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Loch () is the Scottish Gaelic, Scots and Irish word for a lake or sea inlet. It is cognate with the Manx lough, Cornish logh, and one of the Welsh words for lake, llwch[citation needed].
In English English and Hiberno-English, the anglicised spelling lough is commonly found in place names; in Lowland Scots and Scottish English, the spelling «loch» is always used. Many loughs are connected to stories of lake-bursts, signifying their mythical origin.
Sea-inlet lochs are often called sea lochs or sea loughs. Some such bodies of water could also be called firths, fjords, estuaries, straits or bays.
Background[edit]
Looking down Loch Long, a long sea loch
This name for a body of water is Insular Celtic[1] in origin and is applied to most lakes in
Scotland and to many sea inlets in the west and north of Scotland. The word comes from Proto-Indo-European *lókus («lake, pool») and is related to Latin lacus («lake, pond») and English lay («lake»).
Lowland Scots orthography, like Scottish Gaelic, Welsh and Irish, represents /x/ with ch, so the word was borrowed with identical spelling.
English borrowed the word separately from a number of loughs in the previous Cumbric language areas of Northumbria and Cumbria. Earlier forms of English included the sound /x/ as gh (compare Scots bricht with English bright). However, by the time Scotland and England joined under a single parliament, English had lost the /x/ sound. This form was therefore used when the English settled Ireland. The Scots convention of using ch remained, hence the modern Scottish English loch.
In Welsh, what corresponds to lo is lu in Old Welsh and llw in Middle Welsh such as in today’s Welsh placenames Llanllwchaiarn, Llwchwr, Llyn Cwm Llwch, Amlwch, Maesllwch, the Goidelic lo being taken into Scottish Gaelic by the gradual replacement of much Brittonic orthography with Goidelic orthography in Scotland.
Many of the loughs in Northern England have also previously been called «meres» (a Northern English dialect word for «lake» and an archaic Standard English word meaning «a lake that is broad in relation to its depth») such as the Black Lough in Northumberland.[2] However, reference to the latter as loughs (lower case initial), rather than as lakes, inlets and so on, is unusual.
Some lochs in Southern Scotland have a Brythonic rather than Goidelic etymology, such as Loch Ryan where the Gaelic loch has replaced a Cumbric equivalent of Welsh llwch.[3] The same is perhaps the case for water bodies in Northern England named with ‘Low’ or ‘Lough’ or otherwise it represents a borrowing of the Brythonic word into the Northumbrian dialect of Old English.[3]
Although there is no strict size definition, a small loch is often known as a lochan (so spelled also in Scottish Gaelic; in Irish it is spelled lochán).
Perhaps the most famous Scottish loch is Loch Ness, although there are other large examples such as Loch Awe, Loch Lomond and Loch Tay.
Examples of sea lochs in Scotland include Loch Long, Loch Fyne, Loch Linnhe, and Loch Eriboll. Elsewhere in Britain, places like the Afon Dyfi can be considered sea lochs.
Uses of lochs[edit]
Some new reservoirs for hydroelectric schemes have been given names faithful to the names for natural bodies of water—for example, the Loch Sloy scheme, and Lochs Laggan and Treig (which form part of the Lochaber hydroelectric scheme near Fort William). Other expanses are simply called reservoirs, e.g. Blackwater Reservoir above Kinlochleven.
Scottish lakes[edit]
Scotland has very few bodies of water called lakes. The Lake of Menteith, an Anglicisation of the Scots Laich o Menteith meaning a «low-lying bit of land in Menteith», is applied to the loch there because of the similarity of the sounds of the words laich and lake. Until the 19th century the body of water was known as the Loch of Menteith.[4] The Lake of the Hirsel, Pressmennan Lake, Lake Louise and Raith Lake are man-made bodies of water in Scotland, referred to as lakes.
The word «loch» is sometimes used as a shibboleth to identify natives of England, because the fricative [x] sound is used in Scotland whereas most English people mispronounce the word as «lock».[5]
Lochs outside Scotland and Ireland[edit]
As «loch» is a common Gaelic word, it is found as the root of several Manx place names.
