Language Notes

Element Meaning

Sources

duas Fursyis 1527 RMS iii, 477
duabus Forsies viz. Forsienane et Forsinaird 1633 RMS viii, 2230
2 Forsis, viz. Forsienairn et Forsienard 1681 Retours (Sutherland) 14

Forsain-fhàin*: Dwelly (Watson)
Fors an Fhàin: Mac an Tàilleir

Forsinard and Forsinain. These are made up of Gaelic and Norse. Fors is N. a waterfall: ard is G. high, and ain G. low, àine (from fhàine, comp. of fan down, now obsolete).

“Forsinain The first syllable of this word is evidently Norse, meaning a torrent; the last is a corruption of the Gaelic word “mhan,” or bhan, down, hence Fors-a-Mhan, “the lower torrent,” to distinguish from another higher up” MacKay

Additional Information

See also Watson 2002 (1906), 75. ‘upper and lower waterfall respectively’.

See also Robertson Bruichnain = Bruch an fhàin

See Henderson 159 which discusses ford as a Norse element in a so-called ‘hybrid’ name.

See also Uses of place-names, p. 21 for discussion of the usage of àrd and fàin

Alternative Forms