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

Place Names in StratJiho(:ie.
upon the surface ; and there ought therefore to be
some reasonable probability that the meaning
assigned to any particular name could at one
time have been applicable to the place. It
follows, therefore, that explanations which are
simple and natural are commonly most reliable,
while those which have no apparent connection
with the history or topography of the place may
be taken as doubtful. ' Tiilach deiseal, the knoll
of |the turn sunward,' is an extraordinary ren-
dering of Tullynessle, of which the old form
(anno 1360) is Tolynestyn. Still more remark-
able is the meaning given of Carnaveron — ' the
town of the east river,' especially as it happens
to be the name of a hill on which was a cairn
twenty-five feet high, and the only river near it
is a small stream flowing due north. Examples
of similar absurd interpretations of old names
might be multiplied indefinitely, but they are not
even amusing, except for the absolute certainty
with which they are given. (3) Few place names
in Scotland are solitary. Names similar in whole
or in part may be found in various parts of the
country, a comparison of which will often pre-
vent a fanciful rendering in one case, inappropriate
in others. Buchan and Buckie are often sup-
posed to have a purely local descriptive meaning,
generally connected with the coast, but there are
at least a dozen Buchans in Scotland, mostly in-
land ; and there are five Buckles in Aberdeen-