Exceptions to this rule.

nounce the names of Scottish towns. There is a well-known anecdote of a certain official in the House of Commons, who, in reading out the names of a group of Scottish burghs, managed to misplace the stress on every one of them-Dùmfries, Kirkcudbright, Lochmabèn, Annàn, and Sanquhàr.

There is, however, some elasticity in the position of the Gaelic adjective, and sometimes the qualitative precedes the substantive. The name last mentioned is a case in point. Sànquhar, for sean (shan), old, is almost invariably placed first, and so is its Welsh equivalent, hen. Sanquhar is sean cathair, the old fort, and Mr Skene has pointed out how its own name has descended to the stream on which it stands, the Cràwick; for it is to be identified with Kaer Rywc, Rawic's fort, mentioned in the Book of Taliessin, Crawick representing Caer Rywc, as Cramond does Caer Amain. This Rawic seems to have left his name attached to a better known place; Roxburgh, spelt of old Rokisburh, is Rawic's burgh.

It is unfortunate for the owner of a beautiful demesne in Galloway that its name, sean baile (shan bally), old homestead, has become corrupted into the ridiculous form Shàmbelly. The same name appears less unhappily disguised with the aspirate as Shinvallie and Shànvolley in Wigtownshire, Shànavallie in Cumbrae, and Shànvallie, Shànavalley, and Shànballie in Ireland. Shenvalla also occurs in the Isle of Man, and all these names mean the old farm or homestead. Shanty," a term used to denote a tem

porary or dilapidated hut, seems to be borrowed from the Gaelic sean teach (shan tyah), old house.

The movement of stress with the qualitative syllable is well shown in two Scottish hill-namesBenmore and Mòrven, the first being beinn mór, the second, where the b is aspirated, mór bheinn, and both meaning "great hill." So Ardmore in Aberdeen, Argyle, Dumbarton, and other counties-ard mór, the great height becomes when transposed Mòrar, mór ard, in Arisaig. Glàister or Glàster is the name of various places in Arran, Ayrshire, Galloway, and Lanark: it means glas tir, green land; but when the adjective takes its usual place after the substantive the stress follows it, as in Barglass, green top, in Wigtownshire. So Glasvein, in Lochaber, is glas bheinn (ven), green hill, as Benglàss in Dumbartonshire is beinn glas.

This syllable glas has two meanings: as an adjective it means green or grey, probably cognate with the Latin glaucus; as a substantive it means a stream. Thus, Dunglàs is G. dún glas, green hill, but Douglas (locally pronounced Doòglas) is dubh glas, the dark stream, black water, or black burn.

ance of

nunciation.

Not less important than the earliest forms of spell- Importing, to the analysis of place-names, is the correct local prolocal pronunciation. But even this has to be accepted with caution, for it sometimes happens that, although the local pronunciation is slurred, the etymology has been preserved by orthography. Instances are rare in Scotland, where early written

Influence

of railways

ciation.

forms are rare, but English examples are Leicester, Worcester, Cirencester, &c.

Railways and other causes have prevailed to alter on pronun- both the stress and pronunciation of some placenames. On arriving at Carstairs Junction the traveller hears the porters shouting the name with equal stress on both syllables, whereas locally it is pronounced with due significance Carstairs, being probably caer Terras, Terras' camp. A still more familiar instance is just over the Scottish Bordernamely, Carlisle, which is called in the Book of Taliessin Caer Lliwelydd, Lliwelydd's stronghold, and the stress on the last syllable indicates the old qualitative. But southerners always speak of it as Carlisle, thus falsifying the true etymology.

The change of stress is still more marked in those Scottish place-names which have been adopted as surnames. So long as those who bear them remain in Scotland, they retain the old pronunciation; but as soon as they travel south, so soon is the stress thrown forward. Balfour and Cathcart are wellknown family names in Scotland, but they have been anglicised into Balfour and Cathcart. But the Scottish pronunciation retains the original reference to the lands whence these names were derived, Balfour being in Fife-baile fuar, the cold farm; and Cathcàrt in Renfrewshire, written in 1158 Kerkert, cathair or caer Cairt, the castle on the river Cart. The Cart is G. caraid, a pair-the Black and White Cart.

Readers of the 'Lay of the Last Minstrel' may seek to identify Delorain. They may do so on the map of Selkirkshire, but they will never hear it on the lips of a local speaker as Scott has taught us to pronounce it. It is always called Delòrain, which clearly brings out its meaning-dal Orain, Oran's land.

errors.

In districts whence Celtic speech has long since Popular disappeared, it sometimes happens that the spelling of a name is altered to correspond with some fanciful meaning attributed to it; for people are ever impatient of a name which conveys no definite meaning, and are wont to twist it into some significance.

The Clùden is a river in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, and where it joins the Nith stands the beautiful ruins of Linclùden Priory. This stream has been identified by Mr Skene as the scene of kat glutvein gueith pen coet, the battle of Cludvein, the affair at the head of the wood, mentioned in the Book of Taliessin. This wood has left its name to the parish, Holywood, for there was afterwards a monastery founded here, called Abbatia Sacri Nemoris, the Abbey of the Holy Wood, and a group of eleven huge stones perhaps commemorate the battle. Before reaching the Nith, the Cluden receives the waters of the Cairn, and above the junction is named on the Ordnance map Old Water. Now, a common Gaelic word for a stream is allt; this coincides in sound with the Broad Scots "auld"; appar

B

ently those who advised the English surveyor thought it more genteel to write "old," and the real significance is completely hidden by a forced interpretation.1

In the adjacent county of Wigtown this word allt, a stream, has been dealt with in the same. way. There is a hill in the parish of Inch marked on the map Auld Taggart, as if named from an aged person of the name of Taggart or Mactaggart, a common surname in the district. But on the other side of the river Luce, distant only a few hundred yards, is a stream correctly marked Altaggart Burn-that is, allt shagairt, the priests' stream-which has been transferred with modification to the hill opposite. The s in sagart, taking the aspirate in the genitive singular, becomes silent, according to the rule of Gaelic pronunciation.

In the same county there is, in the parish of Kirkcolm, a rocky headland called on the map Droch Head. This is the Gaelic drochaid, a bridge, from a fanciful notion that the promontory is the beginning of a bridge to Ireland, which is plainly visible beyond the channel. A similar place, farther south in the same county, is called the Devil's Bridge, the legend being that the devil was employed to build a bridge to the Isle of Man.

This word drochaid appears in absurdly corrupt

1 It is only fair to observe that the Ordnance surveyors are not mainly responsible for blunders of this kind. In every case the name has been received from the proprietor, and checked by consultation with other local authorities.