CLOG (Univ. of Glasgow)

Cox, Richard A.V.

Richard A. V. Cox206
The Journal of Scottish Name Studies 10, 2016, 206–12
Varia
Cliseam
Richard A. V. Cox, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, University of the Highlands and Islands
According to the Board of Ordnance’s Object Name Book, 1876–1878,1 Cliseam, 
at 2,622ft 1in.,2 is the highest mountain in the Outer Hebridean Isle of Harris. 
The 1st edition of the Board of Ordnance’s 1:10,560 map (1843–82) spells the 
name Clisham,3 while the Object Name Book also gives the variant spellings 
Cleisham and Clisheim. These are English-based orthographic forms, of course. 
The name is pronounced in Scottish Gaelic with an open a in the final syllable, 
viz [ˈkʰlʲiʃam], hence the Gaelic spelling Cliseam.
Cliseam seems most probably to derive from an Old Norse name in initial 
klif nt, gen. sg. klifs, ‘steep mountain with path’ or ‘steep rocky ascent; path up 
a steep slope’, which is found, for example, in the watercourse name Cliosgro 
[ˈkʰlʲi ˌskɾo]4 from ON Klifsgróf  ‘[the] stream of the steep rocky ascent’. 
The klif  in question would seem to be An Aonaig Mhòr, the steep, rugged 
cliff-face immediately to the north of the summit of Cliseam.5
The substantive klif  is related to ON kleiv6 ‘steep rocky ascent; path up 
a steep slope’, found, for example, in the Old Norse loan-names Cliasgro 
and Cliasproc,7 in which the Old Norse diphthong ei yields an expected
diphthong [ia] – via earlier long [e:] – before a non-palatal consonant in modern 
Gaelic.
1 Inverness-shire, Outer Hebrides, Vol. 4 (OS1/18/4/173): ‘The name applies to the highest 
mountain in Harris which is situated about 6 miles East of Tarbert and about a mile 
and a half N W of the Public Road leading to Stornoway.’ <http://www.scotlandsplaces.
gov.uk/digital-volumes/ordnance-survey-name-books/inverness-shire-os-name-
books-1876-1878/inverness-shire-outer-hebrides-volume-04/173#zoom=2&lat=1096.5&l
on=1651.5&layers=B>.
2 At 799m (Drummond 2007, 71).
3 Sheet XI, surveyed 1878, published 1881.
4 Located in Borghaston, Lewis.
5 ONB (OS1/18/4/144): Aonaig Mhòr (without article) ‘Is applied to a cliff of considerable 
size situated on the north side of the hill called Clisham. Signification “Big cliff”.’ With G 
aonaig f. (Dwelly A: ‘a boulder of stone’),  a word related to G aonach m. ‘(steep) hill’ and 
aonadh m. ‘ascent’ (MacBain 1911, s. v.).
6 In the following reconstructions, the word is neuter, though it is cited in dictionaries 
as feminine.
7 Located in An t-Acha’ Mòr and Siabost a Deas, Lewis, respectively; from ON Kleifsgróf 
‘[the] stream of the kleif ’ and Kleifsbrokku ‘[the] slope of the kleif ’.
Varia 207
The Journal of Scottish Name Studies 10, 2016, 206–12
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is
ea
m
 a
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 r
el
at
ed
 su
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it
s f
ro
m
 t
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 N
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E
Richard A. V. Cox208
The Journal of Scottish Name Studies 10, 2016, 206–12
Similarly, Cliasam Creag [ˈkʰlʲiasəm ˌkʰɾʲek]8 seems likely to derive from an 
ON Kleifsholm-creag ‘Kleifsholm-crag’, where Kleifsholm- ‘the knoll of the kleif ’ is 
a former Norse name and creag (albeit written in modern Gaelic here) represents 
a Gaelic loan-word in Old Norse.9 ON holmr m. (or holmi m.) is more usually 
found in the sense ‘islet’, e.g. Cràgam,10 Bhiondalam,11 Grèineam12 and Lingeam,13 
with the vocalism of final -[am] in these names14 marking the development of 
an earlier long vowel, since shortened on the loss of the lateral. In the case of 
Cliasam Creag, the element has been reduced further in stressless position to 
-[əm].
In the case of Cliseam, a derivation from an ON Klifsholm acc. seems doubtful 
unless we can suppose that the sense of ON holmr had been extended here to 
mean ‘mountain’.
An alternative generic might be ON hvammr m., which equates well in sense 
with G coire m. ‘corrie’; so ON Klifshvamm acc. ‘the corrie of the cliff-face’, the 
corrie in question lying immediately below An Aonaig Mhòr.15 
In this scenario, ON Klifshvamm acc. originally referred to the corrie below 
the steep cliff-face of the mountain, but the name, either in its Old Norse form 
or in its Gaelic rendering, Cliseam, has been transferred to denote the mountain 
itself, while the notable cliff-face has since acquired its own, Gaelic name, An 
Aonaig Mhòr. 
A further development has taken place in that the name Cliseam is frequently 
found with a preceding masculine Gaelic article, i.e. An Cliseam, e.g. leathad 
a’ Chliseim ‘the hillside of An Cliseam’ (NicGumaraid 2006, 26); gu deas air a’ 
Chliseam ‘to south of An Cliseam’ (Eòghan Stiùbhart, The Scotsman 22 October 
2016); which in turn has given rise to the English form The Clisham.
Watson (1904a, xliv) opines that Norse loan-names in Gaelic ‘very seldom, 
and then only in Lewis, never on the mainland’ contain the Gaelic article. 
