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This word is not yet in any English dictionary. Its etymology lies in ancient Greek, from mnēmōn, meaning mindful, and tópos meaning place. In combination, these parts signify a verbal device, which helps people remember places through the recitation of place-names in a riddle, poem, rhyme or song. Topo-mnemonics can be understood as verbal equivalents of cognitive or mental maps and are complementary to them. Poets and authors may use them to define, support and inform the events in their storylines. Sometimes the topo-mnemonic can be flexible and expandable and thus it can be used to illustrate a child’s development in response to landscape, as it does for Kenn in Highland River. Two historical examples of topo-mnemonics from the southern Highlands, one supernatural and the other actual, serve to illustrate their detail, complexity and use.

The Uruisgs or Ùruisgean were semi-human creatures associated with deep ravines, waterfalls and moorland lochans. Their name means ‘on water’ - air uisge. William Gillies, who was Minister at Kenmore between 1912 and 1938, collected a Gaelic verse from James MacDiarmid of Morenish (Mòr-innis – Big Meadow), Killin, which lists twelve ùruisgean. As well as forming a detailed inventory of these supernatural beings, the poem can be used to define the sprawling territory of Breadalbane from Ben Dorain, through Crianlarich to Kenmore, but focusing around upper Loch Tay. The verse may also have been used to warn children away from water hazards or more directly, as a compelling and fearsome device for learning about the local landscape character.