May G. Williamson
The Non-Celtic Place-Names of the Scottish Border Counties
Unpublished PhD thesis , University of Edinburgh, 1942
spns.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/MayWilliamsonComplete.pdfThe following work is intended as a survey of the Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian place-name
material in the Border Counties. I have tried to demonstrate what types of names occur, where
they are situated, and roughly to what period they belong. Thus it has been more convenient
to group the names under their endings than to arrange them by parishes in the manner of the
English Place-Name Society’s (EPNS) volumes.
It is almost impossible to date Scottish place-names with any certainty since spellings for the
majority are not found before the 13th century, but /ii/ generally they may be classified under
three headings:-
(a) Old English
(b) Middle English
(c) Scandinavian, and Middle English of Scandinavian origin
Between the first two classes there must be a good deal of overlapping. It is known that names
in -ing, -ingahām, -ingtūn and -hām probably ceased to be formed after the Old English (OE)
period, but many of the other habitational endings which in England belong to this time must
have continued to be formed at a much later date in the North. Similarly many of the names
classified as Middle English (ME) may belong to the OE period.
It has been my practice to count as an ending the second element of each name if a habitative
or topographical term. Thus Torwoodlee is discussed under -wood and Capehope Burn under
-hope. Only the main, or original, parts of names are of importance in a survey of this kind,
and so where groups occur such as Caverton, Caverton Mains, Caverton Hillhead, Caverton
Mill, I have dealt only with the basic name, Caverton.
Names which do not appear in the 1-inch Ordnance Survey maps, but which are found in
sources before 1600, have been used for purposes of illustration and comparison. In most
cases I have not consulted the /iii/ 6-inch maps in attempts to locate these or other minor
names.
GEOGRAPHY AND DIALECT
The Border area of Scotland divides into three main sections, the lowlands of Berwick and the
Tweed-Teviot river basins on the north, a central mass of mountainous country, and the plain
of Dumfries in the south.
Berwickshire is cut off from Lothian by the Lammermoor Hills, through the western part of
which, however, runs the valley of Lauderdale, the main inland route from Lower Tweeddale
to the north. The Merse is the continuation of the Northumbrian plain and stretches to the base
of the Lammermoors. The parishes of Stichill, Ednam, Smailholm and Makerstoun, although
part of this area, belong to Roxburghshire. The dialect of Berwick and Lothian is known as
East Mid Scots.
The main districts of Roxburgh are the valleys of the Tweed, Teviot and their tributaries. In
the south are the Cheviot Hills through which passes lead to England. To the west is the
watershed between Roxburgh and Dumfries. At least half the area of the county lies more
than 500 feet above sea-level. The parish of Castleton is mainly on the Liddel which /v/ drains
to the Solway, and is really a separate dialect area from the rest of Roxburgh, having affinities
in speech and in place-name forms with Dumfries and Cumberland (Watson, 6).
Selkirkshire, which comprises mainly the valleys of the Ettrick and Yarrow and of a short
stretch of the Tweed, is separated from Roxburgh by a watershed, although the parish of
Ashkirk is on the Ale which flows into the Teviot. The dialect of the shire belongs to the
Southern Scots group which includes Roxburgh, Eskdale and Annandale (SND, Map 2). The
place-names show a marked proportion of Gaelic forms which links the area with
Peeblesshire, rather than with the other three Border counties in this respect.
The greater part of Dumfriesshire belongs geographically to the plain of Cumberland. All the
rivers drain to the Solway. To the north are the Lowther Hills which divide Dumfries from
Lanark, Peebles, Selkirk and Roxburgh. Nithsdale, at the head of which a pass leads in to
Ayrshire, is a separate dialect unit which belongs to the West Mid Scots group. Gaelic
influence is very strong in place-names north and west of the Nith.
