Place name of the week

Queensferry ~ Port na Banrighinn

Queensferry Crossing, which opens this week, is named after (South) Queensferry. The name relates to the ferry established by Queen Margaret here between Lothian and Fife. Because it was an important route, the Gaels used the Gaelic form Port na Banrighinn, with the same meaning. The name is also recorded in a poem as Aiseag Banrigh Chaluim ‘the ferry of Malcolm’s Queen’, relating to Margaret’s husband, King Malcolm. In the 17th century North Queensferry is on record as Caschilis, which is likely Gaelic (An) Cas-chaolas ‘the rapid strait’.

Thenameisalsoina Gaelic proverb: Chan eil port an-asgaidh ann, tha Port na Banrighinn fhèin tastan ‘there is no such thing as a free tune, Queensferry itself costs a shilling.’ This is a pun on the Gaelic word port, which can mean both a ‘tune’ and ‘ferry’, the latter extended from the meaning ‘landing-place’. lfor more information visit www.ainmean-aite.org