Kirk
- a very characteristic Scottish term in modern times, kirk is derived from Old Norse kirkja 'church'. During the Middle Ages, however, the word kirk was also found in many parts of England, as a result of the influence of the Danelaw, the area of north-east England that was under Danish rule during parts of the ninth and tenth centuries. A special set of place-names containing kirk are of particular historical interest because they reveal an intermixing of Celtic and Germanic cultures. In the case of Kirkcudbright, for example, kirk is combined with a form of the name of the English Saint Cuthbert, the place-name's structure following the word-order typical of Celtic languages like Gaelic. Had the typical Germanic word-order found in Scots, Old Norse and Old English been used instead, Kirkcudbright would probably have been named Cuthbert's Church or Cuthbert's Kirk, with the qualifying term preceding the noun.