Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 10.djvu/20

Rh 10 G A E in his power. This is the kind of witchcraft that has existed all along, and which has cost many poor helpless creatures their lives at the stake. T01)0gI'ﬂ1I]ly.--Ill dealing with the literature of the Ilighlands we cannot overlook the topography of the country. It to be regretted that in Scotland we have no such MS. remains, containing t0p0gl"lplllCt1l terms with their origin, as are to be found in Ireland, nor have we any work on the subject of topography possessed of the slightest authority. But we have numerous ancient charters con- taining names of places, and we have what are called the retours, connected with the succession to property through- out the country, and these contain extensive lists with the spelling adopted for the names at different periods. These names belong to different languages. There is apparently an original language, if not iuore than one, which is now lost. Without this assumption there is no accounting for many of the names applied to natural objects. Then there is the old Norse and the Anglo—Saxon, the one using wick for a bay, as iu Caithness, and the other for a town, as in Roxburghshire; theu there is the British, as in the old Strathclyde territory, and the Gaelic. The Gaelic, in its topographical distribution, does not occupy the same ﬁeld with that occupied by it as a spoken tongue. The spoken language and the topography of Galloway are quite at variance ; so with Lewis and others of the Western Isles. The spoken language of Galloway is Scottish, the topography is almost wholly Gaelic. The spoken language of Lewis, Harris, Skye, &c., is Gaelic, the topography is almost wholly old Norse. But one thing is manifest, that Gaelic names are distributed over the whole surface of Scotland, although not in equal proportions. These names contain a history, could it be evolved. They speak of races distinct and successive, although their testimony as to dates is difficult to read. The county names of Scotland in Gaelic are suggestive :— Shetland ....... .. Sialtitinn. Fife ............. .. Fm. Orkney ........ .. Arcaibh. Stirling ........ .. Sruilca:;lIz.. Caithness........ Galllhaol/h. Galloway ...... .. Galltliaobli. Sutherland Cataobh. Dumfrigs ...... .. Dmzpluis. Ross ............. .. Ros. Lanark. . . . . . . . .. Lancrclz. Cromarty. .... .. Crombadh. Argyll .......... .. Araghacl. Inverness Inbhearnaoisc. Dunibartou .... .. Dzmbhrcatuinn. Nairn ........... .. Inbhcarnarium. Bute. .......... .. Boitc. Moray .......... .. Morthaobh. Linlitligow .... .. Lamwuthaich. Banff. .......... .. Banabh. Lotliiaii, M. & E. Loudaidh. Aberdeen ..... .. Abaireadliain. Renfrew ........ .. Rcnfrcurlh. Kincardine .... .. Cinncchardainri. , Siorraiiwclzd Forfar .......... .. Farfair. - Y’ - -- Ailhar. Perth ........... .. Pcart. Kirkcndbright Cillechuibcirt. This list does not include Peeblcs (which is probably Celtic), Selkirk, Roxburgh, and Berwick, as there are no Gaelic terms for them, but in the other cases it will be seen to what an extent the county names are really Gaelic. The same is true of names of parishes, which are, to a large extent, Gaelic both in the north and in the south. It is to be observed that the Gaelic topography of Scotland differs widely from that of Ireland. The Irish sliab/L, for a mountain, rarely occurs in Scotland, where the word in use chieﬂy is beinn. It does occur, but the instances are few, while the Scottish ben is as rare in Ireland. Ba-ile, a township, is sufﬁciently frequent in Scotland, but not so much so as the Irish bally. The word strat/t, for a great valley, occurs but rarely in Ireland ; in Scotland it abounds over the whole kingdom. The abers and pits and invers of Scotland are rare in Ireland, or altogether unknown, while there is little resemblance in the names of rivers. These two systems of topography may have originated with the same people, but in one of the sections there were inﬂuences manifestly at work which were unknown in the other. Even in the Dalriadic kingdom of Argyll there are features which indicate a marked distinction between the topography LIC and that of Ireland. The study of this subject is full of interest, and is capable of producing important results both linguistic and historical. The ﬁeld is as yet unoccupied, and affords much to encourage the judicious and painstak- ing student. 