Excerpt from Celtic Place-Names in Aberdeenshire: With a Vocabulary of Gaelic Words, Not in Dictionaries, the Meaning and Etymology of the Gaelic Names of Places in Aberdeenshire

This book is intended to give the meaning and the etymology, so far as they can be discovered, of all the Gaelic names of the places on the six-inch Ordnance Survey maps of Aberdeenshire. Some names have been added from old books and maps. It was necessary to examine all the names on the Ordnance Survey maps, because many names which appear to be Scotch or English prove to be Gaelic in disguise. Here arc a few disguised names with their original forms and true meanings:-Gateside, Gaothach Suidhe, windy place, The Ladder, An Leitir, the hillside, Ladysford, Ath Leathan, broad ford, Dicken's Well, Tobar Deochan, well of drinks, Bull Well, Bnaile Bhaile, town at a cattlefold, Tom Anthon, Tom an Chona, hill of the cotton grass, Oily Pig, Uileann Pic, turning at a pointed rock in the sea, Skirl Naked, Sgeir Naiyhcachd, rock at which news was signalled.

Spelling.

The spelling given on the Ordnance Survey maps has been followed because it is in general use and because many of the Highland names are not found anywhere but on these maps, having been first conferred by the officers of the survey. The spelling is, however, often inaccurate. There are such errors as Derr for Derry, Fiatach for Fiaclach, Shenral for Shenval, Beinn a Bhuird for Beinn a' Bhuird, Ladie's for Lady's, Stonny Burn for Stony Burn. The word witter, meaning a surveyor's mark, has been made The Witter in a way indicating that it was thought to be the name of a place. The word Sqreuchaig, on Sheet 98, is not Gaelic, for the letter q is not in the Gaelic alphabet, and it is not English otherwise q would have been followed by u.

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