Everything about Lochan totally explained
For the novel by Steve Alten, see The Loch
A
loch (usually
Lough as a name element outside
Scotland) is a body of
water which is either:
Sea-inlet lochs are often called
sea lochs.
Background
This name for a body of water is
Gaelic in origin and is applied to most lakes in Scotland and to many sea inlets in the west and north of Scotland. For a list, see
List of lochs in Scotland.
As a name element
Loch has become
Lough for many bodies of water in
Ireland and for some in the north of
England. However, reference to the latter as
lochs or
loughs (lower case initial), rather than as
lakes,
inlets and so on, is unusual. For lists, see
List of Irish loughs and
List of English loughs.
Although there's no strict size definition, a small loch is often known as a
lochan (so spelled also in Scottish Gaelic; in Irish it's spelled
lochán).
Perhaps the most famous Scottish loch is
Loch Ness, although there are other large examples such as
Loch Awe,
Loch Lomond and
Loch Tay.
Examples of sea lochs in Scotland include
Loch Long,
Loch Fyne,
Loch Linnhe,
Loch Eriboll.
The uses of lochs
Some new
reservoirs for
hydroelectric schemes have been given names faithful to the names for natural bodies of water - for example: the Loch Sloy scheme, and Lochs
Laggan and
Treig (which form part of the
Lochaber hydroelectric scheme near
Fort William). Other expanses are simply called
reservoirs, eg:
Blackwater Reservoir above
Kinlochleven.
Scottish lakes
Scotland has only one natural water body actually called a lake, the
Lake of Menteith, an
Anglicisation of the
Scots Laich o Menteith meaning a "low-lying bit of land in Menteith", and applied to the loch there because of the similarity of the sounds of the words
laich and
lake. The
Lake of the Hirsel,
Pressmennan Lake and Lake Louise, (In the grounds of
Skibo Castle), are other bodies of water in Scotland which are called lakes and all are man-made. Most Scots will be quick to correct anyone who refers to "lochs" as "lakes".
The word "loch" is used as a
shibboleth to identify natives of England, because the hard "ch" sound is used in Scotland whereas most English people pronounce the word like "lock".
Lochs beyond Scotland and Ireland
As "loch" is a common Gaelic word, it's also found as the root of several
Manx placenames.
The
US naval port of
Pearl Harbor, located on the south coast of the main
Hawaiian island of
Oahu, is one of a complex of sea inlets. Several of these are named as lochs, viz. South East Loch, Merry Loch, East Loch, Middle Loch and West Loch.
Brenton Loch in the
Falkland Islands is a sea loch, near
Lafonia,
East Falkland.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Lochan'.
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