Place-name forms before 1600 do not give much /vi/ indication of dialect distinctions, since
these did not occur to any great extent until the end of the MSc period. It is not until the 16th
and 17th centuries that occasional spellings reveal phonetic variations. Distinctions are more
noticeable in vocabulary, in the choice of place-name elements rather than in their form.
Differences in pronunciation are found in the modern spoken versions of the names rather
than in their present spellings, which have been reduced to a common Scots form.
* * * * *
Modern Lowland Scots is a development of the Old Northumbrian (ONb) dialect of Old
English (OE), through Northern Middle English (NME) and Middle Scots (MSc).
Only some half dozen place-names have spellings which go back to the OE period. A few late
11th century spellings found in the Durham Chartulary may be classed as very late OE or early
iii
ME. From late 12th century to mid 14th century the language of the examples is Northern ME.
Middle Scots continues until the late 16th century.
Below are listed some of the developments observable between ONb and ModSc in the placename
forms which have been collected: /vii/
1. ME ă, whether from the OE „·or ON ă, is frequently fronted to „»in MSc or early
ModSc. ME braken (from ON brakni) becomes brecken in Breckenside (Glc):
Brekensyd, 1636, and in the modern forms of Breconrae, Brecken Rig, etc. (No.
XXXII). ME Alis is the first element of Ellisland (No. LII).
2. OE āis already fronted to [E:] in NME. In spellings up to 1400 it is still a, but in
the MSc period is represented ai, ay. The i, y is used with all vowels in MSc to
represent length. That the pronunciation of ai, ay was [E] or [E:] at this period,
however, and not yet [e:] is seen by the frequent substitution of ai for the sound
[E], for ME „», eg Graitnay, 1598; Kailsoo, Blaeu; Fairnilee, 1599; Haitschaw,
1536.
3. ME ai and ei interchange to represent ME „¼„Ífrom OE „¼„yor ON ei, e.g.:
(a) OE gr„¸„ye-, ONb gr„s„ye-denu, ME gr„sZ -dene: Greidene, 1095-1100;
Grayden, c 1288.
(b) OE „s„y-tun: Eitun, 1095-1100; Eyton, 1253; Aytone, 1296.
(c) ON grein: Greynland, 1542; Graines, 1635.
(d) ON þveit: -thuayt, c 1218; -thweyte, 1304; /viii/ -twayt, 1317; -pheit, 1194-
1214.
4. In ONb there was no breaking of a before l plus consonant. ModSc haugh, saugh
are developments of ONb halh, salh (WS healh, sealh). ONb walh is seen in
Wauchope (No LX). Before r plus consonant „¸, a, rarely breaks in this area, e.g.
ONb færn, ærn, -wærd (in personal names).
5. In MSc al, ol are vocalised to au, ou. ME halZh > MSc hauZh; ONb ald > MSc
auld; ME hol > MSc how. An inverted form of this process frequently appears: cf
Falside for ME fāw-side.
6. OE „¸1 is e in non-West Saxon (WS) dialects. OE str„¸t > NME str„ste: Derestrete,
1150. Leitholm: Letham, 1165-1214, from OE l„¸t, ONb l„st.
7. ON au > ME ou, later o in some cases. Copland is Coupland, c 1230 from ON
kaupa-. Gowkhall (KF) contains ON gaukr.
8. OE „sa undergoes smoothing to „sbefore -h in ONb. WS h„sah, ONb h„sh > MSc
heiZ, hei, hie: cf Hielawes, 1621. WS l„sah, ONb l„sh > MSc leiZ, ley, ModSc -lie.
