Auchencrow

Coordinates: 55°50′N 2°14′W / 55.84°N 2.24°W / 55.84; -2.24

Auchencrow (Scottish Gaelic: Allt na Crà) is a small village in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, by the Lammermuir range of hills, and near Reston.

Etymology

The modern name, Auchencrow, tends to obscure the question of origins. A Gaelic origin is accepted by Watson (1926, 138) and Nicholaisen (1976, 138). It is thought that the meaning is "achaidh na cra" "field of the tree or trees" This is apparently contradicted by the 12th-century name-form ‘Alden-’, also preserved, for example, in four 13th-century Durham charters. Mac an Tàilleir suggests the form Aldenacraw may be derived from a name for the watercourse (such as the Gaelic Allt na Crà "stream of the salmon trap") rather than the settlement itself.

Something like ‘Halden’s Grave’ or ‘Halden’s Grove’ could be nearer the original idea, but it is more natural to use the current name, and to speak of the village of Auchencrow. This is itself a form only recently derived by folk-etymology from the much longerrunning ‘Edencraw’ or ‘Auchencrawe’: an evolution from Halden- to Alden- or Eden- to Auchenand from -grove/ -grave to -crawe to -crow.