ONlwSG

lòn m.

Feminine in M^cAlpine 1832, so also MacLennan 1925. Further, Ailein Dughalach (1829, 155) has a feminine dative form in Mar shneachd air lòin [‘like snow upon a lòn’], which is quoted in McDonald 1972, whose own (South Uist) lòn has the sense ‘meadow’. An Dughalach’s phrase is a metaphor for the smooth skin of the subject of his elegy, Iain Camshron Fear Challart (for the location, cf. OS 1843–82 Callert House NN091603, on the north shore of Loch Leven), but quite what lòn meant to the poet, who was born (c. 1750) and raised in Glencoe, is unknown. An Dughalach moved to Inverlochy in 1790 and from there to Glengarry, where he remained until his death in 1829 (DASG); lòn is recorded for Glengarry in the sense ‘bog’ (Dieckhoff 1932).

[ɫ̪ɔ̃ːn], 

With open ō, indicated by [ɔː], /ɔː/ or ò, in Mac Farlan 1795; MacFarlane 1815; Armstrong 1825; HSS 1828; MacEachen 1842; MacBain 1911; MacLennan 1925; Dieckhoff 1932: Glengarry; McDonald 1972: South Uist; Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄: Lewis, Harris, Skye, Tiree, Assynt; Oftedal 1980, 173; Ó Murchú 1989, 367, Perthshire; Cox 2002a 337.3014, Lewis; and AFB^˄.

[ɫ̪õːn], 

With close ō, indicated by [oː], /oː/ or ó, in MacDomhnuill 1741: Ardnamurchan; Dwelly 1911; Borgstrøm 1941, 21: Skye; Holmer 1962, 9 §11: Kintyre; LASID IV, 216 Item 863: Kintyre, 227: Mid-Argyll, 276 Item 588: Sutherland; Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄: Coigach; Wentworth 2003a, s.vv. meadow, marsh, bog: Gairloch.

gen. lòin, 

But gen. lòna in LASID IV, 227: Mid-Argyll, but in this case lòn may have a different origin (see I + ‍fn 17, below).

in the senses ‘(Argyll) marsh, mud, meadow; (Skye) water’ is derived by MacBain (1911) from *lut-no-, from the root lut ‘muddy’, comparing OG loth ‘mud’ and Lat. lutum ‘idem’, or from *louno-, with the same root; he also compares EG conluan [sic] ‘hounds’ excrement’. Similarly, Nicolaisen (1958) argues that, while there are 30 place-names on the 1 inch OS map for Skye (and 1 in Sutherland) where lòn has the sense ‘(slow-moving) burn’, its original meaning was ‘marsh, mud, meadow’, a fact (most probably based upon MacBain’s own definition of lòn) supposedly borne out by the few place-names in Skye denoting marshy areas; and that in the sense ‘marsh etc.’ the word is probably connected with EG con-luan [sic] ‘hounds’ excrement’ 

eDIL^˄, s.v. conlón, conlúan, suggests a derivation from either EG cú ‘dog’ + lón ‘fat; provisions, food etc.’ or lón ‘haunch, rump, buttock; hip’.

and (after Pokorny 1954 [= 1959 II], 681) Bret. louan ‘sale [= Fr. sale “dirty”]’, from *lut-no- or *lou-no-, from the root *leu- ‘dirt, to dirty’, for which he draws from MacBain and Pokorny. On the other hand, lòn is derived by Oftedal (1980, 173: ‘marsh, small lake’) and Cox (1991, 492; 2002a, 337.3014: ‘pool’) from ON lón f. ‘pool, quiet stretch of water in a river’ (NO).

McDonald (2009, 383) considers an Old Norse loan likely, although he cites ON lón ‘inlet, sea loch’, cf. ON lón nt. ‘calm, sheltered bay; coastal water’ (NO) and OIce. lón nt. ‘inlet, sea loch’ (Cleasby 1874), ‘lagoon, inlet’ (Zoëga 1910).

I. ON lón > SG lòn; MScots lone > SG lòn
Against the proposition that SG lòn is of native origin is the absence of an Irish equivalent: O’Reilly’s (1817) Irish dictionary’s lón ‘marsh, pond, morass, meadow’ is no doubt adopted from Shaw’s (1780: ‘marsh, pond, morass’) and Mac Farlan’s (1795: ‘meadow, marsh’) Scottish Gaelic dictionaries.

For PNIM’s (III, 53, s.v. The Lawn) ≈‘Ir. lón “meadow, lawn, small brook, especially with marshy banks, marsh, morass, pond, lakelet, water, mud” (Dwelly 1911)’, leg. SG lòn etc. NB Ir. lón in for example Lón Thoir (Eng. Eastlone, Co. Tipperary) is taken to be from Eng. dial. loan ‘lane’ (logainm.ie), cf. ‍fn 17, below.

