Recently I was thinking of the origins of Scottish place-names that start with “Mon-“, and the extent to which there may possibly be a common theme running through the naming of some of these places. Before considering place-names, my mind was drawn to the word “Monarch“, the etymology behind that takes us to the Greek word “μοναρχίᾱ” (monarkhia) from the Greek word “μόνος” (monos) meaning alone.

Anyone who is familiar with audio signals will also recognise the word “mono” for similar reasons. Likewise the board-game of “Monopoly” where one person alone aims to control many properties.

Proto-Indo-European (PIE) roots

A more familiar word can be found in the French word “mon” or “my” as in the motto of the British monarch “Dieu et mon droit” [God and my right], but further investigation of even this word “mon” shares the same Proto-Indo-European (PIE) roots of “men-“.

There are different root meanings here, but largely they are:

• *men – “to think” with a sense of spirit/mind and understanding or remembering.
• *men – “to project” or “stand out” like a neck, or a mountain
• *men – “to remain” to stay or abide
• *men – “small or isolated”

Kolleptikon!

Conceptually if these PIE root words could form some curiously coincidental collective (can I possibly call that a kolleptikon*? ), I can’t help but wonder the extent to which there were in ancient times, small, isolated thinking communities, unique in their own ways, “standing out” , for years remaining in the same place (the people may have moved, the places remained). Even if true, these places were not really “alone”, at least not in the strictest sense, although at the height of the cold Scottish winters I am sure it could feel that way in bleak and barren places.

Turning thoughts to monastic way of life, was there not a similar characteristic trait observed in ancient times? Small groups of men, thinkers, standing out from the crowd usually staying/remaining confined to a monastery?

Pause for thought: 
When/where do you do your best thinking? 
Possibly some place or a time of day when you are alone? 
Society may well have changed people/places through the years, but possibly deep within many of us, there is still to be found some vestige of "monasticism",  at very least in seeking a sense of peace and tranquillity?   

* Well I guess I have now: [Kolleptikon – a “curiously coincidental collective of words or phrases to help bring about a greater over-arching meaning or general clarity.]

Using a phrase once used by a professor I knew, some of these places ultimately were or at least became a “confederation of loose nodes”. At very least in some cases villages become towns, or over time entire burghs of barony became swallowed up by much larger cities (for example Monklands, once a burgh of Barony, now part of Glasgow). Even monasteries were often tied to a mother church/abbey.

The naming of places

Tell me, just how do you begin to describe a place with absolutely no name?

If you are anything like me, “the place beside…” , followed often by a landmark or feature in the landscape; possibly a well known person, family, group of families or a resource or event? There is an over abundance of such examples in many (mony) of our towns and cities throughout Scotland.

Confusions reigns

Whilst I am no speaker of Gaelic, I was brought up with the Doric used in the North-East of Scotland and remember well one occasion when a degree of confusion was caused when a telephone message was left from:

“Ted fae Asco” (Ted from Asco) misinterpreted as “Ted Fiasco” who had called to leave a a message. Another instance where during a telephone call “I’m callin’ fae…” was misheard as the question was asked “You’re Colin who?” (names changed to protect the innocent).

These are perhaps simple enough misunderstandings, amusing in themselves in their own context, but clearly the translated form somewhat removed from the original. To what extent then, “confusion” may have crept in during the naming of places, whether in vocal form (spoken word being the norm for years), or in written form can only be for the reader to decide.

 Indeed it might be said...
if only abidy kent fit wye  tae spik 'e richt wye, then a'thin' wid be jist grand
 [If only everyone spoke and wrote the same way then everything would be fine]

Scottish place-names starting “Mon-”

The place-names shown in Table 1 below are in no way exhaustive, but rather extracted from archives of Scottish parliament [pdf] from a collection by Iain Mac an Tàilleir (2003). I am sure you will know many other places which could easily be added, this is only a start, but c’mon what does the ancient “Mon…” really mean?

I won’t re-define all of these place names and will let the definitions in the pdf above speak for themselves, but I would draw your attention to the map of these places starting Mon along with some common words in Scots Gaelic:

• Mòine – peat (curiously the French word moine means monk)
• Monadh – mountain, hill or moor
• Manach – monk

You may wish to view a list of other Gaelic words commonly seen in hill names.

