An element relating to Carn is Carr. This is taken to mean “a rock, or rocky land” in many parts of Ireland, although is not formally recorded in dictionaries. It is quite obviously related semantically to the element Carn meaning “a rocky hill or mountain” (Joyce, 1887; 419). There are two possible occurrences of this element in Antrim Carrigan Hill and Carrigin and also two in Argyll Carran Mor and An Carr. Alternatively the place names in Antrim could be viewed as coming from the Irish word Carraigin meaning moss (HarperCollins, 2004; 406). If this were the correct meaning the hill names in Argyll, would be Big Moss and The Moss respectively. This could be the case but there is no reference to the hill or mountain in question. Another possible meaning could be from the Gaelic word Carran meaning “shrimp” resulting in the hill names Big Shrimp and The Shrimp; this is less believable than Big Moss. What is the most believable solution to these hill names is that slight anglicisation has occurred in Carran Mor and the name was originally Carr an Mor meaning “the big rock” and An Carr is “the rock”. At first this name element seems to be the same in both Antrim and Argyll but on closer inspection these names don’t seem to come from the same source word. The names in Antrim seem most likely to have come from the name Carraigin whereas the names in Argyll seem to have originated from the element Carr. In relation to the theory of the fault line position this is indicative of the line being placed at the Irish Sea as all of the names concerned, Carr and Carraigin, originate form Ireland. What must also be considered is the spread of the name in Scotland. The name is not recognised in Peter Drummond’s book as a hill name element that is use in Scotland, showing that there may not be enough of them for the name element to be formally recognised. Carr is however seen in Argyll and therefore it could be said that the name element was affected by the Grampian Highlands, as it has not spread to other areas of Scotland. This shows that the fault line could be placed along the Grampians. On the other hand there are very few instances of the name element in Argyll and what is most likely is that the travellers between Antrim and Argyll brought it across and that the name didn’t really catch hold. This shows a shared naming area but that the name started in Antrim and was transferred to Argyll, which places the fault line at the Irish Sea.
There are relatively few examples of the element Carr in either Antrim or Argyll but a hill name element that occurs with frequency in both counties is Cnoc. There are nineteen examples in Antrim and thirty-four in Argyll. Again all of the examples in Antrim have been anglicised to either Crock or Knock but all of the examples in Argyll are in their original Gaelic form. Like Beinn the element can be considered to be an old element, with some of the Cnoc hills in the south west dating back to medieval times (Nicolaisen, 2001; 87). The element means an eminence or hillock and could originate from Old Irish, Cnocc or Welsh, Cnwc or Old Celtic Knokko (MacLennan, 2001; 92). It is indicative of a rounded hill of no great height or prominence. These hills are most commonly found on the outermost edges of the Grampian Highlands (Drummond, 1991; 28) but not just on the west of the fault line; they can be seen all around it to the south and east. The positioning of these Cnoc hills would not allow for the fault line to be placed along the Grampian Highlands. This is because the element can bee seen to be prolific in more areas than just Argyll and so shows that the element was not confined by the Grampian Highlands. In this case the fault line would have to be considered to be in the conventional position of the Irish Sea. This is further supported by the high incidence of the name in Antrim, which is indicative of the name originating from there or at least having a strong hold in the area. This could indicate that the name does come from Old Irish and not Welsh or Old Celtic. Moreover the name Cnocc in Old Irish is the most similar in appearance to the current version of the word Cnoc.
