May Williamson: The Non-Celtic Place-Names of the Scottish Border ...

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(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
(g)
ModSc bog is Gaelic in origin, but all eight names containing it have English first
elements. Howbog (Crn) is so spelt in 1515 RMS: “bog in a hollow”, OE hol.
Cowbog (Mrb) is lie Kowbog, 1570 RMS: “bog where cows pasture”. Bog occurs
in 1180, LSMM but not as a place-name element.
ModSc flow, from ON flói, denotes “a bog or morass”. There are three examples:
Hobb’s Flow (Cst), Bell’s Flow (Hfm), and Moat Flow (Jhn).
ModSc hag is derived from ON hgg, “cutting in woodland”, but the sense is
usually “peat-bog”; or “moss ground that has formerly been broken up” (Jam s.v.).
Hag Plantation (Jdb) is represented /263/ by Speirmanis-landis vocat. the Hag,
1573-4 RMS. Hag (Can) is Hagg, Blaeu. There is also Dan’s Haggs (Ew) on the
shoulder of Frodaw Height.
ModSc gair, from OE gāra, or ON geiri, probably the latter, since most of the
names occur in the Scandinavian area, means “a spot or strip of tender grass on a
barren mountain or heath”, or “a stripe or streak” (Jam, s.v.). Either might apply in
Gair (KF), Broadgair Hill (Ettr), Yadgair (Tvt).
OE fenn, “fen, marsh”, occurs independently in the plural as Fens (StB). One
Gylmyne de Fenis, or the Fynis, who was warden of Roxburgh Castle in 1314 must
have come from here: cf c 1375 (c 1490) Brus.
Flex (Hwk) is so spelt in 1296 Inst Pub, but Fleckis, 1511 RMS: cf Fleckedland,
Fleckit Hill, F~ Knowe (PN Glwy, 137), containing MSc fleckit, “broken,
variegated land”. Flecks must be “patches”, probably of broken ground: cf Flecket
Hill (Mof). ON flekkr, “spot” must be the origin of the term.
/264/ LXXV ME burne,
“stream, burn”, from OE burna, is the normal term for a streamlet on the Scottish Borders.
The examples for which early spellings have been preserved are mainly those in which a
habitation or hamlet has taken its name from the stream.
ROXBURGHSHIRE
CADDROUN BURN (Cst): (86, 2 E, F):
Hellcaudron burne, 1597 CBP; Hellcadrenn b, Blaeu. The deep ravine through which the
stream runs at one point was the “hell cauldron”: cf The Devil’s Beef Tub (Mof).
DOD BURN (Cav and Tvt), DODBURN:
Dodburne, 1569 RPC. The farm of Dod, and the Dod Burn take their name from the round
hill facing the farm. See note on dod, No LXX (f).
HALTER BURN (Yth): HALTERBURN: (81, 10 F): Eltherburna, c 1050 (12 th ) HSC;
Elterburne, 1543 Hen. VIII; Helterborne, c 1576 CSP. The first element is obscure: cf ERN,
189. An OE personal name Aldhere, is possible. At a later period the first element has been
associated with halter.
/265/