Thursday 15 December 2011

What`s Your Name ?


I`m looking at the dictionary of the Scots Language and trying to reconcile the images of the Forest in my head with the shapes and place-names in the OS map: a Rig seems to suggest the backbone or spine of an animal or ( well, of course ) a ridge;   a Knowe is a small rounded hill, hillock or mound;   Law - a rounded hill...particularly common in southern Scotland where "hills are variously  named according to their magnitude; as Law, Pen, Kipp etc" according to an 18th century source.
Craig - a hill or ridge with a steep rock face at one end sloping gradually towards the other [ I`d understand it if I saw it...]. 
Cleuch: a gorge or ravine with steep, rocky sides, usually the course of a stream, 
and a Shiel is a rough shelter for sheep or cattle in a remote place.
and all, save the high moorland plateau, clothed in and obscured by trees and populated by wild, shy creatures.


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