User:Ben MacDui/sandbox

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
< User:Ben MacDui

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Ben MacDui (talk | contribs) at 10:33, 21 April 2024 (5). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

No saint is known by the name Kilda nor is St Kilda used in Gaelic[1] and various theories have been proposed for the origin of the name, which dates from the late 16th century.

S. Kilda occurs for the first time in Thresoor der Zeevaert ("Treasure of Navigation"), a pilot book published by Lucas Waghenaer in 1592. A.B Taylor suggested that it originated as a copying error of Skilda(r), a name that appears on Nicolas de Nicolay's 1583 map of Scotland, which Waghenaer used as a source. On Nicolay's map, and on two other 16th century maps,[note 1] the name denotes an island group closer to Lewis and Harris than St Kilda. Suggestions as to which island group Skildar and its variants applied to include Haskeir,[3] Gasker and Haskeir Eagach.[4][5] Taylor notes that both of the latter two groups could be compared to shields lying flat upon the water, and gives the Norse word skildir (meaning "shields") as the etymon.[4]

1580 Carte of Scotlande showing Hyrth (i.e. Hirta) at left and Skaldar to the north east

The hypothesis is thus that the name is derived from a series of cartographical errors, starting with Skildar by de Nicolay (1583) becoming transcribed by Waghenaer without the trailing r and with a full stop after the S, creating S. Kilda. This was in turn assumed to stand for a saint by others, creating the form that has been used for several centuries, St Kilda.[6]

ZZAccording to another theory, advanced by William J. Watson and others, the name derives from Tobar Childa, an important well on Hirta. Childa is in fact a descendant of kelda, the Norse word for a well, but it is possible that visitors to the island (who would have used the well to take on fresh water) mistook it as the name of a local saint.ZZ [7] A number of other theories have been suggested in both the past and in modern times.[note 2]

The origins of Hiort, and its anglicized form Hirta,which long pre-date St Kilda, are similarly obscure. Watson derives it from the Gaelic word (h)irt, meaning "death", noting that although Alexander MacBain suggested "that the ancient Celts fancied this sunset isle to be the gate to their earthly paradise"[12] the connection was more likely to be to the dangers of living on St Kilda, which "in the Hebrides is regarded as a penitentiary rather than a gate to paradise".[7][note 3] It has also been said to mean "the western land", from the Gaelic (na) h-iartìre although this theory presents difficulties.[13] It may not be Gaelic in origin at all, but rather Norse. Taylor derives it from the Norse word hirtir, meaning "stags", on account of the islands' "jagged outlines". In support of this theory, he notes that Hirtir appears in the 13th-century Prestssaga Guðmundar Arasonar as a name for an island group in the Hebrides.[14]

As for St Kilda, a number of other theories have been offered.[note 4] All the names of and on the islands are discussed by Richard Coates.[17]

Notes

  1. ^ All three of these maps may be derived from a 1540 original by Alexander Lindsay, a Scottish pilot.[2]
  2. ^ Martin Martin, who visited in 1697, believed that the name "is taken from one Kilder, who lived here; and from him the large well Toubir-Kilda has also its name".[8] Maclean (1972) similarly suggests it comes from a corruption of the Old Norse name for the spring on Hirta, Childa, and states that a 1588 map identifies the archipelago as Kilda. He also speculates that it refers to the Culdees, anchorites who might have brought Christianity to the island, or be a corruption of the Gaelic name, Hirta, for the main island of the group, since the islanders tended to pronounce r as l, and thus habitually referred to the island as Hilta.[9] Steel (1988) adds weight to the idea, noting that the islanders pronounced the H with a "somewhat guttural quality", making the sound they used for Hirta "almost" Kilta.[10] Similarly, St Kilda speakers interviewed by the School of Scottish Studies in the 1960s show individual speakers using t-initial forms, leniting to /h/, e.g. ann an Tirte ([ˈan̪ˠən̪ˠ ˈtʰʲirˠʃt̪ʲə]) and gu Hirte ([kə ˈhirˠʃt̪ʲə]).[11]
  3. ^ Watson notes that in the Uists the Gaelic for "in Hirta" is an t-Irt.[12] However, Coates dismisses Watson's connection to (h)irt as "totally implausible".[13]
  4. ^ Martin (1703) averred that "Hirta is taken from the Irish Ier, which in that language signifies west".[8] Steel (1998) quotes the view of Reverend Neil Mackenzie, who lived there from 1829 to 1844, that the name is from the Gaelic Ì Àrd ('high island'), and a further possibility that it is from the Norse Hirt ('shepherd').[15] In a similar vein, Murray (1966) speculates that the Norse Hirðö, pronounced 'Hirtha' ('herd island'), could be the origin of the name.[16]

Refs

  1. ^ Watson 1926, p. 98.
  2. ^ Taylor 1968, p. 136.
  3. ^ Fleming 2005, p. 27.
  4. ^ a b Taylor 1968, p. 137.
  5. ^ de Nicolay 1583.
  6. ^ Quine (2000) p. 21.
  7. ^ a b Watson 1926, pp. 97–98.
  8. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Martin was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Maclean (1977) p. 33.
  10. ^ Steel (1988) p. 27.
  11. ^ Bruford, A. (ed.) Tocher Vol 36–37 (1982) School of Scottish Studies.
  12. ^ a b Watson 1926, p. 97.
  13. ^ a b Coates 1990, pp. 44–49.
  14. ^ Taylor 1968, pp. 120–123.
  15. ^ Steel (1988) pp. 26–27.
  16. ^ Murray 1966, pp. 196, 236.
  17. ^ Coates 1990.
  • Fleming, Andrew (2005). St. Kilda and the Wider World: Tales of an Iconic Island. Windgather Press. ISBN 1-905119-00-3.
  • Taylor, A. B. (1968). "The Norsemen in St Kilda". Viking Society for Northern Research. 17. JSTOR: 116–144. Retrieved 24 March 2024.
  • Coates, Richard (1990). The Place-Names of St Kilda: Nomina Hirtensia. Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press. ISBN 0-88946-077-9.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Ben_MacDui/sandbox&oldid=1220024919"