Forthear Burn
Forthear Burn ~ FAL/SLO W NO2108 1 373
Forther Burn 1818 RHP23511 [division of Commonty of the Lomonds]
Forthur Burn 1856 OS 6 inch 1st edn
Forthear Burn 1856 OS 6 inch 1st edn [flows into Mill Dam, and thence into the Ballingall Burn]
en *Forthear + Sc burn
The specific element cannot refer to Forthar MAI/KTT (PNF 2), over 8 km east of the Forthear Burn. The now lost name *Forthear probably contained OG *fortír ‘upland, higher ground’, or its Pictish cognate *uorthir. G. W. S. Barrow has shown (2003, 242) that *fortír was used with quite a specific meaning in agrarian economy, referring to ‘terrain which was either never or at least not regularly under the plough’ as distinct from the lower-lying parts of estates which were arable land. As the Forthear Burn flows from the steep northern slopes of the Lomonds, this explanation fits well with the surrounding topography.
This place-name appeared in printed volume 4