Islands

Gaelic, Norse, Brittonic? A look into the history 
and origins of place names in and around our area

By Silvia Muras

Between Lubcroy and Allt Loch Craggie, in the river Oykel, we find Eilean Thomais, named after someone called Thomas.

Downstream, Eilean Thùrnaig, ‘island of Turnaig’, perhaps from tuairneag, ‘a rounded thing, hillock’.

Across from Doune and Oape, there are two large pasture islands: Eilean an Eòrna, ‘island of the barley’ and Eilean an Oba, maybe the ‘island of the pool’ (from òb).

At Rosehall, the scrub-covered 500m-long Eilean an Speanan (Eilean Spiathanaigh) means ‘island of the (haw)thorn / gooseberry bush’, from an obsolete Gaelic word borrowed from the Latin spîna.

In the Kyle of Sutherland by the Invershin viaduct we find Eilean na h-Aibhne, ‘island of the river’; and further along on the Culrain side, Eilean nan Ròn, ‘island of the seals’.

Eilean na Carraidh by the Old Church of Kincardine in Ardgay, contains a variant of the Gaelic cairidh, meaning a ‘fish trap’.