Amongst the ancient Gaelic and Celts of Ireland and Scotland we find that the property upon which the family lived was known as 'baile' a word from Gaelic whose meaning is described as ones home, dwelling, farm, village and town.

 

'Baile' meaning 'town' and 'township' is different from its original meaning as when these Gaelic names were first used there were very few towns, hence its original meaning was 'place' and 'home' as in the 'place of' and 'home of'.

 

England outlawed the Irish language and forced them to speak English with the intention of changing the place names knowing their ancient history was contained in their place names and so to change its future you change its past.

 

 

The origin of baile seems to be 'bhu' a word in Sanskrit meaning to 'be' to 'exist' as seen in 'bhu-alio' a pre Celtic word meaning 'place where one dwells' and this becomes 'baile' meaning 'dwelling' and 'home' and the prefix 'bal' meaning 'town'.

 

Henry Hubert in his book 'the rise of the celts' writes "it is even supposed to come from the root 'bhu' meaning 'to be', the word 'baile' implies a word 'balios' which implies a pre celtic 'bhu-alio' meaning the place where one is".

 

An interesting cognate is 'husband' and 'husbandry' from Old Norse 'hus' meaning 'house' and 'boandi' meaning to 'dwell' as in to dwell in the home and boandi and baile are both formed from 'bhu' a Sanskrit root meaning to 'exist'.

 

 

Throughout the Gaelic and Celtic lands of Scotland over two thousand place names possess this Gaelic prefix 'baile' and of course within the Celtic lands of green Ireland we find many names which begin with 'bally'.

 

The Scottish county of Perth has some 300 place names which bear this prefix 'baile' as seen within 'Balmeanach' meaning the middle ( meanach ) town ( baile ) a name which also possesses the Sanskrit 'madhya' meaning 'middle'.

 

Baile becomes 'Belcraig' within Aberdeen and 'Balnacraig' within Perth meaning the town ( baile ) of the rock ( craig ) a name possessing 'khara' a word in Sanskrit meaning 'hard' and 'dense' which becomes the Celtic 'craige' meaning 'rock'.

 

 

As pictured we find 'Balmoral' home castle of the Queen residing in the highlands of Aberdeenshire and its name which means the majestic ( mor ) village ( bal ) seems to also possess 'mira' a word from Sanskrit whose meaning is 'ocean'.

 

Gaelic has 'mor' meaning 'ocean' related to the Sanskrit 'mira' meaning 'ocean' a word seen in 'Windermere' meaning 'lake' and 'mòr' also means 'large' 'great' 'vast' words which seem to be an extension of its meaning as 'Sea' and 'Ocean'.

 

As an example we have the Old English 'mere' whose meaning is 'lake' and 'sea' and we have the Old English 'Mere' whose meaning is 'great' and which seems to be describing the greatness ( mere ) of the ocean ( mere ).

 

 

'Baile' becomes 'Balgreen' a name found within the counties of 'Banff' 'Renfrew' 'Aberdeen' 'Ayr' 'Perthshire' its meaning being the town ( bal ) of the Sun ( grean ) and a name which possesses the Sanskrit 'ghrni' whose meaning is the 'Sun'.

 

Ancients of the Celtic empire of Scotland were amongst other things worshippers of the Sun, as seen in their god 'Bel' as seen within 'Grean' and this Celtic name 'Balgreen' whose meaning is the town ( bal ) of the Sun ( grean ).

 

'Grean' meaning 'Sun' is seen as 'Clach Na Greine' meaning stone ( clach ) of the Sun ( grean ) and 'Greenburn' stream ( burn ) of the Sun ( grean ) and 'Grenan' river ( an ) of the Sun ( grean ) and 'Greenock' knoll ( knoch ) of the Sun ( grean ).

 

 

'Balbardie' 'Balbaird' 'Balvaird' all towns ( bal ) of the 'bard' the word 'bard' representing a high culture of highly trained poets, intellects, historians and story tellers just as Shakespeare was known as the bard of Avon. 

 

Bards were employed by Kings who used their poetic abilities to describe their great victories and heroic deeds and were most important as they handed down from generation to generation their history in the form of poems and songs.

 

'Bard' is related to 'Gr' a root in Sanskrit meaning to 'invoke' and 'Grnati' meaning to 'praise' which becomes the European 'Gwer' meaning to 'favour' and according to academics this becomes 'Bard'.