Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1941 (SND Vol. II).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
BO, n.3 (See quot.)Gall. 1930 H. Maxwell Place Names of Galloway 44:
The Bo Stane, a large black rock in mid-channel of the Luce. . . . In 1874 an angler asked the gamekeeper attending him why it was so called. “Just because it's like a black stot [bullock],” was the reply. Bo means a cow in old and modern Erse and Gaelic, and this name . . . has been passed down orally from Gaelic-speaking times, the sense having been preserved also.
