Scottish Land-Names. By Sir H. Maxwell. (William Blackwood and Sons.)—Sir
H. Maxwell went very thoroughly into the derivation of land names in the Rhind Lectures. It would be useless to attack the subject with less care, for the study of Celtic names reveals how completely these old and obliterated names, with their interchangeable consonants, were at the mercy not only of strangers, but of the people themselves. When we compare the richness of Celtic imagery with the lack of literature, we can understand how names get distorted into vain resemblances. Indeed, an ignorant person might be excused for thinking two names, differing in one consonant only, were derived from one origin, whereas it would be safer to assert that two names having only one fundamental vowel similar, wore identical. Readers who do not mind some rather exhaustive etymology will find many most interesting names analysed, together with examples of occasional survivals scarcely less interesting.
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