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PREFACEЕ.

THESE lectures are offered as a contribution to a study conducted until lately on lines the reverse of scientific. What the late Dr Reeves and Dr Joyce have done for the place-names of Ireland, Canon Isaac Taylor has done for those of England, and Mr A. W. Moore for those of the Isle of Man, has never been adequately performed for Scotland. It was my original intention to expand these lectures, condensed from material collected during many years, into a tolerably exhaustive treatise on the subject; but I am advised to publish them at once, just as they were delivered; and I am encouraged by the numbers and attention of those who listened to them in the belief that there are plenty of students ready to apply sound principles and cautious analysis to a branch of

archæology and philology at present in a very backward state.

I have, it is needless to say, derived much assistance from the writings of the scholars above mentioned, as well as from those of Professors Rhys and W. W. Skeat, and the late Dr Skene. I have also availed myself largely of the volume on Scottish Place-Names lately published by the Rev. J. Johnston, of Falkirk, who has rendered good service to students by the extensive list which he has compiled.

I

regret that the pressure of other occupations has not allowed me to supply what undoubtedly ought to have been given-viz., exact reference to authorities quoted, and the different manuscripts from which old spellings have been collected. I can but offer an apology to my readers for this omission, with the assurance that they may rely on the care with which such extracts have been made.

HERBERT MAXWELL.

MONREITH, January 1894.

CONTENT S.

LECTURE I.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES.

Difficulties to be encountered-Every place-name means something -Permanence of place-names-Their origin not usually poetical, but matter-of-fact-Arbitrary orthography-Importance of early spelling-Changes in vowel sound-The significance of stress-Its movement with the qualitative in compounds-Influence of railways on pronunciation-Popular and map-makers' blunders-Exaggeration-Deceptive forms,

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LECTURE II.

THE LANGUAGES OF SCOTTISH PLACE-NAMES.

Traces of pre-Celtic speech-The Iverian or Silurian race-The Fir-
bolg of the Irish Annalists-The Ernai-The two main branches
of Celtic speech-Obsolete words-The operation of umlaut-
Linguistic change-Effects of aspiration and eclipse-Difference
between Gaelic and Welsh-Q Celts and P Celts-Test words-
Similarity of Gaelic and Welsh-Ghost-names, .
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