‘After Watson and Nicolaisen we used to say…’
in the beginning was the name place
place-names are composed of words for what a place once was
a name means nothing to a place
this is not that: place-name
place-names colour the horizon
place-names are necessary relations
names are needs
hill names hold a resting truth
a hill name always speaks to its best side
names can change and so can places
place-names are social signs for natural forms
a place-names is dyad – this and that – and sometimes dryad – the mysterious spirit of this or that
names determine a course
walks happen between place-names
in place-names a shoulder can be a nose
the map lies latent in the place-name
names make us all travelers
I travel in order to know names
an abundance of place-names is a response to the demands life poses
a name is always ‘authentic’, no matter if it evolves beyond the memory of its original meaning
a name recovered returns the claims of human affection for a place
place-names identify a field of biotic relationships
a name describes a patch of phenomena
place-names are distributed intelligence
in order to keep the names of farms and fields they must be maintained
our experience of a landscape grows from the place-names we know
to understand a place-name it helps to approach by the right path
a names is an intensification of awareness
names hide as much as they show
we can look into a name, but never look out from a name
a total landscape complete with missing names (after Beckett)
listen to a place-name, hear the dead speak
a name may be a world of selves asleep
life is a stream of forgetting; names are stepping-stones
need a place-name be faithful to a language ? – not so long as speech evolves
place-names prove words are always losing their meaning
a place-name is a sound-designating reality
only when something has been left behind do we name it (after Bougainville)
some place-names follow speech, but run counter to meaning
phonetic names are a made in the mouth, some in the ear, and some with the eye
how names distinguish places depends on a lexicon
names and maps are composed of differences – this-is-not-that
places are fixed, names aren’t
place-names are viewpoints
the process of place-making does not end with a name; that is its beginning
as place-name journey away from their original cause they do not lose their identity – rather, it changes
some place-names are all that remain of lost languages
place-names dissolve places into meaning
place-names have importance for their resonance within us – whether we know the places they refer to well or not
Mam’s name the mountains with a capital M
take care what use you make of a name
our place-names un-name older names
the meaning of a place-name tends to go underground over time
names can lose their context, woods can be cut, castles fall, housing schemes be built
with place-names meaning can exist without sense
a name may offer counsel: take care here, plant here, walk here, cross here
place-names, being charged with historical meanings, decline towards a state of ‘nature’
names are constellations
there are place-names that record a fleeting moment – say, an avalanche – and names that seem to refer to something ever=present – the mountain upon which the snows rest
fondness alone will not prevent a name sliding into oblivion
a gift for a guest: our place-names
they died from a lack of place-names
names frame
place-names are patterns and paths are intentions
place-names are companions, they offer comfort in the flux
most people lives in places, a few dwell in names
a culture that is considering the reintroduction of the wolf, lynx and boar may also wish to consider renewing their place-names
a place-name may rise or recede
place-names state laws, break laws, and change laws
some names are wild words
place-names are allied to habitat restoration
close behind, and partially obscured by, a name, there stands a place
names never amount to a unitary whole; places extend one to another within the horizon
names may lose what their meaning was, but they never lose their meaning to people
“it’s been such a long time since we went a walk to see that nice name”
that moment when, having walked for some time, you finally arrive at a name, sink down to the earth and sit – until a new name calls you on
a name can hold on to a ruin, or patch of hillside, but a name cannot hold on to nothing
a name can be a shelter or a wall staving off entry
names are portmanteau: begin by choosing what to unpack
although the pagan aspect of a name is covered in a decorated cloth, its outline may still be made out
a names meaning is not what a name meant, but what we now think it means
a name will endure as long as it has meaning for people
names change when the guard of speech alters
speech liberates names from one meaning and invents another one
the meaning of a name may go into oblivion long before the name itself
a place may go to ruin and its name survive
I flew off like a name – my other foot was already on the next mountain (after Mayakovsky)
after I found names I found beauty
something yet remains: a name
language is history, history language; names the luggage carried in their hold
most names are composed of a this-and-a-that
if we could begin walking from the horizon we would have no need of place-names
a name calls us on to some other corner
a name starts me up again
bibliography
W.F.N. Nicolaisen: In
the Beginning was the Name
Adam Watson: The Place Names of Upper
Deeside
photography
Gairnside:
: Hannah Devereux, 2015
Bessie's
Cairn: Hannah Devereux, 2015
Snow pole on
Gairnside: Hannah Devereux, 2015
Rineten: Hannah Devereux, 2015
Creag
Ghiubhais: Alec Finlay, 2015
Gathering was commissioned by Hauser & Wirth, for the
Fife Arms Hotel, Braemar; the project was launched in 2015 and will conclude in
2018.
The artist residency at University of Aberdeen is funded by The Leverhulme Trust; the project was launched in July 2016 and will conclude May 2017.
The artist residency at University of Aberdeen is funded by The Leverhulme Trust; the project was launched in July 2016 and will conclude May 2017.