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.
CA, n.3 [kɒ:, kɔ:]
†1. “A pass, or defile between hills” (Sth. 1808 Jam.).Sth. 1795 Stat. Acc.1 XVI. 168:
By . . . the heights of Lead-na-bea-kach, until you arrive at the Ca (i.e. the slap or pass) of that hill.
2. “A walk for cattle” (n.Sc. 1808 Jam.); “a strip of ground left open as a road for cattle going to a common pasture” (Cai. 1907 D. B. Nicolson in County of Cai. 67); “a cart road leading from the main road to a croft, i.e. a kind of right of way kept up by the crofter and not the property of the man along whose ground it goes” (Cai.7 1938).Cai. 1916 Old Caithness Croft in John o' Groat Jnl. (14 April):
Farmyard manure or fish offal was applied to the ground, being driven by a cart down the “ca.”Kcd. 1862 in G. F. Browne Echt-Forbes Family (1923) 10:
The Ca or Loaning leading westward from Bogfish towards Glassel.
Phrase: heid o' e ca', the point where the croft road joins the main road” (Cai.7 1938).
[Jam. connects this with Ca', v.1, to drive, but a more prob. origin is Gael. cadha [kɑ: (Abd.16)], narrow pass, entry (MacBain). This word occurs frequently in Highland toponomy.]
