River pools
Gaelic, Norse, Brittonic? A look into the history and origins of place names in and around our area
Poll Cròm is a fishing pool on the river Einig, close to its junction with the river Oykel. Its name means ‘crooked pool’.
About 3/8 of a mile further up we find Poll na cruinne, a deep pool meaning ‘pool of the circularity or roundness’, and a mile and a half from its junction with the Oykel, Pollag Shamhach, meaning ‘calm pool’.
W. J. Watson tells us that Einig (Ayneck) might come from ean, Brittonic for ‘water’, then eanach, ‘a marsh’.
There are also many pools with interesting names on the river Carron: Poll na muic, ‘sow’s pool’, opposite Gledfield; Poll a’ chapuill, ‘horse pool’, near Braelangwell; Linne sgàinne, ‘pool of the burst’, a large dam-like pool opposite Dounie; Poll an donnaidh, ‘pool of the mishap’; Poll an t-slugaid, ‘pool of the gulp or swallow’; and Poll-mòral, with suggested origins from the word mòral, ‘majestic, noble’. The name is fitting since this is one of the largest pools on the river.
