Place name of the week

River Dee ~ Uisge Dè

This name is first on record as Deoua as far back as AD 150, by the twentieth century it was known in Gaelic as Dè, as seen in the phrase: Tha Dè mòr an-diugh ‘the Dee is full today’.

The upper part of the Dee around Braemar is called Bràigh Dhè, ‘the upland of the Dee’ whilst the lower part flowing through Aberdeen is Inbhir Dhè ‘the confluence of the Dee’, also seen in the name of Inverdee House. The Linn of Dee however is Eas Dè, ‘the waterfall of Dee’.

There was a riddle about the Dee: A’ chraobh a leag mi an-diugh, thuit i an-dè ‘the tree I felled today, fell yesterday’. This was a pun on the word an-dè ‘yesterday’ which would mean ‘in the Dee’ if spelt an Dè. Thus, the sentence could also mean ‘the tree I felled today fell into the Dee’. lfor more information visit Ainmean-àite na h-alba at www.ainmean-aite.org