Place name of the week

Cambuskenneth ~ Camas Choinnich The first element in the name of this place near Stirling is clearly Gaelic camas; this can be a round bay or a bend in a river. Here it is clearly the latter, as the River Forth winds here.

Concerning the second element, in modern Gaelic this name is Camas Choinnich ‘Kenneth’s river-bend’. This was likely adopted from the modern English form, however, because in the twelfth century the name was written Cambuskinel. This suggests the second element was not originally a personal name; instead it perhaps originally contained the same element as seen in Kinneil which is likely Ceannail, from ceann fhàil ‘wall end’, thus *Camas Ceannail.

A 19th-century text about the Battle of Stirling Bridge says of William Wallace’s forces: Choinnich iad aig Camas Choinnich ‘they gathered at Cambuskenneth’. This is a pun, as the word for ‘Kenneth’ and the word for ‘gathered’ are identical in this sentence. lfor more information visit www.ainmean-aite.org