Blair Collection > Place names in Strathbogie, with notes historical, antiquarian and descriptive

Names of H His and Rivers. 1 5
CHAPTER II.
NAMES OF HILLS AND RIVERS.
-rT^OST of the hill names in this district have
J become more or less corrupted, and it seems
almost impossible to discover the original forms,
in the absence of written evidence. Names of
hills and rivers are rarely mentioned in old
charters, but sometimes they occur in ecclesias-
tical records. Previous to the Reformation,
disputes frequently arose about church lands,
which, on appeal to the law, led to the ' peram-
bulation of the Marches,' and in the deliverances
on these occasions we find here and there the
old spelling of a name. Having so (qw early
writings to refer to, it is evident that any attempt
to recover the original forms of not a few of these
old names must prove unsatisfactory. For this
reason, I have grouped together certain of the
hill and river names of the district, and the
meanings I give are for the most part conjectures,
based on such evidence as we have, and future
investigation must determine how far they are
correct.
We have no old spelling of the hill name
Fourman, the first syllable of which appears in
modern writings as four, for, and fore. It has