Elsewhere, Watson (1904b, 29) states that ‘The presence of the [Gaelic] article 
8 The name might be written Cliasamcreag; located in Cirbhig, Lewis.
9 G creag is attested as a loan-word elsewhere in Lewis in names of Old Norse creation, 
e.g. *Creigeastrom [ˈkʰɾʲekʲə ˌstɾəm] (cf. Oftedal 1980, 188). The possibility of Cliasam 
Creag being a Scots creation, i.e. with Scots crag (< G creag), is ruled out by the absence 
of any similar examples in the area (Cox 2002); and of being a Gaelic creation by the 
absence of lenition in final -creag.
10 ON Krák-holm acc. ‘crow-isle’.
11 ON Vind-holm acc. ‘wind-isle’ acc. (Cox 2000, 213ff).
12 ON Grǿn-holm acc. ‘[the] green isle’.
13 ON Lyng-holm acc. ‘heather-knoll’.
14 Located in Càrlabhagh, ditto, Britheascleit and An Dùn, Lewis, respectively.
15 ONB (loc. cit.): Coire na h-Aonaig Mòire.
Varia 209
The Journal of Scottish Name Studies 10, 2016, 206–12
is usually a sign that the name with which it goes is either pure Gaelic or 
borrowed into Gaelic and naturalised. Norse names are very rarely found with 
the Gaelic article, except in Lewis, where it is not so uncommon.’ He may be 
thinking of forms like Na h-Eileabhatan and Na h-Eubhatan ‘the Eileabhats’ and 
‘the Eubhats’, respectively, which are collective Gaelic forms built on names 
long since borrowed from Old Norse. These pluralised forms are similar to the 
likes of the English name The Cairngorms, a collective name for the range of 
mountains near Aviemore, one of which has the Gaelic name An Càrn Gorm 
‘the dark hill’. Watson repeats his earlier observation (1904a, lvi), noting that ‘In 
Lewis ordinary Norse names are sometimes found with the article, e.g. Cnoc a’ 
Mhiasaid ’, but this is ‘the hill of the basin’, with G. miasaid m. < EG mías (< Lat. 
mensa) + suffix of place (Cox 2002, 149 and 60); Cox 1992, 143.
In the case of Cliseam, the use of the article may have been inspired by its use 
elsewhere in the trio of Gaelic names for the juxtaposed summits An Cliseam, 
An t-Isean ’s An Langa.16 An t-Isean ‘the wee one’17 denotes the low peak between 
Cliseam and Mulla fo Dheas. An Langa is cited as Langa on Black’s 1862 map,18 
but as Mullach an Langa by local informants in the ONB (OS1/18/4/92) and on 
modern maps. The element mullach ‘summit’ occurs in over seven names in the 
area and its use with An Langa may have been further prompted by the adjacent 
Mulla fo Dheas and Mulla fo Thuath, the latter once cited in the ONB as Mullach fo 
Thua[th] (OS1/18/4/146). I have recorded An Lang [ə ˈɫɑ̪ŋ͊k] and An Langa Deas/
Tuath19 [ə ̩ ɫɑ̪ŋ͊kə ̍ d̪̊ʲɛs/t ̪h uə] – the latter presumably regional variants for Mulla fo 
Dheas and Mulla fo Thuath – and it seems more likely that [ə ̍ ɫɑ̪ŋ͊k(ə)] represents 
an ON á Langinum, with the preposition á in the sense of ‘at, on or by’, with the 
dative of Langrinn ‘the long one [= ridge]’, with substantival use of the adjective
langr ‘long’ + suffixed article (Rygh 1919, 26–27; Sandnes and Stemshaug 1980, 
200).20 
The use of the suffixed article in Old Norse forms surviving in Gaelic place-
names is attested elsewhere, for example in the names Lòbaid < ON Hlaupit 
‘the leap’ (Oftedal 1980, 186), Stafainn < ON Stafinn ‘the pillar’ (Cox 1992, 143) 
and inferred in a group of names derived from Old Norse forms structured 
16 MacIver (1934, 48): ‘Langa is the long hill. An Clisham, an t-Isean san Langa, side by 
side.’
17 G isean refers to ‘the young of any bird or small animal’ and An t-Isean is usually 
translated as ‘the chicken’.
18 <http://maps.nls.uk/joins/759.html>.
19 Or An Lang a Deas/Tuath.
20 Such a loan-shift (Cox 2009, 19–25) is also found, for example, in G Na Hearadh 
(The Isle of Harris) < ON Herað ‘[the] district’ (Cox 2008, 52).
Richard A. V. Cox210
The Journal of Scottish Name Studies 10, 2016, 206–12
generic + specific, e.g. Beirgh Làgha < ON Bergit Lága ‘the low promontory’ (Cox 
2007, 17).21 The Old Norse preposition á may survive in the anglicised Gaelic 
Old Norse loan-name Queen o Scot < ON Kvín á — ‘the enclosure at or by —’, a 
prepositional-phrase structure found commonly in Norse-derived names in the 
Faroes and Northern Isles (Cox 2007, 16–17, 21, 23). 
It seems possible, therefore, that an ON á Langinum has been interpreted as 
An Lang(a) [ə ˈɫɑ̪ŋ͊k(ə)] in Gaelic, as though containing the Gaelic article, and 
which, along with the name An t-Isean, may have given rise to the use of the 
Gaelic article with the Old Norse loan-name Cliseam.
The names Mulla fo Dheas and Mulla fo Thuath conceivably contain a 
shortened form of G mullach, but this seems unlikely; cf. Mulla Chleiseabhal and 
Allt a’ Mhulla, some 6km east. The Gaelic element mulla m. – translated as ‘lump’ 
in the ONB (e.g. OS1/18/4/150) – is unlikely to be from EG mul m. ‘globular mass, 
heap, lump’ (DIL; from which G mullach is derived), whose genitive inflection 
occurs in Beinn a’ Mhuil and Abhainn a’ Mhuil, about 6km north-east. 
Mulla might be a loan-word from Old Norse múli m., or rather obl. case múla 
