COGN (Cel.),
the point of a hill between two valleys, or a tongue of land enclosed between two watercourses; e.g. Cognat, Cougny, Cognac, Le Coigné, Coigneur, Coigny, etc., in various parts of France—v. Cocheris’s Noms de Lieu, Paris.
COILL (Gadhelic),
a wood—in topography it takes the forms of kel, kil, kelly, killy, and kyle; e.g. Kellymore, and sometimes Kilmore (the great wood); Kelburn, Kelvin, Kellyburn, and Keltie (the woody stream); Callander, Coille-an-dar (the oak-wood); Cuilty, Quilty, Kilty (the woods); Kilton (the town in the wood), in Scotland. In Ireland: Kilbowie (yellow wood); Kildarroch (the oak-wood); Kilcraig (the wood of the rock); Kildinny (of the fire)—v. TEINE; Killiegowan (of the smith); Kilgour (of the goats); Eden-keille (the face of the wood); Kylebrach (the spotted wood); Kylenasagart (the priest’s wood); Kailzie (the woody), a parish in Peebles; but Kyle, in Ayrshire, is not from this root, but was named after a mythic Cymric king; Loughill, in Co. Limerick, corrupt. from Leamhchoill (the elm-wood); Barnacullia (the top of the wood), near Dublin; Culleen and Coiltean (little wood); Kildare, anc. Coill-an-chlair (the wood of the plain).
COIRE, or CUIRE (Gadhelic),
a ravine, a hollow, a whirlpool; e.g. Corrie-dow (the dark ravine); Corrie-garth (the field at the ravine); Corrimony (the hill, monadh, at the ravine); Corrielea (the gray ravine); Corrie (the hollow), in Dumfriesshire; Corriebeg (the little hollow); Corryvrechan whirlpool (Brecan’s cauldron); Corgarf (the rough hollow, garbh); Corralin (the whirlpool of the cataract)—v. LIN; Corriebuie (yellow ravine); Corryuriskin (of the wild spirit); but Cor, in Ireland, generally signifies a round hill, as in Corbeagh (birch hill); Corglass (green hill); Corkeeran (rowan-tree hill); Corog and Correen (little hill); while Cora, or Coradh, signifies a weir across a river, as in Kincora (the head of the weir); Kirriemuir, in Forfar, corrupt. from Corriemor (the great hollow); Loch Venachoir, in Perthshire, is the fair hollow or valley—v. FIN, p. 80.
COL, COLN (Lat. colonia),
a colony; e.g. Lincoln, anc. Lindum-colonia (the colony at Lindum, the hill fort on the pool, linne); Colne (the colony), in Lancashire; Cologne, Lat. Colonia-Agrippina (the colony), Ger. Köln. The city was founded by the Ubii 37 B.C., and was at first called Ubiorum-oppidum, but a colony being planted there in 50 A.D. by Agrippina, the wife of the Emperor Claudius, it received her name.
COMAR, CUMAR (Gadhelic),
CYMMER, KEMBER (Cym.-Cel.),
a confluence, often found as Cumber or Comber; e.g. Comber, Co. Down; Cefn-coed-y-cymmer (the wood ridge of the confluence), where two branches of the R. Taff meet; Cumbernauld, in Dumbarton, Gael. Comar-n-uilt (the meeting of streams, alt). Cumnock, in Ayrshire, may have the same meaning, from Cumar and oich (water), as the streams Lugar and Glasnock meet near the village; Comrie, in Perthshire, at the confluence of the streams Earn, Ruchill, and Lednock; Kemper and Quimper (the confluence), and Quimper-lé, or Kember-leach (the place at the confluence), in Brittany. The words Condate and Condé, in French topography, seem to be cognate with this Celtic root, as in Condé, in Normandy (at the meeting of two streams); Condé, in Belgium (at the confluence of the Scheldt and Hawe); Condate-Rhedorum (the confluence of the Rhedones, a Celtic tribe), now Rennes, in Brittany; Coucy, anc. Condiceacum (at the confluence of the Lette and Oise); Congleton, Co. Chester, was formerly Condate.