The davoch, davach or daugh is an ancient Scottish land measurement. All of these terms are cognate with modern

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well ...

'' dabhach''. The word ''dabh'' or '' damh'' means an " ox" (cf.

oxgang An oxgang or bovate ( ang, oxangang; da, oxgang; gd, damh-imir; lat-med, bovāta) is an old land measurement formerly used in Scotland and England as early as the 16th century sometimes referred to as an oxgait. It averaged around 20 English a ...

, ''damh-imir''), but ''dabhach'' can also refer to a "tub", so may indicate productivity. It was called the ''arachor'' in the Lennox. It is thought that the measurement is of

Pictish Pictish is the extinct Brittonic language spoken by the Picts, the people of eastern and northern Scotland from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. Virtually no direct attestations of Pictish remain, short of a limited number of geographica ...

origins, and is most common in the north east, and often absent in the south of Scotland. It is particularly common in various placenames to this day, often in the form "Daugh of Invermarkie" etc. The name "Haddo" is also a corruption of “Hauf Daugh”, or half-davoch, in turn a translation of “leth-dhabhach”. Scottish land measurements tended to be based on how much

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animal ...

they could support. This was particularly important in a country where fertility would vary widely. In the east a davoch would be a portion of land that could support 60 cattle or oxen. MacBain reckoned the davoch to be “either one or four ploughgates, according to locality and land”. A

ploughgate The carucate or carrucate ( lat-med, carrūcāta or ) was a medieval unit of land area approximating the land a plough team of eight oxen could till in a single annual season. It was known by different regional names and fell under different forms ...

contains about 100 Scots acres (5.3 km²). Watson, in ''The Placenames of Ross & Cromarty'', says, “usually four ploughgates”.

Skene Skene may refer to: * Skene, Aberdeenshire, a community in North East Scotland, United Kingdom * Skene, Mississippi, an unincorporated community in Mississippi, United States * Skene, Sweden, a village now part of Kinna, Sweden * Skene (automobi ...

in ''Celtic Scotland'' says: The ''pennyland'' is thought to be of Norse origin, so it is possible that Norse and native systems were conflated in the west. Prof. MacKinnon in ''Place and Personal Names of Argyll'' says, The

lexicographer Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries. * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries. * Theoretica ...

Jamieson claimed that a daugh was enough to produce about 48

boll Boll may refer to: * Boll (surname) * Boll, an obsolete Scottish measure of volume * BOLL, a protein in humans * 7873 Böll, a main-belt asteroid *Boll case, a 1958 International Court of Justice case *Boll KG, Uwe Boll's personal production comp ...

s, and averaged an area of approximately . Daughs are referred to in the '' Book of Deer'', and were recorded as being in use in the late 18th century in

Inverness-shire Inverness-shire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Nis) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. Covering much of the Highlands and Outer Hebrides, it is Scotland's largest county, though one of the smallest in popula ...

. In some areas, a quarter of a davoch was a ''ploughgate'', and an eighth an ''ochdamh''.

References

{{Dwelly (Dabhach) with corrections and additions

See also

References

Further reading