Talk:River Avon, Strathspey

Naming taboo?

Or simply because the biggest river in the area is just "the river"? Come on, in Glasgow the Clyde is "the river" not because of some mystic taboo but because it's the only river. Can we have a ref? Akerbeltz (talk) 11:56, 28 May 2011 (UTC)

Okay I've remove the speculation about how "the implications of this (and other) waterways being called simply '[The] River' may be an indicator of ancient beliefs or superstitions". The notion that this river's "real name" was sacred and pronouncing it was "dangerous" seems a pretty wild notion. Pasicles (talk) 00:49, 15 October 2013 (UTC)

The Gaelic for this particular "Avon" is "Athfhinn". Its resemblance to the other "Avons" is merely a coincidence AFAIK.-MacRùsgail (talk) 18:11, 17 November 2014 (UTC)

Never mind this particular river but naming superstition is not a 'wild notion'. In certain societies, ancient and modern, natural features are associated with gods, certainly that's known to be the case with many rivers which can be the bringers of both good fortune and bad to people who live beside them. See List_of_water_deities. And there are many instances across the world of the names of gods being unutterable - see Yahweh (para 3) for a well known example. Still, Akerbeltz's take on it is most likely - unless of course MacRùsgail is right in this case - if you've a reference for it, it would be good to include it in the article. Geopersona (talk) 07:56, 12 March 2021 (UTC)

And whilst we're at it, the 'Linn of Avon' - the OS bracket it as a 'waterfall' on maps but photos of it reveal no such thing at this spot. However there is a distinct pool at the foot of a short steeper section of the river and I understand that 'linn' can also signify such a pool in a tumbling river - see Linn of Tummel, for example. Geopersona (talk) 08:00, 12 March 2021 (UTC)

I am familiar with naming taboos but in Scotland what we have are sea kennings. I have yet to come across one that applies to a feature on land (in Scotland). Akerbeltz (talk) 08:57, 12 March 2021 (UTC)

Thanks. I'd come across the practice but hadn't got a name for it, so 'kennings' - of the sea or some other realm - are good to know about. Geopersona (talk) 11:21, 12 March 2021 (UTC)

Alexander quote

The reference for this quotation is clearly inadequate and the various websites that it appears on seem split betwee the two gents provided in it. It is likely they took their info from here rather than the original source although one at least speccifically attributes the quote to the Lord Provost rather than the explorer. The SMC's ''In Memoriam'' for the former states that his "masterpiece" was the SMC's Guide Book to the Cairngorms. The latter however seems to have no obvious link to Scotland. I'll change the attribution but I haven't found a proper reference for now at least. Ben MacDui 15:45, 24 September 2023 (UTC)