Auchindownie

Auchindownie LAR S NO420056 1 374 95m WEF

Edindony 1459 RMS ii no. 665 [to David Lindsay and Janet Ramsay, lands which Janet Ramsay had resigned]
Edindowny 1498 RMS ii no. 2419 [to John Lindsay]
Edindowny 1506 ER xii, 719 [Alexander Sibbald seised in Over Rankeilour (Ovirrankelour) MML, Pitcullo LEU and Auchindownie]
terras tertie partis de Auchindowny 1540 RMS iii no. 2167 [to Alexander Sibbald, thelands of Over Rankeilour (Rankelour-Ovir) MML etc, (and) ‘the lands of a third part of Auchindownie’]
binam partem de Edindowny 1540 RMS iii no. 2256 [‘two thirds of’]
binam partem de Edindowny 1546 RMS iv no. 28
Etherdoune 1545 x 1555 N. Berwick Cart. p. xxiii [see Pitcruvie LAR]
Aucheindownie 1664 Retours Fife no. 953 [James Watson (Watsone), lands of Pitcruvie LAR, Auchindownie and Birsiemyre # (Brissemyre) LAR]
Edindowny 1664 Retours (Fife) no. 968 [James Arnot of Fernie MML]
Achindowny 1753 Roy sheet 18, 1
Auchindownie 1775 Ainslie/Fife
Auchindounie 1828 SGF

G aodann + G dùn + ? Unknown –in

‘At the face or slope of the fort or fortified hill’. The hill in question is Largo Law. It may be that this is an example of the substitution of a more familiar generic (Auch-an-, from G achadh an) for a less familiar one (Edin-, from OIr etan, G aodann), although it must be said that both these generics are extremely rare in Fife. This substitution could have occurred either in a Gaelic- or a Scots-speaking milieu. Alternatively we may be dealing with genuine double forms which had existed side-by-side since the Gaelic-speaking period (generic element variation, for which see Taylor 1997).

    If there was a hill-fort on Largo Law, as this name might imply, it has left no clear traces, although NMRS does record that there are the remains of ‘hut circles/enclosures’ visible on RAF photographs just south-east of the summit of Largo Law at NO429048 (NMRS NO40 SW 21). It may be a fort on Largo Law, either real or imagined, which also gave rise to such local names as Chesterstone LAR and Keirs LAR (q.v.).

    /ˈɔxən ˈdunɪ/ or /ˌɔxənˈdunɪ/

This place-name appeared in printed volume 2