Auchtermuchty
Auchtermuchty AMY PS NO239116 1 362 50m
Uchtermukethin’ 1205 x 1211 RRS ii no. 470 [o.c.; charter dated there]
Uchtermukethin’ 1205 x 1211 RRS ii no. 471 [charter dated there]
terra de Uctermukethin 1209 x 1210 RRS ii no. 490 [= St. A. Lib. 229; 1 merk due yearly to St Andrews Hospital from the land of Auchtermuchty; this land now granted by the king to Earl Malcolm of Fife free of that burden, which will now be paid from the king’s burgh of Crail]
Vctermokethin 1244 Dunf. Reg. no. 221 [or 1240; in the chapel there]
ecclesia de Vcthermukedi 1245 Paris BN MS latin 1218 fo 3r [church dedicated by David de Bernham]
ecclesia de Vtyrmukedy 1245 x 1255 Dunf. Reg. no. 313 (p. 207) [45 merks]
ecclesia de Hucdirdmukedi 1245 x 1255 St A. Lib. 33 [45 merks]
ecclesia de Hughtermukedy 1275 Bagimond’s Roll p. 38 [3 and a half merks]
ecclesia de Huctermukedy 1276 Bagimond’s Roll p. 60 [30 s.]
prato de Ut<er>mghdy 1293 PRO E 372/141/m. 56 [o.c.; printed Utermokerdy Stevenson, Documents i, 410; ‘meadow of Auchtermuchty’; see AMY Intro., Secular History]
terra de Utremukedy 1294 PRO E101/331/1 B [o.c.; printed Utremukerty Stevenson, Documents i, 416; east of burn; see AMY Intro., Secular History]
(William of) Huctermocdi 1296 CDS ii no. 824 [inquisition anent inheritance]
Ocnenus Prebern’ in Hichirmokedi c.1340 NLS Adv. MS 34.1.3a fo 38r [printed Hichermakedi Dunf. Reg. no. 325; see PNF 5, App. 1]
(parish church of) Ochtirmokadi 1350 Lind. Cart., 292 [see AMY Intro.]
ecclesiam de Ochermukedy 1350 RMS i app.i no. 141
Ochtremukty 1451 ER v, 468 [‘first part’ and ‘second part’, perhaps referring to Auchtermuchty east of and west of the Auchtermuchty Burn respectively]
Ouchtremukkty 1454 ER v, 690 [fee to the sergeant of Auchtermuchty]
Miris de Uchtirmukty 1488 ER x, 648 [‘the mires of Auchtermuchty’]
Uchtermukty 1508 RSS i no. 1669 [to Christine Williamson (Williamsoun), spouse of John Chaplain (Chaplane), for ‘her gude and thankful service done to the kingis hienes’, 8 bolls bere yearly for life from king’s fermes of]
terras suas de Uchtermuchty 1517 RMS iii no. 168 [king’s lands]
tenentibus de Uchtermukty 1517 RMS iii no. 168
burgum de Uchtermukty 1517 RMS iii no. 168 [free royal burgh]
(mill of) Ochtermochty 1527 RMS iii no. 488 [to George Inglis, with its lands]
Awchtirmwchty c.1540 s Bannatyne MS ii, 320 [‘In Awchtirmwchty thair dwelt ane man’, the first line of a poem, ‘The Wyf of Auchtermwchty’ <sic>]
in communi mora seu terra de Auchtermukty 1548 RMS iv no. 200 [various lands with grazing rights ‘in the common muir or land of Auchtermuchty’]
Ouchtermuchty 1552 RMS iv no. 675 [see p. 109, above]
Auchtirmothie c.1560 s Assumption, 33 [also Auchtermouthie]
Auchtirmuktie c.1560 s Assumption, 85
lie North-quarter de Auchtermuchtie 1582 RMS v no. 412
villam de Auchtermuchtie 1591 RMS v no. 1947 [AMY Intro., Royal Burgh]
toftam et brasinam de Auchtermuchtie 1600 RMS vi no. 1032 [‘toft and brewery of Auchtermuchty’]
(half of the town and lands of) Auchtermuchtie 1653 RMS x no. 138 [commonly called the Broom Knowes (Broom Knowes) and Tofts steid thereof]
Ochtermuchtie 1654 Blaeu (Pont) East Fife
Auchtermuchty 1775 Ainslie/Fife
G uachdar + ? G muc + ? – ada(i)dh + ? – in or en Muchty
‘Upland of the place of pigs; upland of the Muchty (Burn)’? According to W. J. Watson, the abstract ending –ada(i)dh, earlier –atu, has ‘locative force’ (1926, 517, note regarding p. 250; see also Nicolaisen 1976, 141). The ‘upland’ (G uachdar) probably refers to the rising ground on which the settlement is built, rising up from the flat and boggy Howe of Fife.
By this analysis it would indicate that here was at one time an important place for the rearing of swine, further indicating the existence of deciduous wood-land. However, the second element may also be the pre-existing name of the burn now known as the Auchtermuchty Burn, which flows through the burgh and past the kirk, mentioned (but not named) as a division of the lands of Auchtermuchty as early as the 1290s (for which see AMY Intro., Secular History). As such it would still contain G muc ‘pig’, with various extensions, but in the context of a water-name: Watson makes the point that animal-names are frequently found in names of burns and rivers, as in the Burn of Tervie on Speyside, containing G tarbh ‘bull’; and the River Banvie in Atholl, which contains the G banbh ‘pig or piglet’, as well as the Gowrie, a tributary of the Conon in Ross-shire, containing G gobhar (1926, 442).[43] Also, the construction uachdar + burn-name is found in Auchtertool (PNF 1) and (probably) in Auchtermoonzie (now Moonzie) (below), both parish-names.
For (the) Myres of Auchtermuchty, see Myres AMY, below.
/ˈɔxtər ˈmʌxtɪ/ or /ˌɔxtərˈmʌxtɪ/, locally often reduced to ‘Muchty /ˈmʌxtɪ/.
This place-name appeared in printed volume 4