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 e circleparishth 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 Fife 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 Scotland, 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.