If Scottish accents and pronunciation puzzle you, then many Scottish place names will no doubt bewilder other English speakers and English language learners alike. Visiting the Glasgow area may entail transport via the city’s surrounding areas or asking directions where such areas are mentioned in the conversation.

If seeking advice involving passing through the north western side of Glasgow, a non-Scot could find him or herself looking for signpost for an area called “Milguy”. Sadly, such a traveller will never find this place for the Scottish place name is in fact written “Milngavie”. This name is derived from Scots Gaelic, a language spoken in Scotland and originating from the Hebrides and Highlands, in addition to being a second spoken language in Nova Scotia. Gaelic itself is of Celtic origin and includes Irish and Manx.

The Gaelic word Milngavie is an Anglicisation of Muillean gaoithe or Meall na gaoithe, believed to have two meanings. The first of these is “the windmill” and the second is “the hill of the wind”.

Bear in mind also that you may hear the city of Glasgow itself being referred to differently in the form of Glasgee. Anyone would forgive you for thinking this is purely Scottish slang. Nonetheless, whatever you think of this form of reference to the city, try to remember that there is some formal explanation for this pronunciation since the Gaelic word for the city is in fact Glaschu.

It is believed that this name in fact derived from the Cumbric which was a spoken language in the area occupied by the Strathclyde area (including Glasgow) before Gaelic took root there. However, Cumbric was not a language as we would describe it today: it had no particular vocabulary or grammar which are essential for a language to be so classed. Instead, Cumbric refers to the historical evidence gathered of a Brythonic language existing in a certain area of Britain, itself deriving from the linguistic sub-branch of Celtic known as P-Celtic.