Brotus
Brotus CLT S NO341080 1 373 210m
Rotus 1775 Ainslie/Fife
Brotus 1827 Ainslie/East Fife
Brotus 1856 OS 6 inch 1st edn
Brotus 1886 RHP3313 [‘Braeside or Sodom Park and Brotus’]
It is not even clear which language this strange name was coined in, let alone what it might mean. It m
Brotus was formerly a separate farm, but its lands are now on the farm of Pitlessie Mill.
It is described in the OS Name Book 16, 57 as follows: ‘A farm house in good repair with suitable offices and farm attached occupied by Andrew Smith and property of the Earl of Glasgow.’ The Informants: for the name were Andrew Smith, Brotus and Laurence Christie, Clatto (1854) (OS1/13/16/57):
Additional Note: ‘I assume Ainslie’s form is a mistake for Brotus, and I would now say that the name is almost certainly that word 'brotus', and is probably one of the many humorous or facetious names for smaller settlements coined in the 18th century in Lowland Scotland. It may refer to its position in some kind of land transfer or estate sale’ (from an e-mail from S. Taylor to Gina Angus, Killin, 18 10 13).
/ˈbrotəs/
This place-name appeared in printed volume 2