strathn.

Etymology: < Scottish Gaelic srath and Irish srath kind of river valley, valley floor, river meadow (Early Irish srath grass, sward, kind of valley, valley floor, river meadow), cognate with Old Welsh strat- (in a place name; Welsh ystrad kind of valley, valley floor, plain) < a Celtic base cognate with or formed similarly to classical Latin strātum (see stratum n.).Forms and pronunciation. The final -th is now pronounced /h/ in both Irish and in Scottish Gaelic, but was /θ/ until about the 13th cent. The English pronunciation with the dental fricative is probably due to place names with Strath- which came into English use before the sound change, and was probably subsequently reinforced by spelling pronunciations. (Similar place names in English use in Ireland do not preserve the fricative.) The form stra approximately reflects the pronunciation in modern Irish and Scottish Gaelic. Place-name uses. Occasionally attested as a place-name element in Scotland from the 10th cent. (e.g. implied in Old English Stræcledwealas Britons of Strathclyde), and more frequently from the 12th cent., e.g. in Stratkines , Fife (1140; now Strathkinnes), Stragrif , Renfrewshire (c1164; now Strathgryffe). However, these names consistently show Celtic word order, suggesting that they were formed within Scottish Gaelic or (in some early cases) in a Brittonic language or Pictish. Uses in place names with English elements are found from the 16th cent., e.g. Strath Myln , West Lothian (now Strath Mill), Easter Strayth , West Lothian (now Easter Strath), both recorded in 1571. Earlier currency (in sense 1) is perhaps shown by the following use of the simplex in a place name in a Latin charter: la strath de Ogilface, West Lothian (1386; now lost), which due to its location is more likely to show the Older Scots than the Scottish Gaelic word. By contrast, the following example of the simplex on its own (also as a place name) in a grant of land in Morvern (Lochaber, Argyllshire) is more likely to show the Scottish Gaelic than the Older Scots word for similar reasons, even though the charter was drawn up in Edinburgh:1496 in J. B. Paul Registrum Magni Sigilli Scotorum (1882) II. 495/1 Achnaha, Achkalen, Dowgree, Kynloch, Achranych, cum le Straith, le Clasche, et le Claschebrek.