‘mouth, snout; promontory’; there is no reason to suppose, however, that the 
long Old Norse vowel should not yield a long vowel in Gaelic.
A more likely derivation would be from Scots mull ‘mouth, muzzle, snout’, 
used of promontories and precipitous headlands, itself from Old Norse múli 
(DSL, s. v. mull); so also Norn (Jakobsen, s. v. mul; de Vries, s. v. múli).22
The Norse loan-name Cliseam, therefore, seems to have attracted the Gaelic 
article to it through the influence of the neighbouring An t-Isean, a Gaelic name 
containing the Gaelic article, and An Langa, an Old Norse loan-name originally 
containing an Old Norse preposition which was interpreted as the Gaelic article 
in the process of borrowing into Gaelic. While the onomastic meaning of the 
name Cliseam has been transferred from its original cliff to the summit above 
and to the mountain itself, the Gaelic name An Aonaig Mhòr has since been 
applied to the cliff. The two peaks between An t-Isean and An Langa – the latter 
also called Mullach an Langa under the influence of the several other mullach-
names in the vicinity – have most likely been coined using a Scots loan-word 
mulla, ultimately from ON múli, viz Mulla fo Dheas and Mulla fo Thuath ‘the 
southern and northern mulls’. The sense of G mulla is similar to that of G maol 
21 Located on the east coast of Lewis, north-east of Skye and west side of Lewis, 
respectively.
22 With the adjectival adverbs fo dheas ‘southern’ and fo thuath ‘northern’, potentially 
going back to OG fa dess ‘to the south’ and OG fa thúaith ‘to the north’, or, through 
interchange of prepositions, to G mu dheas and mu thuath; cf. the Gaelic adverbial 
expressions fo dheireadh (sometimes written bho dheireadh) ~ mu dheireadh, fa sgaoil 
~ ma sgaoil; the Lewis village names Dail bho Thuath, Dail bho Dheas and Tolstadh bho 
Thuath (all pronounced with initial f-) will have a similar provenance.
Varia 211
The Journal of Scottish Name Studies 10, 2016, 206–12X–X
m., also used of promontories, e.g. Maol Chinn-tìre ‘the Mull of Kintyre’, from the 
Old Gaelic adjective máel ‘crop-headed, shaven; > bald’.
References
Cox, Richard A.V., 1992, ‘The Norse Element in Scottish Gaelic’, Proceedings of 
the 9th International Congress of Celtic Studies (Paris 1991), Études Celtiques 
XXIX, 137–45. 
Cox, Richard A.V., 2000, ‘The Phonological Development of Scottish Gaelic 
uinneag “window” and Related Questions’, Scottish Gaelic Studies XX, 212–21. 
Cox, Richard A.V., 2002, The Gaelic Place-names of Carloway, Isle of Lewis: their 
structure and significance (Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies). 
Cox, Richard A.V., 2007, ‘The Norse Element in Scottish Place-names: syntax as a 
chronological marker’, The Journal of Scottish Name Studies 1, 13–26.
Cox, Richard A.V., 2008, ‘Tamhnaraigh ~ Tamnabhagh: the development of Old 
Norse -fn in (Scottish) Gaelic’, The Journal of Scottish Name Studies 2, 51–68.
Cox, Richard A.V., 2009, ‘Towards a taxonomy of contact onomastics: Norse 
Place-names in Scottish Gaelic’, The Journal of Scottish Name Studies 3, 15–28.
DIL  Dictionary of the Irish Language and Contributions to a Dictionary of the 
Irish Language, ed. E.G. Quin et alii (Dublin: Royal Irish Academy 1913–1976).
Drummond, Peter, 2007, Scottish Hill Names: the origin and meaning of the names 
of Scotland’s hills and mountains (1st pub. 1991;Scottish Mountaineering Trust).
DSL – Dictionary of the Scots Language [comprising electronic editions of the 
12-volume Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue and the 10-volume Scottish 
National Dictionary], on line at <http://dsl.ac.uk/>.
Dwelly A: Dwelly, Edward, collector, 1991, Appendix to Dwelly’s Gaelic-English 
Dictionary, ed. Douglas Clyne, completed by Derick Thomson (Glasgow: 
Gairm Publications).
Jakobsen, Jakob, 1985, An Etymological Dictionary of the Norn Language in 
Shetland, 2 vols (Lerwick: Shetland Folk Society; 1st pub. (Vol. I) 1928 and (Vol. 
II) 1932).
MacBain, Alexander, 1911, An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language (1st 
pub. 1896; Stirling: E. Mackay).
MacIver, D[onald], 1934, Place-names of Lewis and Harris (Stornoway: printed at 
the Gazette Office).
NicGumaraid, Màiri, 2006, ‘Latha Mòr na Hearadh’, Gath 9, 26–27.
Oftedal, Magne, 1980, ‘Scandinavian place-names in Celtic territory: An attempt 
at a linguistic classification’, Ortnamn och språkkontakt, ed. T. Andersson, E. 
Brylla and A. Rostvik, Norna-rapporter 17, 163–91.
Rygh, O., 1980, Norske Gaardnavne XII, ed. A. Kjær (1st pub. 1919; Kristiania: 
Børsums Forlag og Antikvariat A/S). 
Sandnes, Jørn and Stemshaug, Ola, 1980, Norsk stadnamnleksikon (Oslo: Det 
Richard A. V. Cox212
The Journal of Scottish Name Studies 10, 2016, 206–12
Norske Samlaget).
Watson, W. J., 1904a, Place-names of Ross and Cromarty (reprinted 1976; Inverness: 
Ross and Cromarty Heritage Society).
Watson, W. J., 1904b, ‘The Study of Highland Place-names’, Celtic Review I, No. 6, 
22–31.


