dgplacenames (now in Orkney)

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Place-names, maps, languages dgplacenames.wordpress.com auldnorse.wordpress.com/owersettins/

So far, the advanced arguments indicate that, in all probability, the four-position rule did not obtain in prehistoric verse. These should suffice to demonstrate that, as Kuryłowicz first proposed, the rules of metre are determined by language and, as a result, evolve according to linguistic history. It is possible, nonetheless, to offer what might reasonably be regarded as conclusive proof of the veracity of Kuryłowicz’s claims. One of the twelve verses from Widsið for which Weiskott postulates a relatively late terminus a quo is l. 78b, ond Wala rīċes. He maintains that this verse must have been composed only after the seventh-century loss of postconsonantal h, since the verse *ond Walha rīċes would have evinced the irregular configuration x / x / x. On a Germanic Iron Age bracteate found in Tjurko¨, Sweden (Mees 2007: 216), however, the following Proto-Norse alliterative line was carved in runes: wurte runoz | on walhakurne. 23 The off-verse not only contains the ancestor of the Old English word Wala, but also presents exactly the five-position metrical configuration that, according to Weiskott, was never produced by Old Germanic poets. Thus, Weiskott’s assumption that verse construction is static and independent from language change is demonstrably false. The existence of a five- position verse carved on an Old Germanic artefact confirms beyond reasonable doubt that metrical rules are dependent on the synchronic state of the language, as Kuryłowicz argued. Because prehistoric words like walhakurne were significantly larger than their historical counterparts, prehistoric metre allowed the composition of verses like on walhakurne, whose number of positions exceeds the limit of classical poetry.
It was upon a Lammas night, When corn rigs are bonie, Beneath the moon's unclouded light, I held awa to Annie: The time flew by, wi' tentless heed, Till 'tween the late and early; Wi' sma' persuasion she agreed, To see me thro' the barley. Corn rigs, an' barley rigs, An' corn rigs are bonie: I'll ne'er forget that happy night, Amang the rigs wi' Annie.
Map of Scottish place-names ending in knowe(s)
Map of hedgehog and hurcheon place-names in Scotland
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649. A giant and his wife lived in a cave now called the Giant’s Cave at Aldequhat. One day the giant fell asleep in his cave whilst a big kettle of fish was cooking. A man that was fishing in the loch went into the cave, found the giant asleep and his wife away. He overturned the boiling kettle over the giant’s face, and blinded him. He jumped up in his pain and tried to catch the author of his misery. It was in vain. He could not see him. He asked his name in hopes that he might in aftertimes have an opportunity of exacting justice from him. ‘I mysel’ is my name,’ was the answer. After chasing the man to no purpose he roared: ‘A’ burnt, a’ burnt.’ The roar was heard by his wife, and she called back: ‘Quha did it? Quha did it?’ He answered: ‘I mysel’ did it.’ Her reply was: ‘I thysel’ can blaw thysel’.’ The man, dreading the wife’s return, meantime made his escape from the cave with all speed, mounted his horse and fled, as the wife was coming to the cave. When she found out what had taken place, she set out in pursuit of the man that had done the evil deed. It was a hard race, but she overtook him. She seized the horse by the tail. The man turned round in the saddle and struck out with his sword and cut off her arm, and so escaped.
Welcome to your NEW British Newspaper Archive which has been quietly but meaningfully evolving. This new site is less about surface‑level changes and more about reshaping how research actually works, from the first search to long‑term projects built over time.
