Peter Drummond - Scottish Hill Names : Their Origin and Meaning
Reviewed by Paul Tempan
Published in 2007 by the Scottish Mountaineering Trust,
Scottish Hill Names: Their Origin and Meaning is the 2nd edition of Peter
Drummond's comprehensive work, which first appeared in 1991 as Scottish Hill
and Mountain Names. After a day spent climbing Sgùrr nan Gillean
on Skye or Merrick in the Southern Uplands, you may well be wondering about
the meaning of the name of the summits you have just conquered, and you will
find answers to your questions here (Sgùrr nan Gillean, Gaelic
for 'peak of the young men'; Merrick, probably from Gaelic meurach, 'pronged,
branched, fingered').
The whole of Scotland is covered, from Foinaven in the North to Crifell in
the South. Island peaks are included too, such as Heaval on Barra, The Sneug
on Foula (west of Shetland) or Conachair on the even more rugged and remote
Hirta (St. Kilda). This serves as a reminder of just how many peaks there are
in Scotland, and as an additional motivation - if you needed one - to go and
explore them.
Peter Drummond's book is, to the best of my knowledge, the first and only book
of its kind. It is, of course, informed by the work of other Scottish toponymists,
such as Alexander MacBain (Place Names: Highlands and Islands of Scotland,
1922), W.J. Watson (especially The History of the Celtic Place-Names of Scotland,
1926), W.F.H. Nicolaisen (especially Scottish Place-names, 1976). One
may also think of Diana Whaley's recent publication A Dictionary of Lake
District Place-Names (2006), which covers a mountainous area of England
in detail. Nonetheless, this is the first book to focus on the mountain names
of a whole country in Britain or Ireland. It is aimed at hill-walkers and other
outdoor enthusiasts who have an interest in the names of the landscape features
they come across in their travels. Peter Drummond is himself a keen mountaineer
(hence the support of SMT) and the book is written from the perspective of a
walker familiar with the landscapes described and who has built on this experience
by carrying out detailed research into the names over many years. A member of
the Scottish Place-Name Society since its beginnings, he has been its convenor
and is currently its treasurer. He has also had a number of articles published
in academic journals on various aspects of Scottish hill toponymy.
Drummond's task in researching and writing this book was quite a challenge,
since Scotland's place-names are linguistically more varied than Ireland's.
No less than six major languages contribute to the mix, and four of these have
left a significant mark on hill and mountain names in various areas, namely
Cumbric (related to Welsh), Gaelic, Norse and Scots. In many areas of Scotland
there are three or even four linguistic layers, so it is no easy matter to establish
which language a name is derived from. Early names such as the Ochils (meaning
'high') and Pennygant Hill (which like Yorkshire's Penyghent means 'head of
the boundary') are survivals from the Cumbric layer. Gaelic has produced names
such as Mullach Buidhe ('yellow summit') or Càrn Mòr
Dearg ('big red cairn'), which have close links to Irish mountain names
such as Mullach an Aitinn (Mullaghanattin, Co. Kerry) or Carn an Mhadaidh
(Carnavaddy in the Cooley Mountains, Co. Louth). Some names, such as Ben Lomond,
may have been inherited by Gaelic from the earlier Cumbric tongue, which is
a related Celtic language (cf. Welsh llumon, 'beacon', which occurs in
Pumlumon (Plynlimon), the mountain on which the Severn rises). Norse
accounts for a good share of mountain names in the Hebrides, such Askival, Rum's
highest peak, derived from askr ('ash, spear') combined with fjall
('mountain'). The Scots tongue has produced many hill names in the lowlands
and near the east coast, such as The Makeness Kips (kip, 'head', denoting
a sharp- pointed hill).
Inevitably,
with such an ambitious project covering such a wide and linguistically diverse
area, there are many names open to a number of interpretations, a point which
Peter Drummond makes clear in the introduction. He makes no apology for presenting
several possible derivations for a single name, though he often expresses a
preference for one. In the case of Ben Nevis, a particularly problematic name,
MacBain's suggestion of the root neb-, 'cloud', is preferred to Watson's
nem-, 'venom' (p. 138). Regarding the Cuillin, a good case is made for
a Norse derivation rather than a Gaelic one, though the Norwegian name that
supports this is Kjølen rather than *Kjolen, and the meaning
is 'the keel' rather than 'high rocks' (p. 86). I would suggest that a Celtic
origin could be considered just as likely for The Storr and The Old Man of Storr
as Old Norse stórr, 'big' (p. 89), which has the drawback that
one must assume an accompanying noun has been dropped. The word starr
is defined in Dinneen's Irish-English Dictionary as 'a projection; a stump,
tooth or tusk', a meaning which nicely suits not only the rugged pinnacle on
Skye, but also the other Old Man of Stoer on the coast of Sutherland. The form
storr is given as a variant of the same word. The Scottish Gaelic equivalent,
stòr, is defined by Dwelly as a 'steep, high cliff' or a 'broken
or decayed tooth'. It is likely that these words are ultimately derived from
torr, also meaning 'a projection' and common in names of prominent rock
features, with the addition of an s- prefix which is so common in Gaelic,
English and many other European languages.
There are occasional problems of spelling, particularly due to the large number
of languages involved and their various historic phases. The Old Irish form
equivalent to Scottish Gaelic beinn is benn or bend, not
ben (p.20). The Welsh equivalent is ban (plural bannau),
not bann (ibid.). Also the reconstructed Welsh form which explains Pennygant
Hill would be *pen y gant (from cant, 'edge, border') rather than
*pen y ghant (p. 49). However, most of these slips are minor and do not
detract from the arguments being made. Overall, the text is reliable and informative
as well as entertaining.
Pronunciations
are provided for each of the Gaelic elements listed and for those Gaelic hill
names which have a paragraph of their own in the regional chapters. John Mitchell's
attractive line drawings have been retained and some colour plates have been
added, which greatly enhance the 2nd edition. These serve not only to illustrate
the landscape features dealt with in the text, but also to give an overview
of the history of mapping Scotland's mountain terrain. Sections of historical
maps by Pont, Blaeu and Armstrong are reproduced, and an annotated panorama
of the Lowther Hills allows one to compare the modern names, taken from OS maps,
with the names of the same hills as they appeared on Timothy Pont's map in the
1590s. This material gives us an interesting insight into the work involved
in researching Scottish hill names. The second edition benefits from the research
which the author carried out for an MSc dissertation at the University of Edinburgh
into the hill names of Southern Scotland. Accordingly, the section on the Southern
Uplands and the Central Lowlands have been expanded.
Whether you tackle it peak by peak or all in one go, Scottish Hill Names: Their Origin and Meaning is an informative and fascinating read, and at RRP £15 it is excellent value. It is thoroughly recommended to all walkers, from ramblers to munroists, with a curiosity for names in the Scottish landscape.
Further Reading
Irish mountain names and their international links. by Paul Tempan.