On the other hand, ON lón would be expected to yield [ɫ̪ɔ̃ːn] or [ɫ̪õːn] regularly in Scottish Gaelic, according to dialect (cf. EG srón ‘nostril; nose’ > SG sròn; SGDS Item 801: mo shròn). The Old Norse senses ‘pool, quiet stretch of water in a river’ are mirrored in the Scottish Gaelic senses ‘pool, pond, small lake, lakelet, (pool of) water’ (recorded for Lewis, Skye, Tiree and Islay 

Lewis: Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄; Cox 2002a 337.3014; Skye: MacBain 1911; Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄; Tiree: Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄; Islay: Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄; Grant 1987 I, 203.

). This is extended on the one hand to ‘a small stream (esp. with marshy banks)’ (Skye 

Dwelly 1911; Borgstrøm 1941, 21; Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄.

), and on the other to ‘marsh, morass or low-lying land’ (Skye, Sutherland, Gairloch, Argyll, Kintyre 

Skye: Borgstrøm 1941, 21; Sutherland: LASID IV, 276; Gairloch: Wentworth 2003a; Argyll: MacBain 1911; Kintyre: Holmer 1962, 9 §11.

), ‘bog’ (Harris, Coigach, Gairloch, Perthshire 

Harris: Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄; Coigach: ibid.; Gairloch: Wentworth 2003a; Perthshire: M^c Pharson 1812, 10: ≈‘bog: bogs are soft meadows “lon: tha londinn na miadanan bog” ’.

), ‘quagmire’ (Assynt, Durness 

Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄.

) and ‘mud’ (Argyll, Kintyre 

Argyll: MacBain 1911; Kintyre: LASID IV, 216.

), and further to ‘meadow’ (South Uist, Gairloch, Argyll 

South Uist: McDonald 1972; Gairloch: Wentworth 2003a; Argyll: MacBain 1911.

), although here there may be a degree of conflation in some areas with SG lòn in the senses ‘lawn, the flat area in front of a house’ (Mid-Argyll, Perthshire 

Mid-Argyll: LASID IV, 227; Perthshire: Ó Murchú 1989, 367.

) and ‘farmyard’ (Kintyre 

Holmer 1962, 9 §11.

), senses which probably go back to MScots lone (Scots loan).

MScots lone ‘a green cattle-track or grassy by-road, commonly diked in, as a passage for animals through arable land, park or orchard land or the like; frequently, a grassy strip leading to a pasture or other open ground, beginning at or near a farm, village or burgh as a green where the cattle were milked’ (DOST^˄), cf. Scots loan ‘an unpaved or grassy track for livestock (leading to common grazing); a lane, street or road; a farm roadway leading to the farmhouse; the ground adjoining a farmhouse’ (CSD2). OEng. lane ‘a lane, a narrow and bounded path, a street in a town’ (Bosworth Toller^˄) yields MEng. lāne, lōne (MED^˄), with open-syllable lengthening (Brook 1975, 21), which in turn yields MScots lone /oː/ (Aitken 2002, 78 §14.5(1)). (Eng. lawn ‘an open space between woods, glade; a stretch of untilled ground, an extent of grass-covered land; a portion of a garden or pleasure-ground, covered with grass, which is kept closely mown’ (< laund < OFr. launde (OED^˄)), is probably not applicable here.)

II. ON lón > Mx lhane, SG (Galloway) *lèan; SG (Galloway) *lèan > Scots lane 

Place-name elements incorporating the forms lain, land, lan(e) and lan(n)i(e) in Maxwell’s (1887) Topography of Galloway are derived from a number of sources: (1) SG linn ‘pool’: 104 Càmelon Lane; (2) SG leathann ‘broad’: 50 Aìryland, 59 Auchlàne; 289 Slewlàn; 304 Torlàne (for the last three, see also Ó Maolalaigh 2022b, 336); (3) SG lèana (see III, below): 97 Broòklands; 235 Laniewèe and Lannigòre; and (4) Scots lane ‘stream’ (this section), e.g. 83 Bàzard Lane, 92 Bògrie (Boggrie Lane), 110 Carroch Lane, 234 Lainchàlloch (although Ó Maolalaigh ibid., 350, suggests SG lèana) and 235 Lane Burn.