The United States naval port of Pearl Harbor, on the south coast of the main Hawaiian island of Oahu, is one of a complex of sea inlets. Several are named as lochs, including South East Loch, Merry Loch, East Loch, Middle Loch and West Loch.
Loch Raven Reservoir is a reservoir in Baltimore County, Maryland.
Brenton Loch in the Falkland Islands is a sea loch, near Lafonia, East Falkland.
In the Scottish settlement of Glengarry County in present-day Eastern Ontario, there is a lake called Loch Garry.[6] Loch Garry was named by those who settled in the area, Clan MacDonell of Glengarry, after the well-known loch their clan is from, Loch Garry in Scotland. Similarly, lakes named Loch Broom, Big Loch, Greendale Loch, and Loch Lomond can be found in Nova Scotia, along with Loch Leven in Newfoundland, and Loch Leven in Saskatchewan.
Loch Fyne is a fjord in Greenland named by Douglas Clavering in 1823.
See also[edit]
- List of lochs of Scotland
- List of loughs of Ireland
- List of loughs of England
- Ria
- Lake-burst
References[edit]
- ^ The current form has currency in the following languages: Scottish Gaelic, Irish, Manx, and has been borrowed into Lowland Scots, Scottish English, Irish English and Standard English.
- ^ Beckensall, Stan (2004). Northumberland Place-Names. Thropton, Morpeth, Northumberland: Butler Publishing. ISBN 978-0-946928-41-5.
- ^ a b Alan, James. «Brittonic Language In The Old North — A Guide To Place Name Elements» (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 August 2017. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
- ^ «Lake of Menteith | Scotland’s Only Lake | Trossachs.co.uk».
- ^ «LOCH | Pronunciation in English». dictionary.cambridge.org. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
- ^ «Lochgarrylakeassociation — LGLA Action». Archived from the original on 20 October 2013. Retrieved 15 June 2012.
Look up loch in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Asked by: Alverta Hand
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Loch (/lɒx/) is the Scottish Gaelic, Scots and Irish word for a lake or sea inlet. … Sea-inlet lochs are often called sea lochs or sea loughs. Some such bodies of water could also be called firths, fjords, estuaries, straits or bays.
What is a lake called in Scotland?
Loch is a Scottish Gaelic word for a lake or fjord (cognate with the Irish Gaelic loch, which is anglicised as lough and with the older Welsh word for a lake, llwch) that has been borrowed by Scots and Scottish English to apply to such bodies of water, especially those in Scotland.
What is classed as a loch?
A loch is a large area of water in Scotland that is completely or almost completely surrounded by land.
Which is the only lake in Scotland to be actually called a lake?
The Lake of Menteith is often thought of as the only body of water in Scotland that is referred to as a lake.
What’s the difference between a loch and a river?
1. Rivers are flowing bodies of water, while lakes are still bodies of water. 2. Unlike lakes, rivers aren’t enclosed by land.
35 related questions found
What makes a lake a lake?
A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, apart from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although like the much larger oceans, they form part of Earth’s water cycle.
What is the difference between a Loch and a fjord?
Fjords are flooded glacial valleys, and usually have very steep sides. Often the fjord itself is deeper than the ocean beyond it’s mouth. Many have very inaccessible shorelines except at the extreme ends. Loch is used both for lake, and for a confined or protected sea inlet.
Why does Scotland only have one lake?
It is quite unusual to find a “lake” in Scotland because most bodies of water are called “lochs”. Until the 19th century it was known as the “Loch of Menteith”. … There are a number of small islands on the Lake of Menteith. The largest one is called Inchmahome (meaning Island of St Colmaig) with an ancient monastery.
Is a pond a loch?
Lochs have a surface area of 1 hectare or more, while ponds are up to 2 hectares in size. Thus the definition of pond overlaps with that of, for example, lochans or dystrophic water bodies.
What kind of water is a lake?
