Pittachope
Pittachope FLK S NO313211 1 351 145m EAF
Pettachop 1390 x 1392 RMS i no. 854 [Ramsay of Colluthie MNZ; associated with lands of Balmeadowside CRC; see FLK Intro., Chapel of Glenduckie]
Petalchop 1416 Fraser, Southesk, 507 [see Balmeadowside CRC]
Pittauchop 1511 RMS ii no. 3649 [to David Ramsay of Colluthie lands of Balmeadowside CRC and Pittachope in barony of Ballinbreich FLK]
Pita<u>chope c.1560 s Purves 151 [printed Pitanchope; in ‘Quarter of Edyn’]
Pittachop 1590 x 1599 Pont MS 54B
terris de Pittanthope 1613 Retours (Fife) no. 1547 [scribal or editorial error for Pittauchope; John earl of Rothes]
Pittauchope 1626 Retours (Fife) no. 376 [John Small]
terris de Pittachope 1642 Retours (Fife) no. 618 [John earl of Rothes]
Pittchopp 1654 Blaeu (Pont) East Fife
Pittachup 1654 Blaeu (Gordon) Fife
Pittaop 1662 St A. Tests. 30
Pittop 1684 Adair/East Fife
Pittachope 1682 Retours (Fife) no. 1205 [Margaret countess of Haddington]
Pitachup 1828 SGF
Pittachop 1855 OS 6 inch 1st edn
Pittachope 1888 x 1914 OS 6 inch 1st revision
G pett + ? G seileach + ? – ōc ; or + ? en *Sauchop
While the first element is clearly G pett ‘farm, land-holding’, the second element is problematical, but can be usefully compared with Sauchope CRA (PNF 3) and Salwhoch # LEU (below). The earliest forms of Sauchope are Salchoc 1260 and Salcohc 1282 × 1290, the final p not appearing until Salchop 1458, after which time the name ends exclusively in p(e). It is quite possible, therefore, that forms earlier than the earliest recorded form Pettachop (1390 × 1392) also ended in –c. The meaning tentatively proposed for Sauchope is ‘willow-place, place of (the) willow(s)’, from G seileach, OIr sailech ‘willow’, the final syllable –oc being some kind of locational suffix, which may ultimately derive from Pictish. The fact that the initial s never appears in Pittachope would be the result of the regular lenition of s following a f. noun (which pett was). The peculiar development of final c to p may be the result of dissimilation after ch. Pittachope might then be interpreted as ‘farm of the willow-place’ or alternatively some kind of subdivision of the otherwise unrecorded lands or territory of *Sauchop.
The field-names of Pittachope, collected from Mr and Mrs W. and A. Blair, are generally modern and transparent e.g. Back Field, Creich Field, the Pooch (‘pouch’), a small, triangular field, and Robin’s Brae (q.v., below). For the exception, see Pitindus, above.
/pɪˈtɔ:p/[206]
This place-name appeared in printed volume 4