Talk:Inveresk

Latest comment: 1 year ago by Gunnora in topic Etymology

Comment edit

This needs to establish what Inveresk actually is: is it a village? suburb? district? Joe D (t) 16:05, 9 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Nearby Roman remains edit

Can someone, who knows about it, stick some info and links / sources about the Roman settlements nearby? Im interested in knowing more. Thanks ΤΕΡΡΑΣΙΔΙΩΣ(Ταλκ) 22:08, 31 August 2010 (UTC)Reply

Etymology edit

Presumably it is accepted that Inveresk means the confluence of the Esk or the mouth of the Esk. The confluence of a river with the sea or a firth is synonymous with the mouth of the river. It follows, since there is no other outflow of the Esk, that it must be to the Firth of Forth. If there is a problem with the idea of confluence, the suffix of the composite name is taken from the smaller stream such as Inverurie which is the confluence of the Urie with the Don. There is no larger river such that the Esk would give its name to a confluence of rivers. Again, it must be the Firth of Forth.

Charters to Dunfermline Abbey refer to Lesser Inveresk and Greater Inveresk. It seems that the name Inveresk covered a larger area that simply the village. A confirmation charter by James II mentions Greater Inveresk with its fishings, probably a connection with the Firth. It would not be unnatural for the village beside the parish church of the district to take on the name Inveresk. 92.237.196.80 (talk) 15:44, 3 July 2012 (UTC)Reply

Does the town have to be at the exact place of the confluence? Old Inverness isn't, for example. Or the name could be transposed, for example Inverleith was an old name for Leith but is now used for a district far upstream. 77.99.107.206 (talk) 09:21, 4 July 2012 (UTC)Reply

What the place-name scholars have to say edit

A.D. Mills' A Dictionary of British Place-Names (https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofengl0000mill_u9o6) s.n. Esk has a c.1200 form, Ask, meaning "water", from British *isca. Mills also has several places in Inver-:

  • Inver (Inbhear Náile) Donegal. `Estuary of Náile'.
  • Inveran (Indreabhán) Galway. `Little estuary'.
  • Inveraray Arg. `Mouth of the River Aray'. Gaelic inbhir.
  • Invereela (Inbhear Daeile) Wicklow. `Estuary of the (river) Deel'.
  • Invergordon Highland. `Gordon's (place at the) river mouth'. Gaelic inbhir. Earlier, the place was known as Inverbreckie, `mouth of the Breckie', from Gaelic inbhir + a river name meaning `speckled' (Gaelic breac).
  • Inverkeithing Fife. Hinhirkethy c. 1057, Innerkethyin 1114. `Mouth of the Keithing Burn'. Gaelic inbhir. The river name probably means `wooded stream' (British *ceto-).
  • Inverleith Edin. Inerlet c. 1130. `Mouth of the Water of Leith'. Gaelic inbhir.
  • Inverness Highland. Invernis 1300. `Mouth of the River Ness'. Gaelic inbhir. The river has a Celtic or pre-Celtic name from a root *ned- `moist'.
  • Inverurie Aber. Inverurie 1199, Innervwry c. 1300. `Confluence of the River Urie (and Don)'. Gaelic inbhir + unexplained river name.

Victor Watts, The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names, Cambridge Univ. Press (2004) doesn't have any of the Inver- place-names, but s.n. Esk (p. 218):

River ESK An old European river n. *Eis-kā formed by a k-suffix extension of the IE root *is-/*eis- 'move swiftly, strongly'. BzN 1957.241.
(1) - Cumbr NY 3666. Esch after 1165, Ask 1194×1214, Eske [c.1205]n.d., 1279, Esk from early 14th. Cu 13, RN 152, BzN 1957.241.
(2) - Cumbr SD 1297. Esc [c.1140, 1180]n.d., Esk from c.1180, Hesk, Esch, Eske 13th cent. Cu 14, RM 151, BzN 1957.241.
(3) - NYorks NZ 7207, 8708. Esch 1109×14-[1199]15th, Esk(e) from 1204. YN 3.

Watts Refs:

  • Letter/number combos after the headword/subentry are national grid locations.
  • BzN - Beitreäge zur Namenforshung by year and page.
  • Cu - A.M. Armstrong, A. Mawer, F.M. Stenton and Bruce Dickens. The Place-Names of Cumberland, 3 vols., Cambridge 1950.
  • RN - Eilert Ekwall, English River-Names, Oxford 1928.
  • YN - A.H. Smith, The Place-Names of the North Riding of Yorkshire, Cambridge 1928.

--Gunnora (talk) 16:13, 21 October 2022 (UTC)Reply

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