Benarty

Benarty BGY R NT154978 1 356m

de montibus de Cabennarty’e c.1400 NAS GD 27/45/8 fo. 1r [ty’ stands for ty with a bar above it, represented in the printed version (St A. Lib. 1) by a tilde above the t. In theory this might be expanded as *Cabennartyne or *Cabennartnye. However, in the light of later forms of Benarty, it is better to regard this as a flourish than as an abbreviation mark]
Wynarty c.1420 Chron. Wyntoun vol. 2, 8
Vynartye c.1420 Chron. Wyntoun vol. 2, 9
in monte de Balnarthy 1541 RMS iii no. 2406 [lie Soytourlandis with 10 soums of sheep (cum 10 summis ouium) in the hill of Benarty with the grazing of the sheep of Binn (cum ouibus de Byn pasc<endis>), Cleish parish KNR]
communia in monte vocat. Bannarthy 1543 RMS iii no. 2938 [Henry Wardlaw of Torry, barony of Inchgall, ‘commonty on the hill called Benarty’]
in monte de Balnarthie 1566 Retours (Fife) no. 60 [‘on the hill of Benarty’, as in RMS iii no. 2406]
montes lie Bannartie-hillis 1616 RMS vii no. 1405 [part of the lands of Wester Lochoreshire; see BGY Introduction]
lie wedderis super Bannartie 1618 RMS viii no. 36 [‘the wethers (castrated rams) on Benarty’]
hillis vocat. Bannartie-hillis 1628 RMS viii no. 1280 [‘hills called Benarty Hills’]
Bannertiehills 1642 Retours (Fife) no. 619
Binearty Mons 1642 Gordon MS Fife
Binn-Eartie mons 1654 Blaeu (Gordon) Fife
Bannartiehills 1656 RMS x no. 556
Ben Airty 1753 Roy sheet 17, 5
Binnarty Hill 1775 Ainslie/Fife
Bannertyhill 1786 Sasines no. 1389

G beinn + ? G àrd or Pictish * artos + ? - in

Probably ‘at the high hill’, though if this is the origin of the name it represents the unusual phonological development of G rd as /rt/ (compare for example Ardross ELI and Balbairdie KGH).

For the second element another possible origin is the rare Old Gaelic art ‘stone, rock’ (for which see DIL). This might then refer to the rocky outcrop just below the summit, which is such a conspicuous feature of this hill when viewed from the south.

A third possibility for the second element is Celtic *artos ‘bear’ gen. *artí, which gives Old Irish art, Welsh eirth cf Din Eirth. See Jackson 1982, 33–4.

In the earliest form Cabennarty’e c.1400, the initial ca- is obscure.

Locally the hill is referred to simply as Benarty, although on OS Pathf. it is Benarty Hill. The name exists also in OS Pathf. Benarty House (formerly East Blair) NT156965 155m and Benarty Wood.

/bɛˈnartɪ/ or /bəˈnartɪ/, locally /bəˈnertɪ/

This place-name appeared in printed volume 1