Place-name	Source site	Reference site	Year
Monachylemore	National Records of Scotland	NRS ref GD22/3/565 “Monochole”	1622
Monaltrie	National Records of Scotland	NRS Ref: GD176/504	1666
Moncrieff	Canmore	Moredun hall
Moniack	National Records of Scotland	NRS Ref: GD176/53	1546
Monifeith	Canmore	Canmore Ref to St Regulus Church and burial ground	13th century
Monimail	National Records of Scotland	NRS Ref: GD26/3/345 (David Barclay also appears under Eglismonichty )	1517
Monklands	CultureNL	Origin of Monklands	1162
Monkstadt	Canmore	see Monkstadt House	1732-41
Monorgan	POMS (people of medieval Scotland)	Gift of David to Gilbert, nephew of the bishop of Caithness	12th century
Monquhitter		parish of Monquhitter disjoined from Turriff	1649
Monreith	POMS	charter under the Great Seal – place of Monreith	1329
Montgarrie	National Library of Scotland National Records of Scotland	· Bleau Atlas of 1654 shows “Mongary” · NRS Ref RH6/2325	1654 1574
Montgreenan	Canmore	Montgrynen Castle	1680
Montrose	National Library of Scotland	appears as Monros on 1580 map of Scotia, Regno di Scotia	1580
Monyquil	National Library of Scotland & Internet Archive	Bleau Atlas of 1654 shows Monich oillyie (Monich oilly appears to translate as Monastery, or rather Monichoillyie – “hill moor of the cell of prayer” or possibly “memorial pillar stones” – see Landmarks of Scottish life and language (1877) by William Lytteil	1654
Monzie	POMS	Acts of the Earl of Strathearn no 53 – ref to Bede, rector of Monzie 1268	1268
Monzievaird	POMS	Confirmation of possessions of Inchaffray Abbey – Martin, persona of Monzievaird.	1200-1210

Mons meg

The name of Mons Meg is perhaps familiar to some readers but the origins of the name “Mons” perhaps not as familiar. Possibly dating back to the 1st century BC, to Mons near Spiennes, province of Hainaut in Belgium. Originally called Castri-locus or “place of encampment” after the Roman camp/fort there. The Romans would have referred to this place as “Mons Castrilocus” or “Montes Castrilocus” – “mount(s) of the place of the camp”, in later years the name changed or was shortened simply to “Montes”.

This link between “Mon-” and Mount or Mountain is not uncommon and becomes increasingly familiar as we explore place-names in Scotland, for example, turning from the Latin towards Gaelic, consider the following place-names in Scotland:

• Montgarrie (Mounthgarey) after the Gaelic Monadh a’ Gharaidh (hill of the den).
• Montgreenan – “Mon a Ghrianain” (hill at the sunny place)
• Montrose – Mon Rois -(hill/moor by the wood)

Comparative Topography

Comparing the topography of Mons, Hainaut, Belgium v Monifieth, Scotland it is quickly evident that the town of Monifieth is near to 20 metres above sea level compared with Spiennes closer to 40 metres:

• Belgium (Mons & Spiennes) topographic map, elevation, terrain https://en-gb.topographic-map.com/map-7d3q/Belgium/?center=50.42758%2C3.99187&zoom=13
• Scotland (Monifieth & Monifieth Laws) topographic map, elevation, terrain https://en-gb.topographic-map.com/map-75t6/Scotland/?zoom=14&center=56.49126%2C-2.82187
• Alternatively Montpellier in France – named after the Latin Mons Pislerie “Woad Mountain”, once again consider the topography – https://en-gb.topographic-map.com/map-7d3q/Belgium/?center=43.61955%2C3.9218&zoom=12

Exactly what is a mountain anyway?

A silly question perhaps, but these are not exactly mountainous areas some might say [possible allusions here to Crocodile Dundee – “that’s not a knife, that’s a knife”], and so just what do we come to understand of the notion of these so-called “mountains”? Surely in these cases above, it might be argued there are no substantial mountains, despite the Latin names of Mons/Montes for “mountain”?

I can think of at least two places in Scotland with very similar names but places so remarkably different:

1. Monadh Mor – “moor big” has a summit of 1115 metres
2. Mormond Hill otherwise “Mor monadh” (Mhor mhonadh if you prefer) “big moor” is only 234 metres (768 feet) and less than a third the height of a munro.

Granted whilst not an exhaustive study, there is no immediate sense of “scale” when we speak of these “mountains” of ancient times as may be referred to in certain place-names today. Consider the seven hills of Rome, one of which is named “Mons Palatinus” – Surely not a mountain?

