Home      Catalogue      Order      About Place Names of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland Alexander MacBain ISBN 9780902664098 Paperback  448 pages   Published 20 February 2003    UK Price £24.95    US Price $35.00    "In dealing with place-names in general, Dr Macbain's method was first to make sure of the actual pronunciation in Gaelic, and then to compare the old written forms of the names when such are available. He also paid attention to the physical characteristics in cases where theremight be more than one possible explanation. In the case of Idrigill, for instance, I remember how he learned first that there is no "gill' there, and then that there is a knob-like hill at the extremity next the sea. This is, of course, the only scientific way of treating the subject. He was not always right, and in the papers that follow it will be seen that he changed his views in particular instances; but he was on the right lines. Sometimes he was misled by wrong information: this is most notable in his paper on Sutherland. The present volume contains practically all that Macbain printed on the subject of Place-Names." From the Introduction, by William J. Watson. First published by Eneas Mackay, Stirling in 1922. View the book Index

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