| Place-name: | Alwhat |
| Suggested Meaning: | rock of the cat |
| Gaelic al ‘rock’ | |
| Gaelic cat ‘cat’ | |
| Location: | OS Map Six-inch Scotland 1888-1913 |
| Forms: | Alwhat, Allwhat (OS Name Book Kirkcudbrightshire 1844-51); Alwhat, Allwhat, Alquhat (OS Name Book Ayrshire(1855-57) Note the burn that runs off the hill on thr Kirkcudbrightshire side is known as Allwhat Burn. |
Alwhat (left) and Alhang (right) photo Robert Guthrie
In his notes on the place-names elements ail-, al- Sir Herbert Maxwell offers the derivation of Alwhat as ail chat (haat) ‘cliff of the wild cat’. The form Alquhat supports this derivation, i.e, quhat = chat
An alternative offering of Gaelic al ‘a rock’ and fada‘ long’ is given in the Ordnance Survey Name Book 1848-51 Kirkcudbrightshire Volume 5.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
References
- [1] Sir Herbert Maxwell, Herbert Eustace, Sir, bart., ‘Scottish land-names; their origin and meaning’ (1894)
- [2] Edward Dwelly ‘Illustrated Gaelic-English Dictionary’ (1902-1912)
Maps
- National Library of Scotland
- https://maps.nls.uk/
Ordnance Survey Namebooks
- scotlandsplaces.gov.uk
- Ayrshire OS Name Books 1855-57
- Kirkcudbrightshire OS Name Books 1848-151
