Place name of the week: Dalmarnock - Dail Meà rnag

Dalmarnock Train Station in Glasgow, near where the athletes' village was situated for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

The form Meàrnag is likely a hypocoristic form (or pet name), mo + Ernóc. Mo or ‘my’ is a common way of denoting saints. Ernóc is the diminutive form of another saints’ name, Ernán, although little is known about him.

There are two other places in Perthshire with the same name, in Little Dunkeld and Kinclaven, but the early forms for the one in Kinclaven (e.g. Dunmernoch in 1236) suggest that the original element was dùn ‘fort’ rather than dail. The Gaelic form for the Dunkeld name has been recorded as Tom Earnag. The saint also appears in several other names, such as Kilmarnock in Ayrshire which is Cille Meàrnag ‘the church of saint Ernóc , and Baldernock (Buthernok in c. 1200) possibly for Both Ernóc ‘the hut or church of Ernóc’.

For more information visit Ainmean-Àite na h-Alba