Turns and Bends

Gaelic, Norse, Brittonic? A look into the history 
and origins of place names in and around our area

By Silvia Muras

The meandering course of our rivers, creating easily recognisable landscape features, has given origin to some interesting place names. On the banks of the river Oykel we find Oape, from Old Norse meaning ‘creek’.

Further up the stream, there is Lubcroy, from the Gaelic An Lùb Chruaidh, meaning ‘the hard bend’. Cruaidh is applied to hard, stony ground, or to firm ground as opposed to bog. Across the river not far from Lubcroy we find Lub Riabhach the ‘brindled, greyish-brown bend’. Another bend to be distinguished by its colour is Lub na mèinn, ‘the bend of the irony water’. The term is applied usually where the water is marked by the rust of oxidized iron.

Lubachoinnich is a remote croft in Strath Cuileannach, four miles northwest of Croick. Lubachoinnich (or Lub-cònich) has been translated as ‘mossy bend’ or, from another source, as ‘bend of the fog’.