Tha Bliadhna a’ Choilich aig na Sìonaich an impis thighinn gu ceann – deagh àm airson sùil a thoirt air an fhacal ‘coileach’ ann an ainmean-àite / The Chinese Year of the Rooster is about to come to an end – an appropriate time to consider ‘rooster’ references in Highland place-names.

A male red grouse. ©Lorne Gill

Coilich, Coilich-Fhraoich agus Bras-shruthan

Thathar ag ràdh gun d’ fhuair Clach a’ Choilich (no Clach na Coileach) ann an Gleann Sìthe a h-ainm air sgàth ’s mar a ghairm coileach à mullach na cloiche air an oidhche, a’ toirt rabhadh do Chlann MacThòmais gun robh sluagh a’ dèanamh orra le droch rùn. Bidh am facal coileach a’ nochdadh an-siud ’s an seo air aghaidh na tìre, ach ’s ann ainneamh a tha e a’ buntainn ris a’ choileach thaigheil – ’s dòcha gur e Uamh a’ Choilich anns a’ Mhorbhairne eisimpleir dhiubh. Tha cuideachd càraid de sgeirean far costa Sòdhaigh an Eilein Sgitheanaich air a bheil An Coileach agus a’ Chearc (gu h-inntinneach canaidh sin ‘tha coileach air a’ mhuir’ nuair a tha bàrr nan stuaghan geal air sgàth na gaoithe).

Tha An Coileach no An Coileachan air corra beinn mar ainm – ’s dòcha air sgàth an cumaidh no a chionn ’s gu bheil an coileach-fraoich no coileach-dubh pailt orra. Tha Cnoc a’ Choilich air grunnan chnoc (me ann an Cataibh, Siorrachd Rois agus Eilean Leòdhais) agus tha Creag nan Coileach faisg air na Caoil Bhòdach. ’S dòcha gur e Dorus a’ Choilich (a’ ciallachadh ‘bealach cumhang’ – deas air Loch Maol Àrdaich) an t-ainm-àite as annasaiche.

Ge-tà, chan eil coileach an-còmhnaidh a’ buntainn ri eun fireann. Tha e cuideachd a’ ciallachadh bras-shruth ann an abhainn (’s dòcha gun robh freumh an fhacail a’ ciallachadh fuaim mar a nì coileach no uisge air creagan aibhne). ’S iad eisimpleirean Abhainn a’ Choilich faisg air Gleann Afraig, Slugan a’ Choilich ann an Rùm agus grunnan allt air a bheil Allt a’ Choilich.

White water at Rumbling Brig on the River Braan. ©Lorne Gill/SNH

Cockerels, Male Grouse and River Rapids

The famous Clach a’ Choilich (also given as Clach na Coileach) ‘the stone of the cockerel’ in Glenshee is said to have been named for a bird that crowed from the top of the rock one night, waking the MacThomas clan and warning them of a raiding party. The word coileach is not infrequent in our landscape but only in a few cases does it refer to a domestic rooster, an example perhaps being Uamh a’ Choilich ‘the cave of the cockerel’ in Morvern. There is also a pair of sea rocks off the coast of Skye called An Coileach agus a’ Chearc ‘the cockerel and the hen’ (interestingly, coileach has a secondary meaning of ‘white horses’ on the sea).

A few hills are called An Coileach or An Coileachan ‘the small cockerel’, perhaps because of their shape – or because they are the haunt of the coileach-fraoich ‘heather-cock’ ie male red grouse or the coileach-dubh ‘male blackcock’. There are several hills called Cnoc a’ Choilich ‘the hill of the grouse’ (eg in Sutherland, Ross-shire and Lewis) and there is a Creag nan Coileach ‘the rocky hill of the grouse (plural)’ near the Kyles of Bute. Perhaps the most unusual name is Dorus a’ Choilich ‘the door i.e. pass of the grouse’ south of Loch Mullardoch.

However, not all references to coileach apply to a male avian. It also means rapids or white water in a river (the root of the word may have anciently referred to a ‘calling’ noise such as is made by a cockerel and by water running over rapids). Examples are Abhainn a’ Choilich ‘the river of the rapids’ near Glen Affric, Slugan a’ Choilich ‘the gorge of the rapids’ on Rum and Allt a’ Choilich ‘the burn of the rapids’, of which there are several.