Another name element that has a strong presence in Argyll is Creag, which is often anglicised to Craig. There are thirty-four occurrences in Argyll and four in Antrim. These four names are all anglicised to Craig but the original Irish name is Croag. The name also has a cognate in the other Celtic language Welsh in the form of the name element Craig (Drummond, 1991; 29). This hill name is not just common in Argyll but is also present all over Scotland and means “ a rock or rocky eminence”. The size of a Creag mountain can range from quite small to well over 1000 feet; generally they do not occur as names of summits but as minor names in rocky mountainous areas (Fraser, 1987; 1910). This name element may therefore, in a similar way to Cnoc, indicate that the fault line is actually in the conventional place of the Irish Sea. This is because the name element Creag is prolific all over Scotland and is not exclusive to Argyll. On the other hand the origin of the word can be attributed to Gaelic and not to Old Irish (Drummond, 1991; 29). This shows that the name could have originated in Scotland as Creag and was not introduced by Irish settlers. Furthermore there is a cognate version of the word in Irish as Croag. This is actually indicative of a shared cultural area in that the element may have originally been the same and has just developed differently in each of the Celtic speaking nations.
Another element worthy of note is Druim, which means “back, keel, ridge; the backbone” (MacLennan, 2001; 136) so in relation to a hill or mountain it could be considered to be a long, spinal, thin ridge in a mountain. There are five instances of the element in Antrim and seven in Argyll. The name’s origin is attributed to either Old Irish Druimm or Old Celtic Drotsmen (MacLennan, 2001; 136). Although the name can be seen all over Scotland it is most popular in the Southern Highlands (Drummond, 1991; 31). Again, although the name is not particularly prevalent in Argyll, it can be seen that the Highland Massif has acted as a dividing force, restricting the development of the name element on the east side of the range. This is indicative of the fault line being placed along the Grampian Highlands.
The last name element that is significantly common to both Argyll and to Antrim is Mullach. Mullach means “the summit, top, roof or apex” and is said to originate form Old Irish Mullach (MacLennan, 2001; 239). Topographically the name is said to refer to smaller hills although occasionally it is applied to hills of considerable height (Joyce, 1887; 392). There are three examples of the name element present in both Argyll and in Antrim. This is a relatively small number for Argyll considering that the highest proportion of Mullach names are on the western side of the Grampian Highlands and within view of the sea (Drummond, 1991; 36). Again this shows a shared cultural area; the name is present in both counties and is confined by the main Highland mass. Therefore this shows that the fault line is in the position of the Grampian Highlands.
There are some names that are significantly important to each county, which do not appear in both. Barr, meaning hill or pointed hillock, in Argyll has eight occurrences but none in Antrim. This in itself does not seem overly important, as eight names is not a particularly high amount. What makes this significant is that the element Barr is almost exclusive to Argyll. Saying this, there are examples of the name in Renfrewshire and Ayrshire (Fraser, 1987; 192). As this element is prolific in Argyll and the south west it shows that again the Grampian Highlands acted as a confining structure in restricting the development of the word on the east of the Highland Mass. What is important to recognise is that the name element appears nowhere in Antrim. So although the fault line could be positioned along the Grampians due to the distribution of the word in Scotland, it could also be positioned in the conventional place of the Irish Sea considering that there is no evidence of the name element in Antrim. If this were the case then the word could be said to have originated in Scotland, completely independently from any Irish invasion or take over. This is not the case as the word is said to originate from Early Irish (MacLennan, 2001; 31) and is responsible for place names, not hill names, in Northern Ireland; these include Barmeen in Antrim (Joyce, 1887; 528). The name could possibly originate in Ireland, not as a mountain name but as a name to denote the top or point of something; this is closer to the distinction given by MacLennan. The name could then have been used in Argyll as a name to denote the top of a hill. This shows that the element was used differently on each side of the Irish Sea and so shows that the fault line should be in the placed there.
Like Barr, Cruach is an element that occurs in Argyll but not in Antrim; the reason for its significance is different though. Cruach appears fifty one times in Argyll. This is important because the name is of such high incidence in Argyll but yet doesn’t occur in Antrim. Cruach means “a pile, heap or stack” and originates from Old Irish, Welsh or Old Celtic (MacLennan, 2001; 108). The highest occurrence of the name is, like Barr, mainly in the south west Highlands (Drummond, 1991; 30). This could show that if the name element originates from Old Celtic then it could have developed in Argyll independently as an Old Celtic word. Although if this were the case then it would be expected that it would be common all over Celtic Scotland and not just concentrated in the south west area of Argyll. The name has obviously been restricted by the Highland Massif, giving evidence to support the position of the fault line being placed there. What is important to recognise is that the name does occur in Ireland just not in Antrim (Joyce, 1887; 387). This again shows that the name indicates a shared naming area between Argyll and Ireland.