For the south-west of Scotland, SND^˄ notes that Scots lane (CSD2: /len/) has the senses ‘slow-moving, meandering stream or its bed’; that it is found as the first element in some Galloway place-names, e.g. Lanebreddan, Lanemannoch, Laniewee; and that it derives from SG lèan, Ir. léana ‘a marshy meadow, a piece of ground with a soft, wet bottom’ (see III, below), with the proviso that the semantic development may have been influenced by Eng. lane, an etymology broadly accepted by Nicolaisen (1962), DOST^˄ and Place-Names of the Galloway Glens^˄. Nicolaisen argues that the semantic development from ‘marsh’ → ‘small (sluggish) stream’ must have taken place within Gaelic itself, before borrowing into Scots, but that when borrowed it was equated phonemically with Eng. lane. On the other hand, Maxwell (1887, 235, s.v. Lane Burn) derives Scots lane from Ice. lón ‘inlet, sea loch’ (‍fn 6, above) or lœna [leg. læna] ‘hollow place, vale’ (cf. Cleasby 1874), while Ansell (2022, 193–94) takes it to be a Scots borrowing of SG lòn.

Nicolaisen cites name forms such as Beoch Lane NS527116, Auchencairn Lane NX807518 and Carsphairn Lane NX522974: these are evidently Scots creations using a Scots word lane in the sense ‘stream’ as generic. Those cited by SND, however, are evidently Gaelic creations, albeit they are now part of a Scots nomenclature, and despite Maxwell’s (1887, 235) analysis of Loop of Lanebrèddan (his grave accent indicating primary stress) NX483800 and Lanemànnoch NX526882 as containing Scots lane ‘stream’ (the former with SG bradan ‘salmon’, the latter with SG manach ‘monk’ or meadhanach ‘mid-, middle’; for Laniewee, see below).

Scots lane is indeed likely to derive from Gaelic, although the Gaelic etymon is probably not SG lèana but the Galloway Gaelic reflex of ON lón. While there is apparently no equivalent of SG lòn in Irish, there is in Manx, possibly both as an Old Norse loan-word, lhane, 

After Moore 1924, s.v. lhen; spelt lhen in Kelly 1991. In either spelling, h is redundant (Lewin 2019, 76 §1.6.4.7).

and as one or more Old Norse loan-names that as onomastic units have since been employed in the creation of further place-names (see PNIM II, 187, s.v. Killane et al., III, 63, s.v. Lhaane, 146–47, s.v. Lhen et al., 249, s.v. Knock a Carlane; see also Marstrander 1932, 231–33, 262, 268). ON ó yields EG ó, which yields Mx /eː/, although this often shortens in Late Manx (19th–20th centuries) (Jackson 1955, 41–42; Broderick 1984 III, 134).

EG ó yields either /o(ː)/, /e(ː)/ or /u(ː)/ in Late Manx (Jackson ibid.; Broderick ibid.); the development of original ō yielding ā (ultimately yielding ē) began before the beginning of written Manx (Jackson ibid.), the earliest surviving Manx text being the Bishop John Phillips Prayer Book of 1610. For the possibility that ON lón may also survive with /oː/ in Manx, see PNIM III, 53, s.v. The Lawn.

On the premise that dialectically the Gaelic of the Isle of Man and the Gaelic of Galloway shared a number features (cf. Ó Maolalaigh 2022b, 370–71), ON lón may have been borrowed into the Gaelic of Galloway with a reflex (*lèan) similar to that found in Manx; subsequently, the Galloway Gaelic reflex is borrowed into Scots, yielding MScots /eː/, yielding modern Scots /e/ (SVLR-short 

I.e. in SVLR-short environments; for the Scottish Vowel-Length Rule, see Aitken 2002, 123–30: 125.

); cf. Moore’s (1924) Anglo-Manx lhen ≈‘[ljen] (Mx lhane) is in the Isle of Man used only of the Lhen trench which drains part of the Curragh in the north-west of the Island. The place where the Lhenn [sic] debouches into the sea is called the Lhen-vuirr. The word lane has in parts of Scotland the meaning of “a slowly moving stream”, and this is exactly what the Lhen is.’ However, in the absence of corroborating evidence for a development of original ō to ē in Galloway, we may have to assume that Galloway Gaelic *lèan is a loan from Manx.

III. SG lèana > Scots *lenie, *lanie
The stressed vowel of EG lénae ‘meadowland’ (eDIL^˄; Ir. léana 

Armstrong (1825) cites Ir. lean [sic] and MacLennan (1925) Ir. lian, but these forms seem unfounded.