Lakes are bodies of freshwater entirely surrounded by land. There are lakes on every continent and in every ecosystem. A lake is a body of water that is surrounded by land.
Is there a loch in England?
Loch Morar is the deepest of the UK’s lakes and Loch Awe the longest. Murray and Pullar (1910) note that the mean depth of Loch Ness is 57.4% of the maximum depth – higher than in any other large deep loch in Scotland. The deepest lake in England is Wast Water which descends to 76 metres (249 ft).
Which loch is the deepest?
Loch Morar is the deepest loch – at 310m. Loch Ness is the largest loch by volume – it contains more water (7,452 million cubic metres) than all English and Welsh lakes together.
What is the difference between a loch and a Firth?
As nouns the difference between firth and loch
is that firth is an arm of the sea; a while loch is (scotland) a lake or loch can be (looch).
Is Loch Lomond a sea loch?
As Loch Lomond is a freshwater loch and not a saltwater loch, it is not tidal. This means that there are many activities that can safely take place on or in it; from open water swimming to canoeing and boating, there is something for everyone.
What is a firth in Scotland?
Firth is a word in the English and Scots languages used to denote various coastal waters in the United Kingdom, predominantly within Scotland. … It is linguistically cognate to fjord (both from Proto-Germanic *ferþuz) which has a more constrained sense in English.
Can you swim in the Loch Ness?
Avoid Swimming in Loch Ness
Even on the hottest Summer’s day, it is still very cold in Loch Ness. This is due to the depth of the loch — the surface might warm slightly, but it is a lot colder below, and this can put you at risk of cold water shock, or hypothermia.
What is the cleanest lake in the world?
The clearest lake in the world – in pictures
- The world’s clearest lake is the Blue Lake – located in the top part of New Zealand’s South Island. …
- Scientifically verified reports show visibility of up to 76 metres – compared with distilled water visibility of 70-80 metres.
Where is the biggest lake in the world?
Lake Baikal in Russia is the largest lake on Earth when measured by volume. Plunging over 1,632 meters deep, it is both the deepest and the oldest lake in the world, with many arguing that it should be deemed a sea.
Why is Loch Ness so cold?
The loch is known for not freezing during the cold Scottish winter. Which is due to the depth of the water. When the very top of the loch reaches freezing point, the water sinks and is replaced by the warmer water below. It’s also very dark and very hard to see when submerged.
Is a lake bigger than a pond?
In general, lakes tend to be larger and/or deeper than ponds, but numerous examples exist of “ponds” that are larger and deeper than “lakes.” For example, Echo “Lake” in Conway is 14 acres in surface area with a maximum depth of 11 feet, while Island “Pond” in Derry is nearly 500 acres and 80 feet deep.
Are all lakes man made?
Based on the NLA 2012, of the total 111,119 lakes assessed, approximately 52% (58,700) were natural and 48% (53,119) were manmade. The NLA found that natural lakes are distributed fairly evenly in size from small to large while most manmade reservoirs are relatively small.
Is the Black Sea a lake?
During the last of the great glaciations, the Black Sea became a large freshwater lake. The present connection to the Mediterranean Sea—and to salt water—is believed to have emerged some 6,500 to 7,500 years ago.
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The world has a variety of ways to name the same things. In different parts of the world, different names show the depth of culture, the history of a region, and how people interpret the world around them! Today, we are going to be taking a look at one of the most common language knots around, the difference between a loch and a lake. Let’s discover the differences if there are any to be had at all!
What is a loch and what is a lake?
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A loch is simply the Scottish, Gaelic, and Irish word for a lake or a sea inlet, while the word lake is English in origin.
The difference between a loch and a lake is one of location. Scottish people refer to large inland bodies of water as “lochs,” while the rest of the English-speaking world refers to them as lakes. As a general rule, these two words could be used interchangeably as they have almost the same meaning.
Between the two, however, loch is a broader term that could be used more generally. Lochs are often used to describe large inland bodies of water, as well as sea inlets. For most English speakers, saltwater access to the ocean isn’t something that a lake would ever have. For Scots, however, a loch could be a large inlet that is connected to the ocean and is entirely saltwater. When a loch is salt water, it is often referred to as a “sea loch.”
