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

On the Stiidy of Gaelic Place Navies. g
shire, besides many in other counties. Professor
Rhys gives glascJni^ ' greyhound,' as the deriva-
tion of Glasgow. This may be so, but we have
two Glasgows in Aberdeenshire — have they also
the same meaning ? (4) The oldest reference, in
any individual case, cannot absolutely determine
the original form without comparing the old
spelling of names found elsewhere, which may be
derived from the same root. In one case, a care-
less scribe may have introduced a change which
has become permanent ; or a foreign element in
the population may have influenced the pronun-
ciation, while the name may remain unchanged
elsewhere. (5) A purely etymological rendering
of a Gaelic name into English, without regard
to local pronunciation, is unreliable. Drumin
(Banffshire), in its older form, appears as Drum-
mond, a name common both in Scotland and
Ireland, generally understood to be the diminu-
tive of druim, a 'ridge'; but in this case the
accent is on the last syllable (Drumin), showing
that /;/ or ;///;/ is a qualifying term, and that the
name has a different meaning from others of
similar spelling. In regard to many names, it is
impossible to determine on which syllable the
stress lies without hearing them pronounced, and
without this knowledge any meaning assigned is
purely conjectural. (6) Grotesque names, ap-
parently English (broad Scotch), are generally
corrupted Gaelic, or old Anglo-Saxon, having