) yields [eː], [ɛː] or, with breaking in more northerly and westerly dialects, [ia] (Jackson 1968, 65–71; Cox 2017, 7 fn 20) in Scottish Gaelic, hence [lˊɛːnə] (Holmer 1962, 69: Kintyre), dim. lèanag [ljɛːnak] (Holmer 1938, 183: Islay), /ˈʎeːnɑk/ (Grant 1987 I, 202: idem), but /ʟˊĩɑ̃nə/ (Oftedal 1956, 94: Lewis), cf. EG bél ‘lip; mouth’ > SG beul /pɛːɫ/ (Grant 1987 I, 86: Islay), /biɑL/ (Oftedal 1956, 94: Lewis) (see also SGDS Item 97: beul).

Today, the usual form of the Scottish Gaelic word is lèana (historically incorrectly also spelt liana), although lèan (lian) with or without a final apostrophe may occur due to elision, e.g. Air gach lian is stùc (Nic-a-Phearsoin 1891, 23) ‘on each liana and pinnacle’. However, monosyllabic lèan is also found as a discreet form, e.g. SG mìn-fheur ‘meadow’ in Genesis XLI: 2 is glossed ‘lian, lòn, miadan 

SG miadan (also miadar, miad) and Ir. míodún appear to be loan-blends from MScots mede, medow (pre-c. 1600 MScots with /iː/, > late MScots with /i/ (SVLR-short) ‘meadow’, cf. Aitken 2002, 74 §14.2 (2), 152 Vowel 2.).

’ (An Seann Tiomnadh 1783), Armstrong (1825) lists lean [sic], lian, HSS (1828) lèan, lian ~ lèana, MacEachen (1842) lian and Holmer (1938, 183: Gigha) lèan [ljɛːn]; it also occurs in composition, e.g. lèan-ghobhrag ‘snipe’ (Dwelly 1911; cf. MacDomhnuill 1741, 76: léanodhrag). While EG lénae is a masculine io-stem noun, it is also attested as feminine (eDIL^˄). SG lèana and lèan (lian) are listed as masculine in lexicographical sources, except for M^cAlpine 1832 and MacLennan 1925, where lèana is given as feminine; lèana is feminine in Lewis (Cox 2002a, 313–15). 

Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄ lists ≈Lèana Mhòr Hiort, the name applied by fishermen from the village of Crabhlastadh to the stretch of sea between St Kilda and the mainland of Lewis and Harris [and in which lèana f. seems to have the extended sense ‘expanse’].

EG lénae might be expected to yield Scots *lenie, *lanie /leni/ (SVLR-short), with final /i/ on the basis of the development in SG coire ‘cirque, mountain hollow’ > Scots corrie, 

E.g. Corrie NS023432, North Ayrshire; Corrie Common NY206860, Dumfries and Galloway.

SG doire ‘grove, thicket’ > Scots derry 

E.g. Derry NX261733, Dumfries and Galloway; Wester Derry NO232545, Angus.

etc., 

E.g. Fassiefern N021786, Lochabar, < SG Am Fasadh Feàrna ‘the alder place’ (Iain Taylor 2011; cf. Dwelly 1911 and Robertson in King 2022, 44, 247).

and this may be the case in Dumfries and Galloway with the Gaelic loan-names Laniewèe NX312821 (Maxwell ibid., 235: < SG ≈Lèana Bhuidhe ‘yellow meadow’); Lannigòre (ibid.: < SG lèana + gobhar ‘goat’); and Knock(a)lànnie NX277642 (ibid., 218, 225) (?< SG cnoc ‘hill’ + lèana). This may also be the case with Lennimore NR883471, Arran, which is derived from SG An Lèana Mhòr ‘the large meadow’ by Robertson (in King 2019, 413, s.v. Lennymore: SG an Leana Mhor) and Fraser (1999, 87, s.v. Lenimore [lɛɪnɪˈmoːr], [l̥jɛnˌiˈvoːr] [sic], [lɛnɪˈvoːr] (1772 Slanivoir [sic], c. 1780 Lenevoir) < SG Leana Mhor).

However, Iain Taylor (2011, s.v. Thundergay) derives Arran’s Lennimore from SG Lèanaidh M(h)òr, with SG -aidh [i] accounting for Scots medial [ɪ]; cf. SG An Lèanaidh NR963508, Arran (Fraser 1999, 133: An Leanaidh [ʌnˈlɛːni], [θɪˈlɛːni]), and Lenie NH512269, Inverness-shire, which Robertson (in King 2019, 227) gives as SG Leanaidh (possibly with an acute accent over the e). Yet the provenance of the form lèanaidh in these names is uncertain; there are a number of more or less plausible derivations:

(1) It might be a normalised dative form of SG lèana as a dental-stem, cf. teangaidh (besides teanga), dative of SG teanga (Cox 2017, 101 §81 (iii) (a)), e.g. a’ dìdearachd air càraidean a bhitheadh a’ suirghe air an lèanaidh (MacLeòid 2002, 300) ‘peeping on couples that were courting on the green’.

