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

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20. Metathesis is a very common feature of MSc, especially with r. Brunt- for burntoccurs
frequently in place-names. A few names display elaborate metathesis in
early forms, eg Tushielaw, Annelshope.
21. Epenthesis occurs in several cases. In Rumbleton, ml > mbl; in Stantling nl may
become ntl; in Standhill nl may become ndl. 16th century spellings of Amisfield as
Hempsfeild, etc, show ms > mps (No XIX).
22. Assimilation and dissimilation are frequent. Various examples are noted in the
text.
23. Few OE grammatical case-endings are preserved. Four examples of the dative
plural in -um occur in Denholm, Whitsome, Hume and Ellem.
/xii/ Oblique endings in -an were lost in ONb and do not therefore appear in NME. Spellings
for Brunanburh and Degsastan which exhibit weak endings in -an may be due to scribes
unfamiliar with northern usage.
The MSc present participle in -and is seen only in a spelling for Trottingshaw, as
Trottandschaw, 1492.
MSc past participles in -it appear in Kippitlaw, 1557-8, and Senegideside, late 13 th century,
which may represent sengit-side.
PALATALISATION
* * * * * * *
Although no evidence of vowel diphthongisation after palatal consonants is afforded by the
material collected for the Border area, it is plain from mediaeval spellings and modern
pronunciation that in most cases initial back consonants were palatalised before front vowels.
Initial ċ[tS] is found in the modern form chester, from OE ċæster. The e is not a development
of OE ea, but a fronted form of ONb æ, ME a. A similar case, but without 1ME fronting of
the vowel, is seen in /xiii/ Chatto, from an OE personal name *Cætt.
OE ċiriċe > ME chirche was early replaced by ME kirke (ModSc kirk) from ON kirkja.
Spellings in chirche in the 12 th and 13 th centuries might already represent [kIrk@] since chwas
frequently written for [k] in the Anglo-Norman script (IPN i, 102). Norman influence is
practically non-existent in place-name material in this area, however, and it is doubtful
whether chi- ever represented anything but [tSI] in our spellings. Forms for Channelkirk show
that in one case at any rate ch- was a palatal sound, since in the 12 th century form
Childenchirch it is certain that the first ch- represented [tS], and it is therefore unlikely that the
other two had a different pronunciation.
Initial precedes OE æ in æt and ærd, the ModSc forms of which are yett and yard: cf The
Yett, Yetholm, and Ashyards. Present-day names in -gate are either very recent in origin or
represent ON gata, “a road”.