Other names that are present in Argyll but not Antrim include Meall and Stob. Meall has a reasonably high occurrence with sixty-two mountains in Argyll using the name; this is not surprising considering that the term is the second most common in Scotland only surpassed by Beinn. It is defined as “a lump or knob” (MacLennan, 2001; 224) and when considered in relation the hills it names it is indicative of a hill which is quite short and which exhibits lumps and bumps which give the mountains a shapeless quality. The name can be said to have the majority of its examples in Perthshire, east of the Grampians, indicating that it was not an element that was prevented from crossing the Grampian Highland divide. This name therefore could be native to Scotland and not introduced by settlers from Ireland. This is furthered by the fact that there are no hills of this variety in Antrim and very few in all of Ireland, with the exception of Munster (Joyce, 1887; 394). Furthermore the name can be said to originate from either Old Irish mell or Old Celtic mello (MacLennan, 2001; 224). In conjunction with the other evidence, the name could be taken to have originated from Old Celtic. This is all conducive of the name originating in Scotland and actually being transferred to Ireland. Although it is possible that the Irish equivalent of the name seen in Munster could have developed independently from the Early Irish mell and is not actually related to the Scottish version at all.
Stob is an element that originates from Scottish Gaelic and means “ a small stick or upright post” (MacLennan, 2001; 322). In relation to hill names, this indicates a peak or point in a mountain. The name actually has two meaning on either side of the Grampian Highland divide; in the east it indicates the highest point above a cirque but in the west it describes a peak on a mountain, not just a point (Drummond, 1991; 42). Stobs in the west tend to be steep sided, rocky and exposed, typical of the sort of mountain created by a glacial environment (Fraser, 1987; 190). What can be seen through the split meaning of the word is that the split is caused by the Grampian Highlands. The word originates from one source word but develops to mean slightly different things on either side of the divide. This again is evidence for the position of the dividing fault line being along the Grampian Highlands.
To conclude the section on hill and mountain names, it can be seen that the elements discussed provide a varied picture of the ideas put forward by Campbell in relation to the position of Gaelic/Pictish/Brythonic fault line. Beinn was shown to indicate a shared cultural area between Antrim and Argyll and that it was uncertain where the fault line lay. Carn was shown to be an original Pictish element and so was supportive of the view that the fault line should be placed at the Grampian Highlands. Cnoc was shown to indicate the fault line should be placed at the Irish Sea because the name had spread to the east of the Grampian Highlands showing that it had not been confined by them. In a similar way to Beinn, Carr was thought to show a shared naming area but that the fault line still lay at the Irish Sea. Creag was an element that originated from Scottish Gaelic and had a cognate in Irish, this showed a shared naming area and that the names may originally have been from the same root and developed differently. This actually showed, again, that although there is a shared naming area, the fault line lies at the Irish Sea because the name developed differently on either side of it. This argument, of a name developing differently on either side of the Irish Sea, was shown to be important in the discussion of the element Barr, which also shows this sort of development, indicating that the fault line should be placed at the Irish Sea. The distribution of Barr names provided problems because they are mostly concentrated on the west of the Grampians, giving evidence to support the fault line being placed there. In this case it was difficult to make a decision upon the position of the fault line. Druim and Mullach each had the highest proportion of the names on the western side of the Grampian Highlands indicting that the fault line lays there. Meall was seen to be prolific all over Scotland, and was thought to originate from Old Celtic. The name was thought to have then later been transferred to Ireland. This showed that the fault line could be positioned at the Irish Sea. Stob was shown to have evidence to support the position of the fault line at the Grampian Highlands. This was thought to be because the name has different meanings on either side of the divide showing that the name developed separately on each side. It can be seen that there is more evidence to support the fault line being placed at the Irish Sea. There is though considerable evidence to suggest that there was a shared naming area between Antrim and Argyll. Moreover it must be recognised that, although there is a greater amount of support for the position of the fault line being at the Irish Sea, there is evidence to support the view that the fault line could be at the Grampians and this cannot be discounted.