English

Cliseam

Macniven, Alan

178 Gilbert Márkus
of spelling ‘fish’) are such that, even with a very short guide given on 
p. xii, the pronunciations indicated in the text are sometimes ambiguous. 
On p. 111, Droichead Uí Dhálaigh is said to by pronounced [dryhid ee 
³aalee], but it is not at all clear from this whether the stressed long vowel, 
represented as [aa], should be read as [D Û] or as [o Û]. A brief introduction 
to IPA and the use of this to indicate pronunciation, even in the broadest 
possible way, would be a clearer guide – and there is no harm in helping 
members of the reading public to acquaint themselves with the basic 
outlines of IPA.
The book would be a most useful addition to the shelf of any Scottish 
toponymist – not least because of the very useful index of place-name 
elements which includes all the elements cited in explanation of place-
names, referring the reader to each place where those elements occur. 
It contains several Gaelic words which are not commonly referred to in 
Scotland in our discussion of our own place-names and Scottish readers 
might find some revealing surprises here – perhaps references to Gaelic 
words or usages still current in Ireland but obsolete or unrecorded in 
Scottish Gaelic.
It would be very good to see books like this being made available 
in Scotland. Over the past couple of decades a good deal of progress 
has been made in the interpretation of our toponymy and much has 
been published in books and learned journals (like this one) to advance 
scholarly understanding. McKay’s book provides a model for future 
publication in Scotland, making the best of scholarship available to a 
general audience. McKay’s success in doing this only serves to sharpen 
the regret one feels that the principal forum in which this scholarship was 
developed in Northern Ireland has been brought to a premature close.
G!"#$%& M'%()*, University of Glasgow
Diarmaid Ó Muirithe, From the Viking Word-Hoard: A Dictionary 
of Scandinavian Words in the Languages of Britain & Ireland, Four 
Courts Press: Dublin, 2010. 342 pp. +50 hardback. ISBN 978-1-
84682-173-8
Mention the word ‘Viking’ in polite conversation and the chances are that 
thoughts will turn to murder, mayhem and the looting of monasteries – none 
!e Journal of Scottish Name Studies 5, 2011, 178–82
Reviews 179
, University Press of Southern Denmark, Århus.
of which are likely precursors to the meaningful exchange of language. -is 
somewhat pejorative view of Viking activity in the British Isles is, of course, 
a legacy of Victorian Romanticism. -e most tenacious and vibrant legacy 
of the Vikings themselves is actually a touch less dramatic, but for readers 
of this review, it is an integral part of their sentient experience. By this, I 
am referring to the permanent migration of Scandinavian communities and 
the impact of their dialects on those of the British Isles during the Viking 
Age (c. AD 800–1050). According to the Danish linguist Otto Jespersen, 
a speaker of English cannot ‘thrive or be ill or die without Scandinavian 
words: they are to the language what bread and eggs are to the daily fare.’ 
A lesser, but not insigni.cant in/uence has also been identi.ed in Britain’s 
Celtic languages, especially Scottish Gaelic, whose modern vocabulary and 
pronunciation appear to have been substantially reshaped by speakers of 
Scandinavian. -e extent and causes of these various changes have been the 
subject of numerous academic papers over the years. And, while there have 
been some well-received regional summaries, such as Susanne Kries’ 2003 
monograph, Skandinavische-Schottische Sprachbeziehungen im Mittelalter,1 
there have, as yet, been no attempts to produce a single lexical overview 
of Medieval Scandinavian loanwords in the British Isles. -e absence of 
such a work will not have gone unnoticed by members of the place-name 
community, keenly aware that seemingly indigenous toponyms can actually 
belie Norse origins. Filling that void completely would be no mean feat, 
but now, at least, we have a contender. It comes in the shape of Diarmaid 
Muirithe’s From the Viking Word-Hoard: A Dictionary of Scandinavian Words 
in the Languages of Britain & Ireland.
Professor Ó Muirithe’s o0ering is a hefty 300-page volume that sets 
out to provide ‘a glossary of words in the various languages of Britain and 
Ireland which owe their origins to the intrepid raiders, merchants and 
migrants of medieval Scandinavia.’ In assessing whether he has succeeded, 
we must certainly not judge this particular book by its cover. Although 
eye-catchingly crafted in black and gold and adorned with the image of 
a wonderfully arcane model boat, closer inspection reveals that what is 
intended as a source book of Scandinavian loan-words from the Viking Age 
is being marketed with an image from 1st century BC Ireland. Ó Muirithe 
has been done a disservice here, the pages in between have a lot more to 
o0er.
180 Alan Macniven
1 Cox, R. A.V., (1998) ‘Descendents of bólsta2r? A re-examination of bost & co.’ in Baldwin, 
J. (ed.) Peoples and Settlement in North-West Ross. -e Scottish Society for Northern Studies, 
Edinburgh; 43–52.
From the Viking Word-Hoard comprises four sections; a preface and 
introduction (c. 29 pages); the dictionary itself (226 pages); a bibliography 
(45 pages); and an ‘Index of Scandinavian Words and Word Components’ 
