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

26 Place Names in StratJibogie,
Although it is beyond my limits, the name is
tempting, because there hangs a mystery about
it one would like to penetrate. The earliest
references I have found are in charters of
Thomas, Earl of Marre and Lord of Garuiauche,
of dates 1355-7 and i359(Spald. CI. Ant. I., 537,
and IV., 716). In the former we have Benech-
key, and, in the latter, Benchye. These two
charters, written so near the same time, and
probably by the same hand, may be taken as
correcting each other in the spelling, which
practically represents the common pronunciation
in our own day. The popular notion is that the
name means the ' hill of the paps,' which may be
appropriate as an English descriptive name, but
cannot be a translation of Bennachie. This is
the opinion of our best Gaelic scholars.
I think it is possible that Bennachie embodies
a personal name, or the name of a famil}' or
tribe — Bchui-na-cJic, or perhaps Beinn-dchc, the
hill of the Che, or descendants of Ce. A histori-
cal connection is possible, although extremely
conjectural. In the Pictish Chronicle we are
told that Cruidne, king of the Picts, divided
among his seven sons the country north of the
Forth and Clyde ; and Dr. Skene identifies five
of these divisions in Fife, Athol, Fortreen,
Mearns, and Caithness, which appear to have
been named after their respective rulers (Celt.
Scot. I., 185). These five divisions do not in-