Who uses the word loch?
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The word “loch” is commonly used in the northern part of Britain, commonly referred to as Scotland. Additionally, anyone with Scottish or Gaelic roots is predisposed to use the word loch. The Irish, with their national language being Gaelic, also use the word loch. Additionally, the word is used as a primary marker for anyone who is “truly” part of the local culture. This shibboleth is quite important to many people in the region.
Since the word loch is a bit broader of a term than lake, it is occasionally used in other parts of the world, with a deferential nod to the Scots. In Hawaii, for example, the military has named many of the sea inlets around Pearl Harbor using “loch.” The West Loch and Pearl Loch are primary examples of this usage.
Where did the word loch come from?
The word loch has its origins in the ancient Gaelic language, likely around the 14th century CE. Even before the Celts had established Gaelic as a developed language, however, the word *lókus, derived from Proto-Indo-European languages, was likely to root. *lókus originally meant pond or pool, and is also the ancient root of the Latin word lacus.
What other words can be used in reference to lochs?
In addition to the word loch, other additions or substitutions are often used. Sea inlets that are saltwater are most commonly referred to as sea lochs or even sea loughs. When a body of water is extremely large and a direct extension of the ocean, it is often referred to as a firth. Firths and fjords are extremely similar in meaning and coincide with common American terms like estuaries, straits, or even bays.
What are the most famous lochs in Scotland?
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Scotland is full of lochs, most being carved by deep glaciers that receded at the end of the last ice age. Let’s go over a few of the most famous and more interesting lochs in the region.
Loch Ness
Without a doubt, Loch Ness is the most famous loch in the world, let alone in Scotland. Loch Ness is the largest body of water in all of England by a massive margin. Every other freshwater body in England and Wales combined couldn’t fill the volume of Loch Ness. Aside from its size, it is the famous home of the most famous cryptic beast in the world, the Loch Ness Monster. Nessie, as it’s named, wouldn’t have too much of a problem finding a home within the deep recesses of the cold waters.
Loch Coruisk
Located on the Isle of Skye, Loch Coruisk is one of the most scenic places in the region and the source material for the famous poem, Loch Coruisk, as written by Sir Walter Scott. After the poem was released, people flocked to the region to take photos. Still, it’s a haunting and solitary place.
Loch Shiel
For any Harry Potter fans out there, Loch Shiel is easily identifiable. The Glenfinnan viaduct is just to the north of Loch Shiel and marks the place where the Jacobite Express train crosses the rivers. Four of the movies used that viaduct to show the Hogwartz Express on the way to Hogwartz proper!
Loch Morar
The deepest waters in the British Isles can be found at Loch Morar. Loch Morar isn’t just deep; it’s also home to the second most famous monster in the region (behind Nessie). Morag is a famous sea monster that purportedly lives in the deep waters of Loch Morar.
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Asked by: Sagar Chelaru
asked in category: real estate Last Updated: 20th November, 2020
Loch (/l?x/) is the Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Scots word for a lake or for a sea inlet. It is cognate with the Manx lough, Cornish logh, and one of the Welsh words for lake, llwch.
Click to read further detail. In respect to this, is there a difference between a loch and a lake?
Both these words are from different languages usually used for same meaning. Loch is the Irish-Scottish Gaelic and Scots word used for a lake and for a sea inlet also. Some times, lochs are also called as firths, estuaries, straits or bays etc. Sea-inlet lochs are often called sea-lochs or sea loughs.
Beside above, are Scottish lochs salt water? Basically, yes — except when it is a fjord. Scotland has over 31,000 freshwater lochs in Scotland, though only around 350 of any substantial size. The country is also fringed with sea lochs, or fjords.
Simply so, what is the most famous loch in Scotland?
Loch Ness
How many lochs are there in Scotland?
It has been estimated that there are at least 31,460 freshwater lochs (including lochans) in Scotland, and more than 7,500 in the Western Isles alone.