Wormit

Wormit FGN S NO395257 1 351 30m

    omnes terras de Wormote 1422 Fraser, Grant iii, no 23 [‘all lands of Wormit, with their pertinents, lying in barony of Naughton’ (cum suis pertinenciis, iacentes in baronia de Auchnachtane) resigned by Thomas Parker into hands of William de Hay, knight, lord of Naughton, ‘his superior’ (sui domini superioris)]
    (lands of) Wormot 1440 RMS ii no. 241 [in barony of Naughton]
    Wormet 1472 Fraser, Grant iii, no. 37 [James Hay, lord of barony of Naughton and of the ‘debatable lands of Wormit’ (terras de Wormet debatabiles)]
    Wormet 1490 RMS ii no. 1916
    Wormet 1517 RMS iii no. 178 [David Monorgan (Monnorgund) of that ilk (Longforgan PER, on opposite side of the Tay) connected with Wormit]
    Wormat 1521 Fife Ct. Bk. 227
    domini de Wormet 1529 RMS iii no. 848 [Crichton of Naughton BMO, q.v.]
    terras de Wormet 1529 RMS iii no. 848 [barony of Naughton, q.v.]
    Wormett 1563 Laing Chrs. no. 763 [barony of Naughton; Alexander Crichton]
    Wormet 1597 RMS vi no. 637 [lands of Wormit called Long Craig FGN, q.v.]
    (lands of) Wormet 1615 RMS vii no. 1321 [with mill etc; see Baledmond FGN]
    Wormet 1629 Retours (Fife) no. 417 [George Duddingston of Kilduncan KBS, the lands of Wormit and salmon fishing called Long Craig (Langcraig); also 7 acres of arable lands lying beside Wormit Mill, in the barony of Naughton]
    molendinum de Wormet 1629 Retours (Fife) no. 417 [see preceding]
    terris de Wormet 1632 Retours (Fife) no. 471 [David Balfour, lands of Wormit with mill of Wormit and 6 acres of land as its mill-lands, and seven acres of land lying beside the mill, and salmon fishing on the Tay called Langcraigs]
    terris de Wormet 1643 Retours (Fife) no. 635 [Alexander Nairn of St Fort]
    Woorms 1654 Blaeu (Pont) East Fife
    Wormett 1654 Blaeu (Gordon) Fife
    lands of Wormlet 1656 Retours (Fife) no. 859 [William Nairn of St Fort, lands of Wormit, and ‘salmon fishing of Wormet callit Long-craig’]
    Wormit 1775 Ainslie/Fife
    Wormit 1828 SGF
    Wormit 1855 OS 6 inch 1st edn [at site of OS Pathf. Wormit Farm; also shows Wormit Bay, Wormit Den and Wormit Hill]

? Sc wormit

‘Wormwood’? If Sc wormit (also wormot) is the origin of the name, it refers to the presence of the plant now called wormwood (Artemesia absinthium), which appears in English dialects as wermod, wormod, a form obsolete since the fifteenth century (SND) (whence also Vermouth). The plant’s name seems to come from its medieval use as a means of purging the body of worms: could there have been an apothecary’s garden or business here?[242]

    The name appears slightly earlier than the earliest form, in the personal name John Wormot (1395 ER.iii, 368), who rendered the account of the burgesses of Aberdeen at Perth to the royal exchequer. And in 1486 one John Wormat is granted a letter of safe conduct for a year, at the request of James III (CDS iv no. 1522). In both these cases the surname probably derives from the place.

    The NGR given above is for OS Pathf. Wormit Farm, which is Wormit on the OS 6 inch (1855) map. The name Wormit has since spread from this original location to embrace the area along the Tay shore, north of Wormit Farm, which has been built up in the modern period. OS Pathf. shows Wormit Bay, Wormit Den (which forms the FGN/BMO boundary), Wormit Farm and Wormit Hill.

/ˈwʌrmɪt/

This place-name appeared in printed volume 4