Re: Rosslyn or Roslin Castle?

[Niven Sinclair <niven@niven.co.uk>]

At 09:12 13/07/99 -0500, you wrote:
>>At 21:29 12/07/99 -0400, Ward Ginn wrote:
>>>Dear Niven,
>>>    I was in process of mailing copies of the castle print to Bradley
>>>Sinclair Barker when I discovered that the Clan Sinclair web site uses the
>>>spelling "Roslin" for the castle while in Robert Brydon's book it is
spelled
>>>"Rosslyn."  I may be splitting hairs, but I would like to be as accurate as
>>>possible.
>
>I've been going by a story I heard that the castle name was originally
>spelled Roslin and the Rosslyn spelling was introduced later as a
>conscious Gaelification of the name.  I have no source to cite on
>that, and I'll be happy to be corrected if I'm misremembering.
>
>>>...
>
>>Niven wrote:
>>
>>Dear Ward,
>>
>>Thank you for your interesting e-mail.
>>
>>Firstly, let me deal with the spelling of Rosslyn/Roslin.
>>
>>The earldom, the castle and the chapel are spelled Rosslyn whilst the
>>village is spelt Roslin.
>
>That seems to straighten it out.
>
>>...
>
>>I would be delighted to read your friend's article which he wrote to
>>accompany the 17th century print of the Chapel.  What 
>>he saw was captured by Sir Walter Scott in the following verses from "The
>>Dirge of Rosabelle":
>
>Which is quoted on the web pages for Rosslyn Chapel and Roslin Castle.
>
>>...
>
>>Here Sir Walter Scott uses the Roslin spelling throughout.
>
>Which reopens the question.
>
>>For those who are not familiar with the story of lovely Rosabelle, it
>>should be explained that she lived at Dysart,
>
>I'll add that explanation to the web page.
>

In fact, Roslin has been spelt in many ways over the Centuries.  Some of
the barons of Rosslyn
even signed their names as Roskeylyn.  By and large, it was spelt
phonetically and it is only
since the Earldom was granted that the name of the earldom, the Castle and
the Chapel became
standardised as Rosslyn whilst the village remained simply Roslin.  The
pronunciation is the
same.  The meaning depends on whether you accept the Gaelic interpretation
or the more esoteric
idea of it stemming from 'rose-line'.  As there was a Rosslyn long before
the Sinclairs came to
Scotland any departure from the  Gaelic meaning must have been an
adaptation rather than a
accurate description of the scene where the North Esk River tumbles over a
waterfall at a point
known as Meg's chukkies - but that is another story which will have to
await another day.

Niven Sinclair
>John S. Quarterman <jsq@mids.org>
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