/ix/
iv
9. ME „¤from any source is frequently lowered to „»in ModSc, eg OE hr„}s-tun > ME
R„¤stun > Reston: ME Iliveston > Elliston. Cf PN NbDu, 257, para 10. Conversely,
ModSc „»is sometimes raised to „¤, eg Redpath: Ridpetth, Blaeu; Fenwick: Fynnik,
1547. Cf PN NbDu, 256, para 7.
10. OE „Çin NME was by the 14th century probably identified in pronunciation with Fr
„Ä. ME spellings in o, oi, give place later to MSc u, ui, eg Lombormore, c 1050
(from OE mor); Ekfurde, c 1400 (from OE ford, ME f„¯rd); Brumelandis, 1569
(from OE brom); Lammermuir, c 1485. In modern Lowland Scots dialects
pronunciation varies between [Y], [{] and [e:]. The confusion of the OE ending
-mere with OE m„¯r is caused by similarity of pronunciation (cf No XLI). OE -„¯h,
as in cl„¯h, h„¯h, pl„¯h became MSc clouch, cluZh, etc, later written as cleuch, heuch,
pleuch. Only heuch is pronounced [hju:x]: the others are [elu:x] and [plu:x]. Cf PN
YER, xxx.
11. MSc u from OE „Äshortened, is usually fronted to [I, @] in modern pronunciation,
eg Billerwell /x/ (Bullirwell, 1553); Philliphaugh (Fulhopehalche, 1317). Cf PN
NbDu, 258, para 13.
12. OE „Äbecomes ou in ME and MSc. In the modern dialects there is a tendency for
this to become „¯before liquids and nasals, eg Solway, Bonchester, Bonshaw.
13. Final -b disappears in ModSc kaim from OE camb, 1OE c„[mb. Medial -mb- is
assimilated to -mm- in Cummertrees (Cumbertres 1215-45); Lammermoor
(Lambremore, 1120).
14. MSc substitutes d, dd medially for OE ð in many cases, eg weðer > MSc wedder in
Wedderburn, Wedderlairs, etc. Early examples of this are seen in Broderstanis,
1489 and Ruderforde, 1165-88.
15. Final -f may be lost in the hill-name, The Schill, from OE sċylf. It disappears in
compounds with wulf-, eg Wolstruthir, 1506; Wowley, 1590.
16. A prosthetic h- is common in NME and MSc. This is a mere scribal device and
does not denote a dialect tendency to place an aspirate before initial vowels: cf
Hekfurde, c 1400; Hellum, c 1270. /xi/
17. MSc quh- represents OE hw-, [„¶], eg Quhit- for OE hwit-.
18. In MSc, sch- frequently replaces initial s-. The reverse process is also common, eg,
MSc buss for ME busch; MSc flass for ME flasshe.
19. Initial to- is occasionally represented as tho-, eg Thotheryg, 1550; Thorbrec, 1194-
1214.
v
20. Metathesis is a very common feature of MSc, especially with r. Brunt- for burntoccurs
frequently in place-names. A few names display elaborate metathesis in
early forms, eg Tushielaw, Annelshope.
21. Epenthesis occurs in several cases. In Rumbleton, ml > mbl; in Stantling nl may
become ntl; in Standhill nl may become ndl. 16th century spellings of Amisfield as
Hempsfeild, etc, show ms > mps (No XIX).
22. Assimilation and dissimilation are frequent. Various examples are noted in the
text.
23. Few OE grammatical case-endings are preserved. Four examples of the dative
plural in -um occur in Denholm, Whitsome, Hume and Ellem.
/xii/ Oblique endings in -an were lost in ONb and do not therefore appear in NME. Spellings
for Brunanburh and Degsastan which exhibit weak endings in -an may be due to scribes
unfamiliar with northern usage.
The MSc present participle in -and is seen only in a spelling for Trottingshaw, as
Trottandschaw, 1492.
MSc past participles in -it appear in Kippitlaw, 1557-8, and Senegideside, late 13th century,
which may represent sengit-side.
* * * * * * *
BERWICKSHIRE
CORSBIE (Grd): (81, 3A):
Crossebie, 1309 RC; Corsby (P), 1396 Rot Scac; 1441 (16th) APS; Cros- 1506-7 RMS;
Corsbie, 1556 HMC (March). This may be ODan krossa-bý, “farm of the crosses”, although
no tradition of monuments is preserved here.
