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Place names Rural Life

Abyssinia

There was a croft (today it’s a bothy) near Arrochar called Abyssinia.

Apparently, a man named Iain Mór (Big John) visited Abyssinia (Ethiopia), perhaps as a soldier, and wouldn’t shut up about it when he got back to Scotland. His friends started calling him “Abyssinia” to tease him and the nickname stuck.

“A’m awa tae Argyll for the day, Abyssinia!”


“No ye’ll no, A’m no leavin Glesca”

Seton Gordon. (1948) Highways and Byways in the Central Highlands. Macmillan and Co., London. pp. 36-37

Sunday Post. 4th August 1935. pg. 7