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 + ? –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