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The River Annan: A Rich History The name Annan has a long, meandering history that flows in and out of languages. 1300 years ago, in northern Italy, an anonymous cleric compiled a list of 5000 places from Ireland through to India. This sprawling collection of names is known as the Ravenna Cosmography, after the city it was written in. In the British section of the text, among a list of rivers, we find the name ANAVA. This is almost certainly an early form of Annan. Although written in c. 700 CE, the Ravenna Cosmography used sources from the Roman period, and it is to this time that we can date the name ANAVA. Similar forms of the name appear elsewhere in the Roman world – on a tablet from Vindolanda and an inscription in Foligno, Italy which commemorates a prefect of the ‘Anavionensian Britons’. At this time, the people around the River Annan were speaking an early Celtic language, in which Anawa was the name of a goddess associated with riches and prosperity. Rivers named after goddesses are common in Celtic speaking regions. We only need to travel as far as the River Dee in Kirkcudbrightshire to find a parallel. This river takes its name from the goddess Deva. However, it is possible that rather than being named directly after a deity, the Annan originally meant something like ‘the one that enriches’, formed from the same root as the name of the goddess. Either way, it is an ancient name. Major landscape features like large rivers tend to keep the same name for hundreds and sometimes thousands of years. Newcomers to an area adopt the local name and adapt it to the sounds of their language, rather than coining something new. As it has flowed down to the Solway, the Annan has collected many of the languages that have been spoken by its banks. Over a thousand years ago, a Celtic language closely related to Welsh was spoken here. Its word for valley (almost the same as Welsh ystrad) is found in Estrahanent ‘Annan valley’, recorded in 1124. The Gaelic form of this w…
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4.2.3 Parasiting ‘Parasiting’ is an odd term for what is more usually called epenthesis or svarab- hakti: the insertion of an intrusive vowel. In Old English, the loss of many Proto-Germanic endings had left a number of words ending in -CR sequences, where a final resonant followed a consonant of lower sonority: *wintruz > *wintru > *wintr. At some point, vowels were introduced (or the resonants were made syllabic – the phonetics are not perfectly clear) to create smoother sonority contours, giving forms like disyllabic OE winter. Here we again find older, non-syllabic forms alongside forms with the new ‘parasite’ vowel: (45) wæl-fāgne winte r ‘slaughter-stained winter’ (Beo 1128a) (46) winia bealdor ‘lord of friends’ (Beo 2567a)
Unlike other Romance languages such as French or Spanish, Occitan does not have a single written standard form, nor does it have official status in France, home to most of its speakers. Instead, there are competing norms for writing Occitan, some of which attempt to be pan-dialectal, whereas others are based on a particular dialect. These efforts are hindered by the rapidly declining use of Occitan as a spoken language in much of southern France, as well as by the significant differences in phonology and vocabulary among different Occitan dialects.
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Distribution map of burn and allt in Scottish place-names
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BBC Alba is to screen nightly live coverage and highlights throughout the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games. The Gaelic broadcaster will be the only place on the BBC where viewers can watch events after TNT Sports secured the rights to be the Games' live UK broadcast partner. The subscription channel outbid the BBC, which had been the main partner and provided free-to-air coverage since 1954 for 18 Games in a row.
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In modern colloquial usage a occurs before a vowel as well as before a consonant in most of the dialects, although this does not appear to any large extent in literature, probably through the influence of Standard English usage. This tendency dates from an early period, and occasionally shows itself in earlier literature and local records. Sh.(D) 1922 Jas. Inkster Mansie's Röd 10: Doo's aye in a aet ta git news, an' as kibbie tae tell hit. Mry.(D) 1897 J. Mackinnon Braefoot Sketches 62: "Hae here's a aipple tae ye 'cause ye're a gweed laddie," said Betty. m.Sc. 1927 J. Buchan Witchwood 33: It's a unco thing the Wud, Mr Sempill, sir? Gall.(D) 1901 Trotter Gall. Gossip 3: This wus a Insurance Company wantin' him tae gang tae Palnure tae examine aul' Doctor Agnew.
Goots (ready for Fall 🍁) ‪@eisforenkidu.bsky.social‬ I find it very interesting that "dispersed" and "disbursed" are pronounced the same.
The Markets ... Standard Office, January 10th, half-past 2 p.m. Cattle.—There were few cattle on the Sands to-dayonly 2 Ayrshire cows and ditto queys, and 1 Galloway cow. Only one was sold when we left the market. Pigs There were pigs the market, and selling from 6s. to 10s ... Published: Wednesday 10 January 1844 Newspaper: Dumfries and Galloway Standard County: Dumfriesshire, Scotland Type: Article | Words: 2288 | Page: 4 | Tags: none
Haiti and Turkey have already gone out of the tournament because of the change. Both sides are only three points behind the third-placed teams in their respective groups - but are now unable to catch them because they were beaten by them. And the change is already being felt, with Haiti and Turkey both going out of the World Cup despite only being three points behind the team in third - because they have both lost to that team.
