Cairngorm Place-names
The Northern Corries of Cairngorm attract many climbers throughout the winter. Most will have noticed the Gaelic place-names present on the map and may understand the meanings of the names. However, often the pronunciation offers many challenges to those unfamiliar with Gaelic.
With this in mind Comunn na Gàidhlig have recorded the place-names for all to hear and we hope you will find this resource useful.
An aspect of Gaelic which particularly affects place-names is the genetive case. Without being too technical, this is where one word related to another in a descriptive way e.g. Coire of the snow. The genetive cases however changes the spellings of the descriptive words and you need to be able to find the root in order to find it in a dictionary.
An example of this would be Coire an Lochain. Why not "..an lochan"? Well because the genetive form of "lochan" is lochain. Another is Coire an t-Sneachda, sneachda being the genitive form of "sneachda". There is a very simple pattern that can be learned to understand this.
Coire an t-Sneachda: Coire of the snow
Coire an Lochain: Coire of the lochan (small loch)
Coire a' Bhrochain: Coire of the mess, it is thought that mess refers to animal bones from when cattle used to graze on the plateau and may have fallen to their deaths from the cliffs.
Find out more about Gaelic education here
More about Comunn na Gàidhlig here
Highland park tells Gaelic origin of its names
DAVID ROSS, Highland Correspondent
The Herald, June 30 2006
Many Highland beauty spots have place names so familiar that we take them for granted, but now a booklet has been produced to explain exactly what they mean.
The Gaelic origins of names such as Balmoral, Lochnagar, Tomintoul, and many others, are spelled out in a publication produced by the
Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA).
Balmoral, for example, meant "the dwelling or township of the great clearing" to the ancient Gaels.
The park authority's colour leaflet gives residents and visitors a guide to the pronunciation and meaning of a wide selection of place names within the Cairngorms National Park.
The information has been complied by Alison Diack and James Grant from Rothiemurchus, near Aviemore.
Ms Diack said: "Take Cairngorm for example; the Gaelic is An Carn Gorm and this means the Blue Mountain.
"Lochnagar is likely to mean the Little Loch of the Noisy Sound and the River Livet – or Làomhaid to use the Gaelic – translates as the shining or flooded one."
Tomintoul is Tom an t-Sabhail in Gaelic which means the knoll of the barn; while Bellabeg – or Am Baile Beag – means the little town or village, Ms Diack added.
