Criffel is a hill in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire,

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway (; ) is one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, located in the western part of the Southern Uplands. It is bordered by East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, and South Lanarkshire to the north; Scottish Borders to the no ...

, south-west

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. It is high but appears higher because of its great isolation and high prominence. It is a prominent feature in many of the views from the northern

Lake District The Lake District, also known as ''the Lakes'' or ''Lakeland'', is a mountainous region and National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in Cumbria, North West England. It is famous for its landscape, including its lakes, coast, and mou ...

on a clear day. It is surrounded by a host of satellites, including Long Fell, Maidenpap and Bainloch Hill. The slopes of Criffel feature the upland vegetation of heather, bog cotton and blaeberry and are inhabited by skylarks. Loch Kindar sits at the foot of the hill.

Etymology

The name Criffel is recorded in 1273 as ''Crufel''. The second element, -''fel'', is either Older Scots or Northern Middle English ''fell'' or

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

''fjall'' 'mountain'. Because Old Norse ''fjall'' had been borrowed into Middle English by the twelfth century, it is not possible to determine whether or not the name was coined by Scandinavian speakers. There have been a number of proposals for the etymology of the first element. The name is recorded as ''Crofel'' in 1319 and in 1330 as ''Crefel''. (Drummond also gives the form ''Crafel'' in 1330; it is not clear if this refers to the same source.) In 1892 Johnston proposed Gaelic ''crich'' 'boundary' + Icelandic ''fell'' in ''Place-Names of Scotland''. However, by the second edition of 1903 he thought a derivation from Icelandic ''kryfja'' 'to split' was more probable. In the third edition in 1934 this is the only derivation offered. Mills also takes the name to be Old Scandinavian ''kryfja'' + ''fjall'' but adds that the first element is 'doubtful'. In 1930

Maxwell Maxwell may refer to: People * Maxwell (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name ** James Clerk Maxwell, mathematician and physicist * Justice Maxwell (disambiguation) * Maxwell baronets, in the Baronetage of N ...

proposed Scandinavian ''kraka fjall'' 'raven's or crow's hill' or Lowland Scots ''Craw Fell''. William J. Watson rejected a derivation from ''kraka fjall'' on the grounds that it would develop into a form like ''Crackel''. Geoffery Barrow suggested that Criffel incorporates the name ''Cro'', which also appears in ''Desnes Cro'', the name of a

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of ...

located between the rivers Nith and Urr. Here ''Cro'' represents the Gaelic word for sheepfold.

References

Marilyns of Scotland Mountains and hills of Dumfries and Galloway {{DumfriesGalloway-geo-stub

Etymology

See also

References