Language Notes

Element Meaning

Sources

Findlater, a district in the parish of Fordyce, Banffshire, is in Gaelic Fionn-leitir, White declivity or hillside; Topographical Philology, Highland Magazine, v1,6
Am Fionn-leitir nan Cleòc TGSI 26 1904-7, 236
Fionn-Leitir Place-names of West Aberdeenshire
Fionn-Leitir, MacBain 1895 Personal name and Surnames of the Town of Inverness
Fionn-leitir: Watson 2012, Place-names in much of the North-East of Scotland.

Additional Information

The only mention of this name outside place-name scholarly works is in the poem mentioned above in Transactions. It is not clear if the Am relates to the preposition or the article, but on balance the preposition is likelier, especially since leitir is feminine, so An Fhionn-Leitir would be expected.

Alternative Forms