(26 pages). -e last three of these form a welcome addition to the 
etymological arsenal of any place-name enthusiast with an interest in the 
British Isles. Most impressive is the dictionary itself, with somewhere in 
the region of 2000 headwords, often with several attested variant spellings 
and referenced etymologies. -ese go beyond standard language varieties to 
take in a broad sweep of modern dialects, from East Anglian to Shetlandic, 
in addition to historical examples from old, middle and modern language 
periods. While this collection makes no claims to be exhaustive, it has 
been gleaned from a comprehensive survey of a very wide range of original 
sources, alongside an ample selection of the most relevant philological 
and onomastic works. Indeed, the collated references presented in the 
bibliography constitute a valuable resource in their own right and will 
doubtless streamline the opening stages of many a future research project. 
Place-name bu0s will notice a few omissions here, such as Richard Cox’s 
proposal of the otherwise unattested Norse generic *bólshagi in his 1998 
article, ‘Descendents of bólsta"r? A re-examination of bost & co.’.2 In all 
fairness, however, there have been few such articles in recent years which 
have added to the known pool of Norse loans.
-e dictionary is not completely without problems. Perhaps inevitably 
in an undertaking of this size and scope, there are a few oversights and 
inconsistencies. Why, for example, list grime but not grim? How, exactly 
are Modern Irish ciotach and ciotóg derived from Scandinavian? Is it really 
likely that Irish beirling (< ON berling ‘a galley’) derives from a completely 
di0erent source from Scots Gaelic birlinn (‘galley’) (< ON byr"ingr, ‘a 
ship of burdern, a merchant ship’)? -ere are also quite a large number of 
underdeveloped entries, where the only basis for Scandinavian antecedence 
is similarity to a modern Scandinavian dialect word, e.g. #nks, #pple, 
$izze. If these are, in fact, loans from a later period, the stated scope of the 
volume should clearly be widened. If not, it would have been easy enough 
to suggest normalised Old Norse precursors to bring them in line with 
the other entries. -e most surprising omission, from the point of view of 
Reviews 181
3 Lind, E. H. (1905–15), Norsk-isländska dopnamn ock #ngerade namn från medeltiden (A.-B. 
Lundequist, Uppsala); Lind, E. H. (1920–21), Norsk-isländska personbinamn från medeltiden 
(A.-B. Lundequist, Uppsala); Lind, E. H. (1931), Norsk-isländska dopnamn ock #ngerade namn 
från medeltiden: Supplementband (A.-B. Lundequist, Uppsala); Petersen, L. (2002), Nordiskt 
runnamnslexikon: <http:www.so..se/namn> – 6 September 2011; Petersen, L. (2002), 
Lexikon över urnordiska personnamn: <http:www.so..se/namn> – 6 September 2011).
4 See, for example, Jennings, A. (1996), ‘Historical and linguistic evidence for Gall-Gaidheil 
and Norse in Western Scotland’, in P. S. Ureland and I. Clarkson, eds., Language Contact across 
the North Atlantic (M. Niemyer: Tübingen), 61–73.
place-name studies, is personal names, which are often prime candidates 
for the speci.c element in compound place-names. As Ó Muirithe explains 
in his preface, however, this was the result of publishing constraints and, 
regrettably, unavoidable. Until the second edition hits the shelves, Scottish 
onomasts should continue to consult Henderson, MacBain, Watson etc. in 
conjunction with the works of Lind, Petersen and others.3
-e ‘Index of Scandinavian Words’ that follows is also useful. Having 
Norse headwords listed alongside their insular re/exes will come in very 
handy in a number of research scenarios. Settlement historians, for example, 
now have a concise handbook for tracing the spread of Norse place-name 
generics across modern language boundaries. Ideally, this would have been 
simpli.ed slightly. Is it really necessary, for example, to list skit (1), skit, 
skitters (2) and skite (verb, noun) as separate entries, when all three are 
clearly derived from the same root and all three are given exactly the same 
derivation (ON skjóta)? Once again, this is a relatively minor niggle. 
More problematic, however, is the introductory section. Although an 
ambitious attempt to document and evaluate the Viking expansion into 
the British Isles, it su0ers from a lack of space and ends up posing more 
questions than it answers. We are told, for example, that ‘about a thousand 
Scandinavian words eventually entered Standard English’, but what about 
the dialects, and how many survive in common usage? Moreover, while 
the approach is relatively systematic, its assumptions are of the traditional 
kind that continue to posit that the ‘Gall-Ghaeil’ of the Irish Annals spoke 
a ‘dialect comprised of broken Norse and broken Irish’ – as opposed to 
simply, Irish.4 Given the linguistic orientation of the book, this space 
would have been better devoted to closer de.nition of the terminology 
and methodology used, or consideration of the modes through which the 
loanwords were transmitted and preserved. 
182 Alan Macniven
To conclude, Ó Muirithe’s dictionary ticks a lot of boxes. It is an impressive 
work, broad in scope and dripping with references and etymologies which 
will be of interest to the expert and lay reader alike. It will also look equally 
good on a book-shelf or co0ee-table. My advice is to buy it.
A"56 M576!8$6, University of Edinburgh


