Many Scottish place names have their roots in either the Gaelic, Pictish, or Norse language. Here are some examples.
Gaelic
‘Inver’ meaning meeting of the waters. Examples of these are Inverness and Inverkip.
‘Tigh’ meaning house. Examples are Tighnabruaich and Tyndrum.
‘Dun’ meaning fortress or castle. Examples are Dundee and Dunkeld.
‘Cill’ meaning chapel or church. Examples are Kildonan, Kilconquhar, Kilkenneth.
Pictish
‘Pett’ (pit) meaning portion or share. Examples are Pittenweem and Pitlochry (Some include people’s names eg Pitcarmick, Pitewan, Pitcalman or their job eg Pitskelly which means the storyteller’s share or place).
‘Carden’ meaning thicket. Examples of this are Kincardine and Urquhart.
‘Aber’ meaning river mouth. Examples are Aberdeen and Aberdour.
Norse
Norse names are mostly found round the coast as the Norse arrived by boat and stuck mostly to coastal regions.
‘dalr’ (-dale) meaning valley. Examples are Brosdale, Helmsdale, and Laxdale (2 norse words together)
‘Lax’ meaning salmon. Examples are Laxay and Laxdale, both are villages in Lewis.
‘Vik’ (wick) meaning a bay. Examples of this would be Wick , Lerwick and Uig.
‘fjord’ meaning sea- loch. Examples are Gruinart, Snizort , Collafirth , Seaforth.
Source: BBC Education Scotland
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