Elvanfoot

Coordinates: 55°26′13″N 3°39′20″W / 55.437°N 3.6555°W / 55.437; -3.6555

Elvanfoot is a small village in South Lanarkshire, Scotland.

Elvanfoot is located at the confluence of the River Clyde and Elvan Water. The Clyde is crossed by a pedestrian suspension bridge that has been closed since 2007 for want of repair. The apparently-abandoned church is on the Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland.

Etymology

The name 'Elvan' apparently includes the element *al-, which occurs in river names in Roman Britain and continental Europe. A number of meanings have been suggested, including 'bright, shining, white', 'sparkling, speckled' and 'holy' amongst others. Almost all attestations of the root occur with the Proto-Indo-European suffix -*awe- and "root-determinative -*n- or participial -*ant-", giving the proto-form *al-au-n-.

Andrew Breeze has suggested that the name is derived from Cumbric *halẹ:n 'salt', cognate with Welsh halen, which is found in a number of Welsh river names. As Elvan Water passes through a mining area, Breeze suggests that there may be high levels of salt in the river. The loss of initial /h/ is explained as a result of the name's supposed transmission via Gaelic.