The examination of river names forms the second part of the examination into the position of the fault line. 430 river names were examined in Argyll and 190 in Antrim. As was seen in the mountain names, the river names in County Antrim were all heavily anglicised and so proved difficult to examine accurately. The elements in the river names of Antrim are all well hidden, embedded within fully anglicised names, so much so that many of them are unrecognisably from their original Irish form. On the other hand, the names in Argyll are on the most part full representative of the original Gaelic forms. In addition to this river names proved more difficult to examine because in Argyll there is one very dominant element; in Antrim the names exhibit a grater variety with no one name seeming to be the most prolific. This made the names difficult to examine in relation to each other because most of the names in Argyll use the dominant element and so there are relatively few examples of other types of element that may have been exhibited in Antrim. The reason for examining river names in addition to hill names is that it may be possible that types of name for one element of the landscape were transferred but not for another. If two types of landscape feature are examined it gives a broader view of the degree of the interchange of name elements between the two areas. Moreover river names were thought to provide some of the oldest names in the country (Cameron, 177; 33). The first name of significance to be discussed is Abhainn in Argyll, which is anglicised to Owen in Antrim.
There are twenty-four occurrences of the element Abhainn in Argyll and three certain instances of the name in Antrim; these are anglicised as Owen. The element is one of the most basic river names meaning simply “river” and originates from either Old Irish aba or Old Celtic abona (MacLennan, 2001; 2). It is important to recognise that although there are only three identifiable instances of the name it may also appear in the names that have been heavily anglicised. For example the name element occurs in the name Alldaw Burn but is well disguised. The original Irish form of the name could have been Abha Allach meaning famous river. The name is created using the first part of the name only. The second part, Burn, has been tacked on at a later date as it acts as a duplicate of the meaning already contained in the first element. This still does not make it clear where the element Abhainn appears. It can be seen in the first element of the name Abha, which is often anglicised to aw or ow, which is equivalent to Abhainn (Joyce, 1887; 454). This is important because the incidence of the word may be much higher than is indicated by just the identifiable versions. As was seen in the previous example, often the names are of a hybrid form resulting in a duplicate of the water element in the name. This can be seen in the river name Owencam River or in its original Irish form An Abhainn Cham. The water element is contained in the section Owen, Abhainn, but is then duplicated in the word river tacked onto the end (MacGiabhann, 1997; 200). The name is obviously common to both areas, but could originate form either Old Irish or Old Celtic. This important in establishing the position of the fault line. If the element originates from Old Irish then the fault line would have to be placed at the Irish Sea. On the other hand if the name originates from Old Celtic then the fault line would have to be placed along the Grampian Highlands. This is because the name could have been common to both areas at a time predating both Gaelic and Irish, as Celtic was common all over Scotland in the first century (Watson, 1946; 118).
