Scottish Hill And Mountain Names

The Origin and meaning of the names of Scotland’s hills and mountains

Peter Drummond

This book tells the fascinating story of Scotland’s hill and mountain names. Thoroughly researched, it translates and explains names from the languages spoken by past generations who named the hills. The book also brings together many of the legends and stories behind particular hill-names, covering hills of all sizes and shapes in the Highlands, Islands, Lowlands and Borders. The detailed index includes thousands of hill-names and allows the reader to find quickly the meanings for most well-known hills. Scotland’s hill names are a legacy of her past languages and culture, and this book opens the door to this fascinating world.

This version, published in 1992 has been renamed & reprinted in 2007 as “Scottish Hill Names: Their Origin and Meaning”.

This is my go-to book before and after a walk. There are so many hill names and I’m always curious as to their origin & meaning. Not every hill is covered as I found out when looking up Queensberry, Earncraig Hill or Gana Hill. In fact there are only two Q’s listed in the index so it is fairly limited.