More than one ‘Amat’
Gaelic, Norse, Brittonic? A look into the history and origins of place names in and around our area
The name Amat (Amot 1561, Almet 1643) comes from the Old Norse á-mót, meaning river-meet or confluence. In Strathcarron, this is the confluence of the rivers Carron and Blackwater.
Amat in Strathcarron has two parts: Amait nà Tuath, to the south of the Carron, meaning ‘of the husbandmen’, and to the north, Àmait na h-Eaglais, meaning ‘of the church’. There is a tradition of an old church that stood on the ‘claigionn’ (Na Claignean, ‘the skulls’) above Amat Lodge with remnants of an old graveyard near it.
We find a second Amat in the Kyle of Sutherland area at the confluence of the rivers Oykel and Einig. To differentiate it from the other ‘Amats’, this one was known as Àmait nan Cuilean, or Amat na gullan, meaning ‘of the whelps’.
Near Brora there is also an Amat, Strath-na-sealg (‘valley of hunting’), where the Blackwater and the Skinsdale rivers meet.
