Of old men and noses
Gaelic, Norse, Brittonic? A look into the history and origins of place names in and around our area
Scottish Gaelic place names often link geographical features with body parts. Some hills were seen as round and feminine (paps, meaning ‘breasts’), and others, more sharp and rugged, are described as masculine, such as bodach, meaning ‘old man’ (from bod, the stem word for male genitalia). The Bodach is a bogeyman figure in Gaelic folklore and mythology, coming down the chimney to kidnap naughty children.
In our area there are Bodach Mor (822m) and Bodach Beag (837m) ‘the big and the little old man’, by Alladale.
Another part of the body commonly used to describe hills is sròn, meaning ‘nose’ or ‘point’. Sròn na Croiche near Rosehall marks a place of execution (from croiche, gallows). Sròn Gun Aran, near Glencalvie is the ‘point without bread’. Sròn nan Lárnachan (374 m) is a ‘central point’ near Durcha. We also find Sròn Na Saobhaidhe (543m), ‘point of the den’, south of Carn Bhrain.