Diarmaid Ó Muirithe: From the Viking Word-Hoard: A Dictionary of Scandinavian Words in the Languages of Britain & Ireland

Hammond, Matthew H.

The Use of the Name Scot in the Central Middle Ages. Part 2: Scot as a surname, north of the Firth of Forth

Editors, The

Roimh-ràdh

Editor, The

Prelim

McColl Millar, Robert

162 Robert McColl Millar
1 [It was in fact almost too late. !e volume was presented to Dr Gelling at a conference in 
Edinburgh in late March 2008, and she died in April 2009. She did, however, read all the 
contributions, and wrote letters of appreciation to all the contributors. Ed.]
and, therefore, presumably illustrative of all such areas, but his argument is not 
wholly convincing. Why should the Hebrides be any more of a ‘core area’ than, 
for example, the Northern Isles of Orkney and Shetland? Any comprehensive 
coverage of Pap-names should not be limited to the Hebrides but should 
include all the North Atlantic islands where these names occur, which is the 
approach adopted by the Papar Project, of which Ahronson’s survey material, 
presented in this book, forms a thought-provoking part. 
D"#$$% W&'(), University of Edinburgh
O.J. Padel and David N. Parsons, eds, A Commodity of Good Names: 
Essays in Honour of Margaret Gelling, Donington: Shaun Tyas, 2008. 415 
pp. £35.00. ISBN 978-1-900289-90-0
Margaret Gelling’s scholarship has had a tremendous impact upon the *eld of 
place-name studies; as importantly, she has helped frame a connection with 
related *elds – historical studies and historical linguistics in particular. !is 
Festschrift is therefore in many ways long overdue.1
!e book is split into seven basic thematic units. In the *rst, Names 
and History, Steven Bassett discusses ‘Sitting above the salt: the origins of 
the borough of Droitwich’. !is in-depth study of the ‘odd’ nature of the 
borough, which, in Domesday Book, had burgesses but no apparent centre, is 
connected to the ancient salt trade. Droitwich may either have been centred 
on three central brine ponds, in which case the borough would have been 
tiny, or it may have been much larger than most boroughs and might be 
more readily seen as a constituted industry rather than a place. In ‘An early 
boundary of the dioceses of Canterbury and Rochester’, Nicholas Brooks 
provides a most illuminating analysis of the topography of a most unusual 
boundary between the two dioceses, found in a 10th-century Irish psalter. In 
‘Place-names and pottery’, Christopher Dyer demonstrates how the critical 
use of a set of modern and medieval names with potter, crocker and crock 
can be used to aid our understanding of the medieval pottery business. Joy 
Jenkyns, in ‘!e litigious afterlife of an Anglo-Saxon charter: Wyke Regis, 
Dorset’, presents a witty and erudite discussion of how ancient documents 
can (and were) used for political and personal ends. S.E. Kelly’s ‘An early 
minster at Eynsham, Oxfordshire’ is an interesting and closely-argued analysis 
of one of the most celebrated Anglo-Saxon monasteries. It provides the little 
!e Journal of Scottish Name Studies 3, 2009, 162–66
Reviews 163
known fact that an earlier monastery had been sited in roughly the same place. 
Veronica Smart’s ‘Herthig the moneyer and Hearding of Bristol’ is a short but 
convincing discussion of the identity of Bristol moneyers and their (high) 
social rank.
!e next thematic section, Names and Language, begins with Paul Cullen’s 
‘Vagniacis and Win*eld: the survival of a British place-name in Kent’. A 
strong, albeit sometimes inconclusive, case is made for the survival of a name 
through the Anglo-Saxon takeover and, indeed, down to our own time. 
In ‘!e name of the Magonsæte’, John Freeman provides an in-depth and 
erudite discussion of the problems involved in tracing the etymology of the 
Anglo-Saxon tribal name, along with the local toponym Maund. Despite a 
fair treatment of all sides in the debate, no *nal answer on these matters can 
yet be given. Donald Scragg, discussing ‘Late Old English “king”’, provides 
the manuscript distribution of variants of cyning, ending with an analysis 
of potential evidence for sound change. It is unfortunate that there was no 
discussion of rounded versus unrounded vowels and what this means in the 
alternation of <i> and <y> from line to line in some texts.
!e third section, Norse in Britain, begins with Gillian Fellows-Jensen’s 
‘Grimston revisited’. !is essay provides a useful return to the discussion, 
turning to the idea that some Grimston hybrids are secondary, based upon 
settlers replicating what was there before. On this point, it is a pity that the 
essay does not connect its views on the spread of secondary usage in Scotland 
with the commonly held view that Scots was profoundly in+uenced by 
Scandinavian settlers, brought north as part of the country’s ‘Normanisation’ 
in the 11th and 12th centuries. Peder Gammeltoft focuses on ‘Freystrop: 
a sacral Scandinavian place-name in Wales?’ Ranging much further than 
