Quote Originally Posted by freddie View Post
My name Hume (alternative spelling Home) has caused a lot of controversy. Because the name is found in Berwickshire one authority says it's old Northumbrian for 'at the heights'. The general consensus of opinion is that it's from the old Danish Hulmr (meaning river island or river meadow). It's true Hume Castle is situated on high ground, but it's nowhere near a 'river island' and as far as records show the name has never had an 'L' in it. It has been suggested with some authority that it's from the old Gaelic for 'of the cave', and I believe that's the true origin. A cadet branch of the old MacDuff Thanes of Fife had the designation 'Nan-h-Umah' (sorry, I know it's not the correct spelling) probably alluding to the caves found underneath MacDuff's Castle at West Weymes. 'The Great MacDuff' helped King Malcolm 111 to regain his father's crown (legend says that he slew MacBeth himself) and it is known that he was rewarded with lands in The Lothians - which is where Hume is located. This makes perfect sense to me, whereby the modern spelling Hume is derived from the Gaelic 'h-Umah'. In olden times the letter 'u' probably had some sort of mark above it and in an old charter the letter and the mark joined to form what looked like a letter 'o' - hence the spelling Home.
What do you think?
I think the Norse origin is the most likely. 'Holmes' is an English name based on holmr and, depending upon your accent, the 'l' is not pronounced. Neither is the 'r' for that matter!

The Gaelic term you are thinking of would be nan h-Uaimh, pronounced NAN HOO-IV or NAN HOO-IH, depending on dialect. This does indeed mean 'of the cave'. However, the 'm' is not and has never been pronounced as 'm'. It is part of the vowel combination mh which is pronounced as either 'v' or 'w'.

There is some precedent for the orthographic error. Wemyss is derived from a similar source. In earlier Irish writings (and therefore Scottish Gaelic as well) the softening 'h' was often omitted from the written form and represented by a dot above the consonant in question. Mispronunciation can (and did) arise from Anglophile scribes misinterpreting Gaelic text.

If I remember correctly, the Gaelic language never really held sway in the extreme southeast of Scotland. That area was always dominated by the Norse, Britons, and the Anglians.