1'ames of I’erso72s.—Thc literature of the Ilighl-ands may be held further to include the names of persons as well as those of places. Indeed some of the older MSS. are ﬁlled with pedigrees, sometimes of kings, sometimes of lesser persons. Many of these ascend up to Noah, and even to Adam, showing at least that they date since the conversion of the Gael to Christianity. There are several interesting genealogical lists iu the volume of transactions published by the Iona Club, and there are MSS. in the Advocates’ Library, Edinburgh, which contain several lists of a similar kind. The descent of family representatives is in these traced up to the original source, which in many cases is found among the ancient Scottish kings. The preparing and continuing of these pedigrees was one of the duties of the ancient bards and sennachies, who transmitted their knowledge of family history from generation to generation. It may be believed that these oﬁicials would have a measure of bias in favour of their own patrons, and this may have, in some cases, influenced their accounts of family history ; but, upon the whole, there seems to be a large amount of truth in what they have transmitted to us, back to a certain date. The rest is pure ﬁction. A specimen may be given, extracted from the genealogy of the family of Argyll. Genelacli mac (failin Gillespie mac (‘ailin anann mac Gillespie mac Doncli anagha mac Cailiii mac Gillespie riioidh mac Cailin oig mac Neill mac Cailin moir mac Gillcspic mac Dubgaill, &c., and so on through King Arthur up to Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God. In English this is—Tlic gcncalogy of Mac Cailin : Gillcspick. son of Colin, son of Gillespick, son of Duncan the fortunate, son of Colin, son of Gillcspick thercd, son of ('olii1 the young, son of Neil, son of Colin the great, son of Gillcspick, son of Dougal, &c. So far thc genealogy corresponds nearly with thc usual genealogies of the family historians of thc house of Argyll. Similar ptdigrces arc furnislied of most of the Iligliland clans. The names of persons among the Gaelic races are for the most part patronymic. The ﬁist name in its earlier form is usually descriptive, asD0'/mglml, Dztblzglzal, Domiachmlli, (r'ilIcs]nlI'{I,~Donald, Dougal, Duncan, Gillespick,—tlie brown man, the black man, the brown-faced man, the servant of thc bishop; often it is taken from the Scriptures, as Evin John, Scimias James, Tomas or TrrlJm.s Thomas, I’rrr(Iar Peter, &c.; some of the names conic from the Xorsc, as Tnrcuil Tor- quil, '1’0r7)iai'd Nomian, Aillaidlz Olavc, Lrnrl Lcod, and some ﬂ1'(- borrowed from the Normans, as Uillram 'illiam, L'anrm'c I lenry, &c. The surnames are for the most part patronyniics. as I-.'o1"/z Jlac 1Ycz'lI_, John the son of Neil; and in case there should be another John M‘I'cil, another stcp is introduccd, as I:'n.'n .-‘Um: Neill mhic Dhmnluzaill, and pcrhaps a third until the person is thoroughly identiﬁed. Sometimes there is a rcduplication of the sonship, as Jlac Jlhic Alastlair, Jlac J1/tic /12'Iu'u. the son of the son of Alexander or Allan, names of important Ilighlunul i-liicfs. In other cases the surname is descriptive, as Dull]: black, Enizi I/ubh Black John, Bcag little, Jlar big, Buidh yellow, Cram bent, I.’-mzdh rcd, &c., whcnce many well known Englisli namcs are derived. A large iniinbcr of llighland namcs and siiriianics arc ecclesiastical, as those derived from St John, St Coluniba, St_(‘att_an, St Bridget, and others, and thus become helps to historical inquii-_v. One thing is somewhat remarkable, that thcre is _not an 0’, in :p-i-oi-il- ance with Irish nomcnclature, among the Scottisli Celts. . The old O’Duinn of Argyle is lost, and the patronymic of the (‘clt is markcd by the uniform use of mac, representing a son, as 0 docs a grand—_ son. The age of ﬁxed family names seems no older than the agc cl charters. Previous to that patronymics innvc-rsal_ly prcvai_lcd, but when charters were taken ﬁxed _namcs were essential to their value. I’roverbs.—Froni names of persons we may pass to pro- verbs as a part, and a very curious part, of Gaelic literature. Few languages so abound iu proverbs, and proverbs of a very clever and popular caste. A llighlander seldom gives expression to an important sentiment without backing it with a proverb, and these give force and puiigency to what he says. A collection of these proverbs was made, in the