Lochaber

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A historical district in the western Highlands of Scotland, centred on Fort William and the shores of Loch Linnhe ; a long-handled Scottish axe with a broad blade once used as a weapon
2. An area of northwestern Scotland surrounding the town of Fort William ; a Highland weapon in the form of a long-shafted axe with a wide, curved blade
3. A geographical region in the Scottish Highlands famed for its scenery ; a type of long-handled axe with a broad blade used historically in Scotland

Etymology: Lochaber is a district in the Scottish Highlands, centred on the town of Fort William and the lochs and mountains around Ben Nevis, and the name is much older than any English usage. It comes from Scottish Gaelic, most likely from "loch" meaning lake plus an element that is usually taken as "abhar" (a confluence or river mouth), giving something like "lake at the confluence." The exact meaning is debated among Gaelic scholars, so the explanation should be read as the most widely accepted reading rather than settled fact. In English the word has a second, more familiar life. "Lochaber axe" names a long-handled Highland weapon, a kind of poleaxe with a broad, curved blade and a hook on the back, used in the Highlands from roughly the fifteenth to the seventeenth century. The name attached to it because the weapon was associated with fighting men from Lochaber, so a place name became the label for a piece of military equipment.