this title suggests, Gammeltoft demonstrates that thorp-place-names can be 
used with the names of heathen deities. John Insley discusses ‘Onomastic 
notes on Cnut’s Slavonic connections’. In a short but informative essay, he 
analyses the Slavonic names of Cnut’s circle, as well as demonstrating direct 
connections between the westernmost Slavs and the English. Judith Jesch 
considers ‘Scandinavian women’s names in English place-names’. Most 
interesting, perhaps, is her discussion of the Cumbrian place-name Langley as 
Langlíf + æ ½rgi ‘Langlif ’s shieling’, perhaps suggesting a speci*cally female role 
in transhumance, also reconstructed for Norway.
!e fourth section is Celtic Regions. George Broderick considers ‘Pre-
Scandinavian place-names in the Isle of Man’. In a fascinating essay, he 
demonstrates the co-occurrence of forms such as slieve with Scottish Gaelic, 
place-names which some scholars – by no means all – consider to be very 
early indeed in Scotland. Secondly, there is a surprisingly limited amount of 
164 Robert McColl Millar
evidence for the survival of British place-names on Man, despite its probably 
being the original language of the island. Finally, there is evidence for Old 
European place-names on Man. Ian A. Fraser discusses ‘Letters from the 
Highlands: a toponym of steep slopes’. In a very brief note, the distribution of 
Gaelic leitir, now generally meaning a steep, even slope, is treated. In the past, 
however, it had connections with the dampness and with the linear lochs of 
the Scottish highlands. Fraser suggests that the original meaning of the name 
is becoming opaque. In a thought-provoking essay, Alan G. James suggests ‘A 
Cumbric Diaspora?’ !is lengthy and well-argued essay demonstrates that at 
least some of the British place-names in Cumbria date not from the seventh 
century, but rather from the 9th or 10th centuries. He suggests that British 
people, migrating from elsewhere (perhaps as Strathclyde was Gaelicised), 
took advantage of the ‘opening up’ of the region caused by the Scandinavian 
settlement. In ‘Place-names in the Northern Marches of Wales’, Richard 
Morgan presents a fascinating analysis of the Welsh (and ‘Cymricised’) place-
names of the northern marches, coming to the conclusion that the Welsh names 
(and cultural and agricultural traits) evinced east of O,a’s Dyke represent not 
a survival from British or early Welsh times, but date rather from expansion 
in the 13th century and later. Kay Muhr discusses ‘Some aspects of Manx 
and (northern) Irish monument names’, demonstrating, with considerable 
exempli*cation, that, with the use of Irish analogues, the previous view that 
Manx had and has a very limited number of terms for prehistoric monuments 
is misleading. Indeed, the place-names of Ulster and Man in particular share 
many similarities in coinage and use. 
In ‘On river-names in the Scottish landscape’, W.F.H. Nicolaisen revisits 
his greatest achievement: the establishment of an ‘Old European’ layer in the 
naming of Scotland’s rivers. He takes on directly the criticism that some of his 
examples are ‘too short’ and that therefore the name could not have survived 
long enough, by demonstrating that some of the ‘short’ names were known 
to Ptolemy, many were associated with a loch and a considerable number 
had been taken on as descriptive of an area. A good example of this can be 
found in the way the River Nevis had given its name to Loch Nevis, Glen 
Nevis and Ben Nevis. In ‘Place-names and the landscape of north-east Wales’, 
Hywel Wyn Owen presents a most engaging discussion of the origins and 
histories of some of the place-names of the area in question. Particularly 
interesting – to this reviewer at least – are the occasions where, given the 
long-term bilingualism of the region, English words have been Cymricised. 
Most attractively, Rhyl is traced back to an English watch hyll, with the Welsh 
article yr becoming attached to the obviously known but misunderstood term.
!e next section is Microtoponymy. Jean Cameron presents a brief note 
Reviews 165
on ‘!e distribution of whin, gorse and furze in English place-names’. She 
suggests that some whin forms may be found not only in the English Midlands 
– where the majority form is gorse – but also in the furze south. In ‘!ree 
new elements in the minor toponymy of western Lindsey, Lincolnshire’, 
Richard Coates provides a fascinating glimpse into the problems of looking at 
small-scale naming phenomena, such as those for *eld names, even when the 
historical record is very helpful. Alexander R. Rumble looks at ‘Knightrider 
Street, London’, apparently solving a long-standing debate on why such an 
apparent tautology should have been coined. He suggests that the knight-
riders were relatively insigni*cant servants (knight in that sense), who lived 
in the poor housing of the streets and were bound to ride for their masters. 
In ‘Pilkembare and Pluck the Craw: verbal place-names in Scotland’, Simon 
