Language Notes

Element Meaning

Sources

This name is paired with Forsinain ~ Fors an Fhàin.
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-àird*: Dwelly (Watson)
Forsan Àrd: Mac an Tàilleir
Forsain-fhàin*: Dwelly (Watson)
Fors an Fhàin: Mac an Tàilleir

“Forsinard Fors, as above, torrent, and Ard, or airde, upper, or higher up, hence Fors-an-airde, the torrent higher up, two miles apart.” MacKay
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

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, 21 for discussion of the usage of àrd and fàin

Additional Information

Alternative Forms