The Gaelic origins of place names in Britain (2024)

If you have ever wondered how many of the places in Scotland got their names, this extensive list of terms, along with pronunciation, is here to help.

Scottish Gaelic today is strongly associated with the Scottish Highlands, especially the Western Isles, and it is easy to forget that it was once the main language of Scotland. About a thousand years ago, when Gaelic was at its height, it could be heard from Berwickshire to Caithness and from Cape Wrath to the Rhinns of Galloway. It has left its mark above all else, in place names, even in areas including much of lowland Scotland, where it has been little spoken since the middle ages. It has left us with thousands of familiar place names containing scores of Gaelic elements, such as Auch‑ from achadh, Auchter‑ from uachdar, Bal‑ from baile, Dun‑ from dùn, Inver‑ from inbhir, Kin‑ from ceann, and Kil‑ usually from cill or coille.

On the Ordnance Survey maps of Scotland you will find two types of names: those written using English spelling and those using Gaelic spelling (orthography). This does not reflect the extent of place names derived from Gaelic, which are to be found throughout most of Scotland, but rather it reflects the areas in which Gaelic was, or had recently been, spoken at the time of the creation of the Ordnance Survey maps in the 19th century. The accompanying glossary is concerned only with those names written in Gaelic orthography. The initial form given in the glossary is the main form of that word in the Gaelic‑Gaelic dictionary Brìgh nam Facal by Richard A V Cox (Gairm Publications, Glasgow 1991).

Place names are made up of elements, words taken mostly from everyday language used to describe a special feature of a place. Place names arise from the interaction of language and environment.

Place names can consist of a single generic element, usually a noun (Comar NH3331, Corran NS2193). These are often preceded by the Scottish Standard English definite article ’the’, Gaelic an, am, a’, plural na (An Dùnan NM8629, Am Fasgadh NN0169, A’ Charraig NR8467, Na Croitean NM3721). Most place names, however, are made up of more than one element, with a linguistic relationship between the elements. For example, the generic can be qualified by:

The element qualifying a generic element is called a qualifying or specific element. An element can be generic or specific, depending on how it is used in a name. For example, in Eilean Dubh NC2409 eilean is the generic, dubh is the specific element; whereas in Loch an Eilein NR7980 loch is the generic, an t‑eilean (’the island’) is the specific element.

In Gaelic an adjective usually follows its noun, as in French, for example, Creag Bhàn, Beinn Fhada, except for sean(n) (’old’), which regularly comes before its noun. Other adjectives, especially colour adjectives, can sometimes come after, sometimes before their noun, for example, Coire Glas NO2587 but Glas‑Choire NS1598.

Gaelic spelling is more regular than English spelling, which means that it reflects more accurately the actual sounds of the language. It should be stressed, however, that the sound system of Gaelic is different from Standard English (Received Pronunciation), Scottish Standard English, Scots, or any of the Scottish or English dialects, except for the so‑called West Highland accent, which has been heavily influenced by Gaelic. There are, however, more similarities with Scottish Standard English than with Standard English (Received Pronunciation), so most of the examples below are taken from Scottish Standard English. Modern Gaelic spelling recommendations are embodied in the Gaelic Orthographic Conventions that are available online atsqa.org.uk.

Gaelic uses an alphabet of 18 letters, namely a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, l, m, n, o, p, r, s, t, u. A major feature of the Gaelic spelling system is the concept of broad and slender vowels, which are also referred to as back and front vowels. The broad or back vowels are a, o, u, the slender or front vowels are e, i. The pronunciation of most consonants is different depending on whether they are beside a broad vowel or a slender vowel. For this reason a consonant or group of consonants in the middle of a word must have either a broad vowel on either side or a slender vowel on either side.

All vowels can be long or short, with length being indicated by a grave accent ( ’ ). Formerly acute accents ( ´ ) were used on e and o to indicate not only length (quantity) but also quality, with è pronounced like a long French è (as in Scottish English cortege), and é pronounced like a long French é (as in Scottish English bay); while ò was pronounced like Scottish English awe, and ó like Scottish English owe. However, the acute accent ( ´ ) has been abandoned in modern spelling recommendations so that the grave accent ( ’ ) now indicates length only.

These modern spelling recommendations also explain why forms formerly written with u in unstressed syllables such as calltuinn, camus, tarsuinn, are now written with a, calltainn, camas, tarsainn.

What follows is only a rough approximation of sounds. Remember that the English words given as equivalents are to be pronounced more like Scottish Standard English than Standard English (received pronunciation), unless otherwise stated.

Most groups of two or three vowels are pronounced much as would be expected, that is as separate sounds rapidly following one another. However, often one of the vowels is there simply to indicate whether a consonant is broad or slender, for example, in fearann the a following the e indicates that the r is broad, so that ea is pronounced simply as e (as in ’get’). However, note the following:

This is not a complete or exact description of how each consonant or group of consonants are pronounced. However, those that are most unfamiliar to someone used to the English spelling system are given below, with their approximate English value:

The following is not a full description of Gaelic grammar. However, in order to use the Elements Index it is important to know a little about these things. A full description can be found in any book for Gaelic learners, sources for which are given in the further information section.