(2) It might contain the Gaelic diminutive suffix -idh, found for example in the Wester Ross place-names Badaidh (< bad ‘clump’) and Camasaidh (< camas ‘bay’) (Watson 1904, xxxvi, 223–24, 250).

(3) It might go back to an Early Gaelic plural form in -iḋe (-idhe), 

Developed from the accusative plural ending -aḋa/-eḋa of dental-stem nouns, e.g. EG fileḋa > filiḋe, with palatalisation (Ir. filí), ‘poets’ (Green 1974, 195ff.; McManus in Stair na Gaeilge, 354 §2.16, 370 §4.13; also O’Rahilly 1976, 178 and 179 + fn 1; see also Ó Maolalaigh 2006a, 56–57, for unstressed -adha yielding [iː] and [uː] possibly being conditioned by the quality of the preceding consonant, in parts of Ireland at least).

which is what Watson (1926, 143, 145) suggests lies behind the Midlothian place-names Balleny NT173654 < EG *Baile Léanaidhe ‘stead of the damp meadows’, Malleny (cf. Malleny House NT165665) < EG *Magh Léanaidhe ‘plain of the damp meadows’, and Lennie NT165745 (1336 Lanyn), as in Balleny; also Lenzie NS658724, Dunbartonshire/Lanarkshire, < EG *Léanaidhe ‘damp meadows’ (Watson 1926, 143; so also Irving 1928, 42). Indeed, for Lenzie Johnston (1903) provides the documentary forms c. 1230 Lenneth, c. 1300 Lengze and 1451 Lenyie, and it may be that Watson based his analysis on the early form Lenneth.

Johnston opines that -eth is probably adjectival and compares Clova (a. 1300 Cloueth, 1328 Cloveth), for which cf. SG Clabha NO327731, gen. Clabhaidh (Ainmean-Àite na h-Alba). The forms Lengze and Lenyie may indicate a palatalised nasal.

However, semantically a singular accusative/dative EG *Lénaiḋ or genitive *Lénaḋ (or *Léniḋ or genitive *Léneḋ, if with a palatalised nasal) as a dental-stem noun might provide a more likely source form.

For the shift from io-stem to dental-stem, cf. EG senchae ‘historian etc.’ (eDIL^˄), which underwent the same process.

On the other hand, Taylor (2011, s.v. Lenzie) remarks that Lèanaidh is a locative form of lèana [?leg. lèanach, see (4) below]’, a derivation that might well be inferred from Ainmean-Àite na h-Alba’s rendition of SG Lèanaidh here as ‘marsh-place’.

(4) It might go back to a form in final EG -iġ (-igh), an early dative 

Watson (1904, 159) expresses this as ‘locative’.

form (later -ich) of the Gaelic suffix -ach, used to describe the nature or quality of a place (Watson ibid., xxxiv–xxxvi; Cox 2002a, 60; 2022, 107–08 §36 (i)). This is said to be the origin of *Lèanaidh NH202540, Ross and Cromarty (OS 1843–82: Leanuidh and nearby Càrn an Leanaidh; Watson 1904, 159, s.v. Leanaidh: locative of lèanach < lèan ‘swampy plain’; Mackenzie 1931, 81: Leanach); cf. also Taylor’s (1911) analysis of Lenzie, under (3) above).

Other examples of place-names consisting of lèanach include Leanach NH147579, Ross and Cromarty (Watson 1904, 161), NH750451, Nairnshire (Maclean 2021, 144), and NS047974, Argyllshire (Ainmean-Àite na h-Alba: An Lèanach); Leannach NN516048, Perthshire (Ainmean-Àite na h-Alba); and Lianach NN525156, Perthshire; and, with the nominally diminutive suffix -an, Lianachan, Lochabar (MacBain 1922, 49), and NN220786, Inverness-shire (OS 1843–82).

However, while in some instances the element written lenie etc. in Scots place-names may well go back to SG lèanaidh (whatever its provenance), in others we might also consider whether it may simply be a Scots reflex of SG lèana. In addition to any of the place-names above that might fit the bill, cf. Lennie NX354974, Ayrshire, and perhaps Barlinnie NS637660, Glasgow (1562 Blairlenny, Blairlenne), although Simon Taylor (2007, 14) derives the name from SG blàr ‘field, muir’ + the adjective lèanach ‘swampy’.