Urquhart

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A Scottish family name of Norman-Scottish origin borne by many people ; a village and ruined castle on the northern shore of Loch Ness in the Highlands
2. A traditional Scottish surname that has been carried by numerous families ; a historic district in the Scottish Highlands famous for its ruined castle beside Loch Ness
3. A surname with deep roots in Scotland ; a location in the Highlands whose medieval castle stands on the banks of the famous Loch Ness

Etymology: Urquhart is a Scottish surname and place name, and its roots reach back to a language that was spoken in northern Scotland long before English arrived there. The name is probably Pictish, the now-extinct Celtic language of the peoples who lived north of the Forth. Its likely pieces are the Pictish equivalent of Welsh "ar", meaning "on", and "cardden", meaning "enclosure", so the sense would be something like "on the enclosure" or "by the fenced place." Place names of this kind were often coined for a particular spot, such as a fold, a rise, or a stockaded site, and the name later stuck to the people and families who lived there. Several Scottish places bear the name, most famously Urquhart Castle on the shore of Loch Ness, and surnames were then taken from those localities. The Welsh comparison is useful because it shows how closely Pictish and the Brittonic languages of Wales and Cumbria were related.