Moonzie
Moonzie MNZ PS NO338176 1 362 135m
Uchthirmonsyn 1172 x 1178 Barrow 1971 no. 1 [16th c. copy of 1395 copy; see MNZ Intro.]
Vhctredmunesin 1189 x 1189 x 1195 Barrow 1971 no. 5 [o.c.; Bp-elect Roger confirms Bp Richard’s grant of Moonzie and Cairnie KLM/MNZ]
Uchtirmonsyn 1198 x 1199 Barrow 1971 no. 10 [16th c. copy of 1395 copy; Bp Roger confirms Bp Richard’s grant of Moonzie and Cairnie KLM/MNZ]
Uchtirmonsyn 1200 Barrow 1971 no. 11 [16th c. copy of 1395 copy; papal confirmation of Bp Richard’s grant of Moonzie and Cairnie KLM/MNZ]
Uhtredmunesin 1207 CPL i 30 [one of places belonging to bishop of St Andrews, taken into papal protection]
(church of the Holy Trinity of) Vchthrithmunesin’ c.1230 x 1235 NAS RH6/23 [see MNZ Intro., Moonzie and Scotlandwell; also Laing I (Seals) nos. 858, 859]
(church of the Holy Trinity of) Hotermunesin’ c.1230 x 1236 St A. Lib. 175–6 [confirmation by Prior Henry of St Andrews (1225–36) of Bp William’s grant of Moonzie kirk to the hospital of St Mary of Lochleven (de Lochlevyn)]
Ecclesia de Vchthermunesin 1245 MS Paris BN latin 1218 fo 3r [dedication]
(church of) Hutremunesy c.1250 St A. Lib. 34
(church of) Huctermunesy 1251 NAS RH6/48 [Bp David grants the hospital and its goods, moveable and immovable, including the church, to the Trinitarians at the hospital at Scotlandwell (ad Fontem Scotie)]
(church of) Huchtermunsi 1275 Bagimond’s Roll p. 37 [from the Master of Scotlandwell (Fontis Scocie) for the churches of Moonzie and Carnock CNK]
Outhtirmonesy c.1353 SAUL MS 37490 no. 3 [probably for Ouchtirmonesy; a ditch between land of Pitlug MML and Moonzie; see Kilmaron CUP, discussion]
Uchtirmonsy 1487 RMS ii no. 1691 [David earl of Crawford sells lands to his brother Alexander Lindsay of Auchtermoonzie]
(vicar of) Ouchtermunsye 1489 Collophon of Barbour’s Bruce [the Collophon reads in translation ‘Written by me John Ramsay by order of the venerable and wise man Master Simon Lochmalony vicar of Moonzie’]
(Ale ander Lindsay of) Ochtirmonse 1497 RMS ii nos. 2339, 2340
(James Leiche in) Munsye 1515 Fife Ct. Bk. 82
Auchtirmonsy c.1560 s Assumption, 56 [Scotlandwell Priory rental]
Auchtermonsie 1574 Assumption, 83
Auchterminsie 1593 RMS v no. 2273 col. 3
(lands and barony of) Auchtermonsie 1608 Retours (Fife) no. 196 [David Earl Crawford, together with the lands of Cairnie (i.e. Lordscairnie MNZ)]
ecclesiam de Auchtermunsie 1616 RMS vii no. 1392 [the kirk of Moonzie disjoined ‘from the ministry of Scotlandwell’ (a ministerio Fontis Scotie)]
Mounsy Kirk 1642 Gordon MS Fife
Mounsy K<irk> 1654 Blaeu (Gordon) Fife
ecclesi<a> de Auchtermonsie 1664 Retours (Fife) no. 968 [‘teinds of the kirk of Crail and Moonzie’ (decimis ecclesiae de Carraill et Auchtermonsie)]
terris ecclesiasticis de Auchtermoonsie 1664 Retours (Fife) no. 968 [‘kirklands of Moonzie’, united in the tenandry of Orkie KTT]
James Wedderburne, minister of Mounsie 1661 Lamont’s Diary 136
Moonzie 1775 Ainslie/Fife [also Moonzie Kirk]
Monzie church 1790s OSA, 652
Moonzie, formerly *Auchtermoonzie, is the name of the settlement near which the Moonzie Burn rises, and of the parish through which it flows for the first 1.5 km of its course. It is probable that the settlement-name derives from G uachdar qualified by the burn-name Moonzie, ‘the upland of the Moonzie (Burn)’, constructed in the same way as Auchtertool ATL (PNF 1), which is the ‘upland of the Tiel (Burn)’, and possibly also Auchtermuchty AMY, above, which may be ‘upland of the *Muchty (Burn)’. There is certainly no evidence that the burn was ever known as the Auchtermoonzie Burn (see under Moonzie Burn, Linear Features, and Moonzie Mill LEU, above), while the parish- and settlement-name seems to become Moonzie only very gradually, starting in the early sixteenth century, but not coming through strongly in the record until the mid-seventeenth.
Assuming that Moonzie is in origin a hydronym, it may be related to G moineiseach ‘low, inactive, diffident’ (a by-form of mainneiseach ‘slow, sluggish’, an adjective from mainne ‘delay, sluggishness’, according to Dwelly). This is apt enough for the Moonzie Burn, which is slow-flowing for much of its course, dropping only c.7 m in its first 3 km. There is a Moineiseach Burn in the Don catchment area.[349] Alternatively, and equally aptly (see next paragraph), it may be related to G mòine ‘moss, bog’, with –es-extension. It could also be argued that the development of the stressed vowel in Moonzie is more likely to derive from mòine (cf Balnamoon, Menmuir ANG, for baile na mòine/mòna).[350]
If, on the other hand, the burn took its name from the settlement, G mòine remains a possibility, with –es-extension indicating ‘place of’ (as in Wemyss PNF 1 or Ceres PNF 2), with the additional common locational suffix –in, so ‘place beside a bog’, the remains of this bog being what is today West Myre (which see, below), north-east of Moonzie Kirk and Farm, on the edge of which Lordscairnie Castle stands. This bog is also the source of the Moonzie Burn.
Yet another possibility is that Moonzie contains G muin ‘back, back part of the neck’, with the same suffixes as discussed in the previous paragraph. This could refer to the hill on which Moonzie Kirk stands, the use of the names of body-parts to describe land-forms being a common feature of toponymy.[351] The parish kirk is certainly celebrated for its hill-top position, relatively unusual as the site of a medieval church. Referred to locally as ‘The Visible Kirk’, it has generated the following verse:
Bambreich stands heich, Heicham on a knowe,
Glenduckie in a waterdub, and Cairnie on a pow.
But gang ye east or gang ye west, or gang ye whaur ye will,
ye’ll ne’er get up tae Moonzie kirk unless ye climb a hill.[352]
There is another, similar, rhyme alluding to Moonzie Kirk’s elevated position, printed at the start of a brief historical overview of the kirk in the leaflet entitled A Special Service to mark the 750th anniversary of the re-dedication of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Moonzie, 10 Sept. 1995:[353]
Gae ye east, or gae ye west, gae ye ony wey ye will,
Ye winna get tae Moonzie Kirk unless ye pech up Moonzie Hill.
OS Pathf. shows Moonzie as a name applying to a wider area, while the settlement of Moonzie Farm is located at NO341176, at the foot of the hill on whose summit the church stands.[354]
/ˈmunzɪ/
This place-name appeared in printed volume 4