Criffel is a hill in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire, Dumfries and Galloway, south-west Scotland. 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 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 Alauda. 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 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
Scottish Gaelic crich 'boundary' +
Old Norse 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 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 located between the rivers
River Nith and
Urr Water.
Here
Cro represents the Gaelic word for sheepfold.
See also
-
List of places in Dumfries and Galloway
-
List of Marilyns in the Scottish Lowlands
