The Benn NY299194.

The Benn NY299194. The name is first recorded for this peak is on the OS Map First Series. Whaley suggests it may be an import from Scotland from the Gaelic beinn. I think it is more likely to be from the Cumbric equivalent of beinn, namely ban, later etymologised incorrectly to be a Scottish "ben." Otherwise from pen, meaning "top, summit, head or chief" in Welsh, but apparently taken into local dialect (and elswhere in England) to mean hill.

The definite article may be a relic of a Cumbric "ïr penn" but the b- bothers me and I tend to go with ban "peak" because of that. Though that leaves its own problems as Cumbric with the article would be ïr βann if it followed Welsh sound change chronology as detailed by Jackson (Jackson, 1953 699)and β did not become v until the early 12th Century. Given we feel Cumbric was more conservative than Welsh, (Jackson and James both suggest this (Jackson, 1953; A. G. James, 2011)) then I am happy that English speakers heard ïr βann as /ban/. 

I accept that the /a/ may have been modified to /e/ under the influence in the 19th Century period of the Victorian love of all things Highland.

Next to The Benn, is Benn Man. Man is used quite often in the Lake District to refer as a minor peak or feature on a mountain. It could be from a play on the English word "man" or it might be derived from the Cumbric equivalent of Welsh maen - a significant rock or stone.