Details
Following a substantial historical introduction this book discusses every place-name on the OS Explorer (1:25000) map, as well as many other Bute place-names no longer in use. The most rigorous scholarly protocols are followed: for each place-name early forms are given, together with the contexts in which they appear. Each place-name is analysed for meaning, and these meanings are explored for what they can reveal about the island's history. In this way a picture of changes in the landscape can be built up, as well as successive changes in the languages spoken on the isalnd: from British to Gaelic, to Old Norse, to Gaelic again and finally to Scots and English.