Otterston

Otterston DGY S NT165852 1 394 50m SOF

terram de Kincarneder quam Other tenuit c.1199 Inchcolm Chrs. no. 7 [‘the land of Nether Cockairnie which Other held’]
terra de Oterston 1349 Inchcolm Chrs. no. 34 [the land ... called *the Crossacre situated in the land of Otterston’ (terram ... que dicitur le Corsakir in terra de Oterston sita)]
Ottirstoun 1390 x 1406 RMS i, app. 2 no. 1702, A and B [to Richard Broun]
(Richard Bron’ of) Oterston’ 1395 St A. Lib. 5
terr<e> de Otterstoune 1481 RMS ii no. 1488 [confirmation of sale of lands to John Blakburn of Inverkeithing]
terr<e> de Otterstoun 1486 RMS ii no. 1662
terr<e> de Otterstoun 1514 RMS iii no. 10
terr<e> de Otterstoun 1542 RMS iii no. 2689
terras de Otterstoun 1601 RMS vi no. 1226 [To James Leslie son and heir apparent of David Leslie of Otterstoun ‘the lands of Otterston ... and especially the pendicle called Whitehill ABO and the outset of these same lands called Mackeiswallis’ (et specialiter pendiculum vocatum Quhytehill et lie outsett earundem Mackeiswallis nuncupat.)]
Otterstoun 1654 Blaeu (Pont) West Fife
Otterston 1654 Blaeu (Gordon) Fife
Otterston 1753 Roy sheet 17, 5
Otterstoun Loch 1756 RHP3800
Uterston 1775 Ainslie/Fife [displaced considerably in this map, to the western march of the parish]
Otterstone Ho<use> 1828 SGF
Otterstone Loch 1828 SGF

pn Otter + Sc toun

The personal name Otter or Other is Anglo-Scandinavian, from the ON Ottarr/Ottar (Björkmann 1910, 104). In Domesday Book it occurs almost exclusively in Devon, the exceptions being one occurrence in Yorkshire and one in Shropshire (Feilitzen 1937, 342). It is found in twelfth-century Scotland, however, among the highest strata of society. King Edgar, c.1100, gave Swinton BWK to the monks of St Cuthbert (Durham) in a charter witnessed by several people with Scandinavian names, including Oter (ESC no. 20; RMS i, app. 1 no. 19).

The land which Otter had held was part of Kincarneder (Nether Cockairnie). For a full discussion of this name, as well as of Other himself, see above under Cockairnie DGY.

/ˈɔtərstən/

This place-name appeared in printed volume 1