LIST OF LOCAL WORDS AND HILL NAMES
- band
- the ridge of a hill; from the Middle English bande
- beck
- a stream; from the Old Norse bekkr
- bield
- a shelter, protection; from the Old English beldo, courage
- Blencathra
- Probably from the Welsh blaen, summit, and cateir, chair, i.e. the chair-shaped mountain. Whilst it means much the same, I prefer it to the insipid Saddleback, the fell's other name, which hardly does justice to this magnificent eminence.
- Brocken spectre
- A shadow of the viewer cast by the sun onto cloud. It is often surrounded by coloured, rainbow-like lights (glories). Named after the highest of the Harz mountains where witches are said to gather on Walpurgis Night.
- Cat Bells
- the cat's den; from the Middle English belde a bield, or shelter
- crag
- a rough steep rock; derivation uncertain
- dale
- a valley; from the Old Norse dalr
- fell
- a mountain, or hill, or upland tract; from the Old Norse fjall, a rock
- gill, or ghyll
- a small ravine; from the Old Norse gil, a steep sided valley
- how
- a low hill; from the Old Norse haugr
- knott
- a craggy hill; from the Old Norse knutr
- pike
- a sharp-pointed hill; from the Old English pic, a spike
- rake
- a path up a hill or in a gully; from the Old Norse rak, a stripe
- scar
- a bare , craggy rock formation; from the Old Norse sker
- scarth
- a pass or gap in a ridge; from the Old Norse skarth
- stickle
- a sharp peak; from the Old Norse stikill
- tarn
- a small mountain lake; from the Old Norse tjorn
- thwaite
- a piece of land reclaimed from forest or wetlands; from the Old Norse thveit, a paddock
- tup
- an uncastrated ram; origin unknown
- wether
- a castrated ram; from the Old English wether