Even in today’s society, sometimes it may feel like there is no real definition of what constitutes a mountain. This strikes me as a little “odd” given the Latin word for “mountain” is Mons and the Latin word for “hill” is Collis, compared to the Greek words for mountain – βουνό [vounó] (or the ancient word for mount Ὄρος [Oros] and hill – λόφος [lófos].

Classification of mountains

If we look at the Oxford English dictionary definition of “mountain”, we read:

“a very high hill, often with rocks near the top”

https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/mountain

That is a suitably vague definition don’t you think?

What is your own definition of a mountain?

In Scotland we do have the sense of a certain “bag” of Munros which are mountains or places with summits heights of 3000 feet. For the UK a mountain is typically defined as any summit over 610 metres (2000 feet), further the United Nations have a classification of mountains.

That said, surely the very nature of language itself is, in part, to help communicate, to help define. Possibly we will eventually begin to get a better feeling for what a mountain is.

• Ben Nevis, the UK’s tallest mountain
  • Class 5 mountain
  • Summit : 1,345 metres
  • Latin name : Uncertain – although part of Mons Graupius (Grampian mountains)
  • Gaelic name : Beinn Nibheis
• Mount Sinai in Egypt
  • Class 3 mountain
  • Summit : 2,285 metres
  • Latin name : Mons Sinai
  • Greek name : Ὄρος Σινά (oros sina)
• Mount of Olives near Jerusalem
  • Class 6 mountain
  • Summit – 826 metres
  • Latin name : Mons Oliveti
  • Greek name : Όρος των ελιών (oros ton elion)

Just in case you think I’ve forgotten about our Scottish place-names I have not (honestly!), but by looking at other places-names considering not only Gaelic but Latin and Greek too, then maybe we begin to uncover a little more (even if a little contentious).

Monifieth

The familiar translation of Monifieth is from the Gaelic is “Moine Feith” as bogstream of the marsh/moss, other suggestions have been “Monadh Fieth” (hill of the deer) or “Monaich fother” (monks land).

Despite the arguably “remote” location of Laws of Monifieth – no not a mountain over 610 metres, not even a Class 6 mountain, but nevertheless it might be said that this is a nearby hill or “Mons”. Given what we know, some may suggest Monifieth was named after this hill and not totally unreasonable, but I have a sneaky feeling in this case there is possibly a greater meaning.

Monasteries and abbeys

Have our Mons been silenced?

At this point I am thinking – maybe these “Mons” (the Mon- aspect of our Scottish place-names) are not too important after all? However perhaps this aspect might be given a greater recognition!

Yes there may well be undefined mountains of varying height/size, or moors, possibly monasteries, they may refer to monks, or possibly going back to the PIE roots – just simply a “quiet place of solitude”?

Those helpful descriptions of places near the stream, beside the forest, on the moor, beside the monks house or the church of, etc. And so it is possibly the words that come after “Mon-” that are to be considered of more interest, more descriptive? Reflecting on the classification of mountains and the further descriptive words:

• Nibheis possibly indicating a sense of a mountain with it’s head in the clouds (beinn nèamh-bhathais )
• Sina (possibly derived from “Sin-ah” meaning hatred as a result of events that took place eg delivery of the ten commandments)
• των ελιών – of Olives
• Feith

When you go back to our undefined “place of no name”, in the early days perhaps nobody lived there, or at best 1-2 houses, depending on locality and various other environmental factors; those houses may have grown in number and turn into a crofting community, or possibly a small village or town. I can still hear my father’s words when talking of the town he grew up in, “when I was a boy, this was all fields”, and on reflection, perhaps this says it all really.

Dare I say that the sense of initial peace/solitude once associated with the “Mon-” of our Scottish place-names, slowly and surely evaporates over time and these days the silence can be found only in the original meaning once associated with some of these places, but long since forgotten.

And so I ask...
"Have our Mons have been silenced?" 
And oh for the irony
just like so many of Scotland's 
monasteries which are no more, yet 
still, throughout Scotland far and wide,
 you will find a people searching for
 a place of peace and quite. 
Re-arrange the letters 
MON
to
OMN
turn the M on its head
And make it your
OWN

After all home is where the heart is!
My final thoughts turn to Scotland's only existing medieval monastery still in active use today, but alas even the relative peace of Pluscarden has been threatened in not too distant times.  

Whilst it may be true that the word “Freedom” has been etched in the minds of some who watched Mel Gibson playing the part of William Wallace in Braveheart, here Father Giles, a benedictine monk from Pluscarden talks of the greatest freedom of all – Prayer!