Language Notes

Element Meaning

Sources

baləmaX-a’ə: Diack MS2276
Cill Mo-Thatha is on Loch Awe in Argyll. Balmaha, with St. Maha’s well near it, is in Buchanan parish on Loch Lomond.: Watson 1926, 298
Baile mo Cha: Newton

Additional Information

 Though at first sight this looks like a name in Gaelic baile, the early forms (Balomohaw 1682, Ballamahow 1684, Ballomachau 1686, Ballomachaw 1686 etc.) make it almost certain that the generic element is Gaelic bealach ‘a pass’. This fits the situation of Balmaha precisely: it is at the south end of a dramatic pass (the Pass of Balmaha). Diack and Newton’s forms however show that the name had come to be reinterpreted to baile.

Alternative Forms