Note 92 — THE BOOK OF THE DEAN OF LISMORE.

“Ben Gulbin,” the mountain of the beak, lies at the head of Glenshee. There is a hill with a similar name in Ireland, whence Conall Gulbain, one of the kings of Ulster, took his designation. There is a “water of Gulbin,” and a “Torgulbin,” in the braes of Lochaber; but the reference to Glenshee fixes the scene of the death of Diarmad in Perthshire. There is, as is common in Highland topography, a stream called Gulbin, whence a valley of the same name, and then a mountain. The names in similar cases seem to have been primarily attached to the streams, whence they ascended through the valleys to the hills. We have an instance of this in the River Nevis, Glen Nevis, Ben Nevis, the “neamhais,” referring to its impetuosity, having been in all likelihood originally applied to the stream.