While Abhainn is considered to be the standard name for a river, smaller secondary streams are often called Allt and Alltan, and Sruth and Sruthan, meaning burn and stream respectively (Fraser, 1987; 194). There are a vast number of Allt names in Argyll, 246 examples in total, and only eight names in Antrim, which exhibit the element for certain. There are obviously other river names that exhibit the name but they have all been anglicised to burn. It is therefore difficult to determine, because of the close proximity of meaning between burn and stream, whether the names are formed from Allt or from Sruth. This is furthered by the fact that MacLennan lists both elements under the heading burn, showing that a meaning may not even be distinguished between the two (MacLennan, 2001; 396). The name is attributed to Gaelic (MacLennan, 2001; 11), which explains the high incidence of the name in Argyll. If this is the case then this is quite solid evidence for the fault line being positioned along the Grampian Highlands. Unfortunately this name cannot be explained that easily. Examples in Ireland include Altmore Burn and Altnamuck Burn. The final element in each can be easily explained as Mor, big, and Muc, pig, but the first element Alt causes problems. In Ireland the name has been said to retain an older meaning of the word than the Scottish burn. It may mean wooded valley or deep glen; this is supported by the meaning given of altan as “gorge gully or ravine” (HarperCollins, 2004; 370). Further work has been done on this and the name element has been found to refer specifically to a stream in some areas (MacGiabhann, 1997; 36, 109). This leads to ambiguity in the name in Antrim. The examples given could either mean the big stream or the big steep glen and the stream of the pigs or the steep glen of the pigs. In relation to the fault line position the word element Allt indicates that there is at least a shared naming area. In addition to this it has been previously mentioned that as the name is said to have originated from Scottish Gaelic. Allt, like the mountain name Creag, could therefore indicate that the element was actually transferred from Antrim to Argyll and not the other way around. This could indicate that the fault line should be placed at the Grampian Highlands but considering that Allt is an element that can be seen all over Scotland and is not just confined to Argyll this seems unlikely. Therefore this name shows that the name originated in Scotland and was then transferred to Antrim, placing the fault line at the Irish Sea.
These two name elements make up the greatest number of the names exhibited in Argyll and a large amount of the names in Antrim; other name elements of interest include Glaise Douglas and Uisge. Firstly Glaise, this name is commonly found all over Ireland and in Antrim gives rise to the name Glassnaferna Burn; in Argyll the example is Glashlet Burn. This element denotes a small stream (Joyce, 1887; 455). This name element is not recognised in MacLennan’s book and therefore can be said not to be present in Gaelic even in the present day. This is indicative of the fault line being placed at the Irish Sea. Douglas is a name, which although used as a single element is made up of two. It can primarily be considered to be a name which denotes the colour of the river concerned (Mackenzie, 1931; 89) considering that the first element that makes up this common naming element is Dubh meaning black or dark and is attributable to either Old Irish or Old Celtic; the second element is Glaise, which was previously explained as meaning a small stream. This name occurs in Antrim as Douglas Burn and in Argyll as Douglas Water. The name is common all over Ireland and is also common to Scotland (Joyce, 1887; 456). This indicates a shared naming area, but it is difficult to establish according to this name where the fault line should lay. It could be taken as the same as Glaise because dubh is really just a qualifying element. In this case the fault line lays at the Irish Sea for reasons previously discussed.
The last river name element to be discussed is Uisge. This element means basically “water” and originates from Old Irish Uisce (MacLennan, 2001; 361). There are three examples of the element in Argyll: Dubh Uisge, Uisge Faelasgaig and Uisgeacha Geala and possibly just one well hidden in Drumawhiskey River in Antrim. The reason it is so well hidden is because it appears in its completely anglicised form. In Irish whisky is known as uisce beatha, which is often anglicised as usquebaugh. The first part of the compound, once it has been slightly altered, is now used as the English word whisky (Joyce, 1887; 446). What is interesting it that although the word has solidly been identified as coming from Old Irish the form found in Antrim is the version that has undergone vast amounts of change to become unrecognisable from the original form. In Argyll however the names have been Gallicised but not so far as to change them so greatly that the original form is unrecognisable. This though is not sufficient evidence to challenge the origin of the word. Therefore this name must be taken as solid evidence for the fault line being positioned at the Irish Sea.