(Note 1) Sad as I would be to bid farewell to Moscow, Ayrshire, as a Celtic place-name, it has to be admitted that there is not a great deal of evidence for this settlement existing before the 19th century, and there are traditions suggesting it was named for the burning of Moscow in 1812 during the Napoleonic war (see OSNB, for instance https://scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/digital-volumes/ordnance-survey-name-books/ayrshire-os-name-books-1855-1857/ayrshire-volume-33/39 ). On the other hand, the local pronunciation is not MOScow, but MosCOW, which may still suggest it had an older origin. There may be a local parallel, Mossculloch in Kilwinning parish, which is recorded as Moscolheugh in 1661. I would understand that as *Moscoll-heugh, that is, implying an existing name *Mos Coll, but there are other ways to interpret the name
Map showing places named Waterloo in Scotland
Poetry. THE SHEPHERD'S HAME. "Where waving birks and hazels throw Their shadows o'er the burn." It reeks fu' snugly 'mang the broom,  Wi' kail-yard neat as ony, Where rife the mountain ash doth bloom,  An' brakens curl bonny. Upon the dyke gleg colly lies,  To tell when aught comes near us; Bauld chanticleer the gled defies—  And there's nought else to steer us. So here, amang the muirs and woods,  Wi' the braid loch beside us, Far, far frae noisy towns wi' crowds,  Sound health an joy betide us.
. Proverbial sayings: (1) the deil (may) claw the clungest, an expression used by one who has just made or is about to make a hearty meal; (2) ye'll never claw an auld man's heid (pow), you will not live to a ripe old age (Sc. 1825 Jam.2, — pow; Ags.11927; Fif.10, Lnk.3, Kcb.9 1937); lang may ye clow [your] pow, long may you live.
2. ppl.adj. (1) Shrivelled, contracted through the action of heat, disease, etc.; lean, thin (Sh. 1914 Angus Gl., klung); “of woodwork: shrunk, as after being fixed up when imperfectly dried” (ne.Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.). Abd.15 1925: She wis leukin fell clung fin Aw saw her: Aw'm sweer te think she wis i the wye [pregnant]. (2) Shrunken with hunger, hungry (Bnff.2, Abd.19, Fif.10 1936). Superl. clungest.
Screenshot from BNA
Lyrics of Flower o Scotland on big screen during Scotland v Haiti
LIONEL HUTZ WORKS ON CONTINGENCY? NO, MONEY DOWN!
Puffin wearing Scotland hat and bunting
GRUNK, GRINK, n., v. [grʌŋk, grɪ-] I. n. 1. A grunt, of a pig, of a person straining at work, e.g. when lifting a heavy weight (Ork. 1929 Marw.). 2. Transf. A pig, a glutton. Lnk. 1840 in J. G. Wilson Poets and Poetry Scot. 385: Some greedy grunks wi' menseless maws Took mair than nature wanted. II. v. To grunt, “to make an oppressed sound” (Ork. 1922 J. Firth Reminisc. 151, grink, Ork. 1955). Ork. 1929 Marw.: Thoo're grinkan at it, Wullo! Ork.1 1950: The paddie's grunkin i' the stye. [Imit. Cf. Norw. dial. grunk, a dark utterance, a hint, grunka, v., and grunk(le) s.v. Gruntle.]
DUMFRIES.—A CORMORANT HUNT.— On Thursday morning, shortly after daylight, a cormorant was observed swimming about on the Nith between the two bridges. It was evidently a wounded bird, as it made no attempt to fly, and its diving movements were not so sprightly as those of one possessed of all its faculties. During the whole forenoon it afforded the liveliest satisfaction to a crowd of boys and men, who pelted the poor bird with stones until nearly all the loose 'Macadam' of the adjoining streets was used up. Its expertness in diving before the stones came near it was the cause of much wondering admiration. From one side of the water to the other and back again, and from the Old Bridge to near Stakeford, the bird was kept swimming and diving to avoid the vast quantity of missiles flung at it from every point. But it escaped from its numerous foes, when about one o'clock it bethought itself of trying a run down the river. Getting over the Caul in safety, it was rapidly borne down on the current, and would doubtless soon reach a place of refuge.
BRECKAN, BRECKEN, Brecan, Breaken, Brechan, n. Sc. variants of Eng. bracken. The name is given to any large and coarse kind of fern, gen. Pteris aquilina. The word is often used in the sing. in a collective sense. Also used attrib. [brɛkŋ, ′brɛkən]
Open the door, James Douglas, or it will be worse for you,” cried Satan, battering at the door with his cloven foot; “if you don't come instantly, I'll burst it open and fetch you.” But not a word spoke Douglas, who continued his music. Then came a dreadful brainge against the door, which was burst from its hinges; but the barricade at its back prevented its opening sufficiently to allow Satan to enter. Another brainge, and another, and another, till the kist crashed, and the benches broke, and the barri-
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AI flyer for Annan The History Town with approximation of the name as given in body of post
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A cyan field with a white shell in the center.