Abstract
The modern Gaelic name of Govan is Baile a'Ghobhainn, "smith's homestead", although there is no early attestation to this. I have suggested that this is probably a back-formation, since in modern pronunciation this would become Balgowan or Balgown, and since Govan appears to have been first and foremost an ecclesiastical settlement rather than a secular one, I have tentatively made the alternative suggestion that the name might derive from a diminutive form of Gaelic gob, "beak, nose": gobán, "little beak", referring to the promontory of raised ground on which the kirkyard is situated, stretching into the flood plain of the Clyde.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 1-3 |
Number of pages | 3 |
Journal | Annual Report of the Society of Friends of Govan Old |
Volume | 7 |
Publication status | Published - 1997 |
Keywords
- Govan
- Doomster Hill
- Scottish history
- glasgow history