medieval-atlas/events-to-about-850/58

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Gaelic place-names The selective interpretation of maps showing the distribution of Gaelic place-names affords us an -opportunity to discern historical strata within a stratum. Not only do the maps depicting the geographical scatter of names containing Gaelic baile "settlement" and achadh "field" reflect the largest extent to which Gaelic was once spoken in Scotland in the Middle Ages but the maps indicating the distribution of sliabh "hill" and cill "hermit's cell, church" throw light on earlier phases of Gaelic-speaking settlement before Gaelic had become the language of most of Scotland, with the notable exception of the Northern Isles, the northeastern half of Caithness and the Scottish south-east. It is worth remembering, though, that not every name represented within the boundaries ofa certain distribution pattern was necessarily given before the settlement behind that pattern reached its fullest expansion the opposite is probably true in all cases, i.e. the element in question remained productive well after the limits of its distribution had been established. This is particularly applicable to the interpretation of the location of names containing early elements like sliabh, and it would therefore be misleading to expect all sliabh names (Slewdonan, Slewfad, Slewcaim, Slogarie [Galloway], Sliabh Mor, na Moine, Fada, Meadhonach, Gaoil, nan Dearc, a'Chuir [Highlands and Islands] to have been coined before, let us say, the seventh century. Their limited extent of toponymic productivity nevertheless points to them as being closely associated with the known area of the original Dalriadic settlement of Gaelicspeaking "Scots" from Ireland in the fifth and sixth centuries AD and an equally early "Scots" colony in Galloway, especially in the Rinns.. The distribution of place-names containing cill (Kilbride, Kilpatrick [Ayrshire], Kildonan, Killantringan, Kilrnichael [Galloway], Kilblain [Dumfriesshire], East Kilbride [Lanarkshire], Kilbucho [Peeblesshire], Kilmacolm [Renfrewshire], Killeonan, Kilchenzie, Kilbarr, Kilchieran, Kilmaluag, Kilchintorn, Kilbrandon, Kilchalman, Kilmachalmaig, Kilpheder [Highlands and Islands]) indicates that this generic appears to have remained productive in Gaelic-speaking settlement areas beyond those typical of sliabh. While many of these names characteristically commemorate saints known to have lived in the sixth and seventh centuries, their productivity seems to have come to an end not until the ninth and tenth centuries when Gaelic speakers moved into the Pictish territory of the Scottish north-east in large numbers and also confronted the Scandinavians in Caithness. Baite and achadh are important toponymic witnesses not only because of the chronological implications of their distribution patterns and the frequency of their occurrence but also because they directly refer to human settlement. Their patterns of distribution, though not completely congruous, largely confirm each other and point to the same conclusions. Examples from south of the Forth -Clyde line are Balbeg, Baldoon, Balmaghie, Ballaggan, Balbackie, Ballencrieff, Balerno, Balmuir, Balgreen, Auchenbrain, Auchleach, Auchenfad, Auchencairn, Auchentibber, Auchendinny, Auchinhard, Auchneagh; north of that line we find Ballindean, Baldragon, Balhagarty, Baldornoch, Balbeg, Balblair, Balgownie, Balintore, Baleloch, Balemartine, Achnaba, Auchenreoch, Auchmithie, Auchmacoy, Auchenreath, Auchintoul, Achluachrach, Achintraid, Achrimsdale.

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