Ossian Collection > Reliquiae Celticae > Volume 2

LECTURES.
IV.
ARRAN PLACE NAMES.
561
SECTION I.
The topography of Arran, like that of all the Western Islands
of Scotland, is partly Scandinavian and partly Celtic. Names
like Brodick, Goatfell, Ormidale, Kiskadale, are clearly of Norse
origin, whilst such names as Tormore, Torbeg, Achanacar,
Druimindoon, Dunfin, Dundow, are manifestly Celtic, our names
of places thus bearing testimony to the fact that, in past times,
the Norsemen and the Celts held alternate sway in our island, the
inhabitants of which are a mixed race, being partly Norse and
partly Celtic. But although the topography of a country serves
to throw important light upon both its history and its ethno-
graphy, I do not intend at present to deal with these matters. All
that I intend to do is to give the meaning of such of our local
names of places as admit of being explained with a tolerable
degree of certainty and accuracy. There is nothing in the world
more easy than to discover a meaning for almost any place-name ;
but we must remember that interpretations based upon a mere
resemblance in sound between words, or parts of words, is of no
value whatever in the accurate study of topography. It would be
easy to give amusing illustx'ations of this statement.
In what I am now to bring before you, I shall carefully avoid
fanciful interpretations. It is better to confess our inability to
explain a word than to mislead, by giving an inaccurate explana-
tion, and when a matter is doubtful, it ought to be given as
doubtful. This is the surest way of attaining at last to certainty.
I shall begin with Arran (old spelling Aran), the name of our
island. An-an has been derived from the words ar-Fhinn (the
slaughter of Finn) — the name of a place near Catacol, from which
the island, it is said, has received its name. This, however, is
•erroneous. Arran (older form Aran) is an inflection of Ara, the
old name of the island, as Alban (Scotland) is an inflection of
Alba, and Erenn (Ireland) is an inflection of Eriu. The genitive
of Ara is Aran. Our ancestors said, just as we say, " Eilean
Aran," and thus Aran became the regular name. Now, ar-Fhinn
never was Ara, nor could it have been Arran, for the genitive of
Fionn is Finn, or with aspii-ation Fhinn. Besides, there are other
Arran islands ; in the mouth of Galway Bay there are two islands
which have that name. It is, however, much easier to show what
Arran has not been derived from than to show what is the correct
derivation of the word. In both form and declension, Ara, .tren.
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