Taylor discusses this particularly Scottish phenomenon of using phrases as 
place-names, focussing on Fife. He suggests that the ‘gentle mockery’ of the 
practice by writers such as Sir Walter Scott put paid to the tradition. Diana 
Whaley goes ‘Watching for magpies in English place-names’, providing a 
most enjoyable discussion of the names of the bird as they are, and may be, 
sprinkled across the landscape.
!e sixth section is entitled Literary Onomastics. In ‘!e site of the battle 
of Brunanburh: manuscripts and maps, grammar and geography’, Paul Cavill 
demonstrates, using linguistic and palaeographical evidence along with 
onomastic and topographical, that the two main contenders for the site of 
Brunanburh – Burnswark in Dumfriesshire and Bromswald in Cheshire – 
cannot be absolutely certainly associated with the place described in the poem. 
!orlac Turville-Petre considers ‘!e Green Chapel’, convincingly discussing 
the ways in which the Gawain-poet, in his description of the Green Chapel, 
uses topographic imagery in line with the Peak District, where the Poet came 
from, thus making real for his audience the supernatural world the characters 
inhabit.
!e *nal themed section is Place-Names and Landscapes. John Baker 
discusses ‘Old English fæsten’. !is word is often considered by analysis 
of literary sources to represent a forti*ed place. In a highly nuanced essay, 
Baker demonstrates that place-name use of the root is more *gurative, often 
having the meaning ‘inaccessible place’. In ‘Weg: a waggoner’s warning’ Ann 
Cole shows that when Old English weg was used as part of a place-name, it 
practically always referred to a place whose access routes were particularly 
steep. Interestingly, this particular meaning is hardly found outside place-
name compounds. In a very brief note, ‘Dimmingsdale’, Barrie Cox shows 
that while earlier commentators were correct in seeing that name as dealing 
with darkening and darkness, it is a fact that any valley which has the name has 
166 Robert McColl Millar
a steep west side, so that it quickly falls into darkness at nightfall. In ‘Butter 
place-names and transhumance’, the late Harold Fox argues convincingly 
that many ‘dairying’ place-names in less fertile high ground – most notably 
those in smeoru, but also butere and w"c – are associated with the practice of 
transhumance at a time when the owners of livestock were unable to leave 
lactating animals under guard in the low lands in the summer, instead taking 
the whole herd. In ‘Early medieval woodland and the place-name term l#ah’, 
Della Hooke takes an in-depth look at the l#ah place-names, demonstrating 
the development of the name from ‘wood’ to ‘wood pasture’ and eventually 
‘pasture’. In ‘Freeford (Sta,ordshire)’, Carole Hough unties a small but 
enduring knot in our understanding of apparently ‘obvious’ place-names. 
After discussing several earlier interpretations, demonstrating why they are 
unlikely to be satisfactory, she suggests that the free in the name might mean 
not ‘free from charge’, but rather ‘free from service’. 
In ‘Fog on the Barrow-Downs?’, Peter Kitson presents an excellent 
critique of Gelling and Cole’s views on the uses of Old English ‘hill’ place-
names, in particular beorg. He raises questions over the extent to which the 
de*nite homogenisation of English place-name formation practices over the 
Anglo-Saxon period was due to the experience of travellers across relatively 
considerable di,erences. Peter McClure treats ‘Names and landscapes in 
medieval Nottinghamshire, with particular attention to Lindrick and lime 
woods’. He demonstrates how the varied geology, soils and topography of 
Nottinghamshire a,ected both the English settlement patterns and the 
names given in certain of the old divisions of the county. !e *nal essay, 
Doreen Waugh’s ‘A h$h ! My kingdom for a h$h !’ is largely autobiographical. 
It demonstrates the e,ect and importance of Gelling’s contributions both to 
place-name studies and the way they are appreciated outside the *eld.
Overall, the contributions to this Festschrift are worthy of the work and 
person it celebrates. It is very rare indeed to read a book of this length which 
covers so many topics in so many *elds so well. !e level of respect and 
a,ection felt for Margaret Gelling can be seen in the fact that some of the 
contributors have chosen to submit essays of some theoretical or practical 
importance.
It seems petty, therefore, to point out any failings in the volume. !ere are 
two such, however, which make it rather less user-friendly than it might have 
been. Two basic referencing systems are at work in the book, making it more 
di-cult to run comparisons between essays. More importantly, there is no 
index: a great pity when so much is covered in the volume. !ese do not in 
any way detract from the volume’s importance, however.
R".$#/ M0C"11 M211&#, University of Aberdeen


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