Editing Beith (section)

===Name===
Beith's name is thought to emanate from [[Ogham]], which is sometimes referred to as the "''Celtic Tree Alphabet''", ascribing names of trees to individual letters.  ''Beithe'' in [[Old Irish]] means ''Birch-tree'' (cognate to Latin ''betula''). There is reason to believe that the whole of the district was covered with woods. The town of Beith itself was once known as 'Hill of Beith' as this was the name of the feudal barony and was itself derived from the [[Moot hill|Court Hill]] near [[Hill of Beith Castle]].

Alternatively, Beith may be derived from [[Cumbric]] ''*baɣeδ'', 'boar' ([[Welsh language|Welsh]] ''baedd'').<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.spns.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/BLITON2016ii_elements.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2016-12-14 |url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220193503/http://www.spns.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/BLITON2016ii_elements.pdf |archive-date=2016-12-20 }}></ref> The local pronunciation of the name would favour this theory.

The Wood of Beit, now the 'Moor of Beith', has been identified as an Arthurian site where according to [[Taliessin]] in a poem under the name of 'Canowan' it was the site of a ''battle in the wood of Beit at the close of the day.''<ref>Glennie, John S. Stuart (1869). ''Arthurian Locations''. Edinburgh : Edmonston & Douglas. P. 83</ref>