William J. Watson

William J. Watson ( * 1865 in Milntown of New Tarbat, Easter Ross, today's Milton; † March 9, 1948 ) was one of the greatest Scottish scholars of the 20th century. He was Toponomast and the first scholar who presented the Scottish place names on a firm linguistic basis.

Watson was a native speaker of Gaelic. He was the son of the smith Hugh Watson. He received his first instruction from his uncle James Watson. William was well educated in the study of Gaelic and classical antiquity. William attended the University of Aberdeen and the University of Oxford.

It worked as a teacher in Glasgow, Inverness and finally in Edinburgh, it was in Inverness, where he began to the Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness and Celtic Review cooperate. He married the daughter of Alexander Carmichael, Ella Carmichael. In 1914 he took over the Chair of Celtic in the University of Edinburgh, although he held no important position in the university. He remained in his prestigious person until he cleared the way in 1938 to his son James Carmichael Watson. William Watson died aged 83 on 9 March 1948.

Watson is known for his work The Celtic Place -names of Scotland in 1926, which was based on 30 years of work. Watson's work is still the primary scientific reference work on the subject. The book is based on Watson's extensive notes that remain unpublished in the possession of Edinburgh University. Watson's great work was re- published by Birlinn in 2004.

Writings

• Place -Names of Ross and Cromarty. Inverness 1904.
• Prints of the Past around Inverness.. Inverness 1909 2nd revised edition: Inverness 1925.
• ROSG Gàidhlig. . Inverness 1915 2nd edition: Glasgow 1929.
• Bàrdachd Gàidhlig. Inverness 1915.
• The Picts: their original position in Scotland. Inverness 1921.
• Ross and Cromarty. Cambridge 1924.
• The History of the Celtic Place -Names of Scotland. Edinburgh 1926. Republished with Foreword, bibliography and corrigenda by Simon Taylor: Edinburgh 2004.