It can be seen that river names proved much harder to analyse than hill and mountain names. This is mainly because there is such diversity in the river names in County Antrim. Therefore only Abhainn and Allt the two name elements providing the greatest scope for analysis were the only two river name elements to provide adequate information to be able to draw conclusions. It was seen that Abhainn was common to both Argyll and Antrim. The element was thought to be form either Old Irish or Old Celtic. The name was thought to originate from Old Celtic and consequently the fault line was thought to have been placed along the Grampian Highlands. Allt, on the other hand, showed the position of the fault line to be at the Irish Sea. This was thought to be because the name is said to have originated from Scottish Gaelic and this was thought to indicate that the element was actually transferred from Antrim to Argyll. In addition to this it could be seen that Allt is an element present all over Scotland, not confined by the Grampians. Therefore it was thought that the name element originated in Scotland and was transferred to Antrim, placing the fault line at the Irish Sea. The other name elements Glaise and Uisge were both found to be purely Irish elements and so provided solid evidence for the fault line being positioned at the Irish Sea.
Campbells new and original reading of old material has given rise to this study. The aim was to further the research done by him into the position of the fault line between the languages of Gaelic, Pictish and Brythonic. His view was that the fault line lay at the Grampian Highlands and that the people of Argyll were a Gaelic-speaking race from the Iron Age onwards. He believes that the people of Argyll and Antrim were a single sea faring race and that they were connected by the Irish Sea rather than separated by it. Furthermore his views were supported by the lack of any archaeological evidence to support a mass scale migration of people to Argyll, nor is there any to support the idea of an elite take over. This furthered by the fact that many of the historical sources were seen to be unreliable, some being changed or even added at a date later than the one stated in the source. Moreover details in the sources were changed to suit the social or political climate of the time. This study sought to address this problem by examining hill and river names in both Argyll and Antrim. Hill and river names were chosen for examination because they have been proven to be some of the oldest names, and therefore may have held some of the elements original to the names at the time they were created.
It was shown that although there was some hill and river name elements supportive of Campbell’s views, the majority of them supported the conventional view of the fault line being placed at the Irish Sea. Elements that support Campbell’s viewpoint include Carn, Druim, Mullach and Abhainn, which is a relatively small number in comparison to the number of name elements examined. Some of the elements examined even go so far as to suggest the direction of transference to be from Antrim to Argyll and not the other way round. Saying this there was a significant amount of evidence to support the view of the Fault line being placed at the Irish Sea. What has become more than apparent is that there is definitely a shared naming area between Argyll and Antrim; a large number of the elements are common to both counties. This is supportive of the view put forward by Campbell that there was a “shared cultural milieu which may have lasted over a very long period and covered most of Scotland and Ireland” (Campbell, 2001; 286).
Bibliography
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Cameron, K. (1977) English Place-Names London: William Clowes and Sons Ltd
Campbell, E. (2001) “Were the Scots Irish?” Antiquity Volume 75
Drummond, P. (1991) Scottish Hill and Mountain Names: The Origin and Meaning of Scotland’s Hills and Mountains Worcester: Scottish Mountaineering Trust
Foster, S. (1996) Picts, Gales and Scots Edinburgh: Historic Scotland
Fraser, I. A. (1987) “The Place-Names of Argyll – An Historical Perspective” Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness Volume LIV 1984-1986 Inverness: Mainprint
HarperCollins (2004) Collins Irish Dictionary Express Glasgow: HarperCollins
Joyce, P. W. (1887) The Origin and History of Irish Names of Places Dublin: M. H. Gill and Son
MacGabhann, F. (1997) Place-Names of Northern Ireland II, County Antrim Ballycastle and North-East Antrim, Volume Seven Antrim: W.& G. Baird Ltd
Mackenzie, W. C. (1931) Scottish Place Names Edinburgh: Edinburgh Press
MacLennan, M. (2001) A Pronouncing and Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language Edinburgh: Mercat Press
Nicolaisen, W. F. H. (2001) Scottish Place-Names Their Study and Significance Edinburgh: John Donald
Ordnance Survey (2002) 1:50 000 scale maps 46, 47, 48, 50, 55, 56
Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland (2002) 1:50 000 scale maps 5, 8, 9, 14, 15, 20
Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland (1988) Ireland North A Cultural Map and Gazetteer Of Irish Place-Names
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Appendices
Hill-Names Argyll
Hill-Names Antrim
River-Names Argyll
River-Names Antrim
