This thesis examines a small but unfashionable area of Scotland, invisible to tourist guidebooks, heavily urbanised, and whose towns have won environmental ‘Carbuncle awards’ from the Scottish media. Yet it is deep in Gaelic and Scots place-names which reveal a landscape that past inhabitants perceived to be a green and relatively pleasant land, if perhaps not flowing with milk and honey. Part Three belies its numeration, in that it is the core of the study, examining in detail the place-names of eight (modern) parishes, listing old forms and attempting a sound etymology for each. Part One, based on the data gathered for Part Three, attempts to seek patterns among these names, both between and within the languages concerned. Inter alia, it seeks to explore the degree to which the choice of elements for a particular name, from any language’s toponymicon, is conditioned by cultural, political and social influences ranging from feudal and parochial authorities, through the influence of Scots-speaking merchants, to onomastic local farming customs. The lessons derived from Part One were then used to shed light on some etymologies in Part Three: and hopefully will be of value to researchers in other areas of the country.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:616426 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Drummond, Peter John |
| Publisher | University of Glasgow |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://theses.gla.ac.uk/5270/ |
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