saw the site of the battle of Glenlivet. Nor in giving his account of the battle, had he the advantage of having a copy of the ordnance survey map at his elbow as he wrote to keep him right in regard to his geography of the region. So he makes this statement—"It was on the bank of a brook running into the Avon near the larger stream of the Livet that the Gordons were posted to give them (Argyle's Army) battle"; and it is so easy (and not unpleasant) for the parish his- torian to correct the national historian, the Historiographer-Royal, and to point out that the brook Altahoolachan does not immedi- ately run into the Avon, but is, as it were, emptied from vessel to vessel, and falls first into tho Tervie, then the Tervie falls into the Livet, and the Livet falls into the Avon. Moreover, it was Argyle who was posted on the ridge near tho brook to give battle to the Gordons. In a great work like the history of a nation it must be very difficult to be correct at every point. Yet Burton was distinguished for his accuracy and research; and he was for many years, and probably is still, and may continue to be, Scotland's chief historian. Not only, as I have said, have few gone to see the site of the battle, but even the earnest seeker after it has not always succeeded in finding it, as we gather from an instance which has been recorded. In the 'seventies ot last century one such inquirer made the, at- tempt; he wrote an account of his expedition, which was subsequently printed, so that we can still trace his movements and see now he fared.