Certain regular changes take place in Gaelic in nouns, adjectives and the definite article, depending on such grammatical features as gender (masculine or feminine), number (singular or plural), and case (nominative, genitive, dative). All Gaelic nouns are either masculine or feminine, and it will become clear that it is important to know what gender a noun belongs to. Some nouns, however, are used in masculine and feminine forms depending on local usage. They are marked nmf in the glossary. The genitive case indicates possession, as indicated in English by ’of the’.

‘The’ is the only form of the definite article in English. However, as with most other European languages, Gaelic has several forms, depending on number, gender and case, as well as on the initial letter or letters of the following noun.

The forms of the definite article with singular nouns can be summarised in this table:

The forms of the definite article with plural nouns can be summarised in this table:

Gaelic is a Celtic language and, as in other Celtic languages such as Irish and Welsh, the consonants at the beginning of words can change according to gender, number and case. In Gaelic this is called lenition, meaning literally ’softening’, and it is usually signalled by putting the letter h after the lenited or softened consonant.

The initial consonants that are affected by lenition by the addition of an h are b, c, d, f, g, m, p, s, t. The consonants l, n, r can also be affected by lenition, but this is not expressed in the spelling.

Place names are made up of components which are referred to as elements. These elements are simply the words people used to describe a place or their response to their environment. A more complete background to Scottish Gaelic in place names, pronunciation and spelling can be found preceding Introduction.

This is a glossary of the elements from Scottish Gaelic most frequently found in the place names of Britain. The meaning given is that which occurs in place names. Examples (with grid references) are given for each element. The forms of names given in these examples are as they currently appear on Ordnance Survey maps, which in some cases do not conform to current Gaelic conventions.

There are usually three forms given for each noun: the first form is the basic form, called the nominative singular; the second form is the genitive singular; while the third form is the plural.

Early in the 20th century, Ordnance Survey issued a small pamphlet, The most common Gaelic words used on the Ordnance Survey Maps, for use with the one‑inch maps of Scotland. In 1935, the Board of Celtic Studies and the University of Wales compiled a similar booklet, The most common Welsh words used on the Ordnance Survey Maps, for use with maps of Wales. This was reprinted in 1949.

Later it was decided to increase the scope of the Gaelic names pamphlet, so the Scottish Geographical Society undertook a complete recompilation and published an enlarged edition in 1951 which included a list of Scandinavian elements used in Scottish place names. In 1968, Ordnance Survey produced an A5 booklet, Place names on maps of Scotland and Wales, which combined revised versions of both earlier publications. The booklet underwent several reprints, with the last reprint published in 1995.

In the booklet, Ordnance Survey thanked Dr W F H Nicolaisen of the University of Edinburgh’s School of Scottish Studies for his advice on the Gaelic and Scandinavian elements, William Matheson, senior lecturer in the Department of Celtic Studies at the University of Edinburgh for the revised guide to Gaelic pronunciation, and the Board of Celtic Studies of the University of Wales for their help with the Welsh glossary.

In 2003, Ordnance Survey decided to update the content of the booklet, to extend the coverage to include the Scots language, and to publish the revised information electronically as a series of web pages. The resulting series of Guides, of which this is one, were published in 2004, with minor revisions to the Gaelic Guide in 2005, and was republished on GetOutside in 2019. They are not the definitive work on language influences in place names in Great Britain, but more a guide to common elements arising from Gaelic, Scandinavian, Scots and Welsh.

Ordnance Survey has benefited from the skill and expertise of various experts in reviewing the previous material and preparing these Guides. In the case of the Welsh section they are Professor Hywel Wyn Owen and Gruffudd Prys of the University of Wales in Bangor. For the Gaelic, Scots and Scandinavian sections they are Dr Anke‑Beate Stahl, Dr Simon Taylor, Peadar Morgan and the Gaelic Names Liaison Committee.

Top image: Amhuinnsuidhe(river shelf or ledge)Castle on Harris, Outer Hebrides, © Peter Moore, used under Creative Commons Licence via theGeograph project.

Ordnance Survey has a Gaelic names policy relating to the use and depiction of Gaelic names on their mapping and other products. Full details can be found onGaelic Names Policies page.

Gaelic books and books and cassettes for Gaelic learners can be ordered through the web site of Comhairle nan Leabhraichean/The Gaelic Books Council (gaelicbooks.org). Information on various Gaelic‑language clubs, classes and courses around Scotland and beyond can be found on the web site of Clì Gàidhlig, the membership organisation for Gaelic learners and non‑native speakers

Details of books on Scottish place names can be found on the web site of the Scottish Place‑Name Society/Comann Ainmean‑Àite na h‑Alba atspns.org.uk

Gaelic Orthographic Conventions (2005), Scottish Qualifications Authority. Available on the web atsqa.org.uk